I think the kids should be bussed, from the Middle School, to
whichever destination, they've been assigned to, in view of their
school being uninhabitable. The County and State Boards of Education,
should be held responsible. AP's Bangs Ave. School, should have been
overhauled, years ago. Instead, they build a new super-school, over
here on the east side, a good thing, considering the old Bond street
school was still standing, before this "new" school was built. The
kids on the west-side are left dangling, as usual, so let the State
pick up the tab, for these little kids! If they dictate where these
kids should be schooled, for lack of a "healthy" school, I say BUS
these kids. They are too young and too little to go to school that
far, alone! If I had kids, in the system, I'd be throwing a
"hissy-fit"! My kids walked about 4 blocks in Neptune, when they
attended Green Grove School and were driven in bad weather. I assumed
all parents did this, until I moved over here! Sad. No bad comments
against our regular board members, they have enough problems and no help!
-- In AsburyPark@yahoogroups.com, "Hinge" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>
> Safe trips to school a concern in Asbury
> BANGS AVE. SHUT DOWN
>
> Posted by the Asbury Park Press on 08/1/07
>
> BY NANCY SHIELDS
> COASTAL MONMOUTH BUREAU
>
> ASBURY PARK Bangs Avenue Elementary School, a southwest
neighborhood school for
> nearly a century, has been closed to get rid of asbestos. School
officials are addressing
> how nearly 300 children in grades 1 through 4 will get to classes
outside their immediate
> neighborhood.
>
> Busing is out, officials said, because the 1.4-square-mile city is
too small.
>
> About 55 of the students will have to cross the city's major
north-south thoroughfares
> Memorial Drive, the North Jersey Coast Line railroad tracks and Main
Street to get to
> Thurgood Marshall School on the east side at Bond Street and
Summerfield Avenue.
>
> An additional 237 students will be going possibly a greater
distance, but not across the
> train tracks, to attend Bradley Elementary School on Third Avenue in
the city's northwest
> section. Those students will have to cross Asbury Avenue, a major
east-west road.
>
> "My whole thing is, how are these children going to get to school?"
said Beverly Causby, a
> grandmother of several children in the district. "Their parents
don't have cars. What if it's
> raining, snowing?"
>
> "These are our children. . . . We should have extra crossing
guards," Causby said. "I can't
> understand why they're not being bused."
>
> Some parents and school staff members made it clear during a recess
of last week's school
> board meeting that they knew many parents would make certain their
children traveled to
> and from the school safely. But they expressed concern about those
children who are left
> on their own to get to school.
>
> Board member Frank D'Alessandro said Tuesday he understands that
concern.
>
> "We need everyone to look out for these kids, and that's why we need
more vigilant
> crossing guards," D'Alessandro said. "The Board of Education and the
city have to make
> sure that crossing guards are at their stations more than they have
been before. It's too
> bad that it worked out so that students would have to cross two
major roads, and that it is
> such a small city that bus transportation is not the answer."
>
> Alan Schnirman, the school board attorney who provided the numbers
on how many
> students are expected to be affected, said Tuesday that acting
Schools Superintendent
> James T. Parham has talked with city Police Chief Mark Kinmon about
the crossing guards.
> Police oversee the guards, and Parham and Kinmon are working
together, Schnirman said.
>
> "The last thing anyone wants to do is jeopardize the safety and
welfare of the children,"
> the attorney said.
>
> Solving other problems
>
> The closing of Bangs came after a chunk of wall plaster containing a
small amount of
> asbestos fell through a dropped ceiling in a third-floor classroom
near the end of the
> school year. The school, built in 1912, was supposed to be replaced
by a new $30 million
> building until the state Schools Construction Corp. ran out of money.
>
> In late June, the SCC committed at least $450,000 to get rid of what
asbestos remains.
>
> The asbestos problem set off a chain of events that actually has
school officials hopeful
> some of the district's other problems can be solved.
>
> With grades 1-4 from Bangs Avenue reassigned to the city's two other
elementary schools,
> fifth-graders from all three elementary schools will become part of
a new intermediate
> school of fifth-, sixth- and seventh-graders in the middle school
building.
>
> Eighth-graders who had been assigned to the middle school will go to
the high school,
> where they will have a program largely separated from the older
grades but will be able to
> use some of that school's extra space, since the number of high
school students has
> dwindled.
>
> School board members hope the middle school restructuring will
succeed after years of
> administrative turmoil.
>
> Howard Mednick, the Bangs Avenue principal since 2001, will be the
principal at the new
> intermediate school and said in late June he looked forward to the
challenge of making
> that school work.
>
> The board also has hired a new high school principal, Tyler
Blackmore, formerly an
> assistant principal at the Bellflower Middle-High School in
Bellflower, Calif., to replace
> Linda Palumbo.
>
> CARE TO COMMENT?: Visit our Web site, www.app.com, and click on this
story to join in
> the online conversation about this topic in Story Chat.
>
>
> IF EDUCATION IS SO IMPORTANT, WHY NOT MAKE THE EFFORT TO BUS THE
KIDS TO THE
> SCHOOL? THEY HAVE TO THINK ALSO, IF THE KIDS HAVE TO WALK TO THE
OTHER SIDE OF
> TOWN THAT MEANS THEY HAVE TO GET UP EARLIER THAN BEFORE, SO THAT
MEANS TIRED
> CHILDREN WHO MIGHT NOT LISTEN CAUSE THEY ARE SLEEPY. IF THEY REALLY
WANTED TO
> BUS THE KIDS NO MATTER HOW SMALL ASBURY IS, THEY WOULD, BUT THEY
DON'T. I HOPE
> THEY JUST EXPECT WHEN IT GETS COLD OR RAINS REALLY BAD, ATTENDANCE
WILL BE
> DOWN.
>
> Posted by: blackgoddess316 on Wed Aug 01, 2007 7:48 am
>
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