[EXCLUSVE VIDEO BELOW] To effectively learn a student needs to be in school. But that is not happening in Lakewood.
Currently, approximately 4,000 non-public children and hundreds of public school children are not being transported to school, and even when bussed, are consistently arriving late and waiting endlessly to be taken home.
Sources tell TLS that the State Monitor is again haggling with the LEA (the Lakewood Education Association – the teacher’s union) to change their contracts so as to allow the start and end times of public schools to be changed, yet again, as reportedly the district’s new busing situation – as it relates to public schools – is not meeting the mark.
TLS understands the teacher’s grief – how can they be expected to best educate public-school children when they don’t get to school on time? How can they be expected to change their contractual hours in the middle of a school year? They too have children. They too have schedules outside of their work day.
Even if the Teacher’s union would agree – what about the public school parents who similarly have jobs, schedules, etc. and may be asked mid-year to change their schedules?
As to the nonpublic children who are mandated to have busing (as they live more than 2 – 2 ½ miles from their schools ) why are thousands without transport?
According to Michael I Inzelbuch, Esq. the current situation is a “flop – a tragic sitcom—but is a rerun –just another death knell to my alma mater.”
Inzelbuch points to the publicly available statistics in New Jersey that clearly suggests that there is a shortage of bus drivers, for example, and tells TLS that the district doesn’t have enough drivers, the private vendors are losing their drivers almost weekly as they want to work for the district as they can make about double, and there is no end in sight .
Inzelbuch, and many public officials in Lakewood and State wide also don’t understand where the Plan that was relied upon for this year is, “you know the one we were all told would be in effect for this year when we had to sue last year and were told just to give them time.”
Inzelbuch has requested a copy of the Plan of the district but, candidly, stated to TLS “How can you have a Plan that makes sense when you have few, if any, people knowing what they are doing as to busing and all the infighting that exists at the Board office?”
Fiscally, it is not making sense, according to Inzelbuch who has spoken to vendors, public officials, District staff and who has been provided information via OPRA requests .
“The time has come to have the State takeover and the first order of business should be to throw out their own monitors. You know, the ones who were going to save the day for the last three or so years.”
Lastly, Inzelbuch stated “Teachers and Superintendent Winters – stay strong – there were, are and will be education in Lakewood despite the current mess . Your hearts and dedication are known.”
[TLS]
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Thank you mr inzelbuch for standing up to the corruption
Thank you for looking out for us!! We need more transparency. I am one of those parents who is eligible for busing and am still driving my kid. It is very frustrating to say the least. I understand everyone wants busing but I feel that we are the ones who keep having to make concessions (Last year my son’s bus came before 8 when school didn’t start till 9). This idea that they want to make bus stops 1/2 mile away is also VERY inconvenient, and UNSAFE!!!! Children cannot be dropped off at locations that they cannot walk home from without crossing streets. Parents cannot be expected to be in multiple places at once waiting for buses and especially when the arrival time is inconsistent.
I am still trying to get answers to the following questions. Why do us mandated busing without busing have to pay 3 times as much as the courtesy has to pay in order for us to get private transportation? Why isn’t the cost for private transportation shared between all the students of Lakewood who were lucky enough to get busing And why did the “people” go crazy when courtesy busing was to be cut but those “people” (who probably now have busing for their kids) are silent when thousands of mandated children do not have busing? Maybe they’re silent because their plan to get “some schools” busing for all their student, mandated and courtesy, was accomplished. I just want to let everyone know that there are many of us that have to pay hundreds of dollars to get our children to school. In other words we are paying so the courtesy can have busing. Maybe it was legal what they did but the question is yashrus…..
Anything is better than 7:05 in the morning especially in October until Standard Time begins. I would like to see LHS return to opening at 7:15.
Anything is better than 7:05 in the morning especially in October until Standard Time begins. I would like to see LHS return to opening at 7:15.
Thank you Mr Inzelbucht!
There are SO many issues at hand but I just want to know why there are some FULL busses of only NON MANDATED a.k.a courtesy STOPS when some of us MANDATED don’t have stops??? Super frustrating!!
MR Inzelbuch for board superintendent!!!!!
The Lakewood Public School system was the worst thing that happened to my kids. Officials should be ashamed of what has been allowed and happened in Lakewood.
BZ keep bringing the potato kugel.
Therefore,
Wait!! Wasn’t the 7 mil law that was passed suppose to fix all the problems?? Someone needs to follow the money. Mandated busing should have come before any other bus was on the road.
The 40 or so buses labeled “Lakewood Township” that my taxes pay for are parked neatly everyday when I do pm carpool. Why dont we – mandated runs – have access to these “Lakewood township buses”? Am I only part of the township when they collect the $12,000 yearly?
No. The bill was not supposed to fix all the problems. Nobody in the know ever said it would.The bill makes it a lit better than the morning it would have been without the bill but it does not fix everything.
Ty we live 5.5 miles from the school and we were told we should drive our children approx 2 miles to the bus stop at which the bus will come between 8 – 9:30! Is that considered bussing?!?!?
I am a widow with 14 grandchildren in Lakewood private school yeshiva system. Between myself and the other two families we pay over $30,000 in annual property taxes and none of my 14 grandchildren have busing at all to school. There’s something wrong here.
I say, sign every body up at the Board of Ed., all the 4000 that don’t have buses and everyone else, the other 20,000 kids and shake the whole place up. It’s enough already.
The new law promotes inefficiency but it finally gets the courtesy bussing out of the school budget so that Lakewood can finally prove its cause.
Lone Ranger – meanwhile the BOE and PS administration has proven what a mess they are. Paying drivers double the going rate to steal them from the private companies, over spending and under utilizing busses and with all that they still can’t get the PS kids to school! Do you realize that the bussing office still has all the administrators it had when they were in charge of 30 k kids!
Mismanaged and watefull yet the hardworking taxpaying private school community gets blamed
I don’t know what was accomplished by getting a bill passed wherein funds for transportation costs would be placed in the hands of the Lakewood Student Transportation Authority. Now courtesy bused students can receive bussing over the mandated students as their runs are being picked up by the vendors due to economic gain and the supply and demand issue that exists in our township. If intentions were to make fair for everyone then there is still a lot of work to do! Is there some kind of law that states that the percentage of taxes collected from a town should go to help the people of the town from whom the taxes are collected? I don’t see that happening to me? My real estate taxes are well over $10,000 my neighborhood roads are broken and I don’t get bussing for my kids still in the school system here. I don’t know politics but something “smells rotten” in this equation and totally unjust. why I am not considered the public just because I send to private school? And what would happen if we sent our kids to public school, would there all is a sudden be enough buses and drivers to go around? – apparently not either as per this article. What a mess!!
Can someone please explain how bussing bids run? If all the monies used for bussing equal $884 per student and the mandated students who do not get bussing will supposedly recieve money back, is the Lakewood board of transportation for the public school sector and the LSTA for private truly using $884 per child as well? According to a summer article run in “the voice” the new bill signed in by senator Singer claimed that it actually cost less than that and those monies could be used to factor in courtesy students with them only paying an extra $150 atleast on the private sector. If indeed they are then how is it legal/fair/just to choose those students who qualify for bussing and those who do not and who then have to either carpool or hire private transportation for triple the price? How is it legal to charge an extra $150 for courtesy students on the private sector who also pay their taxes? Thank you mr Inzelbuch esq. for looking into this. We all deserve to be heard and have our rights defended.
Why have i not received 884 per each of my children yet even though i need to make driving arrangements for them every morning?
Even if the schools arrange something on their own for after Yom Tov in NOVEMBER,there is no way they should be allowed to keep the entire $884. Since they missed 2 of of 10 months, 20% of the $884 should go to me.
i have 4 kids who used to getting busing. With these new rules 1 of my kids is to close (1.4 miles) to school so she has no bus yet my son who should have busing (5.0) miles from school has none. you called the lsta or email and they don’t even respond back. Who are we suppose to speak about this situation?
to yaakov: you only get the money after you fill out form and it usually takes a long time for them to process it. Last year around May time I fill out this form and just got a check in September.
not only are the Lakewood bd of ed drivers getting paid 18.00 an hour but each and every one is putting in for overtime every week which Tara Vasquez is approving. And how can they get overtime when the buses are parked by 9 am every day??How is the state monitor letting this happen. Also, they ordered all these buses but have no garage, maintainence contract to service these buses. So what will happen??They will get run down to the ground. Tara Vasquez hired a mechanic from the Central (now Jays) bus yard to walk around the bus yard to check fluids, etc. Is this anyway to run a Bus Yard??Spending all this money on new buses with no garage set up to service these new buses. What a waste of money.And how is Tara Vasquez Director with no certification to have this job making 92,000 a year?The drivers get 10 sick days, 4 personal days and get paid for all holidays even though they are not working, medical insurance, pension. Whats wrong with this scenario.