There’s no shortage of news from Lakewood: even the Wall Street Journal takes notice today. Of course, they’re late to my party; no, on second thought, late to my shivah, the Jewish ritual mourning period, typically seven days but in Lakewood an eternity. I probably cover Lakewood’s morally and fiscally bankrupt schools too often, but this Ocean County school district that enrolls almost entirely Latino and Black low-income students pushes all my education reform buttons: tyranny of the majority (in this case the ultra-Orthodox residents who control the municipal government and the school board); lack of accountability; lack of school choice for poor kids of color but anything goes (at public expense) for children of the ruling class; discrimination against minority special education students. As a mother of four children (one with multiple disabilities), as a former school board member, and as a Jew, I take Lakewood’s offenses personally.
So, here’s the latest.
The founder and Director of SCHI, Osher Eisemann, was charged this year with stealing and laundering more than $600,000 in public funds, no doubt siphoned from district payments. A recent audit also found that SCHI overcharged Lakewood and other school districts by more than $340,000 in one year.
Last year Lakewood Public Schools, which enrolls almost entirely Latino (85%) and Black (8.3%) schoolchildren, sent SCHI $22.9 million in tuition. In total, according to a recent piece in the Star-Ledger, the Lakewood Board spent $33,837,924 for special education for 1,254 students classified as “special needs” during this last school year. The total operating budget for the district is about $127 million.
There is supposed to be an oversight committee to hold the consortium accountable. Lakewood resident and educator Al Longo is a member of that committee. He said,”we still have no idea who makes up the entire consortium, if they’re drawing up the most efficient routes, when they’re going to hold public meetings, or how they’re spending the state money.”
From the Star-Ledger:
A particular sticking point, Longo said, was the refusal by Orthodox school owners to allow installation of curtains to separate girls and boys on the buses so that they could ride together.
“Imagine the savings if we didn’t have to bus them separately,” he said.
It’s too early to say Kaddish (the Jewish prayer for the dead), but it won’t be if the State doesn’t step in. In a letter to the community, District Superintendent Laura Winters confirmed that “the Lakewood School District is unable to provide its students with a ‘thorough and effective education’ required by the New Jersey State Constitution.” Non-Orthodox students, she wrote, receive instruction that is “tragically inadequate and inferior.” I’ll say it again: it’s time for a state takeover of Lakewood Public Schools. Contrary to Ronald Reagan’s famous quip — the most terrifying words in the English language are “I’m from the government and I’m here to help” — non-Jewish Lakewood families need that help, and they need it right now.
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