RED BANK: RUMAGE TEES UP CHARTER FIGHT

Nov 4, 2021

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.

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November 4, 2021 - 7:57 am |

RED BANK: RUMAGE REFLECTS ON FIVE YEARS

Sep 6, 2019

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.

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September 6, 2019 - 2:00 pm |

RED BANK: RUMAGE REFUTES CHARTER DATA

Feb 25, 2016

Superintendent Jared Rumage speaking at the middle school in January. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank borough schools Superintendent Jared Rumage calls data in a recent mailing to borough residents by the Red Bank Charter School “fiction.”

The flyer, which purports to show that the charter school’s impact on local taxes is light and getting lighter, also includes figures that “are different from those previously shared by the Charter School when making the same argument,” Rumage wrote in a letter posted on the borough schools website Monday.

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February 25, 2016 - 10:22 am |

RED BANK: REFERENDUM Q&A SCHEDULED

Aug 28, 2019

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. 

 

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August 28, 2019 - 8:00 am |

RED BANK: DISTRICT TEACHERS HONORED

Jan 3, 2023

Press release from Red Bank Borough Schools Superintendent Jared Rumage

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 and honors educators based on the following criteria.

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January 3, 2023 - 6:30 am |

RED BANK: EX-COP TO BECOME SCHOOL SRO

Dec 19, 2022

Joey Fields at a ceremony marking his promotion to police sergeant in 2014. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

A retired Red Bank police officer who’s a product of borough schools will be returning to work as a school resource officer, following action by the council last week.

In other RBPD news, the ranks of retired officers is slated to grow by two.

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December 19, 2022 - 2:00 pm |

RED BANK: MENNA ERA ENDS

Dec 15, 2022

Mayor Pasquale Menna reading ridiculously low room rates from an old Molly Pitcher Inn matchbook. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Mayor Pasquale Menna presided over his final Red Bank council meeting Wednesday night, closing out a political career unmatched for duration in borough history.

His successor will have to wait an extra four days to take up the reins of a form of government that’s also slated for retirement.

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December 15, 2022 - 7:45 am |

RED BANK: FOR 1,261, IT’S BACK TO SCHOOL

Sep 7, 2022

Teachers and staff welcomed students to the Red Bank Middle School with a clap-in on the first day of the 2022-2023 school year. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank Superintendent Jared Rumage is not a fan of summer.

“I hate empty school buildings,” he said outside the middle school Tuesday, as the two-school district welcomed 1,261 students for a new academic year. “They should be like this, filled with kids.”

In an email exchange with redbankgreen last week, Rumage, now in his 10th year at the district’s helm, provided an overview of some key issues.

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September 7, 2022 - 6:00 am |

RED BANK: CHARTER ‘CULTURE’ IN SPOTLIGHT

Aug 24, 2022

Head of School Kristen Martello, center, at the charter school trustees’ meeting Tuesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Parents of Red Bank Charter School students pressed for what they contend is an overdue return to a pre-pandemic “culture” Tuesday night.

At the school’s monthly board of trustees meeting, they complained of diminished engagement with parents, canceled events and other changes.

Teachers and staffers, however, defended the leadership of head of school Kristen Martello in the face of unprecedented challenges prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

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August 24, 2022 - 10:40 am |

RED BANK: SCHOOL COPS ON HOLD

Jul 28, 2022

Councilman Michael Ballard, seen here at a June 29 forum, cited . (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

The Red Bank council tabled a plan to put armed police in the borough’s primary and middle schools Wednesday night.

The council’s second session of the month ended with quarreling among members over a requested change to the meeting schedule.

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July 28, 2022 - 7:55 am |

RED BANK: SCHOOL COPS ON AGENDA

Jul 27, 2022

The middle school, above, and primary school would each have a school resource officer onsite when in session, said Chief Darren McConnell. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Action that would put a police officer in Red Bank’s primary and middle schools is up for approval by the borough council Wednesday night.

Here ‘s the agenda at a glance:

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July 27, 2022 - 7:50 am |

RED BANK: RESOURCE OFFICERS PLANNED

Jun 7, 2022

Red Bank police Chief Darren McConnell during Monday’s online forum. (Screengrab from Zoom. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank schools plan to implement a school resource officer program in the borough’s public schools, police Chief Darren McConnell said Monday.

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June 7, 2022 - 7:58 am |

RED BANK: DISTRICT TAX UP TWO PERCENT

Apr 27, 2022

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.

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April 27, 2022 - 7:35 am |

RED BANK: SHEHADY, HORGAN ON AGENDA

Feb 15, 2022

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.

 

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February 15, 2022 - 7:20 am |

RED BANK: CHARTER SCHOOL WINS EXTENSION

Feb 2, 2022

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.

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February 2, 2022 - 11:20 am |

RED BANK: SNOW DAY? YES… FOR SOME

Jan 7, 2022

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.

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January 7, 2022 - 6:15 am |

RED BANK: SCHOOLS MUSTER FOR RESTART

Jan 5, 2022

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.

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January 5, 2022 - 7:40 am |

VIRUS UPDATE: RBR ON REMOTE, BOROUGH NOT

Jan 4, 2022

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.

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January 4, 2022 - 7:30 am |

VIRUS UPDATE: SCHOOLS SCRAMBLE AGAIN

Jan 3, 2022

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.

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January 3, 2022 - 6:15 am |

RED BANK: COUNCIL ‘NO’ TO CHARTER SCHOOL

Nov 24, 2021

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.

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November 24, 2021 - 7:58 am |

RED BANK: TEACHER NAMED COUNTY’S BEST

Aug 30, 2021

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.

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August 30, 2021 - 5:00 pm |

RED BANK: COAT DRIVE FACES BIG DEMAND

Jul 16, 2021

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.

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July 16, 2021 - 10:30 am |

RED BANK: TEACHERS & PROS HONORED

Jun 2, 2021

[Press release from Red Bank Borough Schools Superintendent Jared Rumage]

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.

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June 2, 2021 - 11:30 am |

RED BANK: HOFFMANN LEAVING REC JOB

Mar 25, 2021

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.

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March 25, 2021 - 1:00 pm |

RED BANK: PRIMARY SCHOOL BACK TO REMOTE

Jan 21, 2021

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.

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January 21, 2021 - 6:08 am |