Roger Leon and Donald Trump Have A Lot in Common – They Both Think We are Suckers

This summer, my daughter was assigned to West Side High School through Newark Enrolls.

The whole process has been one of the most disorganized I have ever seen. Hold on a second, I should not use the word "process" because there has been no process.

Having not received any specific information from the school district, I took the morning off from work on the first day of school to confirm my daughter was set up for the new school year. I was told by the school to come back another day with the rest of her paperwork, and this went on, ready for this, for three weeks!

We had a classroom schedule for my daughter, the school lost enrollment information that was provided months ago, and as I attempted to reach various departments, it was clear no one walk talking to each other. Bottom line, she was not able to start at West Side until 9/24/2020, yet she had a scheduled and we were told she was registered without having the supporting documents.

Let's be real. We all know the drill. This is what Newark school district parents are accustomed to. Unfortunately, many of you reading have your own story. We all do. It frustrating, and as parents, we should not all be struggling so hard to ensure our kids can receive a public education.

But here is where my frustration really turns to anger.

While we are dealing with all of this with my daughter, while so many parents are dealing with their own frustrations, according to ChalkBeat Newark, our District Superintendent, Roger Leon, has been running around bragging to our Mayor and School Board that Newark's school attendance has been – get this – 99.8 percent.

I am going to repeat this –

According to Newark's District Superintendent Roger Leon, our school district, the largest school district in the state, has maintained 99.8% attendance through this global pandemic.

It made me wonder if Leon counted my daughter as "present" while struggling to attend classes in September?

Last week, I spent a good chunk of my blog questioning why our Superintendent announced a ten-year strategic plan in the middle of a global pandemic, incredibly when he has been mostly silent on the real concerns we as parents face right now.

No one is happy right now. Too many Newark kids don't have computers or wifi to participate in these remote classrooms. Too many kids are stranded alone during the day. And parents are frustrated and have been provided with little communication or support from the school district since this horror all began. To be fair, this is not all Leon's fault, but my point was that this was no time for a PR stunt. Instead of trying to change the subject, Leon should be investing his time addressing the immediate concerns of parents.

Little did I know that just as I was writing all of this last week, Leon doubled down and taken a page right out of Donald Trump.

It seems we have it much worse than just an obtuse Superintendent who does not understand our concerns. We actually have a Superintendent who is a liar, providing Trump-like alternative facts, and willing to say or do anything to benefit himself.

No need for the facts. No need for reality. No need for the truth. No need for checks and balances.

Thousands of Newarkers are dead or sick.

Classes have been pushed to remote learning, where – as I mentioned just last week in my blog – too many kids do not even have a computer, wifi, or needed supervision.

Yet somehow, through a miracle that only Roger Leon seems to believe, Newark classrooms have received a nearly perfect attendance score? Come on!

We live in a crazy time, a time when we have a President who dares to lie constantly. He has lied to us about the pandemic. He has lied about racism and inequity in our country.

We need honesty. We need transparency. We need the truth.

Roger Leon should be ashamed of his bogus enrollment claims.

99.8% – really?

Leon seems content to say whatever he wants, truth be damned.

By cooking his books, Leon is providing a terrible example for our kids.

Being a frustrated parent in the Newark school system, unfortunately, is expected.

But as we saw with Cami Anderson, it takes a special kind of Superintendent to make parents angry. And lying is simply inexcusable. Yet we all want to continue to blame Cami and say Roger is the savior.

Do our kids now feel empowered to not show up at school, knowing they will be marked as "present"?

Do our kids now feel that if Leon can cheat, so can they?

People, this is insane!

And again, these are the actions in Newark that keep me up at night. How can we allow this for Newark?