Having read the Opinion page of the News Transcript on April 20, I want to offer my opinion on Jane Scott Fields’ letter to the editor regarding the Monmouth County tax cuts.
Like Ms. Fields, I applaud the efforts of everyone involved in lowering property taxes, but I take exception to the sweeping statement that all Monmouth County school boards could exert the “backbone” to “operate within a realistic budget.”
The issue of overcrowding and underfunding in our Freehold Borough K-8 School District is an epidemic. We know all about “shared services” at the Freehold Learning Center. Children share dated textbooks to cut costs. In order to provide the students with a library, the already overcrowded learning environment shares its space.
The school’s “cafetorium” is shared as a cafeteria/gymnasium/auditorium where children eat lunch well before 11 a.m. to accommodate the overflow. This very week the K-2 grades (10 classes) must vacate the learning area for state standardized testing and share the multi-purpose cafetorium.
The Freehold Borough Board of Education has worked tirelessly toward finding cost-saving solutions such as busing children to schools outside of Freehold Borough, restructuring the schools and making tough decisions about eliminating services.
The board continues to exert backbone in dealing with these challenges and I want to publicly express my appreciation to the school board, the superintendent, the school faculty and all of the hard-working parents and students who make up the Freehold Borough community where you and I live.
Brian Turtle
Freehold Borough