Last night’s BOE meeting ended with 4 Police Officers being called to the scene. The story began with a contentious vote over SES. This is a program that is funded through Title 1, and is used exclusively by the Public School children. In years prior, the PS never used all the allotted funds for this program, and the remaining amount was put back into the general pot, to be distributed 70% to Non Public and 30% to public.
This year, in the month of February, the BOE had additional stimulus funds for this program. Seeing that they never used the money anyways, they applied to the State for a waiver. What this means, is that the money (about 1.2 million) will be distributed 70/30 to the Non Public instead of being used exclusively for the PS program. The waiver was granted.
In May, the District realized that they over spent their allotted funds. Too many children who were not necessarily eligible, were getting the service anyways. In the end, there was no more money to continue the program and it was stopped immediately.
Over the last 6 weeks, the State reviewed the situation and asked the board to reinstate the program through Aug 31st at a cost of 765,000. The money was to come either from local funds (there is no money available), or from rescinding the waiver and taking back he money previously allotted to the Non Public schools. The board can also appeal the decision, effectively avoiding the entire issue and leaving the Non Publics with their funds.
The crowd was visibly irritated when the board made a motion to appeal the decision. With one member absent, the vote needed 5 present members to vote either to rescind the waiver or to appeal the decision. After 5 tries to get a majority either way, the room looked like it was about to explode. Many assumed that the 5 Orthodox members would vote to appeal, Mr. Ostreicher however, voted 5 times not to appeal. He also voted not to rescind the waiver.
The Police were called to make sure everything remained under control. In the end, a compromise motion was introduced by Mr. Seitler that defused the situation.
“If the State agrees to the compromise then all will be OK. If not, an appeal will be filed on the whole decision”, a Board Official tells TLS.
Sounds like these meetings are a circus!!
what is left over should go to the public schools for books and other things.
What was the outcome of the revote for STARS?
stars is going back to catapult
SES money is for public schools, if run correctly there would be no left over $ to send to private schools, the public should be incensed .
this money needs to be used for the tutoring program. The public attacks the school system when the test scores are not good, this is an opportunity to help the children improve. One could run a daily tutoring program during the summer if there was money to be used. The state certainly is away of this. If you sign up a child and the state allows 1600 per student, 50 session, and the program stops when the students has been tutored 2x’s then 1,500 is put back in the “pot”
How can that be fair>
there is no question as to why the public school parents are upset!
Who was the contract awarded to for the public preschool; Catapult or Tiny Tots?
Rumor has it, that the Public Schools get this20% , and then the Private schools gets a larger 80% as far as the title one funds,
One may question this, however, let’s look at the total picture, who is on the BOE representing the Public Schools.
Private Schools are entitled to what they get, now here in Lakewood everyone knows that the BOE members are there to make sure they get part of the gravy for the Private Schools, even some little extras,
NOW THAT ALL THE PUBLE SCHOOLS HAD their MONEY CUT BACK, GOVERNOR CHRISTIE, HOW ABOUT YOUR VISIT TO LAKEWOOD, AND PROMISES AND PROMISES hear that 68 million is heading to Lakewood, Lakewood alone for the school voucher programs, with schools that are failing.
HELLO THERE ONE AND ALL, only in Lakewood, if i were in another district, i would say, here Mr. Christie, you cut our schools and take from us, to give to Lakewood, THAT IS WHY THOSE ON THE BOE ARE REPRESENTING NOT OUR CHILDREN, BUT THEIR OWN, THEY ARE ONLY REPRERSENTATIVE OF THEIR OWN COMMUNITY, THEY ARE THE majority, thanks to all the people who voted them in, hip hip hurray
Private schools should not receive public money especially when the public schools are failing. I understand that parents who send their children to private schools still pay taxes, however you made the choice to send your children to an exclusive private institution that charges a fee and as far as I’m concerned forfeited your right to public assistance. 100% of the money should go to the public schools as far as I’m concerned but at the very least 50% should HAVE to go to the public schools no matter what.
another example of the nonsense that shows the BOE has proven they do not care about the public school children , NO PUBLIC money should be apprpriated to private schools PERIOD!!
as another posting pointed out that was the decission of the parent not to send their child/children to public schools .
with all the shortcomings in the public schools their certainly is room to find a useful prpose for these funds , I remeber reading some students did not even have text books!!!
I have a huge problem with the fact their are 5 orthodox members makeing decissions for public schools
How many christian parents sit on the board for the orthodox schools ~~ ZERO!!!
Hey #9. dont say there were no books. There were books in the beginning of the year and the “responsible” students lose them. Then I heard students received two sets of books one for school and one set for HW. WOW and still they manage to lose them. My kids get educated w/ income much less than public school kids. MONEY is not the answer to the failing Lakewood public school system. RESPONSIBLITY is!
#8, and #9. I would love to see the song you would sing when all the private school parents make the choice to send to public schools.
YOU make the choice to send to public schools like they make the choice to send to private schools. “as far as I’m concerned forfeited your right to public assistance” Why is the public school any more eligible than a private school for the funding? I will continue to wait patiently for a better explanation than the mere fact that you happened to send to public school. By the way, this has nothing to do with religion per se, as many christians send to parochial schools and are fighting exactly the same battle nationwide. You have a problem with 5 people on the board representing the majority of children in the town that they got elected in?
to #9
the members of the BOE are elected by a majority vote, in lakewood the orthodox are the majority. to the victors go the spoils. as a non jewish resident i can only hope that they will be fair and honest.
this is america not russia you had your chace to vote this is who was voted in you dont like move to russia
“How many christian parents sit on the board for the orthodox schools ~~ ZERO!!!”
How many Christians are paying the entire budget of any of the Orthodox Schools. Imagine if the Christians were forced to pay 72 million dollars to the Orthodox and then told to just shut up and let us spend your money. WE PAY YOUR BILLS AND WE WILL HAVE A SAY HOW THAT MONEY IS SPENT. If the Christians would like to start funding the Orthodox schools I am sure we can make some arrangements!!
seems like it’s all about religion and control … and waaaaayyyy over there are the real subjects … the children. just like most problematic issues in history, the biggest problem are the people in charge on both sides … people that let position, title, and personal views cloud the true task at hand …. why can’t cooler heads prevail? there is someone is both of these groups with a forward thinking idea / solution. there are just too many educated people here for that not to be true … it’s sad, it’s ashame and everyone involved should feel just a little bit embarrassed … it’s time to work together folks. try to remember the real subjects of this matter … waaayyyy over there.
to # 11
read the top, the Christians and non Jewish are paying into the orthodox schools at a rate of 70/30. i just want to make sure that you get what the law allows and not do creative accounting and start skimming more than your share.
# 10
do you not understand what the word private means??
thats your choice however I do not want to pay for your decission to send your child to “private”school, no matter what religion we are talking about .
on top of all the arguments here the money was for public school use and is being diverted to the private sector and YES I DO HAVE A PROBLEM WITH THAT !!!!!
#15, I see that you still dont get it, I will try one last time. If I child is in “private” school then he is not in “public” school and not using the resources that his tax paying parents are paying for and he/she is entitled to. Who cares what you call the school “public” or “private”. Again if all those children were in enrolled in “public” school then the tax base would be sharing the same load. Other then the fact that you obviously have a child in “public” school, what justification is there to force the tax payers to pay for your childs education over all the other children in the town??
don’t forget us seniors, we don’t have any of our children in ANY school, so with the logic stated above we should stop paying any school taxes because we don’t use any school system.
here’s a possible solution. Instead of having the taxes go streight to the schools, have each child recieve a voucher for whatever it costs to educate them, and let their parents decide where to send them to school. That should be fair for all children.The goal here should be to see to it that the children get a good education, not the establishment of a certain religion or the abolishment of it.
thank you #19
I’m sure many people who send their children to any kind of private school would take even only 75% of what we spend on each public school child and I would bet that half of the “normal” people sending their kids to public school would REMOVE their child from public school, so there you can save 25% of our taxes that we pay towards education.
Was anyone at the meeting and know for sure what happened with STARS? Is it going to be run by Catapult of Tiny Tots?
I have a two year old and a ten month old that I would love to send to a private school when the time comes. You want to hand me a voucher to send them that’s great. But I’m gonna speak realistically my kids aren’t jewish. They are baptist christens so that means they will not be getting them. They will just hand them out to the jewish community and make it difficult for everyone else to get them. Now I love all people black,white,brown and yellow, christen, catholic, muslim,and jewish because I truly believe we are ALL G*Ds children but I’m just calling it how I see it. In this town everything is handed out to the jewish community if anyone feels like I disrespected them or am wrong or am hiding behind a blog please email me (Moderated) Peace be to all!
#20, I don’t disagree with you. All I am saying is that whatever the motivating logic is to collect tuition as a tax (whether you have children or not), those funds are earmarked for all children of that tax base. It makes no difference at all whether is says “public school #1” or “private school #1” on the building.
#22, You’re welcome, and I apologize for the tone — a good education for ALLLL children is a very passionate issue for me.
to comment number 9 when you are willing to cover the expenses of the fifteen thousand plus orthodox jews going to private school than you and as many christians can sit on the board of the orthodox jewish schools the orthodox community shoulders most of the 72 million dollars it cost to educate your public scool children all they get back is af ew crumbs to pay for bussing and some small programs which are legal try to immagine if all the orthodox children decided one day to join the lakewood public school system the boe budget would triple to 240 million dollars do you want to pay for that so maybe sit back and make a bbq go swimming and thank the orthodox community for covering most of your childrens education
do you ever notice large numbers of jewish orthodox parents and children in the parks of lakwood or at the beach or swimming pool or boating or bb-q-ing no you know why because after their orthodox jewish parents work a full day to pay private tuition for their own children they have to take on additional evening night and weekend jobs to pay the tuition for their fellow christians neighbors children so next time you are out sunday enjoying your picnic or spending a regular weekday evening preparing your bb-q with a beer in hand be grateful and call your jewish neighbor to thank him for paying at least half the cost it takes to educate your son or daughter