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An Express-Times Editorial • Sunday,
October 17, 2004
Board member has no right to scapegoat children
from 'wrong' side of the tracks.
Homes for troubled, abused and disenfranchised
children can create unique challenges for the communities
and school districts that host them. But that's no reason to
stereotype or malign children who deserve stable home lives,
communities where they feel welcome and schools that can
provide them with educations and opportunities for better
lives.
That's essentially what Phillipsburg School Board member
Paul Rummerfield did last week when raising concerns about
the Peter and Paul House, a group home in Phillipsburg run
by the Diocese of Metuchen's Catholic Charities. Rummerfield
questioned whether Phillipsburg is getting more than its
share of problem students -- a valid question after a
15-year-old home resident was charged Oct. 1 with making
bomb threats to the high school, and one resident attacked
another with a brick four years ago, rendering the victim
comatose for four weeks.
But Rummerfield went too far with his comments,
describing the group home as a facility as a "holding area"
for children before they wind up in jail.
That might be fair comment, if it were true.
Superintendent Gordon Pethick says he has no statistics
suggesting students from the group home cause more trouble
than other students.
Rummerfield's comments are an insult to group home
residents who keep their noses clean, work hard in school
and play by the rules. Comments such as his will do more to
divide the community than to fix any problems that
exist.
Other communities face similar challenges, including
Wilson Borough and the Wilson Area School District, which
are host to the Children's Home of Easton.
The solution isn't to label all children who live in
group homes as future "hoods." Still, there are no simple
answers. Some kids who live in group homes do create
problems at school and in their communities. When they do,
they must be punished appropriately but given access to
programs and services that offer them -- and the communities
in which they live -- hope.
© 2004 The Express-Times. Used with
permission.
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