Sunday, July 29, 2012

Open letter to Gov. Christie: Shame on you | The Asbury Park Press NJ | APP.com

Open letter to Gov. Christie: Shame on you | The Asbury Park Press NJ | APP.com:


Open letter to Gov. Christie: Shame on you



Dear Gov. Christie,
It is absolutely outrageous that you have remained silent for months on what the state might do to help fix Lakewood’s dysfunctional public school system, after choosing to visit a controversial private school there Thursday. How could you?
How could you have driven right past the Oak Street public elementary school — one of several troubled public schools in Lakewood, which are 90 percent minority — on your way to the private School for Children with Hidden Intelligence, and not have said to yourself, “Ignoring the public schools just isn’t right”?
How could you not have asked yourself whether it was appropriate to visit the privately run but largely publicly financed school, which caters almost exclusively to the Orthodox Jewish community? Just days prior to your visit, we reported that the public school district is the subject of an investigation into racial discrimination — an allegation the state itself had made several years ago but ultimately did