Post by admin on Jan 12, 2010 5:51:12 GMT -5
Before I begin, I want to make real clear, it is rare that I have ever publicly criticized our BOE or staff. Just the contrary, I have a lot of respect for the people who work day in and day out to provide a quality education for the children of Freehold Borough.
I am not a parent or an educator, but I have worn a few hats that have brought me in contact with various staff and I really do have the highest regard for them. Be it as the administrator of the Freehold Voice, a former CIC member or as an attendee of the first Citizens Academy, I have always realized that the people in the schools are true professionals who work tirelessly.
It is often said that the borough schools are good little secret in our town. Many parents have echoed that in discussions with me. Besides the quality staff, our schools do a great job with many things.
I understand that test scores are rising, we have a great 21st Century program that enhances many subjects, a great free lunch program, free day care for three and four year old children, good programs that help English deficient children and so much more. Without question, some perceptions of the borough schools are not just.
I have to make the above clear because often people will get defensive and mistake my intent. One thing about me is that I am a critic of public education in general, regardless of the public school system in front of me.
If I were a parent, public education would be a last resort for me. I would seek private education and then consider home schooling before public education, regardless of the town I was living in. This leads me into my first topic here. Private school.
One size does not fit all, no matter how hard we try. For that reason, I am a firm believer that this town would benefit from bringing in a non religious private school. I believe that should be done with a voucher system in place.
I know we have St. Rose which has an awesome reputation, but Catholic school is not for everybody. A new private school would be good for the town, as a whole, for a multitude of reasons. The first and most obvious is that parents would be empowered with choices. That is never a bad thing. The vouchers are a necessity because we have a large number of middle and income people in this town who simply cannot afford to pay tuition.
In many places where I see these discussions, people in public education are usually against this type of idea. Much of that will start with the teacher unions because private schools are usually non union, which aids a great deal in keeping their costs down. Unfortunately, administrators often come from the union ranks so they are likely to be sympathetic with the unions.
Being specific to our town, I think our school system should welcome and embrace this sort of idea. Our schools are overcrowded and have lost the referendum for more classroom space twice. With the demographics changing and a large percentage, if not a majority, of parents not able to vote, that will not change. Getting vouchers and boosting private education will peel off kids and ease the burdens of over crowding. Remember, our schools are well funded, but our problem is that we have too many kids and are beyond capacity.
It is also important to keep in mind that private education is not subjected to all of the state and federal mandates that the public schools are. A few years ago, the schools put out a poll to find out what concerns people. Unfunded mandates were at the top of the list. It is very doubtful that the state will ease those burdens any time soon. These mandates are a big part of the problem that our schools have and are a reason why they cost ten thousand per child while St. Rose costs five or six thousand per child.
So put all of the above together and we have an idea that empowers parents, eases the overcrowding for our public educators, and gives the town another attraction to make it a great place to live. Private schools are even a part of our history. Years ago there were private schools here in the borough that brought in young students to learn. It would be nice to recapture that part of our past.
Now, lets get away from the above and change direction here a little. Like I wrote earlier, this is a Hodge podge post. In a few short months, we will have BOE elections again. There are no known candidates who will challenge the incumbents at this time, but last years results certainly make this year a bit more interesting to watch.
To recap last year, we saw every incumbent bounced from office. To date, I am puzzled by this. At the regional level it was understandable because of the hot button topics there, but, we had nothing real hot going on here. I even had a reporter call me and ask me if I had any idea why we saw the results we did and I did not have an answer. Was it a carry over from the regional race? Or is there some sort of undercurrent of discontent that has not gone very public?
Remember that the budget passed and the incumbents lost, in both cases by very slim margins. that is an indicator that enough parents came out to vote for the budget. I would guess it was also the parents who voted in the new people. I could be wrong in that guess, but that is all the more reason to see what happens this year. Will we see a repeat? If so, why?