Help Save the Brick Educational Enrichment Center

They have slated to CLOSE the brand new Educational Enrichment Center in Brick New Jersey after the 2006/2007 school year. This is the BRAND NEW school that just opened in 2004! My son attended school there from 2004/2005 and 2005/2006 there for his special ABA/verbal behavior based preschool program specially designed for children with Autism. The school was built so that they could service the growing number of children on the spectrum of Autism in the Brick School District instead of having to fund the costs to send the children out of district. Opening the school enabled them to bring back kids who they had sent out of district because of a lack of space. The facility was set up specially for Autistic children. Well, 2 years later after this brand new beautiful facility opened – yesterday the superintendent informed the staff that the EEC is not included in the budget. This is a huge blow for anyone with a special needs child in Brick. The facility is ideal to serve the needs of our children – instead they will be given placement in the district that is 2nd best and/or bussed out of district. They think they are saving money by shutting this school - not at the expense of our children!!! In the end – both the district AND our kids will be the ones paying for it L As you can see, I’m more than a little upset here!!!



3 WAYS TO HELP



1) For those in the local Brick area…. Next week, there are 2 meetings about this.



March 27 - The Brick Board Of Education will be conducting a Joint Meeting with the
Council of the Township of Brick for the purpose of discussing the
2007-2008 Proposed School District Budget beginning at 7:00 p.m. in
the Council Chambers, 401 Chambers Bridge Road, Brick, New Jersey.

March 29 7:00 p.m., BTHS, Library Public Hearing on the Proposed
2007-2008 School District Budget



2) For those out of town – there is an online petition started against this:



Show your support in stopping the closing of Brick Township (NJ) ECC.
Please sign the petition to show your support.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/brickEEC



3) A letter writing campaign …. Tell the NJ Senator you disagree!



please email NJ Senator ANDREW R. CIESLA at senciesla@njleg.org to express your disapproval in the closing of the EEC.



If you would like to copy/paste this blank email to the simply click the above email address and copy the text below into the body:

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March 22,2007



Dear Senator Ciesla,



This letter is in regards to the proposed closure of the Educational Enrichment Center in Brick Township, New Jersey following the 2006/2007 school year.

1 in 100 children in New Jersey are diagnosed with Autism on a daily basis. This is higher than the national average of 1 in 150 children. The Brick EEC is a facility tailor made to serve the needs to children with autism and catering to multi-disabled children. To shut this school is doing a disservice to the special needs children in Brick NJ.





Sincerely,





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Thanks everyone!

More School Nurse Tirades

My week in review:

Monday... Alex goes into school.. gets on the bus at 8:05, School starts at 8:30 - by 9AM I have a phone call to go pick him up. He has thrown up. I have to wake up the baby, put her in clothes. Bundle her up. Go to the school and get him.

He does throw up later in the day but seems to be fine.

Tuesday - I keep him home all day, we go to the doctor for a well visit & physical. He has no symptoms of being sick.

Wednesday - Alex goes to school.... I drive to the post office with my daughter. On the way home from the post office she throws up all over my van. I clean it up and clean her up, give her a bath, and put her in Pajamas (Jay-Jays as she calls them). She goes down for a nap. No sooner is she sleeping, the phone rings and its the nurse.... He has thrown up and I need to go pick him up. I bring the baby IN PAJAMAS but she ends up waking anyways.

Wednesday Night - Kid is sick again in the evening :(

Thursday - We stay home. No sickies all day!

Friday - He goes to school. I go to the post office with my daughter. I get out of my car and I hear a noise. OMG - it is air coming out of my tire! I get back into the car and quickly drive home. My car tire goes flat in my driveway! I call my husband to tell him. He is over an hour away at a client site. I pray that Alex is fine at school. At 1:50 (School gets out of 2pm) the nurse calls. HE THREW UP. They can't send him on the bus. I can't get him because I'm stuck in my driveway. Too far to walk. Kurt is over an hour away. Relatives are all at least 25 miles away. One of my friends was able to pick him up and bring him to me. In a stupid ice and snow storm, mind you.

Friday night - he was sick again :(

Saturday - all day healthy!

Sunday - hopefully things are looking up. He's still sleeping right now since its 9:30am.

Black hair?

So.... my husband wanted me to dye my hair black! I did and it came out almost blue! I ended up going and getting it stripped and putting burgundy highlights in... I'm still getting used to it.

My son seems to like my "BLACK HAIR!" though my daughter laughed.

Here's a picture....

In other usual business... Alex got sent home from school again today. I swear the nurse hates me!