Shavar Jeffries, an attorney who lost his bid to be mayor of Newark, N.J., is the new president of Democrats for Education Reform.
Jeffries is black. His appointment comes as the self-titled education reform movement tries to look more like the children it aims to uplift.
“There are no black people who lead these ... organizations,” said Derrell Bradford, the director of reform organization NYCAN (New York Campaign for Achievement Now), who is himself black. “I don’t see the world through that lens but it’s not lost on me.”
In California, DFER has sparred with the state Democratic Party but has recently kept a lower profile.