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The Joint Committee on the Public Schools holds a hearing in Trenton tomorrow on Newark's controversial school reorganization plan.

(Tony Kurdzuk/The Star-Ledger)



TRENTON — Many lawmakers have already voiced criticism of Newark Superintendent Cami Anderson's school reorganization plan, with one legislative committee approving a bill intended to prevent the proposal's school closings.

Anderson’s “One Newark” blueprint gets a formal hearing before the Legislature’s Joint Committee on Public Education at 10 this morning.

The One Newark plan calls for moving, consolidating and reorganizing a quarter of the city's schools, including making four neighborhood schools into charter schools.

It has been blasted by parents, the Newark teachers unions, members of the School Advisory Board and several alumni organizations in the months since it was unveiled. Sen. Ron Rice (D-Essex) held a hearing in City Hall to give the community an opportunity to respond.

Anderson has also been criticized for her request to waive seniority in future layoffs, which could hit 1,000 teachers in the next three years. Lawmakers in both houses passed resolutions last week against the idea, which they said undermines their authority and state law.

Leaders of the New Jersey Education Association and the Newark Teachers Union are expected to testify, as is Antoinette Baskerville-Richardson, president of the Newark School Advisory Board.

Others scheduled to address the committee are Mark Weber, a graduate student at Rutgers University, Elizabeth Athos of the Education Law Center and Lauren Wells, executive director of 211 Community Impact in Newark. The committee does not expect presentations from the school district of the state Department of Education, a spokeswoman said.

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