Friday, March 30, 2012
Right-wingers, Orthodox harming Lakewood schools
spending K-12 in wonderful and very diverse township schools, I am
appalled — though not entirely surprised — by their latest state of
affairs.
The planned destruction of public schools in Lakewood by the majority Hasidic/Orthodox community and
Board of Education reminds me of the concurrent demolition of public
education nationwide by the No Child Left Behind Act, which is basically a Trojan horse.
Whether you believe it's simply the ridiculous goal of 100 percent proficiency or the more likely joint conspiracy of the school-prayer religious
right, anti-teacher union Republicans, closet segregationists,
small-government libertarians and other profit-sector conservatives,
thousands of public schools have been placed at risk of being
privatized, turned into charters or closed all around the country.
In poor Lakewood, this federal assault has been joined by the local
Orthodox bloc to create a failed public school system, in order to
further the implementation of vouchers and the diversion of public
education funds to their private religious schools.
Most whites, including Reform Jews, already have been forced from town, and the black census is also down. This has left the only other population — Latinos — to literally battle it out for decent schools, housing,
health care and work/business opportunities in the town.
Kudos on your impassioned call for the state Department of Education to
finally intervene. The entire town probably requires state control or
receivership to save it.
