This heart-breaking comment was posted earlier today. From a commenter named “Debra.”
While the Camden City School District has been focused on their charter school acquisition frenzy, students in the District are going without drinking water. Yes, drinking water. Problems that you usually would associate with places like Haiti and Liberia.
This is occurring RIGHT NOW and has been occurring intermittently for years. Most schools in Camden have to have water delivered because the water in the sinks is unsafe to drink. I’ve seen 2 days or more go by before water is delivered. THESE ARE NOT ISOLATED INCIDENTS.
Picture yourself or your child, age 8, playing outside on a hot day in May during recess. When you return to class, you are thirsty. In Camden, you might not get any water. That makes it rather difficult to respond to “rigorous” instruction and endless testing.
I don’t know why this is a continuous problem but I do know that most Camden teachers are too afraid to say anything about it because they fear they may lose their jobs.
I will step up and make this appeal to the Superintendent, the Governor, anybody that can fix this problem. Otherwise, stop insisting that it’s “all about the children.”
Share it!
If the water is contaminated in the schools and is unsafe to drink then the whole City and people are being contaminated. The Safe Clean Water Act has laws governing that criminal act. The problem is not the water coming out of the treatment center but the infrastructure delivering the water to the schools and homes.
I’m no expert on that one. I can only tell you that in at least one school there are SIGNS warning people not to drink the water from the sink. If bottled water is not available, the children do not get water unless their teachers have bought some and stashed it somewhere.