WHYY
By
At the warming center at Yorkship Elementary School on Feb. 11, 2021, Tawanda Jones rests in what she calls her apartment strategically-placed blankets that she said hide her from the patrons view when she sleeps in the gym. (April Saul for WHYY)
It was the morning of Jan. 28 when Connie Kellum saw the weather report for Camden and called Tawanda “Wawa” Jones, her longtime friend.
“I said, ‘What are we doing for Code Blue? We got five hours, the storm’s in Buffalo, and it’s coming.”
Jones founder of the Camden Sophisticated Sisters drill team and the Masked Melanin Market, which showcases Black-owned businesses had been thinking the same thing.
WHYY
By
On Jan. 25, demonstrators protest school closures in front of Harry C. Sharp Elementary School, slated to be shuttered by Camden City School Superintendent Katrina McCombs. (Photo by April Saul for WHYY)
At Tuesday’s school district advisory board meeting, Camden School Superintendent Katrina McCombs announced a plan to close four neighborhood schools, despite pleas from children who advocated for the opposite.
Superintendent McCombs’ decision to shutter the schools, in the face of what she described as a $40 million shortfall for the 2021-22 school year, was not surprising.
Last year, McCombs formed a long-term planning committee to confer on potential closings, and held two forums for community input.