Entire school districts are shutting down due to mold contamination and fears of asbestos exposure.
Students are unable to drink from water fountains due to worries about high lead levels.
Classroom temperatures reach triple digits in the spring and are freezing cold in the winter.
A middle school shut down for months because of a collapsed roof.
Districts comprised of a dozen schools constructed when horse and buggies ruled the roads.
We aren’t describing schools in a developing country. These conditions exist right here in New Jersey. Throughout our state, both in our state’s poorer urban districts and in property tax strapped suburban towns, school buildings are crumbling and remain in desperate need of repair.
Read the full opinion-editorial in the Star-Ledger by Elizabeth Smith, executive director of Statewide Education Organizing Committee and Jerell Blakeley, the Healthy Schools Now campaign organizer for the New Jersey Work Environment Council.
