Camden Schools Superintendent Paints Mixed Picture of District's Progress Over Past Year
By Hadas Kuznits
CAMDEN, N.J. (CBS) -- One year afer launching the Camden School District's strategic plan, the superintendent gave an update on how they're doing.
At the meeting this morning at Woodrow Wilson High School, in Camden, schools superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard (at lectern in photo) noted that the district's five-part strategic plan, launched last year, addresses safety, facilities, quality of education, family engagement, and efficient use of resources.
"For a long time, this school district has dealt with financial mismanagement (and) personnel mismanagement," he said. "I've been here a year and a half, and we're trying to address it."
One parent, Rosa Trent, says that while she has seen progress, one of her main concerns deals with what she considers to be the excessive substitution of teachers.
"Our kids are used to a certain structure," she said, "and when the structure's not met, they bounce off the walls. A lot of our kids have emotional issues, and when you throw one little thing out of balance, the child is going to act on that."
Rouhanifard says the rate of teacher vacancies in Camden are consistent with other school districts across the country, "but the reality is that we have a lower teacher attendance rate, and that drives our substitute (rate), and that's a big problem and we're trying to address it. But it's not something that goes away overnight."
He says the district is working to make sure it has a more effective central office, to be able to do more with less. "We still have a lot of issues here and we're dealing with a lot of challenges," he said. "This is by no means a victory parade."
