Posted on 10/21/2015 7:50:55 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
When Dale Russakoff began writing about Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's $100 million gift to help fix the failing schools in Newark, N.J., she assumed she would end up telling an uplifting story of transformational change.
"It sounded to me at the time like, well, that's enough money to do anything," Russakoff recalled of watching Zuckerberg announce the gift before a whooping "Oprah" audience in 2010, joined by a political odd couple in the form of Newark's charismatic, reform-minded Democratic mayor at the time, Cory Booker, and New Jersey's Republican governor, Chris Christie.
"I didn't think it was going to be the miracle that they talked about," Russakoff said, "but I thought that it was going to be noticeable, positive change in education in a city that had been so neglected by history."
Plagued by corruption and mismanagement, the schools had been taken over by the state in 1995 — hence the importance of Christie's involvement. But the system remained a disaster, with fewer than 40 percent of third- through eighth-graders reading or doing math at grade level.
(Excerpt) Read more at businessinsider.com ...
Government can’t do anything. Can’t even get out of its own way.
Newark Schools: run by democrats with sticky fingers and a conspicuous lack of moral fibre.
Duh.
CC
What is wrong with the schools is not a "money" problem. It is a moral problem.
The problem is that so many kids do not have proper moral guidance, and therefore no incentive to learn... or even behave.
Like giving coke to a crackhead.
You would think a man smart enough to accumulate $40 Billion dollars in personal wealth and set up a $2.5 Billion dollar education foundation would be smart
enough to figure out what would happen to $100 million dollars when you just hand it over to liberals and barely civilized members of democrat victim groups.
Not Obama’s fault.
Yes. I think you’re right that Zuckerberg is smart enough to know what would happen to the money. That begs the question about his real purpose in spending that $100 million. Next governor of New Jersey? Some kind of personal tax break? Needed some kind of goodwill from the Union for protection?
Newark hasn't been neglected by history - it has made history.
After WWII up until the 1960's it was a thriving, healthy city.
Since then it has deteriorated into just another liberal run holding pen for democrat victim groups.
That's the history.
Downtown Newark - Christmas Shopping 1945
Probably a means to funnel it to the ‘right’ connected people. The question is...what did the ‘right’ people do with it...
It is long past time to abolish government schools. Educating children is far too important to let the government continue to screw it up. The entire enterprise should be turned over to the private sector.
The education problems that can be controlled by schools, and they are not many, center on teacher quality and retention.
So long as bad teachers are paid more than good ones, the problems will never be fixed. Good teachers run for the hills. Bad ones sit on their backsides and wait out the years until retirement.
A sight for sore eyes.... beautiful American ladies in the snow, with actual purchases for loved ones.
I expected you to post a 2nd photo of "Newark Christmas Shopping 2014", showing feral rioters looting a Wal-Mart.
But then was glad you didn't. It would be like obscenity in the faces those 1945 ladies.
.
Note how the article really doesn’t say how the money was squandered, beyond some vague language about “mismanagement” and “corruption.” Who stole the money? What were the increased / overpriced costs? Exactly what was it spent on? This is how the government bureaucracy protects itself. No one is held accountable — its all about vaguely wringing one’s hands about “mismanagement” and spreading the blame as far as possible.
This is what Mooschelle and 0bama should have been working on, not how many calories are in the school's lunch.
Democrats
Sticky Fingers
New Jersey Mafia Culture
Unionized Staff that Resists Doing Actual Work
Racial PC Culture that Prohibits the Demanding of Excellence
Criminal “Students” Who Turned On and Dropped Out a Long Time Ago.
Coulda saved you a whole lotta money there, Zuck ol’ boy.
The administrators of public schools are themselves upgraded teachers, not business administrators. They view their entire world through the prism of the education cartel. Their solution to all problems is to spend other people's money on stuff that feels good and makes for great stories in the Reader's Digest.
Wonderfully explains why more money for public schools is like more water inside a sinking boat.
Maybe Z's goal was to demonstrate that lack of money isn't the problem, and more money isn't the solution. If so, he did it in spades.
I'll bet the mass orgasm experienced by the various thieving lib groups when they got their hands on the loot set a record. They usually have to go through great lengths to steal tax-payer money, and now some liberal schlub happily hands them 100 million smackers.
I wonder how many first class trips to the Caribbean and gambling casinos were scheduled shortly after Suckerman forked over the dough.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
