No excuse for lack of accessibility for disabled at BTHS

The Americans with Disabilities Act has been around since 1990. One of the mandates of the landmark legislation requires employers to make "reasonable accommodations" to qualified job applicants or employees.

But the philosophy of the law has yet to trickle down to some schools. And when it comes to accessibility for people with disabilities, it's 1959 all over again at Brick Township High School.

Just follow 16-year-old junior C.J. DeCarlo around on an average school day.

There are no elevators in the high school, which has six different levels and numerous sets of stairs.

C.J., who is disabled, must maneuver his way through the myriad hallways on his Segway scooter. To get to his English class, he leaves the scooter in his history classroom, then slowly makes his way up the stairs with a cane and an aide.

Going to the library and some of his other classes is even more difficult. C.J. has to leave the building on the scooter, and cross over the rough parking lot pavement. He does this every day, whether it's sunny, raining, snowing, hot or cold. It's the only way he can stay in his home school.

C.J.'s mother, Terry, who is vice president of the BTHS Parent Teacher Student Association and chairs the Accessibility Campaign, has spent several years trying to drum up funds to make the school more accessible to disabled students and visitors.

So far, she has raised $20,000 for the Accessibility Campaign. The school district received a $40,000 grant from the township and is waiting for a $34,000 grant from the state Department of Education.

The Board of Education recently awarded a contract to Trenton-based Spiezle Architectural Group to begin plans for the installation of two wheelchair lifts, which would make the school 70 percent handicapped accessible.

It's about time. The school district should have made accessibility for the disabled at Brick Township High School a priority many years ago.

And Terry DeCarlo deserves a medal for doing what school officials should have been doing in the first place — coming up with the money to do the job.

C.J. DeCarlo copes with his physical problems 24 hours a day. He shouldn't have to face more obstacles every school day.T

he Board of Education should shuffle some funds around and make the high school 100 percent accessible for people with disabilities as soon as possible. C.J. and others like him have waited long enough.