Cami Anderson, an ally of Newark Mayor Cory Booker and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s pick to lead the Newark school district, brings bona fides to a school system desperately in need of an alternative vision. Anderson has served the New York Department of Education for the past five years as its director of alternative schools for nontraditional students, a role Andy Rotherham profiled in this 2009 story for U.S. News and World Report. During that time, Anderson had pushed independently for the opening of several charter schools that would serve students at risk of dropping out of the very district for which she worked.
Cami Anderson
Age: 39
Occupation: Superintendent for District 79 in New York City, a network of 300 schools serving nontraditional students, usually over-age, who disengaged from schools or whose education was otherwise interrupted.
Education: University of California, Berkeley, B.A. in education and anthropology; Harvard University, M.P.P. and M.Ed.
Background: Executive director for the New York City Regional Office of Teach for America; chief program officer for New Leaders for New Schools; director for policy and strategy for Cory Booker’s Newark mayoral campaign
