--- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "dfsavgny" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Why is it segregated? Whites fled no? No sir. This was vetted over at Randy's Blog. Please bear with me as I go through this here one time. I'd love Frank and John to give me their thoughts. I take no issue with the actions of parents. Move where you wish, pay for private school if you wish, and you have my full support and blessing for both. I also am not a big believer in busing kids from one district to another (although sometimes to end de facto segregation it needs to happen). None of the above is what happened to Asbury. It was not the actions of parents that segregated this school 10 years ago, nor am I suggesting we take kids from other districts and bring them here. Here is what happened: Asbury's High School "District" is half of Belmar, Avon, Bradley, Asbury, Allenhurst, Deal and Interlaken. Those kids' home High School is Asbury Park. If you aren't in private school (which I support) Asbury is where you come. And come here they did. I believe it was 1996 (don't hold me to the date; I'll check) Asbury noticed there was a drain. Suddenly many of the kids from the other towns were being bused OUT OF DISTRICT TO ANOTHER PUBLIC HIGH SCHOOL - RED BANK REGIONAL. Note well that no one ever changed the district. The district was still the same. Asbury Park sued in a venue where the State Commissioner of Eduction gets to make the ruling. Asbury's lawyer never raised the segregation consequences, which the Commissioner could have raised himself. The Commissioner ruled that because Red Bank has such a fine music program, kids who wanted to go there from Asbury Park's District could apply to study music there. However, he never changed the district. He simply said let them leave if they want and go to Red Bank if accepted. The district remained the same. So on a legal analysis, what the Commissioner created was a situation where little Johhy Whitebread has a right to learn the oboe that outwieghs the Constitutional Right of black kids in Asbury Park to be in a desegregated school. Which of course will never hold up in Federal Court. After the ruling, every white kid from Belmar to Deal became a music major and went to RBR. Each school even has an administrator to help with the application process to get the kids around AP and into Red Bank. I saw a statistic a few years back. There were 67 High School aged kids in Avon who normally would be in Asbury Park High, but 66 of them were not there; most were at Red Bank Regional. Understand the effect of this. I'm not suggesting we take kids from a different district and bring them here for desegregation. I'm pointing out the opposite happened: We took all the white kids FROM OUR DISTRICT and bused them away to a different district. That's reverse busing that caused the segregation; not the usual opposite. The school district never changed; the kids in Asbury's district were bused to a different public school district. Our sending towns did not change (although I understand Avon recently was approved to start sending kids to Wall). That left Asbury Park segregated, and it was done by the State Commissioner of Education. That is state action, which is why it can be attacked constitutionally in Federal Court. ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Great things are happening at Yahoo! Groups. See the new email design. http://us.click.yahoo.com/lOt0.A/hOaOAA/yQLSAA/Y2tolB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AsburyPark/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
