The budget includes funding for a counselor to help stressed students, Rumage said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Federal and state grants to offset pandemic-related expenses helped keep the Red Bank school district tax increase at two percent for the second year in a row, Superintendent Jared Rumage said Tuesday night.
Councilwoman Kathy Horgan with Ziad Shehady, right, and schools Superintendent Jared Rumage in May, 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Former Red Bank business administrator Ziad Shehady and Councilwoman Kathy Horgan are scheduled to address the Charter Study Commission Tuesday night.
The school’s campus includes buildings on Oakland Street, above, and Monmouth Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
See UPDATE below
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank Charter School has won state authorization to operate for another five years, Head of School Kristen Martello announced Wednesday.
The widely expected extension was granted by the New Jersey Department of Education over the objection of borough school district’s board, which was joined by the town council in its request that the school be closed.
Students at Red Bank’s primary and middle schools will pivot to remote learning Friday, but not because of the storm that left nearly three inches of the snow by early morning.
Those in two other districts are free to play in the snow, however, as the storm added another variable to pandemic-scrambled district schedules.
Domenic Kalorin, left, was elected board president, succeeding Fred Stone, right. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
With “a huge chunk” of their staff out on pandemic-related absences, Red Bank’s public schools mustered once again to provide instruction Tuesday, Superintendent Jared Rumage said that night.
Students and staff at Red Bank Regional are scheduled begin 2022 in remote mode Tuesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank borough schools will be open Tuesday, but the regional high school in Little Silver will go remote as shifting approaches to a surging COVID-19 virus arrived with the new year.
The trend in lab-confirmed COVID-19 cases for three towns since November 1. (redbankgreen chart from Monmouth County data. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Sharp increases in COVID-19 cases scrambled schedules for some Red Bank-area schools as they emerged from their year-end 2021 breaks Monday.
Here’s a rundown.
The New Jersey Department of Education will decide whether the Red Bank Charter School can operate for five more years. (redbankgreen photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
After nearly three hours of passionate and divided public input, the Red Bank council unanimously supported a resolution calling for a non-renewal of the Red Bank Charter School Tuesday night.
Superintendent Jared Rumage at the borough middle school in May, 2019. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank schools Superintendent Jared Rumage called on the borough council Wednesday to aid the district in a bid to shut down the Red Bank Charter School, whose authority to operate is up for renewal.
In a direct challenge that echoed rhetoric from a bitter battle leading up to the school’s charter renewal in 2017, Rumage called for a “unified” borough educational system and the elimination of an institution that he said has fostered segregation for its entire 23-year existence.
“It’s a travesty that we have tolerated school segregation for so long in Red Bank,” Rumage told the council via Zoom during its workshop session.
Alyssa Geary, below, teaches at the Red Bank Middle School. (Click to enlarge.)
On August 25, the New Jersey Department of Education announced 21 educators as the 2021-2022 County Teachers of the Year during a virtual awards ceremony.
Among them: Red Bank Middle School teacher Alyssa Geary, who garnered the honor for Monmouth County.
Red Bank Schools Superintendent Jared Rumage helps unload coats donated in 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
Press release from Red Bank-based Knights of Columbus council #525
In 2017 our Council kicked off the first ever ‘Coats for Kids’ program in the Red Bank area. In our fifth year of the program program we have provided hundreds of kids across the community who do not have the means to purchase a new or appropriate jacket for the harsh winter weather we experience.
The Red Bank Borough Public Schools are a proud participant of the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) Governor’s Educator of the Year Program. Each year, the NJDOE recognizes Teachers and Educational Services Professionals throughout the State as part of the Governor’s Educator of the Year Program.
Charlie Hoffmann with parks attendant Celestine Woods at Riverside Gardens Park in 2018. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Charlie Hoffmann, who has directed Red Bank’s parks and recreation department for the past five years, is leaving town.
The announcement of his departure at the council’s semimonthly meeting Wednesday sparked a “pile-on” of praise for Hoffmann’s work, which included organizing everything from sports and cultural offerings to this weekend’s Spring Egg Hunt.
All Red Bank Primary School students, and some in the middle school, will revert to remote instruction Thursday, Superintendent Jared Rumage said in an announcement Wednesday.
He cited a number of COVID-19-related factors as driving the change.
The construction fence surrounding an addition at Red Bank Regional High School has come down, in time for a resumption of a hybrid schedule that will bring students back to the Little Silver campus starting Monday, Superintendent Lou Moore announced Thursday.
But in Red Bank borough, RBR’s largest sending district, the primary and middle schools will remain off-limits to students and staff for another month due to the resurgent COVID-19 pandemic, Superintendent Jared Rumage said.
Red Bank schools, including the middle school, continued on all-remote learning Monday after a planned return to a hybrid schedule was postponed. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Governor Phil Murphy warned of a delayed post-Thanksgiving COVID-19 surge Monday, while cautioning New Jersey residents against gathering over the coming holiday season.
Red Bank Regional students won’t be back on the Little Silver campus for classes before November 30 at the soonest. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Regional High will stick with all-remote schooling through Thanksgiving because of rapidly spreading COVID-19, Superintendent Lou Moore said in an announcement Wednesday evening.
Separately, a plan to resume a ‘hybrid’ of in-school and at-home instruction for Red Bank’s primary and middle school students as soon as Thursday has been scrapped because of the resurging virus.
Red Bank borough’s two public schools would immediately switch to all-remote instruction Friday in response to “several positive cases of COVID-19 across the district,” Superintendent Jared Rumage wrote in an announcement Thursday night.
A student being screened for elevated temperature on September 14. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[CORRECTION: Red Bank’s action was prompted by a positive test of an adult, not a student, Rumage said.]
By JOHN T. WARD
One person each at the middle schools in Fair Haven and Red Bank have tested positive for COVID-19, the respective district superintendents reported over the weekend.
Red Bank teachers Carol Boehm, left, and Kristen Maiello with nurse Cathy Reardon, right. (Photo by Red Bank Borough Schools. Click to enlarge.)
In March of 2020, we were preparing to celebrate several incredible educators but the health pandemic and ensuing school closure forced us to hit the pause button. Of course, late is better than never and these educators deserve to be recognized for the outstanding work they do for our students. Each exemplifies the “Red Bank Borough is Best in America” (#RBBisBIA) mindset, which is deeply rooted in our school district’s culture. We strive to be the Best In America so we can be certain we are the Best for Red Bank. Moreover, we all know an organization is only as strong as its people. Luckily, here in Red Bank we have some distinguished exemplars.
Day one of the new school year at Red Bank Middle School began with several lessons before students even reached their classrooms Monday.
Among them: stand six feet apart while waiting your turn to enter the building. Then, stand on the red dot while a touchless scanner takes your temperature.
With in-person instruction at 50-percent capacity, four days a week, “we feel confident we can provide a safe environment” in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, Superintendent Jared Rumage said at a board of ed meeting last month. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
The traffic flow at the middle school will be reversed to enhance social distancing during student drop-off and pick-up, Rumage said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
While some 180 school districts throughout New Jersey are pursuing plans for all-virtual instruction, Red Bank’s is on track to open September 14 under a plan that puts students into classrooms two days a week, Superintendent Jared Rumage said Tuesday.
Students would receive in-school instruction just two days a week under the plan unveiled Wednesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank school officials have begun nailing down a COVID-19-era reopening plan while “standing on shifting ground,” in the words of a board of education member.
On Wednesday, the district unveiled “the most likely scenario for September” in the form of a plan that calls for a mix of classroom and at-home learning.
Outdoor commencement ceremonies, like this Red Bank Charter School graduation in 2016, will be permitted, Murphy said. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
[See UPDATES below]
By JOHN T. WARD
Graduation ceremonies can resume starting July 6, Governor Phil Murphy announced in another easing of COVID-19 restrictions Tuesday.
The change follows a three-day weekend in which key measures of the pandemic showed continued improvement over the Memorial Day weekend.
Red Bank’s schools have been closed since March 16. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Are Red Bank’s schools going to reopen April 20?
A district posting Thursday afternoon appeared to suggest they might, just an hour or so after Governor Phil Murphy threw cold water on talk that an end to his indefinite school shutdown order might be in sight.