Township Committee members let their frustration be heard last night, joining in the frustration of hundreds from the Hispanic community who packed town hall upset over the loss of courtesy busing.
“Do not allows those responsible to divide our communities,” Committeeman Lichtenstein said to the crowd, “we need to stand together and make it very clear to the State of New Jersey that we will absolutely not accept no busing. The township committee is committed to working hand in hand but it is impossible for us to be ready for 10,000 children on six weeks notice. It is dangerous and unacceptable.”
Approximately 2,500 from public schools and 7,500 hundred from non-public schools will be losing the courtesy busing as of February 26.
After hearing from parents, and interpreted by George Lopez of the town hall maintenance crew, the Committee stated that they had signed on an agreement, but the state had backed out.
Watch the video below.
The township should sue the state to get back the $1,000,000 they put up for the deal
Cancel school until bussing resumes for everyone
They never gave it
I don’t understand much of this but I always thought when you go to private schools,bussing is included in tuition. And public schools get bussing by tax payers. I really don’t get this.
The state is required to provide bussing to private school kid as well in most cases-
If all these people allowed themselves to be counted in the census in 2010 perhaps The City of Lakewood would receive adequate state funding and consideration.
It is so interesting to see the parallel between our two communities. We both are perceived as having a large percentage of free riders, we both are perceived as not blending with the local ‘regular’ (?!) population. We both need strong family oriented programs and we both truly want nothing less than the best for our children. 2500 children is roughly 50% of the public school population; 7500 children is somewhere between 30 to 40% of the private school population. This issue really affects both of us, and we will get nowhere if all we can do is ‘Blame the Jews’ or Blame the Hispanics’. As Meir L said- we’re in this together, lets work together- Call our voted people: Singer, Kean, Rible, WHERE ON EARTH ARE YOUR COMMENTS!?!?!?!? even if you dont have an answer- RECOGNIZE THE CHALLENGE!
The busing should be going to the people paying taxes regardless where the children go to school.
did they vote?
Here’s a thought to raise money for the busses. Actually enforce traffic laws, for example when there is a sign that says “No parking this side” and there is a row of cars parked there, tow them, give them tickets. Then when the owners pay to get the car back, use that money to give to the BOE. Or ticket the people that are reading or on their phones while they are driving If nothing else, at least the roads would be safer to drive on.
First of all under State statute the municipality, not the public schools, is responsible for the public safety of motorists and pedestrians. Also under state law, when a municipality believes that busing is necessary for the safety of students who do not qualify for mandated transportation the municipality should contract with the public school district to provide busing and pay for it. The municipality has a $12 million surplus based on its last audit, significantly more than the amount needed to keep the buses running. This surplus is effectively excess taxes paid by Lakewood taxpayers.
Regarding planning, from the time the county and municipality were notified of the referendum (60 days notice is required by law) and the date courtesy busing is scheduled to end is over 90 days. Now 3 weeks before the scheduled elimination the municipal committee and Mayor claim they had no time to plan. Sounds like the way they planned for the last snow storm. Given the very public opposition to the referendum by the VAAD, IGUD and seniors, it is grossly negligent that no contingency planning was done by the township committee.
To some guy,
Maybe they should give tickets to people who don’t shovel or maybe to guys who marry younger girls basically everyone with an agenda can say the bad guys should pay for it
Or maybe just grow up and pay for it ur self and if u think that your paying enough taxes to get bussing, what does the townships ignoring illegal parking have to do with it??
I have a better idea instead of parking tickets going to bussing why don’t we ask that property tax should pay for it?
Lol
Sell off more township land, create revenue through building fees and fine the folks who break into other people’s houses for using our police force, sue the county for potholes and slow plowing on our main roads, cellphone speeding and red light tickets passing busses agreed ….but parking in certain areas are just impossible and unless there is a hazard ticketing would just be bothering the overtaxed population.
Years ago there use to be something called a bus stop at corners for Public School Children and I believe it is still in use. It seems that children attending Private Schools utilizing Courtesy Busing have door to door service. This is why there is no more Courtesy Busing, too expensive!