The Decline of Asbury Park High School - By Thomas De Seno Thesis: Asbury Park High School has suffered

racial and socio-economic segregation, starting with a 1 ! ruling by the "ommissioner of #ducation that weakened sending district relationshi$s% Background Asbury Park High School ser&ed as a recei&ing district for many decades% The sending districts had at one time included' 1% +% ,% -% .% /% !% 0% % South Belmar (now )ake "omo*, Belmar A&on-by-the Sea Bradley Beach )och Arbor Allenhurst Deal 1nterlaken 2cean Townshi$

1n 1 /. 2cean Townshi$ High School o$ened and took )och Arbor as a recei&ing district% Also, the students in South Belmar were entered into a lottery, half going to Asbury Park High School and half going to 3anas4uan High School% This thesis takes no issue with the 2cean Townshi$ community building their own school within their geogra$hic borders% 2cean Townshi$ had first sought re$resentation on the Asbury Park Board of #ducation and the "ity shortsightedly refused their re4uest% The founding of 2cean Townshi$ High School had a $rofound affect on Asbury Park as a community, often o&er-looked by historians% The "ity as a resort had already been im$acted negati&ely by the construction of the 5arden State Parkway and the introduction of air conditioners in automobiles in the 1 .67s, offering easy access to $ristine southern beaches% The building of federal housing $ro8ects on the 9est Side in the 1 -6s and 1 .67s created a negati&e financial im$act on the schools, as the $ayment in lieu of ta:es recei&ed from the federal go&ernment did not co&er the education costs of the children who mo&ed in there%

)ater the "ity was im$acted by racial unrest in 1 !6 wherein S$ringwood A&enue was decimated, the closing of 3arlboro Hos$ital causing an influ: of $sychiatric $atients to Asbury Park hotels, the loosening of ;oning re4uirements that allowed grand, single family homes to become low income multi-family o$erations ser&icing a more transient clientele, and a re$utation in the media that was far more negati&e than they reality of li&ing in or &isiting the "ity of Asbury Park% All of these factors contributed to the destruction of Asbury Park as a resort% 9hen 2cean Townshi$ High School o$ened, there was a great deal of middle-class flight from Asbury Park to 2cean Townshi$ of both white and black families% As e&idenced by census data, Asbury Park7s middle class throughout the thirty year $eriod from 1 !6 to +666 became $ractically non-e:istent% Howe&er, thanks to the recei&ing districts, Asbury Park High School from 1 !6 to 1 remained a naturally integrated school both in race and socio-economics% !

There was of course some bleed of students away from Asbury Park High School who elected $ri&ate education mostly at St% <ose in Belmar or <ed Bank "atholic, and this thesis takes no issue with those $ri&ate institutions% This thesis does take issue with the social engineering by government action that led to the de facto segregation of Asbury Park black community around 1 ! and afterward% How the Problem Occurred 1n 1 /0 the legislature $assed =>SA !A:"!# $% This law allowed high school students to go outside their district if their home district did not offer a $articular course of study% At the same time, the legislature $assed =>SA !A:$&#$' ( and )' which together are the , laws authori;ing districts to set u$ &ocational schools to acce$t out of district $u$ils and recei&e tuition from that student7s home district% <ed Bank <egional High School established three (,* &ocational courses of study' 1% The Academy of ?isual and Performing Arts, +% The Academy of 1nformation Technology, and ,% The Academy of @inance, #ngineering, and 5ra$hic "ommunications% 3any students from Asbury Park7s sending districts began a$$lying for <ed Bank <egional7s $rogram, most notable the Performing Art7s section% Asbury Park7s sending districts so hea&ily recruited students to a&oid their home district in Asbury Park and go to <ed Bank <egional that staff members were s$ecifically a$$ointed at those schools to assist students with the a$$lication $rocess to <B<% +

1n 1 ! the Asbury Park Board of #ducation filed suit to en8oin students of its sending districts from attending <ed Bank <egional, based u$on Asbury Park offering its own Performing Arts $rogram in coo$eration with Brookdale "ommunity "ollege% The Decision by the State Board of #ducation issued Se$tember ,, 1 ! is re$lete with indications that the attorney for Asbury Park sim$ly failed to $ut on a case, des$ite being the $laintiff% 1t is indicated that he missed deadline after deadline, and more im$ortantly, ne&er hired e:$ert witnesses to rebut the testimony of <ed Bank <egional7s e:$erts, who o$ined that <ed Bank7s $rogram was far su$erior to that of Asbury Park7s $erforming arts $rogram% The lawyer for Asbury Park was subse4uently disbarred% 1n res$onse to this, Asbury Park did nothing% Since the in4uiry was a com$arati&e analysis, all Asbury Park needed to ha&e done was strengthen its $erforming arts $rogram and re-file the lawsuit, but e&ery elected Board of #ducation since 1 ! has ignored the issue, with most today not e&en knowing that any of this occurred% The amount of students from the sending districts who were able to a&oid Asbury Park became nearly a com$lete usur$ing of the sending district relationshi$% At one $oint, of the more than /6 students from A&on alone who were districted to Asbury Park, only one was in Asbury Park High School% A re&iew of the statistics will bear out that a large $ercentage of Asbury Park sending district students were acce$ted to <ed Bank <egional7s &ocational $rograms, while students from Asbury Park itself were not acce$ted in the same measure% Since that time, the State has allowed A&on-By-The Sea to become a sending district to 3anas4uan High School% Students who were bussed less than , miles to Asbury Park are now bussed 1, miles to 3anas4uan, against their natural geogra$hy% How This Affected School *unding at Asbury Park High School The first of the Abbott & Burke rulings which attem$ted to e4uali;e funding between school districts in =ew >ersey was issued in 1 0. (known as Abbot 1*, but the $rogram wasn7t really solidified until the decisions in Abbott 1? (1 !* and Abbott ? (1 0*, coincidentally right at the time that the "ommissioner of #ducation ruled for <ed Bank <egional against Asbury Park in the abo&e stated lawsuit%

How were Abbott Districts fundedA @our (-* criteria were used% To 4ualify for Abbott funding, the districts'

must be those with the lowest socio-economic status, thus assigned to the lowest categories on the =ew >ersey De$artment of #ducationBs District @actor 5rou$s (D@5* scaleC De&idence of substanti&e failure of thorough and efficient educationCD including Dfailure to achie&e what the D2# considers $assing le&els of $erformance on the High School Proficiency Assessment (HSPA*CD ha&e a large $ercentage of disad&antaged students who need Dan education beyond the normCD e:istence of an De:cessi&e ta: EforF munici$al ser&icesD in the locality where the district is located%

9hen the sending district students were still coming to Asbury Park, the school would not 4ualify as an Abbott district% Asbury Park was artificially created as an Abbott District by the state action of allowing so many students to go to another $ublic school, <ed Bank <egional, and later still another $ublic school, 3anas4uan% On the +ssue of ,ace and Poverty 1t is confirmed through both the GS "ensus and the school attendance numbers themsel&es that the Asbury Park children are $rimarily black and )atino, those demogra$hics making u$ !H of the Asbury Park High School $o$ulation today% Asbury Park7s median family income according to GS "ensus data is I+!, 6!% "om$are that to the traditional sending districts according to the same census' )ake "omo J 0+H white, I0-,0+1 median family incomeC Belmar J 0!H white, I. , + median family incomeC A&on-by-the-Sea J /H white, I11,,!.6 median family incomeC Bradley Beach J 0.H white, I!.,.!. median family incomeC Allenhurst J -H white, I1,1,.66 median family incomeC

1nterlaken J 0H white, I1,!,.66 median family incomeC Deal J 1H white, I .,0,, median family incomeC Sim$ly $ut, Asbury Park High School7s 4ualification for Abbott and other funding is de$endant u$on the absence of the sending district students% -harter High Schools 1t is to be noted that Academy High School in )ake "omo, as well as se&eral countywide s$eciali;ed High Schools o$erated by 3onmouth "ounty are mo&ing students away from Asbury Park High School7s sending districts and the "ity itself% They take the students who are not educationally challenging and si$hon off the better test-takers, making the statistics in Asbury Park High School e&en more undesirable when re$orted% Analysis and Solutions Asbury Park High School $rior to the mid 1 67s was naturally desegregated in both race and socioeconomic demogra$hics% As a result of state action, the wealthier white students were bussed away from the their closest school, contrary to the natural geogra$hy, lea&ing the high school to be !H minority students and nearly the $oorest in the state% The charter schools and county schools are lea&ing Asbury Park with the more challenged students with learning disabilities as well as those with disci$line $roblems% This is go&ernment engineering gone wrong% There is no allegation that intentional racism is at $lay which may or may not be the case, but beyond dis$ute is that go&ernment created an artificial segregation of $oor black students, and &iolated natural geogra$hy by bussing white students out of their home district% This situation in Asbury Park has no natural enemy% Asbury Park ha&ing garnered a re$utation that sim$ly does not reflect its reality has caused sending district $arents to de&elo$ a desire to a&oid the school% To use their own resources to accom$lish that and send their children to $ri&ate schools would not be ob8ectionable% @or the state to engineer a segregation of the $oor black students is immoral and illegal% Asbury Park7s community is as much to blame as the sending districts% Tens of millions of dollars $our into Asbury Park7s school coffers yearly from the State, which at this $oint amounts to Ksegregation hush money%L 9ho in Asbury Park will fight to re$atriate

the white students back to Asbury Park where they belong at the risk of losing tens of millions of dollars in annual fundingA So far no one% Asbury Park is left with a racially segregated school that one would e:$ect to see in the $re-Brown & Board of education state of America as was the case in the >im "row south% This should be untenable in +61- =ew >ersey% 9here are today7s ci&il rights acti&ists such as the 1 /67s had in the likes of Bobby Mennedy and Dr% 3artin )uther Ming, >rA As comedian "hris <ock once $ointed out, today7s acti&ist seem like a bunch of substitute teachers% They ha&e turned their attention toward $rotesting oil $i$es and endangered animals, bringing their focus away from urban black youth% That Asbury Park has a school in the name of Thurgood 3arshall while being in a district burdened by state s$onsored segregation is a terrible irony% Here are some &aried $ossible solutions' 1% 3atch the 4uality of <ed Bank <egional7s &ocational $rograms and re-file the lawsuit to bring the sending district students back to Asbury ParkC +% )obby to bring A&on-by-the-Sea back into its sending district relationshi$ with Asbury Park, and re&iew the relationshi$s with other towns% ,% Solicit a large law firm with a $ro-bono section to take u$ a challenge to the current configuration as illegal defacto regregation% -% "lose Asbury Park High School% There are less than 166 students $er grade and only /. seniors% 1f these students are bussed between the surrounding high schools (3anas4uan, 9all, =e$tune, 2cean, <ed Bank <egional, Shore <egional, )ong Branch* those schools would ha&e to take less than 1. students $er grade, and each student would immediately be in a far better educational atmos$here than they are now% .% "reate a new high school that caters to 8ust those with designated learning disabilities, to a&oid com$arisons being make with students in other schools who do not ha&e a high $ercentage of s$ecial needs% -riticisms of This Thesis

1% Some will argue, .Haven/t the teachers or the Board of 0ducation failed12 <es$onse' =o% The deck is stacked against them% To take all the wealthier students with no learning disabilities out of the school, lea&ing behind the im$o&erished and those with learning hurdles, and then com$are that to schools that suffer no such state-s$onsored burdens is com$letely unfair% +% Some will argue, .Since 3overty and income ine4uality is the 3roblem' shouldn/t we attack those things1 <es$onse' That7s unrealistic% 1n American ca$italism there has for +,6 years been winners and losers financially, something that must be noted whether one7s $olitics a$$ro&es of it or not% 2ur community can7t fi: the nation% 9e ha&e lost many generations to the substandard school in Asbury Park% To ask more generations to go to that school while we fantasi;e about re$airing income ine4uality is unfair% 9e can gi&e a better education without tying it to unobtainable goals% +% Some will ask, .+sn/t this really the 3arents fault12 <es$onse' Same as abo&e% 9e can not first re$air the societal ills of $o&erty or single $arent households before we find a solution to better education% -% Some will ask, .+sn/t it racist to 3oint out that the school is now failing 5ust because it is segregated to 3oor blacks1 <es$onse' =o% 1t is beyond dis$ute that $oor, black, urban communities struggle with education statistics, and this thesis offers no reason why - only an acce$tance that it is the case% 3ore to the $oint, this thesis has not stated it because of color that they struggle as o$$osed to another force% 2n that note a $oint must be made as deliberately and as forcefully as can be mustered' 9e ha&e long ago in America re8ected the conce$t of se$arate but e4ual education% 9hen schools naturally occur to ha&e a large ma8ority of one race or another and that is sim$ly due to the demogra$hics of the geogra$hy, so be it% Howe&er, when the state busses all the wealthier white students away from their natural geogra$hy to other $ublic schools creating the racial segregation, that has $ro&en to be unconstitutional and frankly immoral%