Retiring Chief Looks Back On His Career Police Chief Forrester Sworn In To Serve Brick

(Retiring - See Page 5)

Lay-Offs Possible As Schools Lose More Funding

By Alyssa Riccardi

BRICK – As the Brick Township School District continues to work out a budget for the 2023-24 school year,

Superintendent Dr. Thomas Farrell gave a disheartening update on the process.

“Our budget process over the last few years has been a little dire since the cut in S-2. As I stated last month, the district is in the process of finalizing the budget from the 2023-24 school year,” Farrell said. “As we plan the budget for 2023-24, we have an additional loss of state aid once again under S-2. This loss of state aid in cumulative, so now our total loss is over $22 million. This reduction has multiyear impacts on Brick Schools.”

The S-2 funding formula is a state change (Funding - See Page 4)

By Judy Smestad-Nunn

BRICK - David Forrester was named as the new Chief of Police for the township, the fourth in the history of the Brick Township Police Department.

During a brief ceremony held on February 1 at the municipal complex, Mayor John G. Ducey administered the swearing-in of the new chief as well as a new captain, a new lieutenant and a new sergeant.

The mayor said that the township police department is one of the top departments in the state. He said once he was elected and had the opportunity to work closely with the police department and see what they do every day he developed a greater grasp on how demanding the job is and how hard the officers work.

“Our officers are (Sworn - See Page 8)

Funding

: Continued From Page 1 that began several years ago. Every district receives aid, but the state started to redirect money away from districts that have seen decreasing enrollment and other factors. The exact formula has never been made public.

At the recent Board of Education meeting, Farrell made a lengthy statement explaining how the district is dealing with a decrease in state aid due to reductions under the S-2 bill. The district has been faced with a series of cuts in previous years and with the cycle continuing, he said the district anticipates a loss of positions once again.

However, Farrell hopes that retirements and attrition will play an integral part in minimizing job loss.

“Unfortunately, as was the case a few years ago, this process will most likely result in the transfer of staff, some non-renewal of staff and possibly a reduction in force. We would notify non-tenures of non-renewals and then staff transfers would be announced once after we resolved all the staffing moves based on certification and seniority for the budget,” Farrell said. “S-2 has deeply impacted our already underfunded district. Please know that with every cut made we’re doing our best to minimize the impact on our students and our staff. We’re grateful for all of our staff contributions and appreciate their understanding and patience as we move through this difficult process. During these tough times I assure you we are looking at all avenues that are in the best interest of our students and their educational program.”

Farrell further explained how the rising inflation has also impacted the district with costs increasing exponentially and revenue sources reducing. The district is contending with higher costs for classroom materials, transportation, gas and fuel, electricity, food, salaries and benefits.

“Employees are feeling the pinch due to the cost-of-living increase and not surprisingly, collective bargaining agreements and contract salary increase rates have rose as well across the state. In this school year right now, the average we received from school boards was an averaged increased salary negotiations of 3.3% and rising. With districts having difficulties filling openings, Boards of Education do not have much leverage to cut back. In fact, many districts are losing tenured teachers to go to other districts offering higher salaries,” Farrell added.

Over the last year, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) has increased to 7.1%. Farrell said school districts like Brick are still under the 2% tax levy cap that was instituted in 2010 when the inflation rate was 1.5% at that time.

“This is the perfect storm unfortunately, as I’ve said, and we need the state’s help. There’s a paradox with the state New Jersey school funding formula that it doesn’t provide relief nor afford a mechanism for districts such as Brick that are way under adequacy and have state aid reduced substantially, 49%.” Farrell said. “The time is now for Brick to advocate for our very efficient yet effective school district. We cannot allow Trenton’s insouciance to continue will us anymore and ignore us.”

Retiring: Continued From Page 1

Chief Riccio’s entire police career took place in Brick. He rose through the ranks and became a detective, and then as a sergeant oversaw the drug enforcement unit. In 2001 he was promoted to lieutenant and in 2004 he was moved into internal affairs, and was asked to work with an FBI task force to investigate corruption committed by public officials across New Jersey. In 2007 he was promoted to captain and in 2011, deputy chief.

Asked what he is going to miss the most as police chief, without hesitation he said, “The guys…the one thing in law enforcement, you make a lot of friendships, and they’re usually lifelong friendships.”

Asked what he was going to miss the least, Chief Riccio said the 24/7 job can be stressful, having to respond to constant phone calls and emails. “That I won’t miss,” he said.

He said the atmosphere of policing has changed since he started in 1986.

Asked about police reform, the chief said that in Brick, and in New Jersey, the police are very well-regulated.

“A lot of the things that came out over the past few years, in regard to police training and so forth, the rules and regulations, we have already been doing my whole career,” he said.

In New Jersey, police receive Use of Force training twice a year. Choke holds have always been banned here, Chief Riccio added.

“I think what other law enforcement departments around the country should do, would be to follow New Jersey’s lead in training and regulation,” he said. “There’s always room for improvement, obviously, but I think New Jersey has been in the forefront of doing it right.”

The biggest challenge and difficulty facing law enforcement right now is finding people who are interested in becoming police officers, the chief said.

“People that we would never normally consider are applying, and we’re meeting some resistance with the state, who are trying to force us to hire people that we would have never hired,” he said. “My fear is that if we start to lower our standards we’ll start to see here what we’re seeing in other parts of the country.”

Chief Riccio says he is grateful for the support of the mayor, council and business administrator, who has supported the police department “110 percent…I always have to justify our [budget] needs [but] they’ve never once thought of the phrase ‘Defund the Police,’ so we’re very fortunate here in Brick.”

He said the Brick community is very supportive of the police department.

“One of my priorities was always to emphasize that - we have a very proactive community policing division,” said. “I’m probably most proud of all our community policing initiatives when we can interact with the community in a positive way.

“The police department is only as good as the relationship it has with its community, and that’s one thing I think we were able to accomplish here,” he said.

David Forrester was named as the new police chief, and was sworn in on February 1. Asked if he had any parting advice for his successor, Chief Riccio said they talked about how important the relationship with the community is.

“I think he knows that because he was part of the command staff, he’s not brand new to this,” Riccio said.

“I don’t know that I would stay totally retired. We’ll see what opportunities present themselves,” he said.

He and his wife, Joy, have four children and seven grandchildren who all live in the area. “We plan to do a lot more with our grandkids,” he said. “They keep us pretty busy.”