Dangers for Public Education and Resistance to Them in the Age of Trump: All Politics are Local: Getting out from under State Control

• In Event: Dangers for Public Education and Resistance to Them in the Age of Trump: Research Perspectives about the Role of US Teachers and Their Unions

Abstract

The central problem of my paper is how to (re)envision a public school district newly returned to local control after being under state control for more than twenty-five years, in this particularized context of the Trump administration. Through the use of autoethnography, I will examine the impact state control has had on the constituent groups of the Newark Public School District and the residents of Newark in terms of educational governance and community disenfranchisement. By asking the question, how can parents, students, teachers, and community members design and implement education reforms that reflect a democratic public education?, I observe how these groups fight back in order to regain local control of our school district.

Author

• Leah Owens, Rutgers