Jersey City Mayor James Solomon is calling on the board of education not to renew the contract of Superintendent of Schools Dr. Norma Fernandez at a special meeting tomorrow evening.
“On July 16, the Board of Education will meet in a special session to consider extending Superintendent Norma Fernandez’s contract — an earlier public notice indicated the extension would run all the way through 2031. I want to be frank about what a contract extension is. It is not a routine personnel item,” Solomon said in an email blast today.
“It is a vote of confidence in the district’s performance, in its finances, and in the future Jersey City Board of Education will create for our children. So, the most important question the Board must answer on July 16 is this: Do the results justify that confidence? The evidence says no.”
The mayor points to subpar test scores, noting that statewide, 53 percent of New Jersey students are proficient in English language arts, with 41 percent proficient in math, compared to 45 and 31 percent, respectively, in the Jersey City Public Schools…