LETTERS: Redistricting frustrates

To the editor:
   
As a resident with two elementary school age children, I am very frustrated and disappointed with the new redistricting plan. Hopefully, someone can answer some of my questions:
   1. When did this start and when were you planning on telling everyone? We are fairly in tune with the school district. We read all the notices sent home, we talk to our kids’ teachers, we attend events at the school and we know many parents in the district. This is the first we’ve heard of the redistricting plan, which we read about in the town newspaper by chance. And now you want to approve this in one week. That doesn’t give us much time to understand and respond. Maybe that was the plan.
   2. How is it possible to build two new schools (Brooks Crossing and Indian Fields) and have them immediately overcrowded while other schools are nowhere near capacity? When these other schools were built, why wasn’t the redistricting done (competently) then? You had two fresh locations to work with. The job should have been done correctly at that time.
   3. How many times can a child change schools in a short elementary school career? I’m sure you didn’t make this decision lightly, but it seems as though a large number of students will have to change schools more than once during a short five-year period. Not to mention, the families with more than one child. Becoming comfortable at a school (for parents and kids) is a long process.
   4. Can anyone explain the plan? Kids are going every which way. Schools are getting kids and losing kids at the same time. With such a short review period, we can’t determine if it all makes sense. And this is our kids’ well being. We want to be sure about it. The plan posted to the board’s web site doesn’t do a very good job explaining it.
   5. Was any population forecasting done before the new elementary schools were built? I’m sure there was, so what happened? Is this same problem going to come up again in two or three years?
   6. Why does this need to be done in a week? If the board says it’s because it’s so late, that’s not acceptable. Parents should have been notified much earlier so we can have an informed discussion. I would rather keep my children in a slightly overcrowded school while this plan is comprehensively understood and executed than push through something that we don’t have confidence in.
   On a personal note, I now have to explain to my children why they have to say goodbye to their friends, their favorite teachers and their school in such a short amount of time. My third-grader had deep roots in the school and my kindergartner is just getting comfortable in his new routine. That’s just not fair to them or to us.
   With the recent real estate boom, we have been considering our options on where we want to live. We chose to stay where we are largely because we love our school, the excellent teachers and the great staff. Even if we did move within South Brunswick (we love this town), who knows what school our kids will be attending in a few years?
Steve Juro
Monmouth Junction