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Five Questions for the New Principal at TECCS

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In August, the turmoil at The Ethical Community Charter School (TECCS) over the ouster of former principal Marta Bergamini came to an end with the hiring of a new principal, Chloe Lewis. Lewis is a fourteen-year education veteran who has worked as a teacher, math supervisor, curriculum supervisor, vice-principal, and principal. Jersey City Times got a chance to ask her some questions about her background, her teaching philosophy and the future of the school.

1)   What motivated you to become an educator?

At a young age, I always knew I wanted to become an educator because I wanted to work with children.  When I was in high school, I had a principal that was a true inspiration to me.  I also had a professor in college, who created a class that made me love learning.  My high school principal and my college professor are two of the major reasons why I pursued a career in education.  Their ability to guide students, develop rapport, their fairness, and sense of justice made me aspire to bring these things into my own classroom and school as a leader.

2)  In your career as an educator prior to TECCS, what have you found to be most challenging and how did you try to meet that challenge?

In my career as an educator prior to TECCS, I found that the greatest challenge that I have faced was the fight to eliminate inequity.  One way in which I try to meet this challenge is to remove any barriers that would potentially cause the inequity.  Equity does not mean equality; equity simply means that each child receives exactly what is needed in order to succeed.  The battle for equity is what drives my passion as an educator.  There are so many students whose only opportunity at a better life is to receive the quality education that they deserve.  I’m hopeful that we will continue to provide that opportunity at TECCS.   

3)  If you were asked to pick the three most important factors that go into a student’s success, what would they be?

I believe the three most important factors that go into a student’s success are:

1)    A positive school environment that includes a positive school culture and classroom practices that continually support positive relationships; physical and emotional safety, including identity safety; and a sense of belonging and purpose.

2)    Support for the intentional development of social and emotional skills.  These skills should include self-regulation, intrapersonal awareness, interpersonal skills, growth mindset and support resilience.  The support for behavior should be restorative and enable students to learn how to collaborate, resolve conflict and continue to contribute to the community.

3)    Providing real world connections with students which are extremely valuable.  When there is a personal connection to the work, students are more willing to invest their time and energy to the task.  Students should be met at their current level and provided with work that is challenging (according to their level of learning), and teachers should provide differentiation to meet the needs of all learners.

4)  You’ve taken over the reigns from a beloved leader in Marta Bergamini. Where, if at all, do you see making changes in how she approached the job both from the perspective of an educator or administrator?

Although I am taking over the reigns of a beloved leader, I am bringing my own experience and leadership style.  I take great pride in building positive relationships with the staff, families and students; I will continue to rebuild our school culture, strengthen our student achievement, and ensure that our ethics mission is at the core of our decision making process.  Currently, my focus is to continue to strengthen our remote learning program and prepare to safely open school for all TECCS families and staff.

5)  What are some of the challenges and/or opportunities specific to TECCS that you’d like to address going forward?

Some of the opportunities specific to TECCS that I would like to address going forward would be to continue to increase our ethics mission through various programs.  I would like to continue to work with our community at large, build successful partnerships, and proceed with connecting our curriculum to real world experiences.

Editorial: A Teachable Moment For TECCS

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A sad spectacle is playing out at The Ethical Community Charter School, the well-regarded K-8 school in Jersey City’s Marion neighborhood, better known as TECCS. On June 30, the four person executive committee of the school’s board of trustees fired its long serving and beloved principal, Marta Bergamini, without consulting parents or other board members. A firestorm ensued. Parents signed a petition calling for Bergamini’s re-hiring. The board then voted to reopen contract negotiations.  On July 27th, the executive committee announced that the negotiations with Bergamini had failed.  The executive committee refused to explain the outcome.  Now, with some parents apparently pulling out their kids and its future uncertain, the school is leaderless moving into a Fall semester already challenged by the covid-19 pandemic.

There is a lesson in all of this, one that should become part of TECCS’ curriculum. Here’s my suggestion for the first class.

Good morning kids. Today I’d like to talk to you about law and ethics. What does that mean?  It means that, as citizens, we all agree to follow a set of rules. We write laws because we know that sometimes people will do bad things that hurt other people. For instance, if we didn’t have laws against stealing, some people would take property that didn’t belong to them. Now, some people wouldn’t steal even if there were no law against it. That’s called being ethical.  An ethical person behaves a certain way, not because the law requires it, but because it’s the right thing to do.  It’s the way we would want other people to treat us.  Sometimes that’s called the golden rule.

Because ethics is an important part of what we teach here at TECCS we wanted to tell you about something that happened at the school over the summer. In late June, several individuals on our school’s board of trustees did something they shouldn’t have. While their intentions may have been honorable, it wasn’t legal or ethical. First, they didn’t follow the law when they decided to fire our principal. You see, there’s something called the by-laws. The by-laws are a written set of rules that tell the members of a board of trustees what they can and can’t do. In the case of our board of trustees, only the full board can hire or fire the principal. But, sadly, a small group called the executive committee decided to exercise that power without the rest of the board members. And then there’s another law called the “New Jersey Open Public Meetings Act.” The Open Meetings Act requires boards to debate important issues openly and to vote publicly before acting. The executive committee didn’t hold an open meeting or vote publicly. So, kids, when they fired Ms. Bergamini, they didn’t do so legally.

What makes it even worse, young ones, is that in this case, the executive committee didn’t act ethically either. They didn’t seem to consider the fact that it was wrong.  Why was it wrong? For two reasons. First, most of the board members did not want to fire Ms. Bergamini and wanted to be part of the decision making process. When the executive committee let her go, they were disregarding the feelings and rights of others. That’s unethical. Second, we know that none of the executive committee members would want to be treated the way they treated their fellow board members. So, class, they also broke the golden rule.

We understand that many of you are upset to see adults behave illegally and unethically. In life, you will, unfortunately, see this happen again. The important thing is that you speak out when people act this way. One day, you will be in charge and our democracy will depend on it.

Any questions?