1. Now I am mad at those (moderated) boe members. No yiddishe kind should end up in public school (moderated)!! A shandeh!! Now please post in its entiriety, it needs to be said!!

2. (moderated) this is a disgrace to the lakewood community!!!

3. Take a chill can’t you read? You get the same teachers just on public school campus and it says on a separate facilty. So if you want to pay and send your kids to tiny tots please go ahead but as a taxpayer I dont need to fund it.

4. Most of the teachers are from stars.

5. the regular ed kids are from the public school system

6. Thank you BOE members for doing what is right for the taxpayer and for the parents as well. This is a win / win situation.
   Those people who still want private school can do so at their cost. Meanwhile these children will be serviced separate with our own teachers

7. their will be no regular ed kids on this site.

8. We should take a chill!!!

   It’s obvious you don’t have children in the tiny tots program- this is an unacceptable option a day before school starts!!!!

9. I agree with #3. If I wanted to send my daughter to private school I’d expect I’d be responsible for paying for it.

10. No regular ed kids what does that mean my child needs approprite peers!!!!

11. these members are amateurs – i expected better and was let down

12. Thank you BOE for having the courage to make the right decision (even though you waffled and were forced to by the State). There is no reason what’s so ever that tax dollars should be used to provide taxpayer paid pre-school for 50 regular kids so that a few special needs kids can have a mainstreamed program in Tiny Tots. There are a number of options for parents of children with special needs. If they have a special needs child there are Frum special needs schools (yes, even pre-K schools) where they can send them. If they wish to keep the same teachers that they have today they can send them to the BOE school that is in a separate facility with the same teachers.

13. We voted you in on the premise that we’d be saving tax dollars. What exactly have you done? You’re terminating a program that was running for the last 5 years and sending our children to public school when it will NOT COST ANY MORE TAX DOLLARS to keep it in Tiny Tots. Where did all the money from the State grant go??? to the failing PS? Why can’t you direct it to a successful preschool program?

14. Are the board members taking achrayis for all the teachers that will be losing their jobs just one day before school starts? What was the cheshbon on this exactly? Who stands to benefit from this – no one!! No one is getting a tax refund this year because of this – believe me. It was a huge mistake to vote ppl in that don’t have the nec. experience.

15. What a disappointment and shame this is. It’s one thing to change a program if it saves dollars but this doesn’t save taxpayers anything. to the BOE Members – what were you thinking?????

16. Really nice of the frum board members to wait until the very last second to figure out how to save 20 cents of tax dollars at the expense of all these frum kids.

17. our frum board members screwed all the speciall needs kids of our community. when half of the kids go to schi then who is paying for it? me and my tax bill. shanda

18. A day before school starts – are you kidding me? At our children’s expense! What am I supposed to do now with my kids a day before school when there’s no other full time daycare center. I refuse to send to a failing ps.

19. for those that say its the same program you are clueless and i know that i wont place my kid in such a position – without going into details online everyone knows if ur trying to prepare your child to intergrate into a reg frum school the following year this will not work – and if u think they cant place whoever they want into the classes then ur fooling urself

20. A day before school you’re playing us? Seriously – WHAT”S YOUR AGENDA??

21. So instead of paying a few thousand dollars from taxes for special needs kids at tt we should rather pay 100,000 for the kids to go to SCHI – do the math!

22. Do you know how much time and energy the teachers put in already for this year. Why couldnt you decide this weeks ago in a normal fashion!!

    What are all of us supposed to do with our children tomorrow morning.

    What are all these teachers supposed to do for jobs this year. Contrary to whatever is being said, most of them did NOT get jobs in the district.

23. When our local politicians announced a 0% increase budget they made it seem like they actually cut spending. In reality all they did was to cut TT out of the budget without any definite plan on what to do with the children and teachers.When the state decided not to fund it then of course it has to close.I find it appalling the lack of transparency that the Township committee members deal with the public.The parents,teachers and students definitely had the right to know that there was a decent chance that the school would not open.

24. Tiny Tots today – SCHI tomorrow

25. What am I supoosed to do now – I had a job at TT for years and now thanks to our dear boe members I no longer hava parnassah – so what I should go on all the other programs that come out of tax dollars???

26. As someone who did NOT vote for the current BOE crowd ,I’m hard pressed to understand the criticism of them from those who voted for them.They very unequivocally ran on a platform of cutting expenses and taxes and they left all options of doing so on the table .What’s good for the goose is good for the gander…

27. Now i am really going to do it.

28. Do you really know what’s going on? Apparently not. There is NO ADDTNL tax dollars used for 50 kids. It’s money to be used for 50 kids in ps or 50 kids on tt – what’s the difference to you exactly?

    This has nothing to do with money for special needs kids and do you want to pay more taxes than you already do now so that these children can attend schi for 10x the amt.

    GET YOUR FACTS STRAIGHT!

29. Thanks BOE members – are you finding my kids a place starting tomorrow?
    How am i supposed to work with nowhere to send my kids.

30. 800,000 was cut from the budget from tuition. The understanding then, mentioned in the township committee, was that the cut was to come from TT. Had the program continued as last year, without State help, there would have been a deficit. Your refund was in the Zero Dollar Increase.

31. This was the state nothing to do with the BOE.They were trapped in.

32. This roller coaster is worse than the stock exchange.

33. Get your facts right before you post. The zero dollar increase has nothing to do with this. Are you saying that there would be an increase if it went through tt?
    I followed the boe meetings and tt agreed to run the program at exactly the same cost as the state – there will be no difference to you so what’s your point exactly

34. u think saving a buck and losing nishamos is torah truth? to all those who are yelling victory that we saved 1mil tax money ha we will never see and decrese bec of this they will use the money for some other waistfull stuff.

    to you boe members a war is coming in the name of our frum erlicha children who no matter what need 1)reg ed kids mixed in bec all the inclusive kids are reg and just need therapy on the side and 2) they wont get used to there “new” school and that will slow down there education 3)they need to get in tho reg schools next year and schools wont wont like to have pp kids with there pure halica kids who where never exposed to the tumah that pp kids are exposed too internet tv etc from there peers!

    boe members u messed up big time tls please post this it needs to be said!

35. What’s the difference between funding 50 kids in the public school vs. 50 kids in tiny tots – am i missing something?

36. How were they trapped if the district and tt offered same pricing why couldn’t the board members do anything – isn’t that what they’re there for?

37. I don’t know what I will do, but this doesn’t seem to be a viable option. As they did it one day before school though, it may be the only option. Unfair to me and my children.

38. This is a DISASTER the failing PS system has no clue how to run a regular ed Preschool let alone a Special Ed program. These children are being thrown under the Bus. Anyone with any experience dealing with these children knows the worst thing you can do for these children is CHANGE. We are talking about children that have an extremely hard time adapting to new surroundings. It takes months until these children become comfortable with new surroundings let’s not be fooled the teachers will not all be the same. The program will be a DISASTER without the proper administration and without the proper preparation. It is impossible to set up a program overnight. It takes years to set up a program that will cater to the needs of these children. Additionally there will be NO SAVINGS whatsoever. When was the last time that it was more effective to educate children in the PS system. The cost of a child in PS will be THREE times the cost of a child in TT.

39. We will never know WHO is truly resposible for causing problem this massive problem for parents that have no where to send their children tomorrow, but who ever is,is going to have to give a din vechesbon! I hope that the BOE members did every thing in their power without an agenda to resolve this issue, but we the simple parents will never truly know??

40. You should remove post 27… if it is a joke it is sick and if it is real you should call the police.

41. I was a fan of the ticket the members ran on but what happened to that now? You really screwed the district’s preschool program and gained nothing – not fans, not tax dollars and not a better program.
    Nice work. Hope your proud.

42. To #28, I think you need to get the facts… if the special needs kids are integrated in the PS then there is no need to fund 50 kids because they are already there. If the TT program moves forward then there needs to be funding for 50 new “regular” kids… let’s not play the word game.

43. everone needs to call all the board members and fight ps are u for real nol money is worth that!

44. Well said man. I’m with you all the way Chaim. there’s no way to start figuring out how to run the program a day before school and expect it to run successfully. Whoever can do this certainly doesn’t know the nature of educating special needs kids and how detrimental sudden change is.

45. To TT teacher: While I feel for your situation, it is not the taxpayer’s or BOE’s respnsibility to provide for your Parnassah. You are no different that the many, many other who were laid off from work. Should the BOE provide for them as well? That is not a reason to fund a program, of course unless you go the to school of Obamanomics.

46. I hope whoever did this spoke to da’as torah, and if they didn’t. . .

47. to #24?: halevai.
    SCHI is a wonderful program but way too expensive. if brought in-district, taxpayers would save a ton. very politically difficult, but if they pull that off, these new boe members will have proved themselves real men.

48. What is happening to the regular program?

49. Why isn’t anyone blaming TT for their stand of everything or nothing? The only reason they didn’t get the special ed is because they wanted the regular ed as well.

50. I just love how people vent their rage on the BOE members. This is not their fault. Blame TT for not accepting any alternative solutions. Numerous options were offered but each was turned down by TT. It’s their fault that this dragged for the past two weeks not the BOE!! Some people seem to think that if anything doesn’t go their way you just bash the BOE. You don’t get EVERYTHING you want.

51. You’re 100% right that no one needs to pay for tt teacher’s salaries. Point is that it wasn’t done in a nice way where people were totally depndant on jobs and the next day it failed. there is unemployment and everything but the point is that there should be awareness of the ripple effects of this decision. i wonder if it was fully thought out.

52. can u please let us know why u did not compromise why “all or nothing approach” also will u be opening for reg pre school

53. is this all about money how much are we talking about maybe we can pressure tt to go down in price like what they charge reg ed kids plus the therapy

54. To 51: As you know this was understoods weeks ago it was only the work to keep the program that caused this to come down to the wire. But I agree, more notice would have been the way to go.

55. Last minute changes do create havoc with parents’ work schedules, but the last minute notice is a result of people working right down to the wire to try to accommodate potential TT students’ parents.

    As far as tainting the public school system as “failing”…there is no question that there is room for improvement. However, children are admitted to the ps with open arms to all. No child is turned away. Also, the “standardized testing” that results in the “failing” label is not required of the private schools. Who knows, if the same criteria were applied to private schools, public schools might be coming out on top.

    Instead of slamming public schools, keep an open mind and you might see a practical solution to educating the children of Lakewood.

56. lets all meet somewhere to discuses or next move

57. I agreed to pay 450 dollars per month for my child to attend Tiny Tots regular program (part time) which is more than other day care centers and a hefty sum of money. They agreed back in April that it will cover thier costs and they can pull a profit. Why does the BOE’s decision have an affect on wether the regular program should open? I just don’t understand…

58. Tt was NOT offered a viable solution. if you would have built a buisines from scratch, would u just give it away and walk?! of course notA well thats what the (moderated) on the boe wanted tt to do. and dont blame the state because the boe brought in the state as a barganing move wich blew up… shame on the boe. im sure ur all enrolling ur kids in ps so my child should have frum kids to intergrate with…

59. #49 thats not true. the board tried to take the self contained in house eventho it would cost the same becouse then they would have a program indistrict and they would be able to pull out kids from SCHI. they beat up the owner of tiny tots to agree to the same cost as the district which he did. the 50 reg ed kids the board wanted becouse then they were able to shift some of the cost of the special needs children to state money not local money. bottom line inorder to shift some of the cost to state $ they killed the program and sent our children to a failing public school.

60. The dission was really the states, not the boe. The boe members did every thing possible in there hands. I wached those videos. their hands were tied.

61. All regular ed and inclusion children should enroll in the new pre school ASAP. That is the only way to keep the same program as it was!! Hurry. They are holding the slots for you!!

62. Yes I do feel for the parents who need to make a last minute decision and for the teachers who will lose their job BUT BOE members need to look after the taxpayer and students.

    They have taken care of taxpayers.

    They have also taken care of the students by giving them the option to go to poblic school campus with same teachers.

    For those who are screaming about the torah – 1 – We live in a great country that rules separation of church and state and we should be thankful fot that even though it costs us sometimes.

    -2 -Torah chas al momomom shel yisroel

    The board made the hard descions and I respect them for that I hope they can find the courage to continue making the decisions to help the students and the taxpayers.
    Thank you BOE!
    Please keep it up!

63. Does anyone know if they really are holding the slots for TT parents? If not, then we really have a bigger problem than we thought. Many unemployed teachers, frustrated parents, and now parents who have nowhere to send their kids and must take off from work. Save a few dollars, kill the economy. Great plan!

64. The alternative to SCHI is NOT in-failed-District public scjhool. The alternatives are numerous other frum providers who can do the same job for much less. Let’s borrow a great idea. Let’s go with multivendors for EVERYTHING. Watch the costs plummet, and quality of services Race to the Top. Very politically correct for both parents AND taxpayers.

65. the BOE members are not allowed to make decisions based on the fact that you want a religious program. They must do what is best for ALL taxpayers.

66. I am sick and tired of this washing machine ride! I’m dizzy.

    Are any of the special ed teachers from TT opening up a private playgroup for these kids, If yes please post info.

67. For 5 years the $ for tiny tots came out of the local budget what changed this year the new BOE members crossed tt out of the budget, with out knowing what the program was about. Once the parents made a big stink the BOE members tried to fund it with the state grant which they were not successful. The blame lies on our new BOE members. Remember elections are coming up. We will not forget who sent our children to the failing public schools

68. I read that the board of ed started early to accommodate the private schools that drive on Sunday. If we as a town want to save money why can’t the private schools and public schools be on the same schedule.
    I see the private schools go through the summer. ( camp ) who pays for the camp buses? hope its not the tax payers
    It would make things easier and save money.

69. WhIch business person of right mind would invest in a school that would be subject to board members votes? We see what happened to tiny tots.

70. It makes no sense that the state had complete control over this. The board messed with a good program to start with and now look where we stand. We’re being offered to send our children to a pporly run program, last minute, at no savings to us, different teachers, lousy facilities, new classmates, inconvenient location.. and what about kosher food there?

71. Thank you to the new BOE members for being the first ones in this town to stand up to the “big guns”. Keep it up!! If only the township committee would learn from you! We are in a terrible economy with everyone suffering terribly. The pain is felt in many ways and this is just one of them but this is ESSENTIAL to this town getting back on it’s feet.

72. Unless you have a child that was planning to go to Tiny Tots or know a child very well that was benefiting from Tiny Tots, your comments applauding the BOE are baseless. These are children you are talking about. Making this decision right before the school year opens is irresponsible. It would probably not be okay to close it even in a year from now, but it would have given the parents time to pursue their options (for better or worse). It would have given teachers also a chance to keep a job. How many of you applauding the BOE’s decision would want your child placed in a public school? How many of you are dealing with a child that has a disability? Does the BOE really understand the ramifications?

73. i just got off the phone with the boe and they informed me that my kid is at another location! behind the middle school on ridge and somerset! she also said as of now there are 3 students in her class yes 3! who do u think will fill that up! hmmmm….. also will there be 2 directors one for each site i see alot of money already being wasted oh at least there getting good food from Clifton cafe! btw orientation is 8pm tomorrow she said we will be happy and our fears gone

74. To Emes: we will not forget who saved our tax dollars…

75. One more thing. Are you kidding when you say failing public school?! It is not going to effect you.

    You wont send your zadikel past kindergarten to PS. For pre-school they will do just fine in PS on the taxpayers expense. Dont worry about the failing PS.

    THE BOE is putting the program in separate facilities from PS

76. the boe legally needs to have a meeting with each parent and place them in a new program till that happens then by law tt needs to continue with the program that we all were enrolled in months ago tiny tots! after the boe places us in a new program we have 15 days to contest it and we will! so everyone look in to this and call tt and the boe!

77. as a parent of a special ed child i know exactly what it feels like. here is what i suggest.

    1. for the parents of children who dont need special. – sorry but the free ride is over.

    2. for the parents of children who can survive in a mainstrean envirment but are in TT becuase they get there services there and are getting a free eduction- sorry to say this you need to make a very tough decision. either you have to find someway to make it in the private school systems such as stars ect. or you have to go to public school. you dont really have the right to much it hurts but that is the truth,

    3. for the parents who have real special ed children that need a specEd placement and have IEPs that need specific placements – I advise that all of you do not accept the new placement. there is no way in the world they can put together a placement in 1 day and you should look into the legality of changing placements, i do not think they BOE is allowed to do it. anyways stay strong as a group. do not accept they new placement and file due process as a group immediatly . they will have to place you in SCHI , which is a much better program, and it will end up costing them $5 million more. they will then be eager for a new program like TT to open up so that they can make lower cost out iof district placements, dont give in.learn your right and fight back.

78. Camp Buses are paid out of pocket by parents sending their kids to day camp, it has nothing to do with the BOE or your Taxes.

79. It does sound like it was the state’s decision but all indications seem to point to somone in the boe calling in the state. Playing poker with our kids isnt right. For all those who complain about taxes thats fine just dont pull a last minute on us. To those who say its the same program ur either naive or its not your kid at hand. Lets see you send your kid to such a program.

80. I don’t quite understand what the whole fuss is about, aren’t all the programs in ny like biyi all run out of public schools it says it will be in separate trailers and mostly jewish teachers so what’s the big deal?? maybe the kids will actually get the therapy they need full time like in stars then jsut being pulled out for a few min a day.

81. disclosure disclosure disclosure ! we in Lakewood are used to everything for nothing ! get used to alot more cuts .Tgovernment and state ARE BROKE . and if we look furher into it we will see where the money went. Leave well enough alone!

82. ANY business person who can prove that he can do a better job for less. It’s what this country is all about: competition. BOE members voted to save money. They can be counted on to support the much greater savings realized from competition across the board. Your question should really be “which Board members will have the guts” to do the right thing for the children, their parents, and the taxpayers, and go against the vested interests. Very Good Question.

83. Sorry tt was doing a great job and they were cheaper and better then the district and saved tax dollars that would have gone to schi. BOE members messed up big time

84. stars is a great program go there i didnt here that thier refusing people that belong there as a matter of fact they would love to open more classes

85. I think part of the problem is that the term “special education” or “special needs” is so broad. There are indeed cases where we need to be empathetic and help shoulder the burden of those parents that have children with real special needs. I for one am proud to be in a town where there are programs for this and that we have tax dollars as well as private donations used to support these needs. There are however many “special ed” kids that loosely fit this description. These are kids with very slight learning disabilities dealing with speech, attention, or other such “issues”. In years past when I was a teacher of Special Education, these were dealt with by having a P’Tach program or the like that would assist children in a regular class setting and take them out for a short amount of time to help with their specific needs. I don’t know the real statistical distribution, but I will guess that the overwhelming number of children with special education needs falls in the latter category and are not the “hard core” special needs children that everyone alludes to when saying “where is your Rachmunus, how can you do that to these Kinderlach?”. In the interest of transparency, I would very much like to know the distribution model of the kids in the TT program and see how many of them really need these services versus how many are taking advantage of the program for free daycare while at the same time getting expensive therapy where a much more economical solution is available. Let us focus our attention on getting excellent education for all of our children within the limitations of the economic reality.

86. it’s about time. The BOE has finally done something right. Once we have more level heaed board members maybe we can fix a proken school district.

87. do u have a special ed kid do u have a reg ed kid who needs some speech or something on the side hu i didn’t think so, so stop judging and thank g-d ur kids ar reg. and ye….. al tiftach pe lisatone…….

88. ur right we need to fix the boe but dont start with ur own children there ar bigger fish to catch we pay 51% of our taxs to mostly illegal alians and the boe go after a few mil instead of 100 millions!

89. Doing something right? what’s right exactly – not saving you tax dollars and sending everyone to public school or is it the fact that your property taxes are going to go up more now that local taxes will need to cover the tuition of special needs children in schi which is about 10 times the cost of sending a child to tt?

90. TO # 71:

    responsable?!!!??!? how? by paying for your cleaning ladies illegal children to attend FREE public school??????!!!! so, what your saying is that for my child who recieves funding from the taxpayers should be cut from her services bec. the budget is too high? how do you say that that makes sence? i pay my taxes they dont! i want some benefit from that- dont you?

91. please stop all the crying its very annoying the decision was made and thats thats if you dont like it then send your kids somewhere else……..i didnt vote for these guys but i guess i will be this year its time this town starts making decisions based on what is right for the entire town and not just a group of people.

92. these kids are not gona get into schi. u will have to make a new program for them guys get together and get a lawyer, your iep says that ur placement is in TINY TOTS!

93. to # 24 good idea

94. There is no separate in PS!! How will they get bussed? WE are not sending our kids there. Final. It is a disgrace to even say it. Maybe a few dollars were saved but a TON of dollars was transferred from us to them. And now all the parents are searching for money to go hire lawyers and sue the BOE for SCHI placements. Great job. Is there a way to call for early re-elections?

95. To parent of special need child,

    Federal law does indeed state that the placement follows the IEP’s directive. However.. it’s quite simple to understand that if, say for example, the school you were placed in was hit by a missile and burned to the ground and is therefore no longer a realistic option – then that directive becomes obsolete. It is the same thing in our case – essentially TT was torpedoed out of the ocean and is no longer alive except in the history books.

    In this unique situation the parents that have IEP’s certainly have legal grounds to demand an appropriate placement at a new and “expedited” IEP meeting. They don’t have to just settle for anything the BOE decides to dump them into, due to this emergency situation.

    Nevertheless, I will caution the parents to get informed – prior to the new IEP meeting – with all the programs available, so if they do have a different recommendation than what the board is offering, it can be discussed and considered between all the stakeholders at the meeting.

96. thank you boe members my wife just lost her job today and let me see if our taxes are lowered

97. we need to meet and fight for our children!

98. To #90
    Maybe if you’d be a TT STUDENT and not a TT parent you’d learn how to spell!!

99. Does ayone what the story is with the regualr program.

100. And FYI unfortunately the immigration issue is a federal one and not local. We cannot change these things until Mr Obama decides his country is flooded with enough of them. Until then we have to deal with it. Once they are here the DOE is legally bound to provide them with an education. That is at OUR EXPENSE of course.

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