Board
against student's enrollment
Camden boy at P'burg group home.
Catholic Charities' process questioned.
Tuesday, February 14, 206 • By SARAH CASSI •
The Express-Times
PHILLIPSBURG | A Camden student placed at
Phillipsburg High School is in limbo after the school board
voted against the student's enrollment Monday
night.
The vote was 7-4, with board President
Rod Pianelli among the opposition.
The student has been enrolled in a
learning disabilities program at Phillipsburg High School
since Jan. 30 through the Catholic Charities group
home.
Board members questioned the process the
home follows in placing its charges.
"I can't believe we are the closest
school district to Camden," said Frank Kish, a Lopatcong
Township school board representative.
Pianelli said the student will remain at
Phillipsburg High until the legality of the vote is
determined.
"I don't think as a superintendent I can
eject him legally," said Superintendent Gordon
Pethick.
Pianelli said he expects to discuss the
legal opinion at the board's next meeting.
This is not the first time board members
have opposed accepting a Catholic Charities student, but
Business Administrator Bill Poch said it was the first time
the opposition had a majority.
Catholic Charities runs three group
homes: the Peter and Paul House on Sayre Avenue in
Phillipsburg, a home in Perth Amboy in Middlesex County, and
Liberty Corner in Somerset County.
The district currently accepts students
from the Phillipsburg home into its middle and high
schools.
Board member Paul Rummerfield placed
little faith in seeking a legal opinion on the
vote.
"I think we all know what the attorney's
opinion is going to be," Rummerfield said. "It's not going
to be resolved by the attorney's opinion. It's got to go
further than that."
Rummerfield said part of the issue was
"the behavioral problems with students coming out of this
group home."
In March 2000, one group home resident
assaulted another with a brick as they made their way to
Phillipsburg 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.
"They seem to want to dump -- and I'll
use that word -- these students on the students of
Phillipsburg," Rummerfield 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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