Council’s New Leader Criticized

By Bob Vosseller

JACKSON – A meeting of about 15 minutes long was enough time for new leadership to step up and for a few political barbs to be tossed between officials and a resident.

New Council President Steve Chisholm took charge of the panel during the latest meeting. He re- places Martin Flemming. Flemming remains a member of the council but said he would be moving from the township and resigning from the council at some point in the future. The entire governing body is Republican, but there is a divide. He ran against Mayor Michael (Council - See Page 13) stable,” Committeeman Dominick Cuozzo said. Mayor Robert Bowen had told The Jackson Times prior to the budget adoption that “our community recently approved a fire district referendum, 4 to 1, to increase the fire district tax by $121 for the average homeowner to provide essential funding our Plumsted EMS service. The committee will do its best to keep any tax increase at a minimum despite inflationary pressures and our continued investments in infrastructure.”

Lennar Issues

Residents of the Lennar development were pleased to hear some progress concerning an issue that has been the subject of controversy for months at Committee meetings. Homeowners there can’t apply for certain senior programs such as ANCHOR and Senior Freeze, due to an agreement between the township and Len- nar. This agreement allows Lennar to make payments to the town instead of paying taxes as the development grows.

Committeeman Grilletto announced, “we have some proposals that may alleviate some of their problems. Some from our financial advisor. We will invite in the next 60 days our professionals to come with people from Lennar and see if we can come up with a plan that we can work out that by December can give some relief to the people of Lennar and at the same time would enable our surplus to help reduce taxes to everybody on the municipal level.”

Road Projects

The mayor also noted an application to the Department of Transportation for grant funds “which basically ranked every single one of our 110 municipal roads by quality going to the bottom and working the way up. Jenson Court and Maria Drive were on that list toward the bottom as our engineer felt they were good candidates for the criteria of the DOT grant program.”

Estimates are also being worked on for repairs to Hodgkins Drive and several other roads. “We are working on the list. We realize a lot of our roads are about the same age and are about to fail all at the same time but we are trying to do each year what our budget will allow us,” Mayor Bowen added.

The mayor explained a resolution the Committee is passing that supports having an Ocean County representative to serve on the NJ Board of Public Utilities. “We do speak on the rate increases and other things that effect the public however this would actually give us as a recommendation from Ocean County, our own representative on the BPU.”

OCC Course Opens The Door To Alternate Route To Teaching

TOMS RIVER – Ocean County College has partnered with Brookdale Community College to provide aspiring teachers with a pathway to K-12 teacher certification, offered through OCC’s Workforce and Professional Education department. Classes begin on July 14 and registration is open now.

Individuals with a bachelor’s degree or higher can take advantage of New Jersey’s Alternate Route to Teaching program to become a licensed teacher without having to complete traditional teacher training. OCC’s “Introduction to Teaching” course is the first step. The course is designed to provide candidates with the skills and strategies needed to become effective teachers, and delivers an overview of all aspects of teaching, including lesson planning, classroom management, child development, school law and ethics, assessments and more. The program is regulated and approved by the New Jersey Department of Education.

The course is composed of 30 hours of classroom instruction and 20 hours of clinical work, which includes classroom observations, substitute teaching, tutoring, and working in an after-school program. Upon completion, candidates receive a Verification of Program Completion and become eligible to move on to the next stage of the licensing process. The upcoming session will meet as follows:

July 14: 5 to 8 p.m.

July 15: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

July 16: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

July 21: 5 to 8 p.m.

July 22: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

July 23: 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.

For more information and to register for the course, visit go.ocean.edu/teach or contact OCC’s Workforce & Professional Development office at 732-255-0409.

Superintendent: Continued From Page 1 applications for consideration.”

“An Ad-Hoc Committee will be formed whose main focus will be to explore and understand the ramifications of a feasibility study as well as district cost,” Potter added. During a May 10 Board of Education meeting Vice Board President Justin Burnett stated that the Plumsted Township Education Association (PTEA) and Plumsted Township Administrators Association (PTAA) would not be directly involved with the Ad Hoc Committee. They have, however, contributed to the process.

Burnett said during last month’s Board meeting, “we are looking for our new superintendent and that has been quite the effort right now. Between the personnel team we have reviewed 35 resumes. We are scheduling interviews which is adding five to seven more hours a week.”

“A big shout out to the personnel committee, the PTA and the PTES because they have been involved and it is very valuable insight when we send them redacted information because we have to keep confidentiality,” he added.

Couple:

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Jackson. They got married in Saint Joseph’s Church in West New York. They have one son, Paul Jr. and they have one granddaughter, Marisa who is 24,” Calaff said.

Paul entered the service at age 19 in 1948 and served in the Korean War from 1948 – 1952. “I know he worked on planes. We have pictures of him standing on the wing of a plane. I don’t think

“They gave us some really good questions to ask and we are going through the process. We are going to find someone to fill these very big shoes,” he said.

Later in the meeting he and the rest of the Board received some criticism by two district educators about not including the community in the search as well as the manner in which education agencies were allowed to be involved.

Potter told The Jackson Times, prior to the June meeting, “it is the sole responsibility of the Board of Education to hire a superintendent. Confidentiality is the utmost of importance to the Board of Education. However, we are receiving input from leaders of the administrative staff. When we have further information, we will gladly share it.”

Burnett said after the meeting, “we were advised by our legal staff and reached out to the New Jersey School Board Association. We redact everything. We are including them as much as we can.”

High School’s Future

Recent Board meetings have included discus- he flew the planes but I know he was definitely involved in working on planes, maintaining them,” Calaff said.

Her uncle Paul married his high school sweetheart in 1952 and they made a home in West New York. “He worked as a truck driver and he was also a carpenter.” sions about the future of the New Egypt High School and the vacant Primary School which currently serves as the Board of Education administration office. Both buildings are located on Evergreen Road.

“He did carpentry work on the side. She was the traditional stay at home mom and then she had a job with an encyclopedia company,” Calaff added.

Potter said that “as of May 31, the total district enrollment is 1,107 students. The New Egypt High School NEHS population is 313 students.”

Township voters approved a December 1997 referendum under which $16.5 million (equivalent to $30.1 million in 2022) would be borrowed to build new school facilities, while the existing middle school would be converted for use as a high school. Later that month, the Commissioner of Education approved the withdrawal, as the feasibility study prepared showed no negative financial impact to either district and would not substantially impact the racial makeup of the students enrolled at Allentown High School which is part of Upper Freehold Regional School District in Monmouth County.

The school opened its doors in September 1999 and admitted 100 9th-graders who would graduate in spring 2003, ending a sending/

Calaff said “we joke that they have a more active social life than we do. He still drives. They go to Atlantic City.” Her aunt Dolores “is very involved with the Red Hat Society and they are involved with a lot of the activities of the community like bingo. Aunt Dolores did a veteran’s speech at the Senior Center for Memorial Day. She gives a speech every year because her husband is a veteran, he’s a Marine.”

“They are very involved. They are at receiving relationship that had existed for more than 50 years. Recent meetings of the Board have suggested the possibility of closing the high school.

The school was the 151st-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly Magazine’s September 2014 cover story on New Jersey’s “Top Public High Schools,” using a new ranking methodology.

Resident Bernard Bahnam asked the Board about the issue. “Have you gotten anywhere with the whole sending students/receiving students.”

Board member Kelly Morgan said, “I’ve been doing a lot of online research as to educate us as to what it would involve. I am diligently working on it and am trying to move forward in understanding the pros and cons as to what it would mean for us if we ever have to go down that road.”

Upcoming meetings of the Board are July 12, August 16, September 13, October 11, November 15, and December 13. Executive sessions are held at 6 p.m. and regular meetings follow at 7 p.m.

Winding Ways and they moved there in 1996. For their age it is amazing. I think that is why they have such longevity because they are still together and they spent a huge course of time together. I think there is something to be said about that,” their niece said.

Calhaff added, “they got through a whole lot together, the whole Covid thing and more. They are still very cognitively sharp.”