Diverse Group of Alumni Fighting Weequahic Closure

An association consisting of African-American and Jewish alumni has joined with parents of current students to oppose a plan to close Weequahic High School, the New Jersey Jewish News reported.

Weequahic, which opened its doors 80 years ago when the South Ward was a Jewish enclave, is slated to close under a plan crafted by the state of New Jersey and be replaced by two academies, one for boys and another for girls. The state Department of Education has run Newark’s public schools since the mid-1990s. The closure is part of the “One Newark” school reorganization plan unveiled by Superintendent Cami Anderson in the summer.

Weequahic, whose alumni include Nobel Prize-winning novelist Philip Roth, is scheduled to close at the end of the school year.

Spearheading an effort to enlist support of other African-American and Jewish alumni of the school is the Weequahic Alumni Association, whose co-president, Mary Dawkins, told New Jersey Jewish News the group is “actively” fighting the closure.