Teachers union opposes space-sharing plan for Newark, N.J., schools

From The Wall Street Journal: The union representing teachers in Newark, N.J., is rallying its members to oppose a plan to have charter schools share space with traditional public schools. The space battle is the first frontier of a systemwide restructuring effort spurred by a $100 million grant from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Over the past month, the school system, which is under state control, began raising the possibility that charter schools could take over space in underused public school buildings. FEBRUARY 2011...from The Newark Star-Ledger: Officials in Newark, N.J., are considering a plan to move out, or consolidate, several of the city’s public schools to make space for 11 charter schools in a massive reshuffling that could affect thousands of students.Several struggling public schools could be phased out and have their students sent to other schools under the plan. All have spent years on the state’s "schools in need of improvement" list because of low test scores. Others schools with low enrollment would be consolidated into a single building. The freed-up space would be leased to new and existing charter schools.