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Families piled into Newark Vocational High School on a recent Saturday, looking for the right school for their children.
Teachers and school staff called out to them in hallways that resembled a raucous street market. It was the first day students could apply to schools for the 2027-28 school year, and educators were making their pitch.
“Got any high schoolers?” one staff member shouted. “Want a place where your child can succeed?” another called out.
The All Schools Fair was a chance to learn what the school system offers. Some parents had children enrolled in charter schools, but were looking to switch to district schools. Some had already sent their kids to Newark Public Schools and were cautious based on their experience. Others had children already enrolled in the district but wanted to learn more about their options.
Many parents who spoke with Chalkbeat at the event said they appreciated Newark hosting the fair so they could learn more about their choices all in one place. But they also stressed the importance of learning more about the schools on their own — and not letting the schools paint the whole picture.
From now through mid-January, students can tour schools and attend open houses. The application window closes at midnight on Jan. 15, and students will find out their results March 22, according to the district website. Newark used to operate a universal enrollment system for both district-run and charter schools, but many of the city’s charter schools now use a separate application called the Newark Common App.
Guirlande Zetrenne smiled as she watched her seventh grader interact with a high school staff member in a crowded hallway. Zetrenne and her son moved recently to Newark from Queens, New York, and said she was “happier with the academics, the information” available in her new city and school system.
“These events help you to see what you want to highlight. This is the best way to get to know the community,” said Zetrenne. But she urged people to also “go do your own research, have discussions with other families.”
Jules M., the parent of an eighth grader who asked for only her last name’s initial to be shared, stood outside of a classroom filled with information on the Newark School of Global Studies, where she wants her daughter to go for its Arabic language program. Her daughter has always attended Newark Public Schools, which she described as an “on and off journey.”
“It just really depends on the teachers,” she said. “She had some good ones, she had some bad ones, but I think that’s in every school district.”
Danye Bell transitioned her son from a charter to a district high school last year, which she said was a big adjustment.
Despite that, she is still looking to send her fourth grader and eighth grader, who are currently in charter schools, to Newark Public Schools for middle and high school.
Bell highlighted that the enrollment fair was important for deciding a school and that all schools should provide readily available information for students.
“As a parent in the community, that’s our right,” she said. “A school is a business at the end of the day. But we appreciate options.”
Like Bell, Shay D.’s eighth-grade student currently attends a charter school, but she wants to send her daughter to a district school next year. (Shay asked her full last name be omitted due to privacy concerns.)
She hopes her daughter will go to Weequahic High School, the same school she graduated from in 2012, and participate in its Allied Health Academy program, where she can earn college credits and graduate with an associate degree.
She was initially unsure about that idea, because she said it lacked programs that prepared students for success when she was a student there.
But after doing research, she said she discovered things have changed there.
“I don’t want to let my experience scare away my kid from getting her own experience,” she said.