I believe we are doing the right thing. To be candid, our group is 100 percent transparent. It really blows my mind. Maybe I am naive as an individual, but I honestly believe in my heart we are working for all the children of Lakewood.

That’s Carl Fink, President of the Lakewood School Board, in reaction to an investigation by Education Law Center of “possible racial discrimination within the township’s schools.” (Asbury Park Press.)

ELC says that the investigation was instigated by a series of articles in the Asbury Park Press, which detailed the district’s privileging of white Jewish students over the almost-entirely Hispanic and black public school students. While there are 28,000 schoolchildren in Lakewood, almost 22,000 attend private yeshivas. Current student enrollment in Lakewood Public Schools is about 5,600, almost all Hispanic and black. The district spends about 20% of its annual operating budget on transportation. (NJ districts transport students regardless of school location).

In addition, Lakewood sends many of its white special-needs kids to the School for Hidden Intelligence. Annual tuition is about $100,000 per student per year. Minority special needs kids stay in-district and receive sub-standard services.

For further information see NJ Left Behind coverage here, here, here, and here, or just search “Lakewood” on this site.