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North Brunswick needs a solution to overcrowded schools

I would like to address Mr. Richard Pender’s recent letters (North & South Brunswick Sentinel, Oct. 13 and Sept. 23) regarding the North Brunswick school bond referendum.

He criticizes Mayor Francis “Mac” Womack for voicing his opinion, claiming the mayor made what should be a taxpayer issue a political issue. The education of our children must be a community issue. It is imperative that we show our young people that North Brunswick sees no greater investment than the education of its youth. We all want to live in a community of intelligent, responsible and informed citizens, and one way we make that happen is by raising well-educated children.

Mr. Pender is quick to decry the referendum and claim concern for the quality of education in our town without offering any viable suggestions or alternatives. He seems to find our Early Childhood Center (ECC) frivolous and calls the work accomplished at the ECC “babysitting.”

I would ask Mr. Pender if he realizes that North Brunswick is legally required to provide special education preschool for those students that qualify. This program is crucial to the academic success of the students that attend the ECC. It is not cost-effective to continue to pay Milltown to provide a building or to pay to bus these students out of district. I would encourage Mr. Pender to spend some time observing classes at the ECC so he can see the excellent education and special services these students receive from highly qualified teachers. If he did, he would never liken this important (and legally required) program to babysitting. I fear he would rather make false overgeneralizations than learn the facts.

Mr. Pender laments for an education system like that of his youth where the nature of the classroom was not as significant, thus implying that the goal of this referendum is a new building for the sake of having something new. Never does he address the facts or offer another plan. Since 1995, school enrollment has increased 40 percent in North Brunswick with projections for continued growth. A new school has not been added since 1973. There is no room for expansion at any of our town’s schools, and class sizes are simply too large to provide an adequate education for our students.

I would again suggest Mr. Pender spend some time in our elementary schools and see closet space being used as instructional space before claiming there really is enough room for all of our students. When class sizes are too large to provide the individual attention each student needs to be successful and there is no more classroom space available to alleviate those class sizes, that is when a new school becomes a necessity.

Mr. Pender also needs to realize that education is vastly different than it was when he went to school and the way teachers teach has changed along with it. Children cannot be taught to simply memorize and compute as they once were. Those skills prepared children for jobs that no longer exist. The teaching models used then did not require one-on-one time between teacher and student because they were based on large group instruction.

Today’s teachers have specific requirements placed on them by the state that cannot be met in an overcrowded classroom. The jobs these children will have as adults require innovative thinking with a high level of skill in science, technology and engineering. Teachers cannot prepare these students in overcrowded classrooms “in a barn” as Mr. Pender suggests in his letter. They need access to materials and technology that were not needed when Mr. Pender went to school.

An “if it was good enough for me, it’s good enough for them” attitude is not reasonable. We need to look at the facts. We cannot have students leaving the North Brunswick school system inadequately prepared for the workforce and higher education environment that awaits them.

He wants to separate the idea of a new school from the provision of quality education for our children. The reality is that an overcrowded trailer is not an acceptable classroom environment. He says that a quality education is dependent only on the teacher, but some basic knowledge about the requirements placed on students and teachers by the state of New Jersey will show that we are setting our students up for failure if we do not equip those teachers with the necessary tools.

No one wants to spend more money than is necessary. After more than 40 years, the need has become so great that it can no longer be pushed aside. North Brunswick needs a new school building to reduce class sizes in what are already overcrowded buildings with more students projected to enter the district every year. The reduction in class size will allow our teachers to provide the classroom environment our students need.

The voter turnout for last year’s school referendum vote was unacceptable. All citizens of North Brunswick, particularly those with children in the district, must find the time to vote on Dec. 13. Absentee ballots are available for those that cannot vote in person.

As a society we must value education and provide a school environment for our children that will prepare them for their future and ensure that they will graduate ready to make a positive impact on our community. Mr. Pender refers to this as a “wishlist,” rather than the sensible and necessary plan for the future of the education of our children that it is. If Mr. Pender is interested in learning more about what goes on in our classrooms, I am confident our students will take the time to show him. If after learning the facts, Mr. Pender has another solution to our overcrowding problem, I am also confident that our school board will listen.

I strongly urge all citizens to learn more about the education provided in our town’s schools and vote in favor of making that education a priority in North Brunswick.

Jessica Updegraff
North Brunswick

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