"A ZIP code does not determine your ability": Educators turn failing New Jersey school into success story
CBSN
Camden, New Jersey — A charter school in New Jersey was one of the worst performing schools in the state until a group of educators led by principal Susanna Tagoe stepped in.
"Camden is not just the boarded up houses that you see. There are lives, there are brilliant, beautiful scholars," Tagoe said. "There are families who love their kids, who are passionate about education, passionate about equity, passionate about change."
That passion helped turn Camden's failing public schools into a success story. Eight years ago, the state took over the schools and transformed them. Once a rundown building, Camden Prep is now the highest performing school in the area.
Ashley White received her earliest combat action badge from the United States Army soon after the first lieutenant arrived in Afghanistan. The silver military award, recognizing soldiers who've been personally engaged by an attacker during conflict, was considered an achievement in and of itself as well as an affirming rite of passage for the newly deployed. White had earned it for using her own body to shield a group of civilian women and children from gunfire that broke out in the midst of her third mission in Kandahar province. All of them survived. She never mentioned the badge to anyone in her battalion.