Resident praises schools superintendent for time change decision

The Midstreams and Drum Point schools have changed their school days from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. If this news is a shock to many parents, it should be.

With only a few weeks left until the start of school, this change will leave many parents in a time crunch to get their children off to school while being on time for work.

Superintendent Thomas Seidenberger took some heat for this time change at the recent board of education meeting, but to his credit, he took responsibility for not notifying parents earlier of the change. For those parents who will be affected with this change, Seidenberger pledged to help align child care in conjunction with the Brick Police Athletic League.

This change was made to save money for the district and is slated to save upward of $180,000 this year alone. With state aid flat year after year, school districts are forced to think "out of the box" and make changes to help save money. This type of change won't be popular with some, but we must realize that the school budget has been voted down in recent years and S1701 hasn't left much in the schools' coffers.

I would have to give Seidenberger a grade of A-minus for this money-saving measure. Next time he would get a grade of A if he would only communicate such a change a little earlier.

John Barrett

Brick