Let's just get this out of the way. My post this week is going to be more than just a vent.  

I am going to share with you the rumblings I am now hearing about Roger Leon.  After my last blog, I received a boatload of information.  So here we go.

In reaction to my last blog, a friend who still works closely with one of Roger's deputies called me with some big news.  It looks like the State has put Newark back in its sights and is investigating the Superintendent and his school enrollment plan.   Yup, not good for Roger.

I also heard that Roger has now picked up a new nickname – Roger the Dodger – within some school level circles.  

This came up at a zoom meeting I attended, and the way it was explained to me, the nickname came about after the Superintendent decided to listen to John Abeigon and postponed school again.  The Dodger part comes from Roger's fear of making tough decisions. Also,  not good.

But it gets worse.  ChalkBeat Newark's piece about the District's inability to address absenteeism could not come at a worse time, and it sounds like folks at City Hall are not only concerned about this issue, but some of the wrong people were blindsided.

Now to be clear and real, I have no idea what the Mayor thinks about this. Still, it seems even more than this State investigation, Newark's chronic absenteeism is a real concern and is the issue more likely to affect whether Roger stays or goes.

I don't know enough about this supposed State investigation or the nickname thing, but like many Newark parents, this absenteeism has had upset me for a while.  

As you may remember, last September, I called Roger out for running around bragging to our State that Newark's school attendance had a 99.8% attendance.  At the time, it just did not sound right.  It sounded like a big fat lie, and it got me frustrated.

It now seems I was right.  

According to last week's ChalkBeat piece, the issue is far worse than Newark or the State realized, and many are concerned and rumbling about Leon's future has already started.

According to ChalkBeat, "More than 1 in 5 Newark students were chronically absent from remote learning this Fall, according to district data, meaning that thousands of students went missing from their virtual classrooms on a regular basis….3,000 of those students were "severely" chronically absent, according to the District's criteria, meaning they missed more than 9 school days — the equivalent of two weeks or more of class. If the pattern persists, those students will lose out on more than 30 school days by the end of this academic year."

So, somehow – Newark went from near 100% attendance in Spring to this?

Remember, after I blogged about this issue in September, Leon called me up and threatened to sue me – remember, I still have the audiotape of the conversation.

It looks like the information reported in Chalkbeat shows I had good reason to call him out.

More importantly, it now seems many others around Newark are now asking the same questions I did last Fall.

As I have admitted, since starting this blog, my own concerns and temperature about our School District have gone up, and this Winter that the temperature is now rising for many – as are the rumblings.

So here we go again.  We have all seen this movie before when Cami Anderson was here.  While I would not necessarily say we are in Cami territory, it looks like a Part II might be in development.

But regardless of the name-calling and the investigations, I think Roger can help his standing in Newark by being honest with us and answering this question – Are Our Boys and Girls Attending School or Not?