More than 80 Mastery parents, students and staff members traveled to Harrisburg on Tuesday to meet with more than 25 state senators and representatives about two very important issues: charter reform legislation (HB97) and common sense gun legislation.

HB97 is a comprehensive charter reform bill that reflects years of compromise and negotiation with all the major education stakeholders. HB97 allows high-performing charter schools to get a 10-year renewal and increases fairness and accountability by strengthening the enrollment process and changing the composition of the Charter Appeals Board to make it more balanced. It is critical to ensure equal treatment and to unite the charter school community.

Ten Mastery students have lost their lives to gun violence. Most recently, a junior at Mastery Thomas High was killed. The Parent Action Team is asking for lawmakers to pass common sense gun legislation to keep our communities and students safe.

We hope that legislators will stand strong and vote ‘yes’ for HB97 and common sense gun legislation.

On Wednesday, the Mastery Schools of Camden Parent Action Team and other Camden parents joined with Parents for Great Camden Schools and packed the New Jersey Board of Education in Trenton to celebrate the amazing progress of Camden schools! Parents cheered as Superintendent Paymon Rouhanifard and Deputy Superintendent Katrina McCombs presented the successes over the last five years:
• Reading and Math proficiency has doubled in district and renaissance schools
• $336 million invested in new schools within the Camden area
• 11 new and renovated schools
• Graduation rates have increased significantly

Camden parents are united in their desire for progress to continue. Thank you Superintendent Paymon for your leadership, vision and courage!