Largest Such Takeover in Nation; Corruption, Mismanagement Charged : State Seizes Jersey City School System, Fires Officials

JERSEY CITY, N. J. — The state of New Jersey fired the superintendent and dismissed the local school board of this faded industrial city Wednesday in the largest state takeover of an urban school district in the nation.

The takeover, approved by a unanimous vote of the state Board of Education, meeting in nearby Jamesburg, was based on allegations by state investigators that the 28,000-student school district is academically bankrupt and riddled by corruption, mismanagement and political favoritism.

In examinations administered last spring, more than half of the ninth-graders in the district--the second largest in New Jersey--failed a test on basic proficiency in reading, writing and mathematics. In addition, state investigators have described conditions in the city’s schools as deplorable.

‘Innocent Victims’ Cited

“We can now step in on behalf of the innocent victims of the Jersey City school system--the children who have not received the educational opportunity to which they are entitled,” state Education Commissioner Saul Cooperman said after the board’s action Wednesday.

The board appointed Elena J. Scambio, who had been serving as Essex County schools superintendent, as the new Jersey City superintendent for a three-year term at a $100,000 annual salary. Scambio, speaking at a news conference, pledged a get-tough policy and said that her first initiative will be to streamline the school district’s bureaucracy.

“Now is the time to fish, cut bait or get out of the boat,” she said in a warning to principals and school administrators in Jersey City.

The takeover was the first in New Jersey under a law enacted last year giving the state the power to assume control of chronically troubled school districts. At least seven other states have similar laws, and two of them--New Mexico and Kentucky--have seized districts that were judged to be failures.

State education officials in New Jersey said that the Jersey City case is being watched closely throughout the nation as a possible model of school accountability.

Under New Jersey’s law, once the state takes over, the local school superintendent and board of education are immediately dismissed, along with executive administrators in charge of curriculum, finance and personnel.

Cooperman said that a 15-member advisory board of education will be established in Jersey City within 60 days to replace the locally appointed nine-member board. He will appoint 13 of the members and the city government will name the other two.

The state has five years to bring the district up to par with state certification requirements.

Scambio said that “change will not come easily nor will it come overnight.” But, she added: “I do not have the slightest doubt that students from even the most impoverished and difficult backgrounds can succeed academically and socially. I intend to see that Jersey City students succeed.”

The student population in the district is about 44% black, 34% Latino and 13% white. More than half the students are enrolled in compensatory, bilingual or special education programs.

The school budget this year is about $186 million.

Kabili Tayari, president of the Parents Council of Jersey City, said that his organization had mixed emotions about the state takeover. “What we heard sounds good,” he said, “but we have reservations because it’s the first time it’s happened (in New Jersey) and we haven’t seen a plan for implementation or a timetable.”

Tayari said he hopes that state control leads to a more aggressive program of hiring minority-group teachers and staff members. Less than 5% of the teachers are black or Latinos, he said.

The takeover move was bitterly resisted by many Jersey City officials, who blamed past administrations and the inadequacies of school funding for the the district’s problems. The board of education reportedly owes $500,000 to the New York law firm it hired to defend itself against state seizure.

Called Blow to Children

Franklin Williams, the superintendent fired by the state, said Wednesday: “In a society that offers little enough to bolster the self-confidence of urban children, the campaign to take over the Jersey City schools has only further lowered the self-image of our students.”

However, Mayor Gerald McCann, who won office earlier this year after a campaign that endorsed a state takeover of the school district, called the state’s action a “real win for the schoolchildren of Jersey City,” according to a spokesman.

In approving the takeover, the state board cited political intrusion in hiring, violations of bidding laws, failure to provide for handicapped children and unauthorized use of state funds.