Red Bank Primary School will have a new principal in September, and she’s a tweeter.

The district board of ed approved the selection of Erin Mulligan-Pierre, right, Tuesday night to replace Rick Cohen, said Superintendent Laura Morana.

The two-school district will also have a new business administrator, replacing Annie Darrow, who recently took a job with the Howell school district.

Now working as the director of curriculum in the pre-K-to-12 Keyport district, Mulligan-Pierre is scheduled to start work July 1 at an annual salary of $108,000, said Morana.

Cohen left the district in March after six years as principal to become director of curriculum in Metuchen.

Mulligan-Pierre was one of 67 candidates for the job, 10 of whom were interviewed by a selection committee comprised of primary school teachers and staff, the PTO president administrators.

The names of the top three candidates were sent to Morana, who said she was pleased to recognize one. She said she had met Mulligan-Pierre at a conference a year ago, and the South Amboy resident had in recent months visited the primary school to see some Red Bank initiatives in action.

The job of principal, Morana said, “is not the same as it was 10 or 20 years ago.

“You have to come in, with the set of expectations that are in place, having the self-confidence that ‘I am capable of leading the school in a way to produce the desired student outcomes,’” she said.

Mulligan-Pierre posted a tweet on Thursday night linking to an Asbury Park Press article about her selection with a comment, “Hey! That’s me!”

The school board also named Debra Pappagallo as business administrator and board secretary, effective July 15 or sooner.

Pappagallo joins the district from Red Bank Regional, where she has more than ten years of experience as an assistant business administrator.

By DANIELLE TEPPER

As Olivia Mullen knows, the works of William Shakespeare are a fundamental component of any acting student’s growth as a performer. The Red Bank Catholic junior has shared passions for drama and music, and to her ear, Shakespeare embodies both.

“Shakespeare’s work is beautiful,” she told redbankgreen this week. “It comes to me almost like a song. I’m not nervous performing it.”

Mullen’s heartfelt appreciation of the Bard of Avon won her a spot in the 29th annual English-Speaking Union‘s National Shakespeare Competition held in New York last month.

Each year, high school teachers across the country select two students from their theater classes to audition. In Monmouth County, 15 schools were represented at the regional branch competition at Brookdale Community College, where Mullen took first place.

“I didn’t even expect to be chosen to compete,” said Mullen, 17, of Middletown. “And then I wound up going to New York.”

All the competitors were put up in the International Student Center for a one-night stay, during which they were treated to an acting workshop at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts.

“That night, everyone just wanted to talk,” said Mullen. “We were sleeping nine to a room with bunk beds, and everyone was so interested because we were all from different places, but we had a 5 a.m. wake-up call. It was exhausting, but amazing.”

At the semi-finals, held at Lincoln Center on April 23, each student performed a monologue and a sonnet of their choosing. Mullen went with Sonnet 36.

“I picked a sonnet that wasn’t recommended because it’s a bit tricky and complex,” said Mullen. “But I’m glad I chose 36 because no one else did it, and there were a lot of repeats.”

While she may not have won the grand prize (a full scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art’s Young Actors Summer School in London), Mullen said the entire experience had a significant impact on her future plans.

“I’m definitely going to pursue acting, and most schools want some background in Shakespeare,” she said. “It’s a hard skill to acquire, but it’s important to appreciate it.”

Mullen has been researching Carnegie Mellon’s musical theater program as well as the drama program at Juilliard, and said she’s open to either.

“I have a passion for both, so I’d be happy either way,” she said.

Lucas Sileno, 8, played catch with his dad, Phil, below, as Red Bank fifth- and sixth-graders faced off in an opening-day game Saturday. (Photos by Danielle Tepper. Click to enlarge)

By DANIELLE TEPPER

Red Bank’s Parks and Recreation department held its second annual baseball/softball day at Count Basie Fields Saturday to promote the town’s sports programs and to entice kids to sign up.

After several years of rebuilding, the department was able to field a seventh- and eighth-grade boys team for the first time in decade, parks & rec director Memone Crystian tells redbankgreen.

“Our objective is to get Red Bank kids playing through to the high school level,” she said, to the background sounds of hardballs landing in leather mitts. “To do that, we need to get them interested, which is why we’re having a day like today.”

Next challenge: getting girls out on the diamond.

Crystian said the day, which doubled as a season opener and showcase for other sports, was organized in part to say “thank you to the players and to the families who believe in the rec programs. We hope to grow this bigger and bigger every year as our program grows.”

All around Count Basie Park, kids in different grades participated in either sanctioned or exhibition games while almost 200 people wandered the fields and sidelines.

“We have football sign-ups on one end, soccer tryouts on another,” said Crystian. “There’s free food and festivities, beautiful weather. It’s a great day to try to get kids to want to play outside.”

Crystian and Councilwoman Juanita Lewis both noted, however, that the program has seen one significant loss over recent years: female athletes.

“We’re losing our girls,” said Crystian. “They’re just not turning to sports for some reason, so for this upcoming year, that’s our focus. We’re going door-to-door, sending emails, doing whatever we can to get them to come out for softball.”

Crystian said this is not just a concern for Red Bank recreation, but is an epidemic spreading across neighboring towns as well. “Shrewsbury, Little Silver and Rumson have all cut their female teams completely because they had no one. We don’t want to do that. Girl athletes rock. We’re committed to making sure this program is there for the girls, too.”

Lewis says one possible reason is that girls just lose interest, and “we need to find some other ways to reach them, new ways to get them engaged.

“Recreation is very important. It unites the town and gives opportunities to our kids,” said Lewis. “We have a great director. She believes in Red Bank kids and does amazing things. She’s making more out of less because budget constraints are always looming, but she’ll go the extra mile.”

Information on Red Bank sports programs can be found here.

Thirty members of the Teen Outreach Program at Red Bank Regional High completed a two-day Out of the Darkness track walk in the school gym Wednesday morning to promote awareness of suicide prevention as part of Children’s Mental Health Week. 

The idea for the walk came primarily from two proactive freshmen, Grace Rumph and Adam Canterbury, above, each of whom has lost a friend to suicide within the past two years.

“This is affecting our generation and there’s so much a person can do to help, but maybe they feel afraid to reach out,” said Rumph. “People need to know how important it is.” (Photos by Danielle Tepper. Click to enlarge)

Tickets are $20 each, and the raffle will be held at the store at 4 p.m. on May 20.  (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Kathie Panepinto was leading a tour of the Red Bank Primary School property and lamenting the heavy growth that hides an adjoining pond Monday when groundhog that had been sunning itself in the grass scooted across her path and into the brush.

“Oh, look at that,” she said said excitedly, noting that up-close sightings of deer and other wildlife are common at the school, which sits on landfill in a former wetlands abutting the Swimming River.

It was the kind of moment that for decades has inspired talk of the school’s potential as natural sciences learning center. And it underscored the value of ongoing efforts by Panepinto and other volunteers in their most ambitious effort to date: creating a permanent physical link between the school and the inaccessible pond.

A concept plan shows a walkway out into the pond that the foundation hopes to win funding for. (Click to enlarge)

Since its revival from dormancy four years ago, the nonprofit Red Bank Borough Education Foundation has focused its efforts on small-bore projects: leading cleanups of the 17-acre primary school property, lending a hand and a few dollars to installations such as a butterfly garden, a small greenhouse and a human sundial clock.

Now, though, the all-volunteer group is raising its sights with a proposal to build an outdoor classroom in the form of a pier and observation deck on the pond. The structure would enable students at the K-3 school to see land and aquatic habitats up close, and “to do wet and muddy samplings,” said RBBEF member and Councilman Ed Zipprich.

“Most folks don’t even know there’s a pond back there,” said member Susan Berke.

“The idea is to make access to the pond not just for science, but for reading, writing, art,” said Panepinto, an RBBEF officer.

No cost estimate for the project has yet been worked up, and foundation members don’t even know if they would need and might obtain permits from the state Department of Environmental Protection for the structure, which may be subject to limitations on building in coastal areas.

Still, they’ve begun the process of trying to win a grant for as much as $460,000 from the National Science Foundation, said foundation president Doug Winning, an architect. “We’re going for the full enchilada,” he said.

Meantime, the organization has raised about $10,000 in each of the past two years through art auctions held at the Atrium at Navesink Harbor. This year, no such event is planned, though members hope to put together an Antiques Roadshow-type event for 2013.

Meantime, the group has produced a reusable canvas shopping tote featuring Red Bank student art that will soon be available around town for $5. For $10, residents get the tote and membership in the RBBEF.

“We’re still taking baby steps at this point, but we’ve got momentum going, and that’s the important thing,” said Zipprich.

By JOHN T. WARD

An intensive manhunt for two suspected burglars in Little Silver ended early Wednesday afternoon with no evidence of a crime or suspects, police Chief Dan Shaffery tells redbankgreen.

Having swarmed the area with cops and search dogs from half a dozen jurisdictions, police called off the search at 12:50 p.m., less than two hours after a nearby resident reported a suspicious male in a neighbor’s backyard, Shaffery said.

Shaffery said the incident began with an  11 a.m. call to police by a resident of Queens Drive South, who reported seeing a man in dark clothes and a hooded sweatshirt in the rear yard of a neighboring property fronting on Prospect Avenue.

“He called it in, and rightfully so,” said Shaffery, who has been trumpeting the importance of residents reporting suspicious activities in the wake of a recent string of burglaries.

Police officers, who arrived on the scene within four minutes, found no suspects, but in canvasing the area, came upon a contractor who reported the possible presence of two suspicious males, Shaffery said.

That set off the hunt, which brought in help from Red Bank, Shrewsbury, Fair Haven, Long Branch and the Monmouth County Sheriff’s office, the last two of which loaned search dogs for the effort.

Because the homes in the area abut swamp and woodlands, police dove into the thicket, hoping to find the man or men. Two Little Silver officers in particular ended up “full of mud” from the effort, Shaffery said.

Police also checked nearby homes and ran every license plate of unexplained vehicles parked in the area, he said.

But the police and dogs found no evidence of a getaway or of a crime, he said.

“I’m sure there was somebody there,” Shaffery said of the initial report, “but we haven’t been unable to uncover any evidence of criminal activity.”

Shaffery said residents should not take the result to mean they should not call in on suspicions.

“Better safe than sorry,” he said. “I would never discourage anyone from calling.”

Rehearsing for this week’s Spring Dance Concerts at Red Bank Regional, VPA dance majors include (front row, left to right) Phoenicia Butler, Jessica Adderly, Dillion Jackson, plus (back row, left to right) Kendall Van Winkle, Bella Caputi and  Samantha Lore. 

When the Visual and Performing Arts program at Red Bank Regional High School puts on a show, it’s like the Big Game.

Beginning Thursday night and carrying over into the middle of the coming week, the students of the VPA –majors in dance, music and visual arts from all over the Shore area — will take center stage in a series of showcase events, starting with a pair of Spring Dance Concert performances and continuing with the first fully staged opera production in the school’s history.

Katherine Robinson (Shrewsbury) looks on as Evangeline Athanasiou (Red Bank) confronts Patrick Martini (Union Beach) in DIDO AND AENEAS, one of two full one-act operas to be presented next week at Red Bank Regional. (Click to enlarge)

Some 42 dance majors — including six seniors performing together for the last time — take to the boards of the RBR Theatre this Thursday at 7 pm, and again on Saturday at 2 pm, for a recital that combines the work of special guest choreographers with the choreography of the student dancers themselves.

Offering up 30 numbers that range from jazz to hip hop and other contemporary styles, the Spring Dance Concert program features the input of  Say Dance Collective founder Gabrielle Barnett, as well as several VPA dance major alumni (Jamie Baptist, Gwen Baum, Jessica Berube, Kali Drake, Anthony Tiedeman) who’ve gone on to pursue dance and dance education careers.

Berube, who’s served as a student teacher during the 2011-2012 school year at RBR, contributed an original piece entitled Off I Go, which will be realized onstage by the six senior dancers — among them Red Bank’s Phoenicia Butler, who choreographed three of the segments  in the spring show (and who will be studying toward a career in dance education at the University of North Carolina).

Also performing in Off I Go will be three students from Little Silver — Kristin Balve, Dillon Jackson and Kendall Van Winkle — as well as Alexis Hines (Union Beach) and Colleen Strazdas (Neptune City).

RBR faculty member Kristopher Zook says he was looking for “something new” to stretch the abilities of his vocal students — and on the evenings of May 1 and 2, the RBR stage offers something unique to local audiences: a night at the opera.

Featured are a pair of works which, although they were written hundreds of years apart from each other, have a couple of things in common. Both are one-acts of roughly an hour in length, and both are in English.

Written in 1946, The Medium by Gian Carlo Menotti (best known for Amahl and the Night Visitors) will be followed by Dido and Aeneas, a “tragic love story” (written in 1689 by Henry Purcell) that has the distinction of being the first opera composed in the English language. The operas will be presented at 7 pm on Tuesday, May 1, and again at 7 pm on Wednesday, May 2.

Zook, who will be directing both operas, called the production “an ambitious project for high school singers, and for some the first opera they have ever attempted, but our talented students are up to the task.”

Starring as Dido is Evangeline Athanasiou of Red Bank, who as winner of the New Jersey Governor School Opera honor is ranked as the top operatic vocal artist in Garden State high schools. Athanasiou, who plans to continue her vocal studies at the Boston Conservatory of Music, will share the stage with Patrick Martini of Union Beach as Aeneas. Shurmila Dhar (Little Silver) and Katharine Robinson (Shrewsbury) are also in the cast for Wednesday’s performance.

Appearing in The Medium on Tuesday are Gabriella Concepcion (Hazlet), Christopher Dubrow (Shrewsbury), Vincent Martini (Union Beach), Erin Murphy (Millstone), Lauren Staub (Avon) — and Little Silver’s Madelyn Monaghan, currently starring as Dorothy in the Phoenix Productions staging of The Wizard of Oz.

Tickets for either performance of A Night at the Opera, or either of the Spring Dance Concerts, are priced at $10 for adults ($5 for students or senior citizens) and may be purchased at the door, or reserved in advance by calling (732) 842-8000, ext. 227.

The vocal students will return to the RBR Theatre stage on Thursday, May 24 for a one-time choral concert entitled Comedy and Tragedy — a program that juxtaposes John Rutter’s sober “Requiem” with the comic cantata “Knock Knock” by the enigmatic “P.D.Q. Bach” (as channeled by the madly musical Professor Peter Schickele).

“The parent involvement in this school has just been amazing,” said Cohen, 38, who’s been principal for the past six years. “That gives the kids a real sense of belonging and pride.”

Superintendent Laura Morana tells redbankgreen that an interim principal is expected to be named tonight, and that a search committee will commence interviews for a replacement next week. (Click to enlarge)