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WITH BUDGET LOOMING, SOME WORRY ABOUT EDUCATIONAL ENRICHMENT CENTER'S FATE
By Catherine Snipe
 | | --Photo By Catherine Snipe Supporters of Brick's Educational Enrichment Center left no sitting room in a packed township council meeting Tuesday. The Board of Education presented its budget at the meeting, though it remained unclear what the Center's fate would be. |
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They came looking for answers. But the families and supporters of students at the Educational Enrichment Center, a facility serving Brick's special needs students, said they are still unsure of the center's fate in the Brick Township school budget.
EEC supporters packed the township council meet- ing Tuesday to listen to the school board's budget presentation. Superintendent Thomas Seidenberger outlined a possible 6.26 cent tax rate increase, along with three special questions that could affect busing, security and extracurricular funding, when he presented the general fiscal picture the school district faces.
But in the audience, the many T-shirts emblazoned with a message of support for the EEC showed what was on many in the audience's mind.
"I don't know what they want to do," said Lillian Karalis, a parent to two autistic children. "Tell us, so we can prepare … Where's the concrete plan?"
The EEC serves special needs children and adult life-skills classes. The building, on Hendrickson Avenue, opened in 2004 with an enrollment of 21.
With a tough budget year looming, the EEC may be on the chopping block, though school officials at Tuesday's meeting did not say how certain that decision was.
The proposed school budget lists an increased cost of tuition for special education students it will send out of district. And it may take the enrollment back into special education classes throughout the district.
To audience applause, township council President Stephen Acropolis asked Seidenberger directly what the school's fate will be, and the superintendent said he and a "quasi-committee" of concerned residents formed to look further at that question and find a solution.
"No, the decision has not been made," Seidenberger said.
The superintendent said a rumor that the building would become rental space and a revenue source for the district was not accurate. However, the district must realize how to better use its assets and look at where revenue sources could be, he said.
"Can we do what's best for our kids as well as look for efficiencies?" Seidenberger said. "I believe we can do both."
Most of the students at the EEC are autistic, a complex developmental disability that affects communication skills and social interaction, among other developmental delays. Brick Township has a higher-thanaverage rate of autism, and Brick children with autism are served by the school. Autistic children from the surrounding area also attend, participating in progressive educational techniques to address communication and behavioral issues.
The one-story school has eight classrooms, a small-group instruction area, a multipurpose room, a life skills area and several offices within its 20,000 square feet. The building became a $3.6 million project, which was a result of a voter referendum in 2001.
Karalis questioned why a building that opened in 2004 could so quickly be proposed for drastic change. Without the school, it could leave the enrollment to disperse to special education classes within the district's elementary school. Or it could mean Karalis's children would be bussed to another district.
"Brick is a model, and they are looking to change that," she said. "This decision will ripple into every special ed class in Brick."
Seidenberger said the district is at a point where if a program is not mandated by the state, it is treated that way - as a nonmandated service. That is why the district has three special questions for voters to pass regarding extra funding for bussing, security and extracurriculars, he said.
Karalis said she recognizes the value of those programs, but her children may never participate in the extracurricular activities like baseball and marching band.
"I just want my children to be able to talk," she said. She loves the community of Brick, but should the students regress in their development, it might mean she has to move to another state to do what's best for her children. "I have to be there as a parent. A lot of sacrifices are made. I wonder if the district can't make sacrifices as well."
The supporters listened to the budget presentation and hoped they could ask questions publicly of the school board, but those questions may have to wait to tonight's (Thursday, March 29) school board meeting. The public portion of the township council meeting is reserved until the end, and Tuesday's meeting ran until 11 p.m., after many school board members and supporters had left.
However, several members of the Special Education PTA stayed to the late hour to remind the township council that if residents vote down the budget, it falls into the council's lap to approve.
Acropolis said that while that is true, it's too early to say what will happen - the school budget is only an issue after voting day results come in.
The school board will meet at 7:30 p.m. today in the Brick Township High School library.
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