LITTLE SILVER: RBR ROOF FIRE EXTINGUISHED
Little Silver volunteer firefighters quickly extinguished a fire on the roof of Red Bank Regional High School late Saturday afternoon.
LITTLE SILVER: RBR DIGS IN FOR EXPANSION
Construction fences, heavy machinery and plywood-covered windows have appeared on the campus of Red Bank Regional High School in Little Silver in recent weeks.
What’s Going On Here? Read on…
RED BANK: SCHOOL REFERENDUM PASSES
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.
RED BANK: REFERENDUM Q&A SCHEDULED
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.
RED BANK: $6.75M REFERENDUM PLANNED
Red Bank Primary School, with a newly completed fire access road at left, would get a new roof if the November 5 measure passes. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A referendum on $6.75 million worth of school improvements will be on the ballot for Red Bank voters in November, under a plan approved by the board of education Tuesday night.
The project won’t increase property tax bills, officials said.
RED BANK REGIONAL: REFERENDUM PASSES
Referendum supporters cheer the results at the RBR board of ed office Tuesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Voters in three towns gave overwhelming support Tuesday to a referendum on $17.3 million worth of capital improvements to Red Bank Regional High School.
RED BANK REGIONAL: $17.3M PLAN ON BALLOT
The referendum includes $2.3 million for the installation of artificial turf and other improvements at the RBR football field. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Voters in Little Silver, Red Bank and Shrewsbury will decide a referendum on $17.3 million worth of capital improvements to Red Bank Regional High School Tuesday.
RBR: REFERENDUM INFO PUSH LAUNCHED
Red Bank Regional would get 10 new classrooms, a new roof, a turf field and other upgrades under the $17.3 million proposal. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank Regional High board of ed kicked off an information campaign Wednesday night with a dire message: if a proposed $17.3 million capital plan fails at the ballot box in December, taxpayers in three towns may be in for a tax shock. More →
RBR, LOCAL DISTRICT TO HOST FORUMS
Red Bank Regional needs a new roof and more classroom space, officials say. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank Regional High and the Red Bank school district each plan to host future-oriented public information sessions in coming days.
For RBR, the focus is a $17.9 million capital plan up for approval by voters in the sending towns of Red Bank, Little Silver and Shrewsbury.
For Red Bank, it’s about a strategic plan to make the two-school district “best in America.”
RED BANK REGIONAL: $17.9M PLAN ON BALLOT
Frank Neary, who heads RBR’s finance committee, addressing the audience at the council meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
Voters in Red Bank, Little Silver and Shrewsbury are scheduled to decide the fate of a $17.9 million capital plan for their shared high school later this year.
On Wednesday night, two Red Bank Regional High officials told an audience at the borough council meeting that a December 11 referendum is, in part, critical to maintaining a cash cow: tuition paid by non-district students.
RED BANK: STATE UPHOLDS CHARTER RENEWAL
The charter school’s main building, on Oakland Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank Charter School does not engage in “segregative” enrollment practices, the New Jersey Department of Education ruled last week in upholding the school’s latest five-year operating charter.
In letter dated April 16 to the charter school, Acting Education Commissioner Lamont Repollet rejected assertions of bias by Fair Schools Red Bank and the Latino Coalition of New Jersey, and found instead that the charter school “is seeking, ‘to the maximum extent practicable,’ to enroll a cross-section of Red Bank Borough’s school-age population.”
RED BANK: BASIE TO AIR DINIZIO TRIBUTE
A sold-out concert in memory of late Smithereens singer and songwriter Pat DiNizio will be livestreamed from the Count Basie Theatre Saturday, the Red Bank venue announced Tuesday.
RED BANK: SMITHEREENS SHOW TO GO ON
The Count Basie Theatre will go ahead with a planned January 13 concert despite the death last week of Smithereens lead singer Pat DiNizio, the Red Bank venue announced Monday.
RED BANK: SMITHEREENS SINGER DIES
Two days after the Count Basie Theatre announced that the Red Bank venue would unveil a new ‘club’ format with a January 13 concert by the Smithereens, the band’s lead singer has died, according to a Tuesday post on the band’s website.
RED BANK: BASIE STARTS MASSIVE EXPANSION
Dozens of local politicians and players in the arts world turned out for the event. Below, Basie board members Steven Van Zandt and his wife, Maureen Van Zandt. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
A $23 million expansion of Red Bank’s Count Basie Theatre formally got underway Wednesday, beginning what’s expected to be a 20-month endeavor to turn the Vaudeville-era venue into a powerhouse for live performance and arts education.
The aim, musician and actor Steven Van Zandt told an al fresco gathering, is “to make Red Bank an example to the rest of the county of what it is possible to do” in elevating the arts.
RED BANK: INKY PROBES SEGREGATION CLAIMS
The Red Bank Charter School on Oakland Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Is the Red bank school district segregated? And if so, is the Red Bank Charter School at fault?
An article published Thursday on philly.com, the online version of the Philadelphia Inquirer, probes that question, and whether others among New Jersey’s 88 charter schools are also segregated.
RED BANK: CHARTER SCHOOL WINS GYM OK
A rendering of the proposed charter school gym, which wouldn’t have room for bleachers, an architect said. (Rendering by Erick Wagner. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank Charter School won approval Thursday night to create a gym in part of a commercial building it plans to buy on Monmouth Street.
In the process, the zoning board hearing on the plan re-exposed some long-simmering resentments harbored by parents who contend the charter school’s existence is a drain on the local school district.
RED BANK: CHARTER, RAYRAP ON AGENDA
A view of 135-137 Monmouth Street as seen through windows at the Red Bank Charter School, its prospective next owner. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank zoning board this week takes up two projects that have generated heat in the past, one involving the Red Bank Charter School and the other a townhouse plan by builder Ray Rapcavage.
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.
RED BANK: CHARTER SCHOOL TO BUY BUILDING
The building, in which the charter school now rents space, has several commercial tenants, and another slated to take the retail space formerly leased by Prown’s Home Improvements. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank Charter School plans to buy a commercial building that adjoins its Oakland Street home under a plan approved by the school’s board of trustees Tuesday night.
RED BANK: THEATER ADDITION APPROVED
A rendering of the proposed addition to the left of the existing theater and fly tower at center, as seen from the northeast. (Rendering by Kaplan Gaunt Desantis Architects. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
Red Bank’s Two River Theater won raves from neighbors, and zoning board approval, Thursday night for a plan to expand its non-performance space.
But West Street residents pressed for, and failed to obtain, changes to aspects of the plan that they worry will direct more traffic onto their block, some of it from motorists using the theater lot simply to avoid street traffic.
RED BANK: BIG GUNS FILE CHARTER APPEAL
By JOHN T. WARD
As signaled last month, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Jersey has gone to court with two other organizations hoping to pull the plug on the Red Bank Charter School.
For the second time this century, it’s also brought in a marquee-name civil rights lawyer to help in the effort.
RED BANK: TWO RIVER PLANS ADDITION
A rendering of the proposed addition to the left of the existing theater and tower above, as seen from the northeast. (Rendering by Kaplan Gaunt Desantis Architects. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The backstage area of Red Bank’s Two River Theater is about to get bigger, if a plan in the works gets a green light from borough officials.
Scheduled for consideration by the zoning board next week, the plan calls for the construction of an architecturally bold addition to the existing theater for rehearsal spaces, costume-making and the building of props and scenery, according to documents on file.
RED BANK: ACLU ENTERS CHARTER BATTLE
CPA Scott Landau turns a drum as business administrator Theresa Shirley looks on during the charter school enrollment lottery last April. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The American Civil Liberties Union has joined two other organizations already waging war on the Red Bank Charter School‘s existence.
The ACLU of New Jesey said Thursday that, along with Fair Schools Red Bank and the Latino Coalition of New Jersey , it would appeal the state Department of Education’s decision earlier this week to allow the 19-year-old school to operate for at least another five years.
RED BANK: CHARTER WINS FIVE MORE YEARS
The Red Bank Charter School campus on Oakland Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)
By JOHN T. WARD
The Red Bank Charter School is good to go for at least another five years, following an extension of its operating charter announced Wednesday night.
The generally expected renewal comes amid an upswell of tension over the school’s existence, in the form of a pending claim of segregation.