Teague: State controlled districts vest superintendent with too much authority | Paterson Times Paterson Times

Teague: State controlled districts vest superintendent with too much authority

By Corey Teague
Published: May 25, 2016

letter-to-editor-hq

In my opinion, the law that allows for state departments of education to have control over local school districts must be abolished. State controlled districts are underperforming because they are under the control of underperforming state departments of education. And then for the state DOE to give power to one person to make all of the final decisions? To me, that is almost criminal.

Take Paterson for instance. We have nine elected school board members. Each of them received votes from the community to give them authority to make decisions that are in the best interests of the students.

Unfortunately, this authority is almost nonexistent due to the NJ DOE’s control of the school district. This is problematic because any decision the elected board makes can be overruled by the state appointed “boss”.

It’s not only unfair, it is criminal. How can so much power be placed in the hands of one person? It is my conviction and belief that anytime one person is given unabridged power over an organization without the ability to be challenged by a board, corruption, sooner or later will be part of the equation.

Corey L. Teague
Former School Board member/ City Activist


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