It was supposed to be about school choice…

There has been a great deal of rhetoric over the past several weeks regarding the issue of the proposed charter schools and the Livingston public school district.  Needless to say, some of that rhetoric has been hate filled and vitriolic.

But it was supposed to be about school choice…

Thankfully, other voices chimed in – some for school choice, some against – which is what the discussion should have been about.  I applaud the West Essex Tribune (WET) for its thoughtful editorial on the issue.  While the WET is against the formation of charter schools in Livingston, it makes its position known respectfully.

It was supposed to be about school choice…

A group of motivated individuals came together to exercise their rights under the law to provide for an innovative choice to parents in three/five school districts to provide for a dual language immersion program.  [In fact, on May 30^th, U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (NJ-12) and Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) announced that they have introduced, in both the House and the Senate, the Foreign Language Education Partnership Program Act, which would support revolutionary classroom programs that provide carefully sequenced foreign language classes from kindergarten through high school.]  Unfortunately, what happened after that became very ugly in that some people chose to make the issue both racial and political.

It was supposed to be about school choice…

Another voice, which was printed in this week’s WET and which I have included here, embodies my thoughts on the resolution that was passed by the Town Council last week in its effort to have a formal document be included in the response made by the Board of Education to the Department of Education regarding the outstanding charter school applications.  [The BOE letter to the Department of Education, by the way, was a reasonable, thoughtful, well-expressed argument against the inclusion of Livingston within the charter school purview.] 

We write as long time residents who have been active participants of the town and school events. Many of us are against charter school in town but we strongly condemn the stance the town council takes singling out one ethnic group.

This is a divisive resolution from the town council.  (1) The town council was sent a letter on Sunday 5/22 regarding racial sentiment, and ignored the issue; (2) they ignored the fact that the proposals are for bilingual education for everyone who believes in language immersion at an early age. Councilman Santola commented (on Tribune) that "the charter serves one ethnicity"; (3) Chinese community leaders wrote to the Council on 5/25 about Chinese residents' fear of retribution, after reading online inflammatory comments, Tribune editorial, and comments such as above; (4) Board of Education member wrote repeatedly online that the debate is NOT about ethnicity and many Asians have signed petitions against the charter schools; (5) Jean Guo noted at the 5/23 meeting (published on Tribune) that “in her opinion, the majority of Chinese people in the township do not support charter schools”.

It is regretful to have such a resolution passed in a town we love deeply. But what is more troublesome is the fact that the town council over stepped the boundary in passing this resolution. When the school budget close to $100 million was being discussed, did the town council pass any resolution one way or the other? When the $4.5 million was cut from last years' school budget with bigger impact than the proposed charter schools, did the town council pass any resolution? Aren't these all taxpayer issues? Where is the line drawn? And we, as proud residents in town, ask why a resolution now?

No one in this country should imply that an entire ethnic group is segregating a school system or the community. Those who voted yes to this resolution are not sensitive to the escalating racial sentiment in town right before the Memorial Day activity and Youth Appreciation Week. We ask the town council to issue a press release and post online statement retracting the resolution immediately.

At this time, things are quiet – at least until September 30^th when a decision is made.  I have hope that we can take steps to heal the rifts that have occurred in the community and come together.  Remember – it was just supposed to be about school choice.