Mom
upset by pupil's denial
Accuses board of
"discrimination." Claims bias against students living in
Catholic Charities home.
Thursday, February 16, 206 • By SARAH CASSI •
The Express-Times
PHILLIPSBURG | Margaret Lambert thinks
the school board went too far when it voted earlier this
week to deny a group home resident enrollment in
Phillipsburg High School.
School board members voted 7-4 Monday
night against a Camden student's enrollment in Phillipsburg
High School and the subsequent tuition agreement with the
Camden School District.
The Camden student has been enrolled in a
learning disabilities program at Phillipsburg High School
since Jan. 30 through the Catholic Charities' group
home.
Lambert's son also lives in the Peter and
Paul House run by the Diocese of Metuchen's Catholic
Charities and has attended Phillipsburg High School since
last April.
Lambert, who lives in Monmouth County,
said she was upset and disgusted by the board's
vote.
"It's the same thing. It's like the boy
from Camden is my son," Lambert said.
Lambert's son was barely accepted by the
board last year by a 6-5 vote.
"They have no idea how the system works,"
Lambert said of the board members. "I welcome them to come
to the group home. I'll explain the process to
them."
Besides the Sayre Avenue home, Catholic
Charities runs a home in Perth Amboy in Middlesex County,
and Liberty Corner in Somerset County.
The district accepts students from the
Phillipsburg home into its middle and high
schools.
"I feel that it's discrimination. The
boys have a lot of problems as it is," Lambert said. "Why do
they single these boys out they need to get over their
prejudice and bias against the boys."
Repeated requests for comment from a
Catholic Charities spokesperson were unanswered.
Board member Paul Rummerfield said the
district has had a series of problems with students from the
group home.
He mentioned a March 2000 incident in
which one group home resident assaulted another with a brick
as they made their way to the high school. The assault
victim was in a coma for four weeks.
In 2004, sources close to the school
district said a 15-year-old boy arrested for making bomb
threats to the high school was also a resident of the group
home.
Rummerfield said the agenda item of
voting on group home students is misleading because he
doesn't believe the board can keep someone out of the
district.
Rummerfield said the vote was more about
limiting group home students with severe behavioral problems
from attending town schools and affecting other
students.
"It's the board telling the
administration something should really be done about this,"
Rummerfield said. "I think finally this will be
addressed."
Rummerfield said an alternative could be
a tutoring program for group home residents, although the
cost could be preventative, he added.
Lambert said tutoring "is not fair to the
boys."
"I just wish (the board) would try to sit
down and work out a reasonable solution," Lambert
said.
Reporter Sarah Cassi can be reached at 610-258-7171 or by
e-mail at scassi@express-times.com.
© 2006 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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