Remember the Children

New Jersey made national news last week with the announcement that Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of Facebook, will donate $100 million dollars to the Newark Public Schools, bringing about a partnership between Zuckerberg, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and Newark Mayor Cory Booker. News broke last week, but it went national with an appearance by the three on Oprah Winfrey's show. I'm going to analyze how this recent news affects the major players and how it may affect the Newark Public Schools.

Chris Christie: After the loss of funds on Race to the Top and its ramifications, which I recently covered, as well as his differences with teachers and the unions, Christie gets a shot in the arm with his role in this $100 million grant. It shows not only New Jerseyans, but Americans watching, that Christie cares about improving education in the city of his birth and wants to have an active role in the city's Renaissance. The items the grant calls for align with Christie's education agenda, specificially charter schools and student achievement and assessment of stakeholders. Behind the scenes, he has been building alliances with Newark power brokers such as Steven Adubato Sr. (founder and CEO of the North Ward Center) and Joseph DiVincenzo (Essex County Executive), both of whom will also benefit from this grant. In a political sense, the grant also takes out Christie's most likely political adversary in 2013 in Cory Booker, as to follow though on the implementation of the grant, he must continue to serve as Mayor of Newark. Booker's position in the grant has him working with the governor and not against him, therefore, if Booker challenges, his image would be forever harmed.

Cory Booker: Even though he won his re-election, Cory Booker has not been too popular lately. Newark still has a really big crime problem and also its police force is being investigated by the ACLU. As someone who stood strong against abusive tactics by an incumbent in Sharpe James during his first campaign, and someone who has been praised by his supporters and the media, it is imperative for Booker to step up and show Newarkers he is a leader. This alliance provides him with a chance to put those solutions into action, with a result of improving his popularity in the city and decreasing the chance that Sharpe James, who has served his time, may try to get back into the political game and challenge the young, idealistic mayor (I am aware he has stated he doesn't intend to seek public office, but nothing in politics is a sure thing.)

Mark Zuckerberg: With the movie The Social Network coming out, Zuckerberg is not positively portrayed and is in the midst of taking a major PR hit due to that portrayal. Furthermore, Facebook is beginning to have a surge of negative publicity. While I do not believe this is solely an "image rehab," Zuckerberg could benefit from this philanthropic move and because it's a "challenge grant," there could be more money on the way, putting his name in the news again for positive reasons.

Oprah Winfrey: Let's face it, Oprah has taken a hit as a result of her ardent support of Obama. As she gets ready to end her show's run in 2011, Oprah needs to rehab her image and having this feel-good announcement on her show does wonders for it and gives her a greater chance to end on top.

It must be imperative to all involved that this $100 million grant should have nothing to do with rehabbing poll numbers or reputations. The main group who must benefit from this donation is none other than the students of Newark, who attend these crumbling schools and because they are in such sad shape, do not have the same chance for success a student in a suburban district may have. So far, early reaction is mixed. The groups involved are reviewing the grant and are starting to take positions. This will also likely go before the Assembly so they may vote to allow Booker to have the sought after authority over the Newark Public Schools. All stakeholders involved must rise above the potential conflict and turf wars to meet and come to an agreement as time is ticking away fast! Pardon the cliche, a quick decision and agreement, again, will allow the students of the Newark Public Schools have the best chance at achieving and maintaining successful, self-sustaining lives.

UPDATE: The Star-Ledger is reporting that Cory Booker may be legally barred from taking an active role, as spelled out by the grant requests. It remains to be seen how this will pan out, but I, along with my fellow New Jerseyans, will be watching.