• Dear Governor Christie,

    You, as the Governor of the state of New Jersey were elected to help the state, make it easier to live, and help all the communities and you speak and act as if that is exactly what you are doing. I am just a teenager, but at the same time, I am, a concerned student from Asbury Park, where I have seen nothing but cuts, replacements, additions of changes that have lead to instability rather than anything that looks like progress. Worst of all, you, the adult, keep making comments insulting teachers, their union and us students also. I have seen schoolyard bullies that behave behaved better. Yes, we walked out, but it was as an act of frustration. We know that we still have rights as young citizens. Many of us do vote and we also have an opinion. You are an idol to some NO many people, but none of them live where I live. You are supposed to watch over all of New Jersey, and not only for those who seem to look up to you and admire you. Even among these fans of yours there are those who question your attitude and methods. They are asking if you actually believe you are living up to their expectations? In Asbury Park, I’ve learned that the test scores of students in Asbury Park High School and all of our school districts are very low, but there is one thing I cannot understand which you are trying extremely hard to implement. I don’t understand the benefit of cutting teachers, security, Guidance Counselors, and even our only Media Coordinator. May you please come to Asbury Park and explain how all these cuts will help our community. and explain how these cuts will benefit the children of Asbury Park and increase the test scores? As I’ve said in the Asbury Park newspaper, “I want the Governor to come to Asbury Park.” When I read the requirements of your so called punishment, the first one is funding. Why is everything all about money? Why is money the most important thing on your mind? There are more important matters to attend to then the mighty dollar. But if you want to restore funding to the Asbury Park School District, here are some examples, I already know that the teachers of Asbury Park High School are on a pay freeze and that isn’t helping very much, how about cutting your own paycheck assign that you will also freeze your salary and cut your office staff and their salaries. Our town’s Board of Education Members’ should start cutting from the top of the chain. Asbury Park is a city that has been neglected for years. Asbury Park is suffering at the moment and all because the city’s schools are seen as the enemy of the community. Schools prepare us to be taxpayers. More funding to Asbury Park will allow the school district to update maintenance, receive better food, upgraded technology, air conditioning in the rooms that require it such as computer labs, more electives inside the school, and finally the students will have a better education. I look in the electives booklet that my Guidance Counselor gives me and I sigh because it’s so thin. If you cut teachers, the book will become even thinner and less interesting. I flipped through that booklet 10 times before actually picking Asbury Park to be ready for college when they get out of Asbury Park High School. I can honestly say that when I leave Asbury Park High School I do not think I will be ready with my current knowledge. If you want to know how to make the students lives better, ask the students’ opinions, and also don’t be afraid to ask the teacher’s opinions on how the children of Asbury Park think and behave and use that information to your advantage so that you don’t have to make comments that are not easily backed up with fact. I will walk with you to my classes. I will even buy you lunch. You can meet my teachers and see the dedication in their faces, but their disappointment in their eyes.

    Respectfully, Miguel Nuñez Jr.,
    Junior, Asbury Park High School