From 5/17/2004 Asbury Park Press
***I thought this was being done to improve performance? I do not believe it saves money as Quinn himself told us. Note the input from "State Officials".
Full Article:
http://www.app.com/app/story/0,21625,965511,00.html
Take Bruce Quinn, superintendent of Matawan-Aberdeen Regional Schools. Quinn's district is 30 percent minority, but his four elementary schools don't reflect that.
Lloyd Road Elementary School is about 20 percent minority and scored the highest marks on the state's fourth-grade test in 2002-03, the latest year available. Cliffwood Avenue Elementary School is 41 percent minority and had the district's lowest test scores. Strathmore and Ravine Drive schools are each between 25 percent and 30 percent minority and tested near the district's average score.
State officials noted the differences between Lloyd Road and Cliffwood Avenue are striking in a district that is 30 percent minority.
So Quinn and the Board of Education decided earlier this year to revamp enrollment. Lloyd Road will be home to fourth- and fifth-graders and the other schools will be kindergarten through third grade.
Quinn emphasized the racial disparities were the byproduct of tight financial times in the late 1980s when the district last drew its school boundary lines.
"The lines were not drawn with racial diversity in mind," Quinn said. "The most important thing for the Board of Education was economics. . . . They were trying to save as much money as possible."
And although economics still guide school policy in many districts, Quinn said mass regionalization is not the answer. He said the personal touches of smaller districts would be lost in a county-sized district.
"If you have a Monmouth County district, you're going to have 23 high schools?" Quinn asked. "How do you deal with that?"
***I thought this was being done to improve performance? I do not believe it saves money as Quinn himself told us. Note the input from "State Officials".
Full Article:
http://www.app.com/app/story/0,21625,965511,00.html
Take Bruce Quinn, superintendent of Matawan-Aberdeen Regional Schools. Quinn's district is 30 percent minority, but his four elementary schools don't reflect that.
Lloyd Road Elementary School is about 20 percent minority and scored the highest marks on the state's fourth-grade test in 2002-03, the latest year available. Cliffwood Avenue Elementary School is 41 percent minority and had the district's lowest test scores. Strathmore and Ravine Drive schools are each between 25 percent and 30 percent minority and tested near the district's average score.
State officials noted the differences between Lloyd Road and Cliffwood Avenue are striking in a district that is 30 percent minority.
So Quinn and the Board of Education decided earlier this year to revamp enrollment. Lloyd Road will be home to fourth- and fifth-graders and the other schools will be kindergarten through third grade.
Quinn emphasized the racial disparities were the byproduct of tight financial times in the late 1980s when the district last drew its school boundary lines.
"The lines were not drawn with racial diversity in mind," Quinn said. "The most important thing for the Board of Education was economics. . . . They were trying to save as much money as possible."
And although economics still guide school policy in many districts, Quinn said mass regionalization is not the answer. He said the personal touches of smaller districts would be lost in a county-sized district.
"If you have a Monmouth County district, you're going to have 23 high schools?" Quinn asked. "How do you deal with that?"
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