Clinton announces building plan at Crossroads
By: Matthew Armstrong
President Bill Clinton came to Crossroads Middle School Wednesday to talk about school construction and bolster support for U.S. Rep. Rush Holt (D-12th) who is running for re-election.
Hundreds of children, parents, teachers and elected officials gathered among the many portable trailers at Crossroads School anxiously awaiting the president’s arrival. The Crossroads School jazz band played "Hail to the Chief" as the helicopters landed and local police and the Secret Service took their positions.
President Clinton went inside a trailer to talk with students Brooke Pinnix, Matt Ruffalo, Malaika Carpenter, Stefan Sabo and Nirupama Hegde and their teachers. President Clinton and Rep. Holt greeted the students and teachers and sat down to talk with them.
"They do a good job here in South Brunswick but it’s tough teaching in such a small and narrow room," said Rep. Holt.
In the trailer, which is half the size of a normal classroom, President Clinton asked the students what it was like to have classes in a trailer.
"How many students are you teaching in this trailer?" President Clinton asked Crossroads teacher, David Morgan. When Mr. Morgan answered "25," President Clinton raised his eyebrows and glanced around at the cramped conditions.
President Clinton asked the students how many classes were held in the trailers and how hard it was to learn in this environment.
Students talked about classes often being disrupted by outside noise, the lone computer, which does not have Internet access, they share, and the trips to and from these trailers in the rain and snow.
"You feel separated from the rest of the school," said Nirupama, who graduated from Crossroads School in the spring.
South Brunswick Superintendent of Schools Samuel Stewart told the president that between Crossroads School and Upper Elementary School, 21 trailers are used as temporary classrooms.
South Brunswick did pass a referendum last fall that allows for the construction of a new elementary school and a new addition to the high school. The referendum to construct these new schools in the district had been defeated by voters in 1994 and 1998 because residents opposed the necessary tax-hike.
"We came here today because for two years we’ve been trying to pass this bill that would build over 6,000 new schools and repair 5,000 more," said President Clinton as he sat across from the students. "By coming here we are hoping to get the Congress to address these problems. You all are going to be Exhibit A to the Congress."
President Clinton spoke to the students about his visits to schools across the country, explaining why the federal government needed to step in to help municipalities build new schools. He talked of overcrowded suburban schools that have seen unprecedented growth that it simply cannot handle by raising property taxes. He also spoke of schools in the cities where student populations have declined and have not been able to modernize their schools.
"I visited a school in New York City that had just sealed off the top floor and they were still using a coal furnace to heat their school," said President Clinton. "After World War II was the only time the federal government stepped in to help schools and I think it’s time to do it again."
The students gave President Clinton some gifts including a bag with Crossroads School printed on it and then went out on stage before the audience.
Dr. Stewart addressed the crowd first and talked about the problems the school district is facing with rising student population and the difficulties the district faces in trying to accommodate this growth.
"Education in trailers separates them from the resources and the school community," said Dr. Stewart. "The overcrowding you see here is only part of the problem."
He then introduced Malaika, who graduated from Crossroads Middle School and will be attending SBHS in the fall.
"I spent my seventh and eighth grade in these trailers that are half the size of normal classrooms," said Malaika. She told the audience of being cramped in the temporary classrooms, being isolated from other students and school resources and running through the rain to go to her English class.
"Hopefully, actions will be taken to solve the problem of overcrowding," said Malaika, adding how honored she was to introduce President Clinton.
President Clinton expressed his gratitude to Malaika, Dr. Stewart, the assembled crowd and the Crossroads School Jazz Band. He then talked about the work Rep. Holt has done and the school construction bill that he has sponsored.
"Rush was a university professor and a scientist and we all used to kid him that he knew too much to be in politics," said the president. "But it’s been a joy to work with someone with his knowledge."
Then, President Clinton spoke about the era of prosperity and the need to take advantage of it by investing in the future. He spoke of paying down the national debt to keep interest rates down, strengthening Social Security, lowering the cost of prescription drugs, and funding construction of new schools and repairing old schools.
He spoke of the strides in education that have been made in the past eight years and said Vice President Al Gore would continue this trend in the future if he is elected the next President.
To the audience, President Clinton again spoke of legislation co-sponsored by Rep. Holt that would allow the federal government to provide tax breaks to allow construction of new schools and modernizing older schools.
"All over America, our faculties are better than our facilities," said President Clinton, much to the enjoyment of the assembled teachers and students. "I’m not proposing that the federal government take over the schools, just to provide a tax break to build new schools and ease the burden of property taxes."
President Clinton urged the audience to call their congressional representatives to support the school construction legislation when the Congress reconvenes in the fall.
"This has been debated for two years in the Congress. We just have to get over the philosophy that the federal government doesn’t build schools," said President Clinton. "We need to put this beyond politics and get this done."
President Clinton also said new schools would be built in such a way that if student populations in suburban schools declined in the future, the buildings could be used by the communities.
The president took time after his speech to shake hands with audience members before leaving to attend a fund-raiser for Rep. Holt in Hopewell, and then going to Cherry Hill to offer his support for Democratic congressional candidate Susan Bass-Levin who is running against incumbent U.S. Rep. Bill Saxton (R-3rd).