The Newark School of Global Studies is a high school whose aim is for students to embrace different cultures — but it seems the opposite is happening.
The education website Chalkbeat Newark got hold of a draft report that details racist incidents against Blacks and teachers.
“A lot of Latino students would use the N word or racial slurs,” said reporter Jessie Gomez. “Some former teachers had also said back in 2022 and 2023 that they were experiencing religious harassment from students, one saying that they were threatening to rip off the hijabs of teachers.”
Gomez also said there’s blame for the administration in the report.
“School leaders failed to identify the patterns of anti-Blackness and form professional development activities or sessions with teachers to really address the more deep-rooted concerns of racism and harassment among students,” she said.
“Two former teachers from the school have filed a lawsuit against the district, they are allegedly saying that they experienced racial harassment at the school but they also experienced retaliation from district and school leaders for speaking out about students who felt like they were being harassed,” said Gomez.
She reported that Superintendent Roger Leon promised students he would fix the problems but so far has not said what he would do and no changes have been made. Global Studies is one of the district’s top magnet schools.