RED BANK: CHARTER AID BOOST SLAMMED

District officials say they may have to eliminate a new cross-country program in order to balance the budget. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank school board members and parents reacted with outrage Monday night to an effective reduction in state aid under funding announced by the administration of Governor Phil Murphy last week.

Though nominally a $178,503 increase for the district, more than that sum is to be relayed to the Red Bank Charter School, Superintendent Jared Rumage said at a board meeting at the primary school.

With the district seeing an effective decline in aid while state funding to the charter school’s rises $1,025 per student, “I think the time has come to have the discussion about running two public schools in Red Bank,” Rumage told redbankgreen.

March 20, 2018 - 10:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: CHARTER DATA RELEASE ORDERED

Judy DeHaven, below, claims the Red Bank Charter School “continues to operate without transparency or accountability.” (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

The New Jersey Government Records Council earlier this week ordered the Red Bank Charter School to release demographic data it failed to provide to a borough resident under an Open Public Records Act request.

The state agency, acting on a complaint filed by Judy DeHaven, found on Tuesday that the school had unlawfully withheld data showing the breakdown of the student population by grade, gender, race, ethnicity and other factors.

July 28, 2017 - 2:00 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: PLAN TESTED DISTRICT’S METTLE

Red Bank Superintendent Jared Rumage addressing a packed middle school rally opposing the charter school plan on December 17. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

In nearly every public utterance throughout the three-month battle over a proposed Red Bank Charter School expansion, borough schools Superintendent Jared Rumage said he welcomed the chance to talk about the district as it exists today, not as it was a generation ago.

His goal wasn’t simply to rebut what he called “fiction” in the charter school’s projections about the financial impact on the host district. Just as much, Rumage said, was the need to answer what he consider a baseless slap at the district. Read More »

March 1, 2016 - 10:15 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: PANEL BLASTS ‘SEGREGATION’

The 17-year-old charter school has said a weighted lottery that takes racial and economic factors into account would be used in the expansion. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

The panel charged with a hurry-up examination of the proposed Red Bank Charter School expansion teed up the institution for segregation in its report, unveiled at a borough council meeting Wednesday night.

“According to New Jersey Department of Education enrollment data, Red Bank Borough is home to the most segregated school district in the state of New Jersey, with deep disparity” in racial makeup, primary language skills and economic backgrounds, the report said.

January 28, 2016 - 8:30 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: CHARTER PANEL TO HOLD HEARING

Retired teacher Barbara Boas, center, was one of seven borough residents named to a study commission last week. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Mayor Pasquale Menna’s so-called blue-ribbon commission to review a proposed doubling of enrollment at the Red Bank Charter School will hold a public hearing Friday, weather permitting.

The meeting, booked for the Red Bank Middle School auditorium at 7 p.m., was announced in an alert from borough hall Tuesday evening, a day before charter school parents were expected to hold their own meeting on the expansion plan.

January 19, 2016 - 5:50 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: MARCHERS REJECT CHARTER PLAN

Protesters marched from the middle school to borough hall in freezing weather. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank residents hoping to slow or halt a proposed doubling of enrollment at the Red Bank Charter School got help from the borough council Wednesday night.

After an estimated 200 parents, children, district employees and others marched in frigid weather from the middle school to borough hall, the council adopted a resolution asking the state Department to delay a decision on the charter school endeavor.

January 14, 2016 - 7:12 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: CHARTER PLAN SPARKS PUSHBACK

Superintendent Jared Rumage addressed a packed auditorium at the middle school Thursday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

A standing-room crowd of more than 400 filled the Red Bank Middle School auditorium to oppose a proposed doubling of enrollment at the Red Bank Charter School Thursday night.

The turnout, on a rainy and foggy night, surprised organizers, which they said reflected wildfire concern that the expansion, if approved by the state Department of Education, would occur at steep financial cost to the two-school borough district and taxpayers.

“I have two kids in the primary school, and I don’t want them to be hurt,” said Marion Street resident Genilda Shinners. “And I don’t want my taxes going up, either.”

December 17, 2015 - 9:55 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: BOE MEMBER SLAMS TAX NOTICE

Board of ed member Sue Viscomi, left, criticized the borough’s handling of the tax adjustment notice. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

After an adjustment by borough officials that nearly doubled an expected increase in the local school tax last month, a member of the Red Bank Board of Education fired back Tuesday night.

Sue Viscomi, who heads the board’s finance committee, said borough taxpayers may have been misled into believing the board approved a 12.74-percent spike in the local school portion of the tax, when in fact it adopted a budget reflecting a 6.95-percent increase in April.

“I personally think it’s irresponsible, what the town did with our tax bill,” she said at a board workshop meeting Tuesday night at the middle school. “We did not vote for a 12-percent increase.”

August 12, 2015 - 3:19 pm | Comments ()

DECISION ON CLASSES FOR TOTS AWAITED

Girls in the limited-enrollment program for three- and four-year-olds holding hands as they run outside the Red Bank Middle School this week. Below, kids lined up for the start of playtime. (Click to enlarge)

By JUDY DeHAVEN

March 12 is double-decision day for Red Bank’s schools.

That’s the borough district and others learn just how much state money is coming their way, and thus, whether they can count on taxes going up, down or sideways.

But it’s also the day that borough Superintendent Laura Morana expects to hear whether she can move ahead with plans to expand Red Banks full-day preschool program.

A program for 3-year-olds started in September with one class of 15 children. Because of space constraints at the primary school, the preschool class is housed in the middle school.

If aid for the program expansion is approved, there will be room for four classes of 3-year-olds for a total of 60 students in the fall, Morana says.

February 27, 2009 - 2:32 pm | Comments ()

SPA WORKERS GIVE FRIEND THE TREATMENT

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By JUDY DeHAVEN

Specials are common at the Milagro Spa, but most feature an exotic indulgence: ‘aromatic sugar scrubs,’ ‘stonecrop body wraps’ and ‘facial tea tree oil waxings,’ to name a few.

An event scheduled for Monday, March 2, is special for an entirely different reason: workers at Milagro will be donating everything they earn from 4p to 9p tips included to a co-worker in need.

The proceeds will go to Tracy Loessel, a Milagro nail technician and single mother of two who was recently diagnosed with stage 4 blood and bone cancer.

“Every single penny is going to her,” says Danielle DeFalco, a Milagro customer service representative who is helping to organize the event. “Five hours of time is the least we can do.”

The special event, called “Triumph for Tracy,” will also include auctions of a variety of prizes, from singing and art lessons to a bicycle and tickets to a Broadway play.

February 27, 2009 - 10:05 am | Comments ()

MORANA AIMS FOR NO-INCREASE BUDGET

The spending plan funds a primary and and a middle school, and kicks in support for the Red Bank Charter School.

By JUDY DeHAVEN

Though the final funding amounts are not yet in from the state, Red Bank Schools Superintendent Laura Morana says she’s hopeful she can deliver a budget that contains no tax increase.

“The goal is always not to have an increase in the tax levy,” Morana said during a monthly meeting with the local media last week. “Hopefully we will be able to reach that goal.”

Last years $15.82 million spending plan included a penny increase per $100 of assessed property value about $40 more for the owner of a home assessed at the borough-average $406,627.

The tax levy has increased for each of the last four school years.

February 23, 2009 - 7:25 am | Comments ()

HOV’S STORM-RELATED SHRINKAGE

Having “hit kind of a wall” in 2006, Red Bank-based Hovnanian Enterprises is being cautious about 2007, a company executive says in an interview in today’s Star-Ledger.

J. Larry Sorsby, HOV’s chief financial officer, tells the Ledger’s Judy DeHaven that the company is “not trying to grow through a downturn.

“We’re making the right steps to shrink in a downturn, in terms of our balance sheet, making sure we have the right capital structure in place and the balance sheet to weather the storm.”

February 6, 2007 - 7:21 am | Comments ()

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Search Results for: "Judy DeHaven"

RED BANK: CHARTER AID BOOST SLAMMED

RED BANK: CHARTER DATA RELEASE ORDERED

RED BANK: PLAN TESTED DISTRICT’S METTLE

RED BANK: PANEL BLASTS ‘SEGREGATION’

RED BANK: CHARTER PANEL TO HOLD HEARING

RED BANK: MARCHERS REJECT CHARTER PLAN

RED BANK: CHARTER PLAN SPARKS PUSHBACK

RED BANK: BOE MEMBER SLAMS TAX NOTICE

DECISION ON CLASSES FOR TOTS AWAITED

SPA WORKERS GIVE FRIEND THE TREATMENT

MORANA AIMS FOR NO-INCREASE BUDGET

HOV’S STORM-RELATED SHRINKAGE