Q & A on Camden’s new charter school operator

Sometimes hearing people talk about complex issues makes it a lot easier to understand. Take for instance this week’s decision by the Camden Board of Education to approve an outside company to run up to five of its public schools. 

This is more than just allowing charter schools in, these schools are part of a unique law that allows the school districts in Camden, Trenton and Newark to hire private school managers. 

John Mooney, is one of the founders of NJ Spotlight, and has covered education in New Jersey for 15 years as a reporter for The Newark Star-Ledger and The Bergen Record and recently as a contributing writer for The New York Times.

In this podcast, he explains who the charter operators are and tries to shed light on why the board of education approved the charter school plan after it rejected it just a month ago.