Facing the reality that thousands may not have busing next year, the Igud Hamosdos has decided to conduct a drill to test the results.
In a letter sent to the Mayor’s office and to the state, and obtained by TLS, the Igud Hamosdos wrote the following:
“As you are well aware, the Lakewood Board of Education budget FY 2014-2015 did not include courtesy busing for grades 4-12. We the Non Public Schools of Lakewood have been attempting to come up with solutions for the more than 25 thousand local Lakewood students we represent.
Without courtesy bussing, it would leave at least 60% of those students without bus transportation whereby creating enormous safety concerns for our students who would need to walk to school on a daily basis. Carpool transportation would create gridlock as have been seen on days when there is no bus transportation. Unlike previous days when there was no bus transportation and many schools closed for the day, all schools will be open. Not seeing a viable solution to this crisis at this time, we have accepted that the reality is to work within the limitations that are before us.
Therefore, we are giving prior notice to the township that on June 10th and June 11th, we are instructing all schools under our care to send their students to school by carpool. This will serve as a drill for parents, students, schools, and the municipality to prepare for what would be a reality for the coming school year.
We understand the ramifications that this might have on the township and are therefore giving ample time for the town to mobilize their resources to prepare for the upcoming drill. We also realize the effects that this will have on traffic throughout the area of Lakewood.
We hope to hear from you soon and look forward to working together on this matter.” [TLS]
Why can’t we all enroll our in kids in public school, and just not send them?
This way, we’ll get the state funding , but our kids won’t actually be attending public school. . . .
I have yet to receive any official notice from either of my childrens schools about this upcoming drill. When should I expect that? On Monday evening for a Tuesday drill?
To #59
Car insurance payments are optional. Tax payments are mandatory and are enforced via threat of violence. Very huge difference.
Dear N Basser,
You are offering to pay for bussing.You are obviously from the few fortunate parents that are able to pay your childrens school the full tuition of 6000 to 7000 what it costs the school to educate your child in high school .Most parents cant afford that and we make the schools subsidize our tuition.We can not add another 700 to 800 for busing on top of the 4 to 5000 tuition we already pay and we cant ask the schools to subsidize our bussing on top of the tuution subsidy they are already granting us.
Parent, halevai. I’m struggling like everyone else. I’m not saying we go from one extreme (asking the state to fund the entire shortfall) to the other (asking parents to fund). I’m saying we should be looking for compromises and ideas.
Consolidating routes, changing start times, getting creative with things like walking school buses, parents paying, and any other potential solutions are not all or nothing deals. As a community, we should be trying to combine these ideas in a way that shows we are making a good faith effort. Why isn’t the Board of Ed offering the kehilla – not just the mosdos – options with different tradeoffs and price ranges?
When we’ve done our best to lean in, we can legitimately ask for help. But asking for coverage of our existing system as though there is no room to improve it doesn’t seem like a good faith negotiation.
This will only make trouble for everyone
To Parent. Who writes… “we make the school subsidize our tuition”
You mean to say that your fortunate that the schools are willing to work with you on a reduced tuition. No one said that life was cheap and affordable. We are all in the same bind but we have no right to demand anything. No one owes you or me any other tuition paying parent anything.
I’m not sure if everyone out there understands this. This is the whole point of the “drill”. Its a dry run to see how things in this town will look like if courtesy bussing is cut. If everything is fine then fine… but if it’ll take an hour to get to the school (read under 2 miles) and the streets in this town will be impassable… then as much as courtesy bussing is a perk, its nor a luxury in this town but a necessity, not only for the parents of the kids but for all seniors, childless people, astronauts and the like who have to drive in or through our town. Yes lakewood is different from all other cities in NJ and the whole country. The population of kids is huge and infrastructure is minimal (no sidewalks, 4 way stops instead of lights etc.) So why is everyone freaking out here… lets see how it will work out… if everything will go smoothly then fine… if not, then lets work something out now and not in sept. Why are people saying that we are not willing to compromise… nobody asked us.
To N. Basser. It is very easy to throw around ideas without knowing the facts . First of all the State MANDATES busing and Special Ed for private school kids . These MANDATED services take up a decent percentage of the budget . The way school districts in Nj get funded , the State gives a certain portion to the district . In Lakewoods case ,this is based on the 5000 public school kids ,even though we are MANDATED by the State to pay for regular ( not courtesy) busing and Special ED . Everybody knows this formula makes no sense including the State . You can’t mandate services and then not give any money to help pay for them . We are being made out like we are begging the State to give us charity . That is not true . We are entitled to State help because they are mandating services that they are helping every other district to pay for . Please note that every time we build another new house we get less State aid because the State thinks we are getting richer and our expenses as calculated by the number of public school kids does not increase . They totally forget that they are MANDATING that we spend 25 or 30 million dollars in services for private schools that they are not sending any aid for . It is beyond ludicrous .
As for your ideas to save money ,of course there can be some savings ,like in any public funding . But are you aware of the hundreds of hours that the Mosdos have put into looking into these ideas ? The ideas that could possibly be implemented without turning the entire Kehilas schedule upside down , would possible save a couple hundred thousand dollars and would not make a difference to the big picture . Believe me ,there are millions to be saved in the public school sphere , such as health benefits and other things but due to union pressure and other unmentionable reasons , nothing will ever change there . Even if you were to turn the entire Kehilas schedule upside down the savings would not be big enough to make the difference . Because of the flawed formula and the mandated services , in a few years the shortfall will be tens of millions and no amount of ideas of cost cutting will even be a drop in the bucket . So it is easy for you to be a constant armchair blogger , but the fact remains that the schools are killing themselves to provide your children a top notch education at a ridiculously low cost and can not afford to add busing. No amount of consolidating will close the gap needed . At the end of the day it is you as a parent who will be left to foot the bill .
#98 Nechama A. Basser makes perfect sense. This so called protest isn’t going to inconvience everyone in town, probably the parents only/
Using the children in this unsafe protest is ridiculous. It’s nothing more than a form of blackmail, ie. either you give us courtesy busing or I’ll block your roads!
Courtesy bussing is not mandated, the BOE is broke and can’t afford the growing demands for busing. Public school children will also be affected.
Someone commented that the township gives 800 dollars for busing, the state is the one who reimburses when busing is not available and it is legally needed. Another post reads that the private schools in Howell and Jackson all get busing, yes within the legal limits but not they don’t have to do courtesy if they don’t want to.
Maybe the township who has caused this problem should get their act together and put in sidewalks and get rid of the ridiculous 4 way stops. No one in this town can drive well enough to figure out the 4 ways. More crossing guards would help. And stop giving all the zoning and building variances that have been given in the past. They are killing the infastructure.
Nechama, please tell me which house pays7000 in taxes. I want to move there.
don’t send your kids to public school it is also happening to them they wont ether having bussing chil nothing will happen if some kids get a little exercise walking to school !! calm down really your acting like baby’s!!!!!!!!
@Mrs basser you obviously missed the whole point over here, the real problem is the funding method not the busing. This whole mess is just bringing the real problem to a head.Now is the time to take on the real problem and not another band aid.
@david @parent
I understand that the underlying issue is funding formulas. But there are other important issues. It’s not just about money. It’s also about whether we are seen to be making an effort, whether the kehilla has a chance to be part of the discussion, and whether – after a few thousand years of being dependent on the goodwill of those governing – we’ve learned anything that we can apply now that we are governing.
@parent (or, more likely, @rosh_mosad 🙂 ), to your comment “But are you aware of the hundreds of hours that the Mosdos have put into looking into these ideas?” The answer is, of course not. And neither is anyone else inside or outside the kehilla, unless they’re part of the discussion. Which is kind of my point.
You shared a logical argument in your post which I’ll pass along the next time I’m mixing it up with the anti-Semites on app.com. Can you share some more about what was proposed, why it can’t work, and what was done to let our non-frum neighbors know that we did our best?
I’m not the only parent in town who thinks this is being mishandled; I’m just the only one willing to get out here and put my name on this. If you don’t want us to make assumptions (and post comments based on those assumptions), share information.
Not just about funding. About chillul Hashem. About the gap between where we are and ‘Rak am chacham venavon hagoy hagadol hazeh.’ Because for many of us, that matters a whole lot.
To Mrs. Basser .
I heard from reliable sources that there was a meeting with advocates for the public schools . One of the points raised by their side was that this is all our fault because we are having too many children . To the APP and the others who dont necessary like us , just our being here and growing our community is a bad thing . I dont call that a chilul Hashem . This is not just about courtesy busing . They dont like us , our large families and our growth plain and simple . I and many others feel no need to apologize or even respond to that . The only thing we can do is negotiate with the State about the unfairness of our funding formula . Trying to appease those that hate us just for being here ,wont matter to them .
I still haven’t received notice about this…
@Do you really think you gain anything by arguing on app, they hate us and will never I repeat never accept us for who we are on a religious basis and our life style . Its best to ignore them and not give them any validity(the only people who read the comments on app lakewood stories are people who are looking for hateful comments).I hope you asked daas torah before becoming the unofficial spokesman for us.