Displacement of Latinx Students in New Brunswick
Dec 8, 2022
Hylah Heffron
Lincoln Annex School was purchased and demolished in 2020 by DEVCO and Robert Wood Johnson to build a new cancer institute. This action led to the displacement of the students from Lincoln Annex, which according to the National Center for Education Statistics (NJ, 2021), has a 99% minority enrollment (majority Hispanic). Instead of constructing the replacement school, Balanquita B. Valenti Community School, first, the cancer institute began development simultaneously with the new school’s construction. They left the students to take up a “swing space” in a converted warehouse. These institutions’ actions revealed the lack of priority for Latinx children’s education. The outcome might have been different if the school had been wealthy and white. Parents, teachers, and students protested the sale of their school, demanding a new school facility to be built beforehand and a closer location to the neighborhood where the students lived. These needs were not met.
My creative engagement project will be a mural with themes of pride in the community, the value of education, and the possibilities of a bright future. I as well want the students to be able to submit mural ideas of their own. Creating excitement for the students around this project will help them anticipate a new school with updated equipment to excel in their learning. What they think inspires and motivates them to work hard and value education. This mural will benefit the community of students by showing what they can become and how education and the people that support them are vital to their future success.
Jim Jack, Director of Education for the George Street Playhouse, was asked to participate as a community council to support the development of the new school. He actively participated in reviewing site locations, building plans and environmental impact discussions, safety recommendations for students walking to class, as well as bus and car routes. These recommendations made by the council were taken into consideration by the district when proceeding with the planning. School and community members thought the construction to be unfortunately planned. However, the council’s aid prioritized building the Valenti Community School to support hundreds of new students and learning resources for the 21st-century learning needs of the students. Parents and district members of New Brunswick have a split of support for these happenings. As Jim Jack stated, he knows parents and teachers see negative aspects when considering the temporary displacement of students and struggles to commute students of the area to the new location. These however are short-term problems, while Jim stated he looks to the long-term positives that come with the “hospital’s investments in community and direct funds,” as well as the new school’s high quality that will benefit the community in the future.
Key stakeholders for this project and the guarantee of successful education for the students of Valenti Community School is New Brunswicks Education Association Superintendent Dr. Aubrey A. Johnson. Her position should be prioritized as a key factor in the process and actions the school will take in the future. The Superintendent at the time, Kyle Anderson, “quietly” suggested the sale of Lincoln Annex. According to a New Brunswick Today article by Charlie Kratovil, Anderson apparently did not speak with students or parents who would be affected by the purchase. Dr. Johnson, the current superintendent is not able to repair the results of Anderson’s actions but can lead the path for these students in a beneficial way.
Ellen Treadway, principal of Lincoln Annex currently, is also a stakeholder who has closer communication with families, teachers, and the students themselves. She is the position that students will look to first when concerns arise. Treadway is vital to the cooperation and information connection between the district and the directly affected families.
The impact of an arts intervention piece for this Latinx student community is to provide a visual reminder that their parents and teachers support them. As well as a visual reminder, I want students to be a part of creating this piece on their new school grounds. It is only fair for the students to brainstorm development ideas for what should be included in the mural and painting parts (handprints or signatures). There still should be reminders of how our systems charged with the public good failed the current student body and left them in a displaced state coming out of a pandemic and in the middle of their education. In the hopes of recovering from the lack of priority for the students of color at Lincoln Annex, we should have the children anticipate the positives that will come from Valenti Community School. Getting them excited for better education and resources that will be provided. The truths about how the selling of Lincoln Annex should be retold to the students, so they continue with the honest truth and gain the ability to understand the positions institutions may put them in as minority individuals. With the knowledge that they don’t deserve injustice and can succeed no matter the obstacles.
