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Serious About Education Now?

Copyright © 2006, W. David Tarver

I noted with interest last week that the Red Bank Borough Council established an Education and Technology Committee. The stated aim of the committee is closer coordination between the borough administration and the schools on matters pertaining to the progress of Red Bank students. The establishment of this committee is potentially a very positive development, though it follows years of benign neglect of education issues by the Red Bank Borough Council. The fact of the matter is that the well being of students is not only a function of what happens in the schoolhouse. Building a top-notch education community requires community-wide effort and commitment, and the borough council definitely can and should play a constructive role.

I will try my best not to be cynical, and hence will overlook the fact that this Education and Technology Committee was proposed by one of the mayoral candidates on the eve of the election. I will also try to overlook the fact that the council did not take this step five years ago, when I and others established the Red Bank Education and Development Initiative and set out to rally all segments of the community to support Red Bank students. I would rather focus on the steps that the council should take now, if they are serious about improving education in the borough.

The first step I would suggest is this: the council should pull out the Red Bank Student Health Assessment that was provided to them back in February and give a full, public hearing to its findings. Meridian Health System produced the Health Assessment at the behest of the Red Bank Education and Development Initiative (the Initiative). The intent of the assessment was to determine what health factors might be affecting the performance of Red Bank students, and some of the findings were alarming. Since February of this year, I have offered the council the opportunity to discuss the findings in an open community forum, but the council has not responded to the offer. In May, I attended a council meeting in an attempt to schedule a review and discussion of the findings, and was told that a review would be held in conjunction with a June council meeting. Despite repeated calls to schedule the review, it was never held. This kind of response on the part of the council only fuels skepticism about their commitment. The assessment identified issues like gang activity, lack of electricity and water in some homes, increasing incidence of some illnesses such as asthma, and distrust of borough institutions on the part of many residents. One would think that a responsible borough government, given the opportunity, would want to follow up on such issues, especially if they profess a concern for the well being of students and families.

The second step I would suggest is this: the council should publicly thank Meridian Health System and its staff for conducting the assessment. Meridian spent more than $20,000 to hire the consulting firm that performed the assessment, and spent considerable funds on the time and effort of its own staff. The result is that the assessment was done at no cost to Red Bank taxpayers. This is the kind of partnership that the council should encourage. When an organization like Meridian goes out of its way to help, and then the council doesn’t recognize that help, the council sends a very negative message to the community. That message is, "We don’t value your help."

Another area that the Education and Technology Committee might explore is the medical and dental treatment resources available to Red Bank students. When the Initiative looked at this issue, we were surprised to find that there were quite a few Red Bank students who did not have access to regular medical and dental care. The Visiting Nurse Association of Central New Jersey (VNA) agreed in 2003 to provide its services to the Red Bank schools, and as a result students were provided access to nurse practitioner services at the school site. Then, in 2005, the Initiative, NJ Assemblyman Dr. Bob Morgan, local dentist Dr. William Lieberman, and the Monmouth Hospital Dental Department teamed with the Red Bank schools to provide dental screening and treatment to Red Bank students. We were surprised to find that nearly 10% of the students screened had significant dental treatment needs. Treatment of these students was funded by Initiative fund-raising, a contribution from Dr. Bob Morgan, and by goodwill discounts at Monmouth Medical. Again, there was no cost to Red Bank taxpayers, but the town reaped the benefits of healthier, better-performing students. The new Education and Technology Committee should make sure that these medical and dental programs continue. A student who has significant medical or dental problems has a much harder time keeping up in the classroom.

As I have said on many previous occasions, giant strides have been made in the education of Red Bank students since 2001. Still, much remains to be done. The new Education and Technology Committee can give new impetus to the drive toward making Red Bank a world-class education community – if it is serious.

 

W. David Tarver

October 18, 2006