Letters

Teachers go above and beyond for students

As a lifelong resident of Jackson, a taxpayer, and a Jackson school district educator, I agree that we are once again challenged to preserve the high standards of education to which we have grown accustomed while facing the burden of devising a workable school budget. It is unfortunate and rather unfair that Dan Gross has attempted to place this burden on the very backs of the professionals that the taxpayers rely on to educate their children. I will not attempt to negotiate a new contract in the newspaper, but it is my desire to present some points to the other side of this story that Mr. Gross neglected to mention.

Since beginning my teaching career nearly 10 years ago, I have become convinced that it would be difficult to understand the nature of our responsibilities unless one were directly employed within the system. I intend to convey some of this information to the taxpayers in order to provide a more balanced assessment of our present situation.

Although, as Mr. Gross states, a new teacher with a B.A. earns $41,270 a year, a teacher with nearly 10 years experience earns just $2,000 above that salary. Despite the fact that he says the salary for a new teacher is “competitive,” it is apparent that this amount seems to level off rather quickly. I might add that many dedicated educators use part of their “competitive” salary to purchase additional supplies in order to enhance the classroom experience for their students. In addition, although it is true that our contracted day is 7.25 hours, there is no compensation for the countless hours added to our day at home completing the necessary grading, student evaluations, lesson plans, phone calls, etc. that have become commonplace to so many dedicated, caring educators.

It seems Mr. Gross is implying that, as educators, we have it easy. On the contrary Mr. Gross, I speak for my colleagues and for myself when I recall the many times that we have gone above and beyond what was expected of us to help a student in need: assisting in an emergency situation during and after school hours, or extending concern and compassion to families who have been in crisis situations.

In light of the unique demands and challenges we face, it is difficult to place a dollar value on the level of professionalism that we bring to school on a daily basis. I respectfully suggest that Mr. Gross refrains from doing the same, especially in the newspaper.

Kathleen McCarthy

Jackson

Illegal aliens are ruining Lakewood’s neighborhoods

My once quiet single-family zoned cul-de-sac neighborhood in Lakewood has become a rooming house district for migrant workers from Central America.

I have written over 60 letters to local officials and congressional representatives over the past two years and succeeded only in slightly cutting down on vehicle horn honking between 4-7 a.m.

Our neighborhood patrol has become a joke. Large groups of men and women who cannot be identified exit homes that have come to resemble that circus vehicle with 30 clowns.

A culture of dishonesty has descended on Lakewood. Many landlords rent exclusively to undocumented illegal aliens from Central America.

Crowds of undocumented illegal aliens from Central America block access to the post office in the morning and loiter about, lining the sidewalks of Clifton Avenue. Contractors from all over pick up workers like men picking up prostitutes.

Lakewood policy openly condones tax fraud, immigration fraud and human trafficking. Any potential homeowner [who is] not moving into one of Lakewood’s segregated Jewish-only neighborhoods is frightened away.

Homeowners in Lakewood’s mixed neighborhoods come home and find 10 to 30 young men next door drinking liquor, smoking marijuana and jeering at their teenage daughters.

Honking transportation vans with out-of-state plates, honking taxis, honking food deliveries and honking visitors come and go 24 hours a day. Strange large groups of men appear from nowhere and disappear.

Illegals usually agree with any landlord demand, including making improvements on the rental property and paying rents two or three times the norm.

Normal American families who need to rent are driven out by unrealistically high rental prices in Lakewood.

Illegals cause more single families to flee Lakewood’s mixed neighborhoods and more rental property becomes available for more illegal rooming houses. Lakewood’s public school system is a mess.

The Township Committee, including state Sen. Robert Singer, can’t seem to do anything about this problem.

Vlad Urban

Lakewood

First aid squad deserves adequate funding

As a taxpayer, a senior citizen and a seven-year veteran first aid volunteer in Avenel, I was disturbed by all the reports I have been reading of Mayor Mike Broderick cutting funding to the Jackson First Aid Squad and, furthermore, refusing to provide them with safe, working ambulances. The first-aiders stated that their ambulances have more than 100,000 miles on them and that their building is in a state of disrepair.

As a senior, no one is more spending conscious than I, however, you have to have priorities. The safety of the people should always be at the top of any elected official’s agenda, yet Mayor Broderick has obviously abandoned the all-volunteer Jackson First Aid Squad.

Mayor Broderick cut the first aid’s budget from $35,000 to $20,000 over the last couple of years. This makes no sense to me, when considering the big picture of Jackson’s $32 million budget. The $15,000 the first aid needs to be fully funded is insignificant when compared with the overall figure of $32 million.

If the budget needed to be cut, I’m sure there were less vital areas or positions which could have been targeted.

What makes me even angrier is that Mayor Broderick raised our taxes this year. Even with a tax increase, the mayor wants us to believe that he couldn’t find the small amount of money the first aid needed? Unbelievable!

I now have serious doubts about what would happen to me or my fellow seniors if any of us suddenly became ill and required immediate medical attention. I should not have to be afraid to get sick or have an accident in my own town.

Bill Blake

Jackson