NEWARK -- In the first of five community meetings in the next month, Mayor Ras Baraka on Monday spoke candidly about the residents' responsibility as the state returns school control to local leaders.

"I look at it as an opportunity to look at the school system in the way that it ought to be," Baraka said at Clearview Baptist Church before about three dozen residents. "Begin to imagine a school district that's different than the one we have today."

Mayor Ras Baraka met with the community at Clearview Baptist Church on Monday to talk about the return of local control of the schools. (Karen Yi | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com)

The state took over the district in 1995 and since 2007 has returned three of the five areas of control: operations in 2007, fiscal management in 2014 and personnel in 2016. The state is expected to fully hand over the reins -- returning the areas of governance and instruction -- by the fall of 2017.

Under the Quality Single Accountability System (QSAC), the law that authorizes the state to take over a local school district, a district must earn a score of 80 percent in each area to regain control. When the board controls the area of governance, it can hire a superintendent of its choice.

Once local control is restored, there will be city-wide special elections to decide whether the school district will have a locally-elected school board or a board appointed by the mayor.

The board will be able to extend state-appointed Superintendent Christopher Cerf's contract, modify it or let it expire.

Baraka said the board should conduct a national search for a new schools chief.

"We are going to obviously get someone new, either soon or later but someone new is coming," he said. "What they are coming into is what I'm concerned about ... You can get the best superintendent in America to come in here, if the place is a mess and there's no structure, you're walking them into a failing situation."

Newark schools will develop a transition plan that will need approval from the state Commissioner of Education and then will be presented publicly before implementation.

"Our job is to make sure every baby learns. We can't be in competition with each other," Baraka said.

He said magnet schools, among the most successful in the city, should be expanded or replicated. The community also needed to find ways to bring back charter school parents and engage more parents in the process. He added that traditional and charter schools should work together.

"You can't be in this city unless you're working collectively with all us. If that's not your interest you've got to go," he said.

The next meetings will be held Jan. 30 at St. Stephans Grace Community Church, Feb. 6 at Jehovah-Jireh Baptist Church, Feb. 13 at First Avenue School and Feb. 27 at Abyssinian Baptist Church. All meetings start at 6 p.m.

Karen Yi may be reached at kyi@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter at @karen_yi or on Facebook.