Alston-Johnson attended Paterson public schools, as did her five children, and she has watched the buildings fall steadily into disrepair over the years. She is now the primary caregiver for her grandson Rayahn, who is in eighth grade at the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Educational Complex, where close to 90 percent of students are Black or Latino.
“I feel like we get the short end of the stick,” said Alston-Johnson, who is 54. “We’re always last in line when it comes to our schools and money.”
“It’s cold in those buildings in the winter and then the A.C. doesn’t work in the summer; there’s mice running around,” she added. “If they did more upkeep on the buildings, the teachers would have been able to teach them in the buildings.”
Paterson, which serves mostly low-income families, has struggled to find the money to repair its buildings. In 2016, New Jersey allowed historically underfunded districts to submit requests for health and safety improvements. Paterson asked for ventilation repairs in 11 buildings, but all their requests were denied. In fact, of the roughly 90 applications to fix unsafe heating or air conditioning and ventilation systems, just two were CONTINUE READING: We let school buildings crumble for years - that neglect is locking kids out
