Peretz Eicheler and Assemblyman Sean Kean Discuss Secure Schools for All Children Act

good day everybody this is parents Byler this is Straight Talk America you know it's not often that both houses of uh of any legislative body will be in total accordance on anything but that actually happened yesterday in Trenton when there was virtually unanimous approval of a bill to provide security in nonpublic schools the assembly education committee approved bip partisan legis legislation for Bill a 4288 that is known as the secure schools for all children act and this measure as I mentioned on previous broadcast will establish a state aid program for Security Services equipment and Technology to ensure a safe and secure environment for non-public school students you would think that would be a no-brainer but apparently it took legislation to do that and as we spoke to uh s and Gary shower from pic he was hopeful that it would meet bipartisan support one of the people that he said that he felt confident would be behind that and it was great to hear this coming from a Democrat about a fellow assemblyman a Republican and that is sha T kin and sha kin as is well known as a Republican representative from both Monmouth and Ocean County he's been behind many many measures which promote security for every citizens in the state of New Jersey I want to welcome assembly m to the uh to the broadcast thanks for joining us assemblyman hey thank you very much for the kind introduction and it's a pleasure to be on the air with you now let me ask you this Sean if I can what was it that precipitated this bill I had asked somebody else and they said well it's the incidents which are going on around the country uh is that something really that schools here have to be concerned about and two are there already measures in place in the public schools and for some reason we now decided it has to be in place in the non-public school system yeah and let me take the first question first the uh the request for help came from the private school community on a variety of levels both from uh parents from people that run schools and I'm not just talking about um schools within the Orthodox population I'm talking about schools private schools all the way across the um Spectrum the reason for that as everybody knows is there's this new fanaticism of hate crimes out there that are just a a plague on our society and it's devastating and we need to get out in front of that and not be reactive to that um so to answer question it came directly from the trenches from constituents who send their kids to private schools in Lakewood and other places now with regard to the actual bill that came out of committee yesterday the bill was amended in committee to make it effective immediately that's important because prior to that Amendment there was a lapse in time and this also tells me that there's going to be a lot of energy by the Democratic side of the aisle to try to get this done the public school system you know there's about 150,000 kids in private schools in our state right now they don't get a dime for security on the public side where hundreds of thousands of kids go to school they get about $75 per student to address security measures and we've seen it not just uh not just in private schools but in public schools these horrible acts that have taken place where you know people are putting Harm's Way so we need to anticipate that and get out in front of It ultimately you're talking about less than $4 million out of a $ 33 billion state budget you're talking about a couple bucks that are going to make these schools it's just a start by the way this is just a few dollars to get these schools start that thinking and planning and some private schools are doing it already but they need help and they need resources to do that and when you're talking about the different types of steps that can be taken and you know you're talking about applications that could be put on cell phones where people can communicate walkie-talkies where people can say hey there's a strange person uh you know looming around the school um and all different creative things and you know I don't pretend to be a security expert we leave that up to the uh the people that are uh very knowledgeable in that area but there's all kinds of things that we can do today in this Society with a with a a budget to address security measures so that's what we're trying to do there is as you know there's a senate version the Senate version has not moved yet you pointed out importantly that it's a bipartisan measure and when it's bipartisan I think the likelihood that the governor will act favorably on it in my mind although I can't speak for the governor I think that that that's something that we're going to anticipate that the governor will come to the assistance of private schools he's been there before he's a someone who's been a proponent of trying to give some kind of balance to the way school funding goes on in our state so I'm hopeful that the governor will um agree with what the assembly education Committee just did yesterday which was to approve a bill unanimous so that means there is a sense of urgency with it but in terms of the unanimous approval so walk us through the next step of the legislative process for the um the actualization of the plant to come in effect in other words at what point do do the schools now approach the state and say okay we have our plan and now we would like to have it financed so what happens legislatively sure that um request process is not in place yet because the bill has not uh been signed into law by the governor we still need some steps to take place and the following has to take place on the assembly side the bill was reported out of committee and that's a Monumental step the bill was only introduced a month ago now it's been reported out of committee at any one time there's over 3,000 bills in the legislative Hopper if you will and some of those are very good bills and they just don't move forward because there's just a um there's so many issues of importance to the state some things get lost and that's unfortunate but that's the reality this bill they'd get a head start and it's moving and Next Step would be for the entire State Assembly of 80 members to affirmatively vote in favor of the bill what is required is the speaker of the assembly has to place this bill on a board list for the assembly to vote I'm very confident that if that bill goes up for is placed for a vote on the board list I think the votes are there we just need to convince the speaker um P from North Jersey and by the way who has uh very many requests made to him so you know he's got people asking him for security dollars for private schools and you can just imagine all the monetary requests that come across the um the speaker's desk so that's what we have to do we're competing with other um positive requests often times we're competing uh for scarce dollars with other requests that are often very legitimate requests so we just need to be good Advocates and get that bill up I think it's going to get done assuming the bill passes the assembly in the next month or two because as you know we recess and we go home and the end of June everything stops so in the next month I should say the bill is moving simultaneously as we move it through the assembly the bill is moving through the Senate um that bill is sponsored by um Senator Beach from South Jersey if that Bill gets passed through the Senate which I think it will um both bills wind up on the governor's desk and the governor then has the opportunity to sign it and he has 45 days to do that if he doesn't sign it within 45 days the bill becomes law just by operation of his in action on this one I think the governor is going to sign it he'll he'll invite the sponsors in and we'll have a big um celebration if you will because it'll be a positive step let me ask you this uh assemblyman in terms of grassroot support is it important at all for the possible beneficiaries of this bill or those who just feel that it's uh a worthwhile thing to do to vocalize their their support and their advocacy of it to their local legislators is that of any value at this point or along the process that's that's a very important um very important step to this process and you just hit the nail on the head if you are someone who lives in a legislative district where you are whether you're in pic County or Ocean County or another County the most important communication you can have is not with the sponsor you you already have me I'm on the bill it's my bill you need to talk to the members who represent you in the legislature to let them know how important it is to you and once again don't forget this is something that's very near and dear to the Orthodox and the religious community in Lakewood but this stretches across all religious and sectarian there's sectarian private schools this is very important for all private schools because let's face it parents that send their kids to private schools are making sacrifices for the betterment of their kids but often times the state doesn't necessarily match them in that commitment and especially in some school districts where the alternative is very uh not very uh attractive you know in school systems that are failing the parents have send their kids to private schools do need a hand up financially we try to do that with different tax incentives and different ways but it's it's difficult and there hasn't been a lot of success in that area what we need to do is to appeal and we're doing that now but to appeal to people to contact their legislators in all the districts of each of the 40 40 legislative districts Statewide from Kate May to Bergen County um and and everywhere in between because that's the key if I'm a legislator and I get a call from somebody from Bergen County it doesn't impress me the same way it does when I get a call from somebody in my district and that's just common sense so we need to make it a Grassroots appeal um Statewide and as I said before it's not a complicated uh concept when you're looking at some of these events that are going on nationally and internationally with people that are some of these uh extreme groups that are appealing to these uh young people it's just very uh upsetting but once again you know we can't just sit by and say G whiz let's hope it doesn't happen to us we have have to be proactive and get out in front of it so that we're equipped with the tools that are needed to make sure something like that doesn't happen I have to think of Lakewood as a very vulnerable population um you know Lakewood is the fastest growing religious community in the in the state um it's not the country in terms of the Orthodox Community this particular Community U needs to get out in front of that we need to be prepared for that because um you know when danger lurks you know that we have to be proactive and not uh sit idly by and that's what we're trying to do with this bill well what would you like to see assemblyman as you've said that the um the constituents here are already on board so what would be left for people in the Lakewood Community per se who who would they talk to or who would they would they call is there any necessity to do that I mean you already know what the needs are you're already an advocate for it so would it be purposeful in any manner shape or form for people in this community to be called I think it would for a few reasons because when people get uh vocal and get involved in a particular issue sometimes that leads to additional um media and public uh observation and attention um just the fact that we're having this conversation here today May educate some people about what's going on people have family and friends in other parts of the State uh people are involved in organizations that maybe you're uh a member of Lakewood Community but you may have ties to a community in in Hatton or in another part of the state through either your religious connections or your social network and all of that is comes into play now very important component of this is to get geared up for when the bill does pass the legislature because at that time the Grassroots strategy and effort becomes different at that point the focal point is the governor's office and that's when it doesn't matter um if you live in Lakewood and you know I supported the bill you need to make that message clear to the governor and that's when we really need to get to the governor and and the reason that important is because you're talking about an economy that is still soft you're talking about Governor who has so many pressures on his office for scarce resources anytime we um take $4 million out of the budget to give it to private schools there going to be a hit somewhere and while $4 million in the brand scheme of things is not a huge number it's still a substantial number that we have to make sure we get done now there's always going to be people that are jumping up and down this time of year budget time is when all of the groups come out with their Advocates and they all try to get a piece of that budget pie and it's just it's just the reality it's always been that way and with the economy being in still a soft State you know there isn't that extra money out there to go do good projects like this you know it used to be when the economy was war and you know it would be you know little little goodies for different legislative districts that just not happening anymore it's just a very austere budget it's going to be that way for this year or next year you know hopefully we get out of this but we don't want to wait for that we want to get this done done now and and that's just going to be seed money by the way that's just going to be something that we can grow with um you know private schools are going to be able to do their own fundraising and some private schools are doing this anyway but to give them a shot in the arm knowing that they're going to get a few bucks per pupil I think will really get people to start thinking and the other exciting thing about it is they can um pull resources and they can then compare notes and they can come up with strategies that may be helpful to an entire Community like Lakewood for instance maybe there's a way they can work together on some of these things and not just take the money and do their own thing so um yeah it's going to be in concert with law enforcement there's going to be there's a lot of people out there that know a lot about security and it's um it's a very um very uh serious stuff and I think that at the end of the day this is just a starting point you know Public Schools get 75 per people why do private schools get nothing it doesn't make any sense to me does that mean that we don't value the health and safety of the um of the private school kids I mean it just it doesn't make any sense to me so we we need to be more uh more fair about the way we spend money for security indeed I want to express our thanks to assembly men I mean working together is something which has kind of been the rais and Detra of of uh not only your candidacy when you running but obviously the campaign promises which you said then it's very interesting to see how you're actually actualizing that it's something that every one of us I think has to be grateful for and we're going to see about galvanizing that support I want to thank you on behalf of the of the community and communities at large and we'll be looking forward to following the progress of the bill as it moves through a as of this juncture so you said there's going to be a um Hiatus now when would we really be looking at the uh the government stamp of approval I would hope it be before he decides to run for president but when do you think that'll be I honestly I believe that this can get done by the end of June I'm hopeful that that happens um we do have time to get it done we still have several um voting sessions where this bill could get placed and once again you know we're not talking about a bill here that's going to require the state to come up with 40 million or 100 million this is relatively small change important an important amount but still um something where we can get it done and not you know have to really um perhaps you know go over the top in this case but the Senate can move in the assembly I've seen bills get done in a lot shorter time we still have 25 days left so uh my goal is to get it done and then once it's on the governor's desk it'll be ready for September and that's the exciting part then these kids can go back to school after the summer and these districts and these Pro schools can say we have a pot of money now we appli for it and it's going to be coming and then they can start to get out in front of it and that's what we need to do this is not something that we want to say that we'll get it done in a year you know this is something that has to get done immediately well where there's a will there's a way assembly M Sean Keen thank you very much for joining us we'll be looking forward to hearing again from you soon following the progress of this Bild this is parents Bea for Straight Talk America