Teacher questions decision to close adult school

Iam writing this letter because the Brick Township Board of Education recently decided to terminate the Brick CommunityAdult School.

This program provided anyone in the community with evening classes that included job skills, crafts, dancing, sports, computers, etc. The excuse for terminating the program was budgetary. The only problem with this excuse is that everyone in the program paid to take these classes. If enough people didn't enroll in a class, it was canceled. This was a program that paid for itself. The reason that I was given does not make sense to me or to anyone that I mention this to.

The other part of the termination of this program that concerns me is that it seems to have been done in secret. I read the paper regularly and saw no mention of it. I only learned about it because I taught in the program and was called by the director, as a courtesy. She called all of the teachers to let us know that there would be no program in the fall. Had the teachers not received these calls, no one would know that there would be no Community School.

The citizens of Brick Township and surrounding communities will not realize that the program has been canceled until late summer, when they don't received the fall catalog.

In investigating Brick Township's action, I became aware that other local communities have, without notice to taxpayers, terminated community schools by failing to fund them. Certainly, the governing bodies have the right to terminate programs. However, fairness and decency dictate that they do so after notice to the public and in a public forum where the citizenry have the right to be heard.
Adele B. Greenberger
Brick