Jersey City Officials Vow to Fight N.J. Move to Take Over Schools

New Jersey state officials moved Tuesday to seize control of the troubled Jersey City school system and fire the people who run it, marking the first time that a state has attempted so drastic a measure to save a district considered a “chronic failure.”

The move, which district officials have vowed to fight, is New Jersey’s first test of its 4-month-old school takeover law, which is aimed at making individual districts more accountable to the state. Eight states have passed versions of the law, and others--including California--are considering similar measures of varying strength.

In 1987, about three-quarters of the district’s ninth-graders failed a basic test on reading, writing and math, and the condition of its schools was deemed deplorable by state investigators. Administrators of the district--the state’s second-largest with about 30,000 students--blame their problems on a lack of funding, but state officials have cited mismanagement and even corruption.

“The time has come when the state must step in to protect the innocent victims of the district’s failure--the children of Jersey City,” Education Commissioner Saul Cooperman said.

Cooperman made the decision to take over the Jersey City district after receiving a 700-page report from independent auditors detailing what Assistant Commissioner Walter J. McCarroll described as “an overwhelming failure of the school system. We have documented example after example of the Jersey City school district’s chronic failure.”

Under the law, the district has 10 days to decide whether to attempt to block the takeover in court. District Supt. Franklin Williams issued a statement saying that he took “strong exception to the overall conclusions” made by the state.

He added that the district has “worked diligently and with great success in implementing reforms and improving performance.”