""I never thought anyone could throw a monkey wrench into our dreams. Everything you plan on is going to be different,'' the father of three said.
Many Marlboro parents fear that Marlboro High School, the linchpin of the pricey suburban destination they worked years to afford, is about to be ripped from their grasp.
If Freehold Regional High School District ends lopsided enrollment in its six high schools by redistricting students, their children may no longer go to Marlboro High School, but to another high school within the regional district.
Busing children to Colts Neck High School, brand new and situated in a more affluent township, is unpopular, but not nearly as hated an idea as sending children to Freehold Borough High School, where a quarter of the student body is black or Hispanic and the average household income is $40,327, compared to Marlboro's $70,806.
Opposition to redistricting has sparked a debate over values, in education and otherwise, with critics saying the parents' pleas smack of elitism and racism.
Bonnie Rosenwald, who's lived in Marlboro for 15 years but is quick to say ""I'm not a Marlboro person,'' is critical of redistricting's opponents.
""They are elitist. They do not want their kids in the borough with the quote unquote "black element,''' said Rosenwald, whose son will graduate from Freehold Borough's magnet program next spring. ""I do feel bad that these people are so upset, but what scares me is what's the sentiment behind that, and that's race.''
At Monday's board meeting, a high school senior chastised the largely Marlboro audience for opposing redistricting. Kate Cardillo, who lives in Marlboro but attends the magnet program at Freehold Township High School, was booed loudly as she said, ""I've lived in Marlboro for 17 years, and I look out in the audience and I know just about everyone here. Some of you live in my neighborhood, and I think it's ridiculous. You're not concerned about your children's education, you're concerned about their social status. That's what this is about.''
""It's a culture of materialism, materialism to the fullest extent,'' Cardillo said after the meeting, noting that she wrote her college admissions essay on ""how I've grown up in a place that puts so much importance on socioeconomic status.''
Marlboro parents vehemently and repeatedly reject such criticism. Still, they walk a fine line, not wanting to offend other towns and schools, but also maintaining the superiority of Marlboro High School. The school's combined average SAT scores in 1996 were 1,104, 66 points higher than Freehold Borough's and 90 points higher than Howell High School.
""In Marlboro, we have a good high school. There are some other good high schools in the district, but some of our regional high schools have student bodies that are less interested in advancement than ours,'' Robert Silverman, the board member representing Marlboro, said in an interview at his home.
""Some people want to live in center hall Colonials,'' added Silverman, gesturing to his home. ""Others want to live in ranch homes. The district is trying to make everyone live in the same type of home.''
Housing is an easy metaphor in Marlboro. When parents talk about why they want their children in Marlboro High School, they gravitate to how they found their suburban home. Many are New York transplants who say they investigated communities for years. They compared SAT scores and graduation rates even before they had their first child.
""We looked at a place in Freehold Township, but truthfully, we didn't even get a chance to look at the (Freehold Township High School) report card there,'' said Marlboro's Howard Plotkin, who lives steps away from the Freehold Township border. ""We asked the real estate agent how Freehold schools compared to Marlboro, and she said, "Well, Freehold is good, but Marlboro is better.'''
Nearly everyone seems to tell a story about the bigger house on the bigger lot with the smaller mortgage that they could have had if they were willing to live just over the border in Freehold Township or down Route 9 in Howell Township. But many Marlboro parents say they chose the bigger price tag for the better schools and the better ""quality of life,'' often when they could barely afford it.
""If you go around Marlboro you'll see a lot of beautiful, beautiful homes, and in a lot of them you go inside, and there's not even a couch. People here are holding on to what they have for dear life,'' Goldberg said.
They say they gave up vacations and nicer cars so their children could attend Marlboro schools, and now are criticized for choices they made as responsible parents.
""You raise your kids in the best place you can afford. Show me anywhere that's any different,'' Brad Rubin, the father of two young boys, said, noting that to afford his home in Marlboro he ""stretched himself to the financial limit.''
Redistricting supporter Rosenwald said she agreed with that philosophy ""up to a point.''
""But the problem is, it's not real life,'' Rosenwald said, adding that her son's time in Freehold Borough has allowed him ""to know kids that are more like real life a mix of religions, cultures and financial backgrounds from kids who were very smart to ones who weren't very smart. It was a realistic high school experience.''
Outside last Monday's meeting, Evan Chesler, father of a Marlboro eighth-grader, said he went to a huge, diverse city school and ""the main thing I learned was to be tough, not to take anything from anybody.''
He moved his family to Marlboro 12 years ago, he said, because he wanted something different for his children.
""Marlboro is a highly motivated and educated community and that's why we moved here,'' Chesler said. ""I want them around the mentality of the people who I chose to live with, not some other community. Not that there's anything wrong with those communities.''
He added that Marlboro parents' preference for a well-off community is being ""misconstrued as racism.''
""I think it has to do more with economics than race. Economics breeds certain things. People who come from highly educated families usually thrive on being surrounded by similar people,'' Chesler said.
Goldberg buries his head in his hands when anyone brings up the ""race question.''
""It's not about that,'' he said. ""If anyone thinks that or says that, they are wrong, and they are not welcome in my house or my circle of friends. Race shouldn't be brought into this.''
Not so, say two professors who study suburbs and in fact agree with Marlboro parents that children should not be schooled involuntarily outside their communities.
""Race almost always has something to do with it,'' said Douglas S. Massey, a University of Pennsylvania sociologist.''
""I suspect that they may be blinding themselves by saying it's not a racial problem. And often, if people in these communities are certain that there are enough barriers to minorities entering their neighborhood including the barrier of house price they have the luxury of saying, "no, we're not racist, it's just the way things are.' It makes it easier not to confront these things,'' Massey said.
Robert Fishman, a Rutgers historian, said the redistricting case ""really does illuminate why people move to the suburbs.''
""We are a nation of people who have dealt with our problems by moving away from them,'' he said. ""Suburbs are based on exclusion and always have been. We've lost the great urban high school of the past where different races and classes mixed freely. We moved to a segmented society where you buy into the best school you can afford and that's built right into the value of houses. That's the ethos of suburbia.''
Both Massey and Fishman said forced solutions rarely work when it comes to the education of children.
Massey said exposing children to a diverse environment is ""a value judgment, although my personal belief is that it's very important.''
""But whenever that value judgment is forced on parents by a bureaucrat, it's not going to work. They'll ask why is it the state's business or the school board's?'' Massey said.
The next story, to run Tuesday, will look at the feasibility of dissolving the Freehold Regional district.
Source: Asbury Park Press and the Home News Tribune
Published: November 23, 1997
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