Letters
Paraprofessionals needed for special ed.

I am no longer going to apologize for my son's autism. That is his disability, plain and simple. I find it very hard to sit and nod my head in agreement when people are sharing either their own experience with learning disabilities or someone they know who is dealing with a disability.

I am hearing these stories more and more in Board of Education meetings as more and more the board cuts special education. With all due respect, dealing with a child with autism is not the same as a child with any other disability.

Believe me, I know every disability carries with it its own heartache. And I know there are success stories with autism. But let's get real. Autism now affects one in 166 children. We are at epidemic levels when it comes to autism. The stress that autism puts on a family is overwhelming. I never heard of a marriage ending because of a speech delay.

My son was nonverbal until he was 3. I had to teach my son to tell me when he got hurt. He would run into traffic with no regard for danger. He walks on his toes. He does not play appropriately with toys. He scripts the same line from a movie over and over. He would rather look at his fingers than me. He does not respond to his name, I have to go seek him out.

For some children with autism the sight of Jell-O will send them screaming under a table. The feel of their own clothing can cause them to have a meltdown. And those are only the beginning effects of autism. These children may be half the size of an adult but some are twice as strong. That is another reason why having trained professionals are vital.

I have to endure the rudest comments from people when I'm out with my son. Believe me, if I thought all it took was "a good spanking to snap him out of it," I would have done so long ago.

I will no longer apologize for the cost of my son's education. The Verbal Behavior program offered here in Brick is the only teaching method that is helping my son, and his records speak for themselves. I will be willing to share both my son's ABLLS (Assessment of Basic Language and Learning Skills) and all of his evaluations with anyone who may need to see proof. The Board of Education approved a school budget that will cut 11 paraprofessional jobs in the upcoming school year. This board needs to realize that the trained paraprofessionals are vital to the success of the classrooms where Verbal Behavior is being applied. And just like you cannot compare autism to all other learning disabilities, you cannot compare a Verbal Behavior trained paraprofessional to any other paraprofessional in a learning disabled class.

Remember, I am no longer apologizing for it; it's just a simple fact. I am grateful for every paraprofessional who has worked with my son in the past. I could not imagine where Joel would be without all of them in his life. I applaud all the paraprofessionals in this district. It's not an easy job. I know many parents who would agree that all paraprofessionals are worth their weight in gold. I am not the type of person to say I got mine and forget about those who are upcoming in this program. I cannot do that. I can only pray that the Board of Education would do the same.

Please do not forget all the other children that are being diagnosed with autism every day. Autism is affecting one in 166 children. The numbers are real.

Kim Vaccaro

Brick

Resident responds to construction official's testimony

A direct quote, right from the lips of Brick Township Councilman Stephen C. Acropolis stated, "There needs to be more than three code officials." Also, "I think we're doing a losing job in code enforcement."

Acropolis goes on to say that "special events had six employees while there are only three code enforcers." I question, what the hell is "special events" and are six salaries needed to perform what kind of task or tasks ? This sounds like a political plum handout to me. Did you do this mayor ?

These questions were asked of the Brick Construction Official Daniel Newman Jr. at a recent council meeting.

While Mr. Newman answered the questions in a very good and professional manner, he seemed to me that he was defending his department instead of promoting the use of additional funds in his budget requests.

Newman at one point stated that "fines are not supposed to be punitive but be used to bring people into compliance."

Good thought, but no cigar. I think he failed on this one, and I'll explain.

When a violation is reported and an inspection is conducted, the violation is either cited or not. If the alleged violation is indeed found to be in violation of the township's codes, a contact letter is then sent to the violator describing the statute in the municipal code that pertains.

Depending upon the severity of the violation, proper wording in the contact letter may insist that, the violation be corrected forthwith or given a longer length of time, usually two weeks. A follow-up inspection, depending upon the length of time allowed, must be made to determine if the violation was abated or still in violation of the code for which it was cited.

Getting back to the three code officials. Mr. Newman stated that the code enforcement office received 850 complaints last year. I can't believe he said this. Let's analyze his statement.

If you divide 850 complaints per year by three code officers, you get 283 each per year; or 5.44 inspections each per week; or 1.089 inspections each per day.

Now I ask, are we the taxpayers getting our tax dollars worth ?

Remember, too, that these same people must be paid a decent salary plus benefits that will carry them into retirement all on our shoulders and doing less than two inspections per day.

No wonder nothing gets accomplished around here, and this is just one department exposed. Are there more doing the same or less? Remember, Newman said 850 complaints per year.

I think that I will take the liberty of correcting Councilman Acropolis and his statement that "there needs to be more than three code officials," here in Brick. The way I figure it, there should be at least one less or maybe two. The blame for this fiasco should be placed right at the top; yes, to the department head and nobody in between. If Mr. Newman Jr. cannot run his department in a business-like manner, then others should do it for him and he can go out and do proactive inspections using his compliance theory to educate the public.

A good code official worth his salt should be able to accomplish 20 inspections per day and not just sit around waiting by the phone for a violation to be called into his office. Inspections are classified into two categories, reactive and proactive. That means that if the phone does not ring, then the official goes out and looks for violations. It's as simple as that. Does this happen here in Brick?

There is no reason for this utter lack of vital services and maybe we will see a change for the better with the resignation of the Business Administrator Scott R. MacFadden in July. A good code official should be able to make his keep via fines generated from procrastinators or persistent violators who fail to abate their violations within a prescribed time limit.

Apparently this is not the case here in Brick. Too many people are getting fat at taxpayer expense.

Art Sholty

Brick