TRENTON, N.J. -- As more than 50 parents and teachers staged a protest nearby, members of the New Jersey state Assembly Budget Committee earlier this week pressed Children and Families Commissioner Kimberly Ricketts to explain her decision to phase out 18 state-run special education schools over the next 13 months.
Ricketts said she chose to close the schools and transfer as many as 560 children into their local or county school districts because enrollment has declined from about 1,200 from more than a decade ago. Operating these schools also no longer fulfills the department's "core mission" of child protection, she added.
Some lawmakers criticized Ricketts for rushing the closures before a clear transition plan was developed.
These special schools and their highly skilled teachers welcomed children local school districts have rejected, said Jocelyn Reyes of Elizabeth, whose son, Jonathan, attends the school in Essex County. "They have had many successes with them. Now they are being thanked for their services by getting kicked to the curb as if this dedication didn't matter," Reyes said.
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(560 children from about 1,200) That looks like good news, but something does not seem right. One must ask why such a decline, at a time when it seems like there are more childrem with disebilities than ever?
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