I've been writing about the segregation of Asbury Park High School
for years. It's about time the Press started to catch up. I've
been studying this issue for a long time now.
Everytime I talk about desegregating the schools, people just call
me a "liberal." They're that freakin' stupid.
There is no political will to desegregate Asbury Park High School.
Money has already proved ineffective too.
Remember the old busing cases where they bussed kids into schools
they didn't belong in? Asbury is the opposite: The bussed out all
the white kids that are supposed to be here.
The only politically possible solution is to close the High School
and send kids (there is about 475) to each High School from
Manasquan to Reb Bank Regional (about 60 per school?).
Immediately each child would be in an far better educational system,
and segregation would be over. Also, the State could stop spending
$60 million each year on an Abbott district.
Now is a unique time to do it with Senator Karyllos leading the
consolidation charge.
Will the people who make money from Asbury Park High School let it
go? That's one barrier. The other is removing the fear of the
other towns who would receive the kids. Sity kids- 15 per grade?
Shouldn't be a problem.
Let me be clear: No other plan will work. Not even close. We will
just continue to have more generations of kids languish in one of
the worst schools in the State if we don't break that school up.
--- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "dfsavgny" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Superintendent spurned efforts to restructure Asbury Park schools
> Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 12/5/06
> The Dec. 3 editorial "End segregation in N.J. schools"
concentrates
> its verbal firepower on what you call "one of the state's most
> dysfunctional" school systems, Asbury Park. However, I
congratulate
> you on a thoughtful and appropriately harsh contribution to
finding
> an appropriate solution. You suggest a plan to distribute the
> children from Asbury Park into other schools. You even recommend
that
> one or more of the city's schools be turned into magnet or
specialty
> schools.
>
> The sad fact is that had now-suspended Superintendent of Schools
> Antonio Lewis followed the direction expressed by the board
majority
> more than two years ago, our district would be well on its way to
a
> much-needed restructuring. Back in 2004, the board majority knew
that
> the district was both largely dysfunctional and unstable,
especially
> on the secondary level. We asked the superintendent, newly
returned
> to the district after a failed attempt to dismiss him, to put the
> district on a trajectory to a newly structured educational model.
>
> The greatest stability, improvement and hope for the district lay
at
> the elementary level, and the greatest problem was at the Middle
> School, both as a concept and a reality. We wanted the district to
> return to a K-8 model, with three "neighborhood" elementary
schools
> Thurgood Marshall, Bangs and Bradley and one district-wide
> elementary school to be housed in the current Middle School
building.
>
> The district-wide elementary school would then be established as a
> Board of Education-run non-traditional charter school, with unique
> rules and programs that might appeal to parents throughout the
city.
> For example, uniforms might be a requirement there, as opposed to
the
> other elementary buildings, and rigorous performing arts or
> math/science programs could act as magnets.
>
> It was even demonstrated to the superintendent how that might be
> accomplished over a three-year period with a minimum of disruption
to
> the educational process. Unfortunately, the only things we got
were
> lip service from the administration and green-wrapped indifference
> from the state.
>
> The second phase in the "restructuring that never happened" would
> have addressed the inadequacies at the high school level, mainly
> through regionalization. Consider that even a district as small as
> Rumson has within its borders two school systems. There, the
effect,
> if not the intent, was to further segregation, both by race and
class.
>
> With the right incentives and prodding from the state, Asbury Park
> and Neptune, historically joined at the hip, could carve out a
shared
> high school system. Both the impressive, new, taxpayer-funded
Neptune
> High School facilities and the exquisite 1925 Asbury Park High
School
> building, campus and stadium could all be put to great educational
> use. Within a newly restructured high school system, there could
be
> both a Neptune-Asbury West High School and an Asbury-Neptune East
> High School, each magnificent buildings with unique programs to
> attract students from both communities.
>
> Although I am a member of the Asbury Park Board of Education, I do
> not and cannot speak for the school board. I can tell you,
however,
> that we have been struggling to overcome years, maybe decades, of
> inertia and business as usual. It was with sadness that our acting
> superintendent, Kathy McDavid, reported at a parent meeting last
week
> that other superintendents have made it clear they will fight any
> regionalization with Asbury Park. That may be sad, but it is not
at
> all surprising.
>
> It will be up to the state to finally stop turning a blind eye to
the
> de facto segregation in Asbury Park, exacerbated by misguided
worship
> of home rule throughout New Jersey.
>
> Frank D'Alessandro
>
> ASBURY PARK
>
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