Skip to content

A town square for an unsquare town

redbankgreen

Standing for the vitality of Red Bank, its community, and the fun we have together.

RUMSON PARENTS TEE UP PRIEST OVER FIRING

Tearful students gather around dismissed teacher Bernadette Davis, above. Father Michael Manning taunted sign-waving protesters, below. (Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Long-simmering tensions at Rumson’s Holy Cross parish boiled over into public Thursday as dozens of parents and children rallied to denounce the dismissal of a beloved teacher and to label their pastor an unchecked “tyrant.”

“He’s cold, he’s heartless,” Locust resident Pat Gross, a 30-year parishoner, said of Father Michael Manning, who has led the church for six years. “He thinks he’s a dictator. He doesn’t like to be challenged or confronted.”

Former ‘Saturday Night Live’ cast member Siobhan Hogan (nee Fallon) helped organize the protest. (Click to enlarge)

Led by former ‘Saturday Night Live’ comedienne Siobhan Hogan (nee Fallon), about 60 parents, students and other parish members arrived in a horn-honking caravan of SUVs at the Ward Avenue church and elementary school shortly after 9 a.m. on what was to have been the final day of the school year.

Classes were abruptly canceled, and the year declared over, by Manning Wednesday night after his decision not to renew the contract of fourth-grade teacher Bernadette Davis prompted angry parents to demand an explanation, they said at a gathering in a Sea Bright parking lot before the rally.

Wiping tears from her eyes outside the classroom she had come to close down for the summer, Davis declined to comment, except to say that “this whole issue is in God’s hands.”

Several parents, though, said Davis, a career teacher with 44 years experience, the last nine at Holy Cross, was accused of having “humiliated” a misbehaving child in her class, and for refusing to apologize to the child after his parents complained.

None of their children were able corroborate an incident of humiliation, protesters said, and such an act would be wildly out of character for Davis.

“She’s the kind of teacher you pray your child gets as a teacher,” said Debbie Bagnell, of Rumson.

“My daughter is in Mrs. Davis’ class, and she has been brought up to a level of academic excellence I can’t even describe,” said mother Deb Black.

Karen Thomsen, a lawyer and mother of a fourth-grader, denounced Manning’s control of the parish as a “dictatorship. There’s no input from parents. It’s very unhealthy.”

She said Davis’ dismissal had been done “with no due process, and from a religious standpoint, it’s not Christian.”

Sean Stone, who has two children in the school, including a fourth-grader, called the abrupt ending of the school year an act of “cowardice” by Manning, who was aware that parents might go public with their frustrations.

He said Manning’s motive in removing Davis was to cut a higher-paid teacher from the payroll and replace her with another earning less.

Complaints about Manning to the Diocese of Trenton over the years have fallen on deaf ears, parishoners said. A redbankgreen request for comment from the diocese is pending.

Walking away from a reporter he had ordered off church grounds following a morning mass, Manning declined comment before briefly turning to taunt protesters, mimicking their sign-waving.

Manning succeeded as pastor Father Joseph Hughes, who went to prison for six months in 2006 for stealing more than $2 million in parish funds and using it to buy pricey cars and other luxuries for himself and a favored parish employee.

Remember: Nothing makes a Red Bank friend happier than to hear "I saw you on Red Bank Green!"
Partyline
RED TRUCKS AT RED ROCK
A small dishwasher fire at Red Rock Tap and Grill was put out quickly by firefighters overnight, causing minimal damage. Red Bank Fire Depar ...
CREATIVE COVER UP
The windows of Pearl Street Consignment on Monmouth Street were smashed when a driver crashed their car through them injuring an employee la ...
THEY’RE BACK!
Ospreys returned to the skies over Red Bank this week for the first time since they migrated to warmer climes in late fall. With temperature ...
SPRING IS SPRUNG
RED BANK: Spring 2024 arrives on the Greater Red Bank Green with the vernal equinox at 11:06 p.m. Tuesday.
RED BANK’S FINEST – AND NEWEST
Red Bank Police Officer Eliot Ramos was sworn in as the force’s newest patrolman Thursday, and if you’re doing a double take thinkin ...
EASTER EGG MAYHEM AT THE PARK
An errant whistle spurred an unexpectedly early start to the Spring Egg Hunt on Sunday, which had been scheduled to begin at eggsactly 11am ...
PRESEASON DOCKWORK
RED BANK: With winter winding down, marina gets ready for boating season with some dockwork on our beautiful Navesink River.
CORNED BEEF AND DISCO FRIES?
It’s Friday, and smart Lent-observing Leprechauns know the pot of gold at the end of Red Bank’s rainbow is actually the deliciou ...
SURFBOARD DITCHED
It’s a violation of etiquette in surfing to ditch your board.  (it could hit another surfer and hurt them). But someone appears to ha ...
ELSIE, TAKE ME WITH YOU!
Soaked by pouring rain with the temperature hovering in the low 40’s, this sign in the window of Elsie’s Subs on Monmouth Street ...
WALK THIS WAY
PARTYLINE: Before-and-afters of a sidewalk cleanup on West Street.
SOGGY NOTION
RED BANK: Breezeway sculpture captured the mood downtown as heavy rains fell Saturday morning.
HOME DELIVERY
RED BANK: After a subdivision, an instant house rises on a new Catherine Street lot.
COMMUNITY PROFILES
For Black History Month, Red Bank's Community Engagement and Equity Advisory Committee has been running a series of local profiles on Facebo ...
HEARTY FAREWELL FOR HARDY
RED BANK: Council to honor DPU supervisor Rich Hardy, who retired recently after almost 39 years of keeping things running.
HOMEBOUND? READ ON…
RED BANK: Can't get to the public library? It's now offering free delivery and pickups for homebound borough residents.
TAMING A BEAST OF A WEEK
RED BANK: After the second snowfall of the week, a borough family finds the perfect use for it – a Godzilla snow sculpture.
RED BANK: LIBRARY CLOSED, BUT THE HILL’S OPEN
RED BANK: Though the library was closed by a snowstorm, kids got to enjoy the riverfront property's steep slope Tuesday.
LIGHT(HOUSE) MAKEOVER
This year, getting ready for spring means a midwinter makeover for Strollo's Lighthouse in Red Bank.
TODAY: LOCAL PUPPY COMPETES ON ANIMAL PLANET’S “PUPPY BOWL”
Red Bank’s very own rescue puppy, Biscuit, is set to compete in Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl this Sunday, February 11, at 2 PM. Th ...