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.)
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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.
A program of free breakfasts and lunches for Red Bank students got underway Monday, along with school closures and other efforts to limit transmission of the COVID-19 virus.
Red Bank schools plan to roll out a “home learning” program in lieu of classroom time. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Ending short-lived holdouts, Red Bank’s district and charter schools will be closed Monday as they join the widespread shift to online instruction prompted by the global COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.
Red Bank’s schools provide multiple services to their families and “cannot be compared to neighboring towns,” said Superintendent Jared Rumage. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
While Little Silver and Shrewsbury schools quickly abandoned a joint local plan to remain open in the face of the global COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic, Red Bank’s will be open Friday, said Superintendent Jared Rumage.
But the pre-kindergarten-thru-8th-grade district intends to send students home early while administrators await “an official directive” on attendance from Trenton, he said.
By JOHN T. WARD
Reportedly prompted by “parent response,” Little Silver closed its two schools Thursday, just a day after announcing it would remain open along with those in the other sending districts for Red Bank Regional High.
By JOHN T. WARD
A quiet final session of 2019 for the Red Bank council included the creation of a Census committee Wednesday night.
The 2020 Complete Count Committee‘s aim is to maximize resident participation in the federal government’s decennial Census and American Community Survey, said Human Relations Advisory Committee Chairman David Pascale, who will lead the effort.
By a 2 to 1 margin, Red Bank voters approved a $6.75 million building-repair referendum on Tuesday’s ballot, according to the Monmouth County Clerk’s website.
Superintendent Jared Rumage wished middle schoolers a nice holiday weekend on the Friday before Memorial Day in May. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s school district still faces stiff financial challenges, but is “without question” in all-around better shape than it was when he arrived five years ago, says Superintendent Jared Rumage.
And as he did at a presentation last week, Rumage is hoping to leverage the narrative of that improvement to win voter approval of a $6.75 million referendum in November.
Red Bank voters, faced with a $6.75 million ballot question in November, will get their first chance to grill Superintendent Jared Rumage on the issue Thursday night.
New RBR Principal Julius Clark in downtown Red Bank last month. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Many students at Red Bank Regional High School will recognize the new principal when they arrive at the Little Silver institution next month.
Completing a loop of sorts, Julius Clark returns to the area where he worked for 13 before departing for what turned out to be a one-year stay at a district in Mercer County.