Dear Group,
As I read the comments on this group from Mr. Giberson, the decision to close schools according to the Press was made by our Interim Superintendent, Mrs. McDavid (who, by the way, receives a hefty salary of $13,000.00 per month plus housing and expenses in addition to her NJ pension) and our Board of Education. (Yes, Dr. Lewis is also being paid his full salary) On the television channels covering this story, not once did we hear that this decision was mandated by our State or County. Our State and County Educational Departments "supported this decision after they heard the reasons for it from Ms. McDavid." I do not think we are privy to our Interim Superintendent's list of these reasons, although once the confidentiality of this issue is over, Ms. McDavid's reasons should be made public. The State and County did not MAKE or MANDATE this decision according to the Press.
Greg Hopson Sr.
" .Board of Education President Robert DiSanto said the school board fully supported the decision to close the schools for the remainder of the week, which was made by acting Superintendent of Schools Kathy McDavid. McDavid did not return phone calls for comment Friday.
"There's a lot of issues," DiSanto said. "We don't know what the shooting was about, if it's gang-related, if there was something else behind it. He was one of our students, so we didn't know if there would be any retaliation within our schools. And we're just not equipped enough right now to secure our schools."
DiSanto said that the school administration was also hearing rumors that many teachers, nervous about the potential for further violence, were going to call out sick Thursday and Friday.
"We could have opened the schools, and the kids would have been there, and we might not have had any teachers there," he said.
John Napolitani, president of the Asbury Park Education Association, said he had heard from some teachers that they did not fully support the idea to close the district. He also said he had not heard that any teachers were going to call out.
"From what I'm gathering from some of the staff members, no, they really weren't 100 percent in support of (the district closing)," Napolitani said. "There's two ways to look at it: You can be in the schools and it's not safe, or you could be in the street and it's not safe. I think their way of looking at is, I think they felt the kids would probably be safer in the classroom, where there are teachers, there and counselors."
In the end, Napolitani said, "that was a decision made by the central office, and, of course, we have to support the decisions that are made by the central office."
Lawson said she fully supported McDavid's decision after hearing the reasons for it.
"It was a very comprehensive approach to making that decision," she said. "Certainly, after hearing all of the factors and the combination of education and law enforcement decisions, certainly
"I thought it was in the best interests to give them the opportunity to prepare adequately for how they were going to continue."
Lawson said she could not remember another time when an entire district had been closed.
The decision has been given a mixed reception by parents, DiSanto said.
"It's a lose-lose situation here because if we had opened the schools and a gun happened to get into our schools, then everybody would be crying, "Why didn't you close the schools?' " DiSanto said. "So we closed the schools, and they're saying, "Why did you close the schools?' Well, we had to make a decision, and we have the children's safety as our primary concern."
The
Peter Cheney, the school's co-director, said administrators wanted to give their 130 students "a place to talk about what their feelings were."
He said that the school also serves as a day care center and that closing it would have presented "another hardship to the families."
The school's staff was busy counseling students, some of whom were badly shaken by the shooting, Cheney said.
"We had a couple of eighth-grade students this morning that just broke down and were sobbing for 10 or 15 minutes," he said. "Then they went in with the counselors, and the counselors had a talk with them. Then they came back out, and they're still grieving."
Cheney said administrators believe the school community serves as a safe haven for students.
"We felt that we have a security system here that keeps them that way. Plus the routine that they're in helps them to kind of move away from what happened," Cheney said.
"When they come in in the morning, they seem to be a little bit more sensitive because they've had time at home and they hear things, and they've had the TV and the radio on, and they hear adults talking about what's going on in the community. So they do come in, and they have all these feelings, and we kind of talk it through during our initial contact with them."
--- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
>
> The decision to close the schools and cancel the meeting was made by the
> State Dept. of Education and also the County Superintendent of schools along with
> the board. It made no sense for school to be open with no staff in them. So we
> did not cut any thing get the facts.
>
> Garrett Giberson
> Board Member
>
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