VIRUS UPDATE: NEW JERSEY TOLL SOARS

Charts used by the Murphy administration Monday show the surge in cases with no social distancing, left, and partial compliance, right. (Graphs by NJ.gov. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

redbankgreen hot topic New Jersey’s daily death toll and COVID-19 caseload had soared since Sunday, Governor Phil Murphy reported Monday.

With 37 more fatalities and 3,347 more patients testing positive for the coronavirus, Murphy continued to hammer home his message that residents need to “stay home” until the crisis eases.

March 30, 2020 - 3:15 pm | Comments ()

VIRUS UPDATE: DEATH TOLL EASES

By JOHN T. WARD

redbankgreen hot topic After a weeklong climb, New Jersey’s daily death toll from the COVID-19 virus eased Saturday, Governor Phil Murphy’s administration reported Sunday.

At the same time, more than 2,300 state residents tested positive for the virus. Read More »

March 29, 2020 - 3:55 pm | Comments ()

VIRUS UPDATE: ILLNESS, DEATH COUNTS SOAR

Normally bustling, downtown Red Bank was people-free and quiet at 9 p.m. Friday under the governor’s week-old “stay-home” order. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

redbankgreen hot topic Thirty-two more New Jersey residents died as the the COVID-19 contagion tightened its grip on the state, Governor Phil Murphy said Saturday.

With the state’s death toll now at 140, the pandemic “is a pass/fail test,” Murphy said at his daily pandemic briefing on the crisis. “This is life or death.”

March 28, 2020 - 1:50 pm | Comments ()

VIRUS UPDATE: DEATH TOLL RISES TO 108

[See UPDATE below]

By JOHN T. WARD

redbankgreen hot topic New Jersey’s death toll the in the COVID-19 pandemic crossed into the triple digits as families lost 27 more loved ones, Governor Phil Murphy said in his daily briefing Friday.

March 27, 2020 - 2:55 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: IS SCHOOL REOPENING IN SIGHT?

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.

March 26, 2020 - 4:35 pm | Comments ()

VIRUS UPDATE: PANDEMIC TOLL CLIMBS

With blood supplies running low because of the pandemic’s impact on regular drives, about 50 people made appointments for well-spaced donations at Red Bank’s YMCA Thursday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

[See UPDATE below]

By JOHN T. WARD

redbankgreen hot topic COVID-19 continued to ravage New Jersey, with 19 more deaths from the global pandemic reported Thursday.

The number of state residents who have tested positive for the coronavirus soared to 6,876, an increase of 2,492 from Wednesday, Governor Phil Murphy said in his daily briefing.

March 26, 2020 - 3:00 pm | Comments ()

VIRUS UPDATE: COVID-19 DEATHS UP AGAIN

[See UPDATE below]

By JOHN T. WARD

redbankgreen hot topic With the deaths of 17 more New Jersey residents over 24 hours, Governor Phil Murphy “can now give you 44 reasons” in support of unprecedented and wide-ranging restrictions he’s imposed in the face of the COVID-19 crisis, he said Tuesday.

That was the highest single-day statewide tally of fatalities in the global coronavirus pandemic, he said.

March 24, 2020 - 3:05 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: FIRINGS ANGER CHARTER PARENTS

Alison Weiler and Nicole Navarrete, center, speak with well-wishers Tuesday night. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank Charter School parents packed a board meeting Tuesday night to protest the firings of two teachers who briefly left a sleeping child behind during a fire drill earlier this month.

February 19, 2020 - 8:00 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: VOTERS APPROVE SCHOOLS PLAN

An addition to the Sickles School will create room for all-day kindergarten. (Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Fair Haven voters overwhelmingly approved a $15.6 million plan to create classrooms and improve security at the borough’s two schools in a special election Tuesday.

September 24, 2019 - 8:46 pm | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: VOTERS TO DECIDE $15.6M PLAN

Architectural renderings of the proposed additions to the Knollwood School (above) and Sickles School. (Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Fair Haven residents are scheduled to vote Tuesday on a $15.6 million plan to create classrooms and improve security at the borough’s two schools.

But first, they’ve got to go to the right polling station.

September 24, 2019 - 6:20 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: RUMAGE REFLECTS ON FIVE YEARS

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

hot topic red bank nj 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.

September 6, 2019 - 2:00 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: SCHOOLS AMONG ‘MOST IMPROVED”

Red Bank’s pre-K-8 school district was among 11 from across New Jersey honored this week by the state Department of Education as “most improved” in terms of student performance.

August 2, 2019 - 11:00 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: FIREFIGHTERS KEEP FREE Y ACCESS

The Red Bank nonprofit says no families of kids now in a free membership program will be turned away. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj Red Bank’s volunteer firefighters will get to keep their free memberships to the local YMCA, the organization announced Wednesday.

Police will still have to pay, though now at a discount, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit said. But there’s no change to the plan unveiled last week to end across-the-board free memberships for borough schoolchildren.

July 3, 2019 - 12:14 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: MENNA ‘IRATE’ OVER YMCA ACTION

Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna speaking at the the Memorial Day ceremony last month. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

hot topic red bank nj Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna on Thursday blasted a decision by the Community YMCA to end free memberships for borough schoolchildren and emergency first-responders.

Menna went on the offensive after the Y’s “unilateral” action, which he said was made without any advance notice to or discussion with his administration.

June 27, 2019 - 10:45 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: KIDS, RESPONDERS LOSE FREE YMCA

The Red Bank YMCA says affected families can apply for subsidies to replace the free memberships. Below, the letter sent to parents of children in the Healthy Kids program. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Red Bank’s schoolchildren and emergency first-responders will lose their free access to the borough YMCA in September.

The Maple Avenue nonprofit’s executive director, Katie McAdoo, tells redbankgreen the change was driven by its need to be “accountable” to funders.

June 27, 2019 - 5:30 am | Comments ()

FAIR HAVEN: $15.6M SCHOOLS PLAN UNVEILED

New classroom space and other facilities, shown in blue, would be built on a vacant lot adjoining the Sickles School, said Superintendent Sean McNeil, below. (Photos by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

Fair Haven residents would get classrooms to allow for full-day kindergarten as well as improved security under a $15.6 million plan officials unveiled Wednesday.

The typical homeowner would also get a tax increase of as much as $566 per year if a public referendum on the plan passes muster with voters in September.

May 22, 2019 - 12:00 pm | Comments ()

RED BANK: PETER NOBLE DIES

Former Red Bank Board of Education President Peter Noble died Tuesday night. He was 68 years old, said Mayor Pasquale Menna.

“We lost one of the best last night,” Menna said at the council’s semimonthly meeting Wednesday evening.

Read More »

April 11, 2019 - 6:30 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: KNIGHTS DELIVER COATS FOR KIDS

Tom Wieczerzak with two of the 50 coats delivered to the primary school Wednesday. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)

By JOHN T. WARD

red bank, nj, done good, Red Bank Primary School nurse Cathy Reardon sees it every winter year, she said: students in threadbare, hand-me-down coats, sometimes a couple of sizes too small.

Beginning immediately, though, those kids will be getting new winter coats for free, thanks to the efforts of the borough-based Knights of Columbus council #525.

November 1, 2018 - 6:30 am | Comments ()

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.”

April 23, 2018 - 9:25 am | Comments ()

ON THE GREEN: OUTAGES & DELAYED OPENINGS

A storm that dropped several inches of wet, heavy snow on the Greater Red Bank Green Wednesday left dozens of customers without electrical service early Thursday morning, as shown in JCP&L’s outage map above.

March 8, 2018 - 6:19 am | Comments ()

LITTLE SILVER: LAWMAKERS ADDRESS FUNDING

Local residents and school officials, including state Senator Declan O’Scanlon, below, turned out for the event at the Markham Place School. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge)

By JOHN T. WARD

Dozens of taxpayers and school administrators from the Greater Red Bank Green packed a Little Silver auditorium Wednesday night to press legislators for help with education costs.

January 25, 2018 - 8:13 am | Comments ()

RED BANK: CHARTER RESCHEDULES LOTTERY

[UPDATE, January 8, 2018: The enrollment lottery addressed in the announcement below has been rescheduled for 10 a.m., Saturday, February 10, with the application deadline now set at 4 p.m. February 9.]

(Press release from the Red Bank Charter Schoo)

Red Bank Charter School (RBCS), a high-achieving, racially and ethnically integrated, tuition-free preK-8 public school, has announced that the deadline for Red Bank families to submit an application for the 2018-19 school year is 4 p.m. on January 10, 2018.

January 8, 2018 - 11:15 am | Comments ()

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.

August 31, 2017 - 10:15 am | Comments ()

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.

August 4, 2017 - 9:00 am | Comments ()

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.

August 1, 2017 - 10:29 am | Comments ()

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