The letter by Mayor Francis Womack of North Brunswick (Sentinel, Oct. 6) endorsing the school expansion referendum has injected partisan politics into what is really a taxpayer issue.
The mayor departed from the capital expenditure issue to take up almost a half page of newspaper space to present a “red herring-type” treatise defending the North Brunswick school system and Superintendent Brian Zychowski. This referendum is for capital expenditures with no funds earmarked for school programs. The mayor did not address any of the financial aspects of the referendum. He just made a blatant statement endorsing the referendum without explaining its merits, if any.
The mayor is not alone; all of us are concerned about the quality of education. His statements made no discernible connotation between facilities and the quality of education. Those of us who matriculated in more austere times, attending schools built in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, can attest that the quality of instruction was the result of the quality of the program, the quality of the teacher and the quality of the student. The type of classroom was not significant; it could be a bare room, a barn or a field.
Richard Pender
North Brunswick
