Education Week - September 21, 2016 - 7

Projects Couple Teacher Housing
With New School Construction
Newark complex's ties to charters create tensions
Last school year, Sanjana Hossain
lived just a few steps from her job as a
teacher's assistant and tutor at Great
Oaks Charter School, in the center of
Newark, N. J. The school was part of
a brand-new complex called Teachers Village, where Hossain resided in
a three-bedroom apartment with four
other tutors. Great Oaks paid the rent
as well as a portion of her tuition toward a master's degree in education.
Now that Hossain is a 6th grade
language arts teacher at Great Oaks,
she will move into her own junior onebedroom in Teachers Village, at $1,200
a month, nearly $200 cheaper than the
average rental price for a one-bedroom
apartment in the city. The place would
be a steal for teachers who currently
commute to Newark from across the
river in New York City, where the average one-bedroom rents for an estimated $3,100.
But Hossain sees the proximity of
her apartment to her work as another benefit. "Without the stress
and time of commuting," she said,
"you are able to stay at work longer
and get so much more done. Teachers
can put in those extra hours, to make
sure they're developing engaging
lessons and grading assignments on
time to drive their instruction."
Initiatives to provide affordable
housing options to teachers are
neither new nor uncommon, with
districts ranging from Santa Clara,
Calif., to Hertford County, N.C., currently offering such programs. But
Newark's Teachers Village is part of
a small but growing movement to
create lower-cost and convenient living spaces for teachers as part of new
school construction projects.
In the case of the Newark project,
the fact that the schools in question are
charters has been a particular source
of tension.
The largely privately financed
Teachers Village complex, designed
by Newark-born architect Richard
Meier, famous for the Getty Center
in Los Angeles, encompasses three
charter schools, 214 apartments, a
gym, and 65,000 square feet of retail
space. Private security guards patrol
its five city blocks.

Recruitment Strategy
The developer behind the project,
RBH Group, is spearheading similar
initiatives in Chicago and Hartford,
Conn., reportedly in connection with
the construction of traditional public
schools. A separate, smaller project
that RBH is not involved in has been
launched this year around the development of a two new charter schools in
the District of Columbia.
For supporters, the projects represent a new way of thinking about how
to attract and retain teachers. The goal,
they say, is to make life easier, safer,
and even a bit luxurious for teachers who log long hours in high-needs
neighborhoods.

"At its core, this is a recruitment
and retention tool," said Ron Beit, the
president and CEO of RBH Group. "We
saw what was going on in the education space in Newark, where there are
more young, idealistic teachers coming
from all over the region, only about
50 percent of whom lived in the city."
While Teachers Village houses three
charters, its reduced-rent apartments
are available to traditional public
school teachers in the Newark district
as well. According to figures Beit provided, in 2015, 18 percent of the residents are regular district teachers, 38
percent are charter school teachers,
and 44 percent are AmeriCorps tutors who work at Great Oaks Charter
School. (RBH Group didn't respond to
requests for updated residency figures
by press time.)
According to federal data from 2014,
roughly 24 percent of Newark's students attend charter schools.

Charter Concerns
Back in 2006, then-Newark Mayor
Cory Booker pushed vigorously for
the $150 million, six-building Teachers Village project, which was largely
underwritten by big private donors like
Goldman Sachs Inc. and spurred by
tens of millions of dollars in city, state,
and federal tax breaks. Booker, now a
U.S. senator, says he put a lot of energy
into starting the project because he
thought it would provide an economic
lift to the city.
"We really transformed the way the
neighborhood area feels, creating a
multiplier effect," he said. "There are
businesses and restaurants outside
the Teachers Village area that are now
growing and thriving because of the
change. This is all happening because
we are highlighting the empowerment
of young people."
But not everyone shares Booker's enthusiasm for Teachers Village.
Newark Teachers Union President
John M. Abeigon says the union, an
affiliate of the American Federation
of Teachers, initially backed the project because it thought it would benefit
more traditional public school teachers.
At the start, he says, the developers
had emphasized its planned support
for such educators.
But Abeigon contends that the
project then became aligned with
what he calls the "corporate charter school movement." For evidence,
he cites the complex's three charter
schools and the fact that most of the
apartments are rented to charter
teachers and staff.
Abeigon's concerns are echoed by
Randi Weingarten, president of the
AFT.
"This was supposed to be a way to recruit and support and retain Newark
public school teachers," she said. "That
was the basis on which then-president
of the Newark Teachers Union Joe Del
Grosso [now deceased] and the AFT
said this makes sense, because we really do believe in the idea of teachers
living in the communities in which

they teach. But Teachers Village came
to be about charter teachers alone and
that was dead wrong."
Abeigon also argues that the complex's close ties to charter schools belie
the developers' professed commitment to the long-term health of the
community-a sentiment shared by
other critics of the project.
"It's a known fact that traditional
public school teachers, who I refer to
as career educators, stay longer than
charter school teachers, so their commitment and investment in the community is that much greater," he said.
"Those living in Teachers Village are
going to be turnaround tenants. They'll
do their two-year stints with [Teach
For America] or a charter school, beef
up their résumés, and then go get a job
elsewhere. They aren't going to really
be invested in Newark."
Booker insists that no one type of
teacher was given priority for housing in Teachers Village. "Teachers
Village is just a good thing for everybody because it creates jobs and
educational opportunities. Whether

Photos by Mark Abramson for Education Week

By Brenda Iasevoli

kids go to a charter school or a public school, if their parents get a job,
that helps relieve poverty in the
city," he said.
But Abeigon believes the funding for
the project could have been better used
to help traditional public schools. In his
view, the tens of millions of dollars in
tax breaks that went to the developers diverted money that public schools
could have sorely used.
"Charter school expansions lead to
public school closings and employee
layoffs," he said. "If a public school
teacher wants to live in one of those
apartments, it's fine with me. It's a free
country, they can live anywhere they
want. However, I would ask them to
take into consideration that their rent
is going to sponsor their own demise."
Beit dismisses charges that the project has favored charter schools, saying leases were offered to the school
district and that advertising for the
apartments has been extended to all

teachers. He added that criticism that
the teachers renting the apartments
won't put down ties in the community
or remain in the teaching profession
misses the bigger picture.
"Whether they stay as teachers, how
long they stay, that remains to be seen,"
said Beit. "But we are attracting new
people to Newark, number one, and
number two, we are attracting people
to the education field who wouldn't otherwise be here. These are wins in and
of themselves."
For her part, language arts teacher
Hossain says she's not going anywhere.
"Why would I leave?" she said.
"This is definitely a long-term decision. Teaching is difficult. There are
so many trials and tribulations that
come along with the job. Yet here is a
community where people support each
other. At the end of the day, I know
there will be someone close by to support me when I need it, and that is the
best feeling ever."

FROM TOP: Teachers Village
is a mixed-use complex that
takes up five blocks along
Halsey Street in the center of
Newark, N.J. The development
encompasses three charter
schools, a day-care facility,
and a gym, in addition to
reduced-cost housing units
for teachers and tutors.
Sanjana Hossain teaches
a 6th grade language arts
class at Great Oaks Charter
School, one of the schools
housed in Teachers Village.
She says living in such close
proximity to the school has
made her job easier.

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Education Week - September 21, 2016

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