“I can't believe what you say, because I see what you do.” – James Baldwin

It is true that Superintendent XXXXXXX XXXXXXX is a product of the great city of Camden and its public school system both as a student and educator. It is also true that this background has been used to shield Superintendent XXXXXXX from her actions that endangers the future of the Camden City School District, the availability of public education in Camden, as well disregards the lives of those who rely on our city schools: parents, students, and educators.

While petitions such as these are often labeled as partisan, and motivated by self-interest, the facts of Superintendent XXXXXXX’ stewardship of CCSD speaks volumes and coveys a “leader” who is motivated by political survival, and not the best interest of community members, students, or educators. Because of the accumulation of the events highlighted below over Ms. XXXXXXX’s not-quite-three years as superintendent, for the survival of our schools, Ms. XXXXXXX must resign.

1. Despite residents and educators, for years, working to reclaim the right to vote for a democratically elected school board against powerful political interests, Ms. XXXXXXX used her platform as acting-superintendent during a school board meeting, to advocate her preference for the continuing of the directly mayoral-appointed school board knowing that would result in residents being denied voting rights. (10/2018)

2. During Ms. XXXXXXX’s 1st year as acting Superintendent, she announced the closure of Veterans Memorial Family School (VMFS), a neighborhood school that has been a staple of the Cramer Hill community of over 80 years, and potentially displacing 500 students and upending the lives of hundreds of families. (3/2019)

3. During Ms. XXXXXXX’s 1st year as acting Superintendent, she also announced that RT Cream, at the time, a PreK-8th grade family school, would be transitioned in to an all-PreK facility knowing that the politically connected KIPP/Cooper/Norcross: Sumner renaissance school was, coincidentally, slated to open a K-8 school just a few blocks away the following year. (3/2019)

a. Fortunately, due to massive pushback from the community and educators, the former Commissioner of Education overruled Ms. XXXXXXX and mandated that VMFS stay open, and rather than RT Cream becoming an exclusively all-PreK facility, must add a grade each year and grow alongside the returning Branch Village community. (5/2019)

4. Despite agreeing to a plan to grow schools and stave off future school closures in May 2020, by June 2020, the Superintendent “realized the District had a $40M deficit” that would force the closure of up to four schools at the end of the 2020-21 school year (11/2020)

a. The $40M deficit has still yet to be substantiated or proven

b. During the Summer of 2020, both the District’s Business Administrator and Assistant Business Administrator were separated from the District in successive months; these two positions, along with the Superintendent, were responsible for overseeing the responsible handling of hundreds of millions in state taxpayer dollars. The Superintendent, in effort to keep this matter quiet, has never publicly explained what happened regarding these separations, why they took place, or the impact on the District, its students and staff. This erodes public and educator trust.

c. Keeping missteps quiet has become the routine under Ms. XXXXXXX’s leadership as instances of fiscal mismanagement under the previous leader of the District’s Career and Technical Education (CTE) Department has never been shared or explained to the public, nor the extent of wrongdoing, or the impact to students. This erodes public and educator trust.

d. Similarly, despite violating the District’s own policy to maintain employee records, the District has lost numerous employee’s personnel records when the District began to digitize employee records nearly ten years ago. Though Superintendent XXXXXXX is not to blame for the lost employee records, her choosing to keep this important matter quiet though it is negatively impacting employees now is emblematic of Ms. XXXXXXXs’ preference of sweeping matters under the rug. This, further erodes public and educator trust.

5. Superintendent XXXXXXX’s has been on the board of Camden Enrollment for years despite it being a third-party organization that is financially supported by anti-public education foundations like the Arnold Foundation and 50 Can. Further, Ms. XXXXXXX has had proof that Camden Enrollment has been manipulating public school enrollment in Camden and chose to do nothing to stop it. Instead, while knowing Camden Enrollment was showing parents that entire grades were “not open” and limiting access to District schools, rather than doing everything possible to limit Camden Enrollment’s impact on our schools and subsequently our budget, Superintendent XXXXXXX publicly repeated claims that Camden public schools were “losing students”. Ms. XXXXXXX never told the public what Camden Enrollment was doing to the District, despite knowing the truth. Subsequently, we have also uncovered connections between Camden Enrollment and the Director of the Camden County Commissioners, Mr. Louis Cappelli. Such collusion erodes public trust.

6. Superintendent XXXXXXX announced the closure of four public schools. Ms. XXXXXXX labeled the targeted CCSD Schools “deplorable”, under-enrolled, and repeated the District will be facing a $40M deficit in 2021. (1/2021)

a. Despite never proving the District’s $40M deficit, and even with an influx of federal and state aid amounting to nearly $170M in additional aid next year, according to Superintendent XXXXXXX, the District’s still unproven financial condition are a valid rationale for closing schools. (3/2021)

7. The current Commissioner twice sided with Ms. XXXXXXX in allowing the closure of 3 schools – a move that will displace 1100 elementary students; including hundreds of special education, bi-lingual, and ELL students. This move will disrupt the lives of hundreds of families and upend whole neighborhoods. Further, in that it is likely that the District will lose students as parents opt to have their child attend closer schools including charter and renaissance schools, the District will also lose future funding toward its budget. Despite being faced with all these likely realties, Ms. XXXXXXX is going full speed ahead with closing public schools that are truly irreplaceable. (3/3021)

8. In less than three years as superintendent, Ms. XXXXXXX has advocated for the closure of 5 schools (Yorkship, VMFS, Cramer, Sharp, Wiggins) and the radical restructuring of 1 (RT Cream). Never has Ms. XXXXXXX made efforts to grow our schools or the District’s enrollment, but instead the go-to “solution” has always been to close buildings. This erodes public and educator trust.

This list could go on, from reneging on verbal agreements concerning extending recess a few minutes for our youngest learners to granting more time for people to speak during public portions at board meetings, the Superintendent has shown us time and time again, that we don’t matter, nor does the survival of a public school system she’s been entrusted to protect. And while some members of the public may have a hard time reconciling the kind speeches and measured tones Superintendent XXXXXXX employs, or the fact that she seems like a nice person, the realities of what she’s accepted and wrought upon CCSD and Camden students, as the Superintendent, speaks for itself.

As such, Ms. Katrina McCombs must go.   

*every claim can be supported, with documentation