Adelaide L. Sanford Charter School

My son has been blessed with a wonderful education thus far. While living in New York he was slotted for special education, at this time he is a top student. He has wonderful dedicated teachers and comes to a loving educational environment daily. If I tell him that he can't go to school he becomes upset and negotiates to send him part of the day and pick him up for his appointment. He loves to learn and cannot wait until the next school day.
I feel that my child is protected. The headmaster Mr. Delacy is awesome at helping to secure our child.
I have faith that this school will continue to provide service to my child and the community, and share their structure and philosophies with other failing schools.

For three years the school has been making a grand impression on Newark's educational community because of its African centered curriculum. Although School Digger indicates that it's a K-2 school, it is now a K-4 school soon to be a K-5 school. Every year, the school adds another year (i.e. two more classrooms) and they are running out of space to house these students. The school began in a mansion, one of the largest in the city of Newark and it is owned by WISOMMM (Women in Support of the Million Man March).

Despite the cramped learning environment, the staff is friendly and the children seem to be learning. The School Director was once a former police captain so, as one might expect, there are no serious discipline problems and the parents are very cooperative as well.

My child attended ALSCS during her first and second grade years. That first year, I was very impressed by the amount of African history and African centered learning that seemed to be weaved in every aspect of my child's learning and the rigorous homework that was given. There was a high expectation of all the students and the parents as well. My daughter's state test scores were in the upper percentiles while her class as a whole did not do nearly as well.

Those were the positive comments. The area of concern for any parent is the amount of staff turnover, the unprofessional demeanor parents are met with when approaching the school leader and the inconsistent reinforcement of school rules and policies when it comes to students. It seemed to me that if you were a friend or relative of anyone in administration, a different set of rules would apply. Those were areas of concern for me. There seemed to be little stability as far as administration was concerned and the teachers did not seem empowered to speak. It's a one man show there in which the school leader is the star - not the children but the school leader. He should be applauded for his efforts but if the community is begin called upon to help rear the child, as in most African villages, then the community's voice should be heard and have say in how certain aspects of the school is run. Afterall, the school serves the community and there should exist a symbiotic relationship. I didn't find that to be the case. That was a major disappointment for me and I transferred my daughter out after a horrible second year with a teacher that refused to communicate with me and other parents... It was just disappointing all around.