My Daughter Commander Tracie Smith-Yeoman United States Navy (ret.)
Commander Tracie Smith-Yeoman, USN (ret) will visit with children from kindergarten through high school Thursday afternoon at 3:30 at the library in Borough Hall in Atlantic Highlands Thursday, May 11.
Commander Smith-Yeoman, a native of Highlands and a graduate of the University of South Carolina, will chat with the youngsters, giving them an idea what it’s like to be in the Navy, what prompted her to join, and how growing up in the Bayshore influenced her decision. She’ll also speak on what her mission was in the Navy before her retirement, an unusual field for women in the Navy.
Commander Smith-Yeoman currently serves as the Senior Naval Science Instruction at MAST, the Marine Academy of Science and Technology on Sandy Hook.
The Navy veteran and Mater Dei High school graduate will also display pictures of “ships, submarines, jets and dolphins” during the afternoon presentation.
Any time you are in Petersburg, Virginia, do yourself a favor and visit The Brickhouse Run. After all, it’s down a cobbled street and located just below Rafferty’s Poultry Market. The crowds from 6 p.m. on let you know it is the in place in historic Old Towne, so get there early as well.
It was the first place to enjoy a Friday dinner that Claudia, the wonderful owner of the Ragland Mansion B&B, mentioned when I asked for suggestions. Once she said it was an old British Pub, located in a 190-year-old building, I was sold. I knew from the start it would be a great evening and learned 15 minutes after being seated that I was absolutely right for any number of reasons.
Claudia had driven me to the Pub a couple of miles from the Mansion where I was staying. She assured me she would be back to pick me up whenever I called. Public transportation is not so easy to find in this historic city, so an Amtrak rider appreciates the extra help from the innkeeper.
The Brickhouse Run is actually a bar on the street level with lots of happy faces and exciting beers on tap and wine in bottles. There’s even a local cask conditioned ale on a hand pump for those so inclined.
Choosing the small intimate dining room a few steps below, I felt guilty taking a table for four…. there were only eight or nine tables in the entire dining room, four being the smallest. But I settled in easily enough with some hors d’oeuvres and a glass of wine. Glancing around, I saw many of the other tables were already filled as well, when two men entered and took up another table.
That’s when a waitress came over to me and sheepishly asked if she could tell me something. Intrigued, I encouraged her, only to find out the two gentlemen also felt guilty taking a foursome for two seats. One had asked her to inquire of “the young lady in the corner” if they could join me. I laughed, explained I “wasn’t a young lady,” but absolutely was happy to have them join me for dinner.
And that’s how I met and enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Kevin and Dave. I’m not sure if his name is Dave or Dan, or something else beginning with a D. I didn’t hear it clearly and never bothered to check. For the sake of this column, it’s Dave.
Conversation flowed easily among the three of us, the two men explaining they had been friends from childhood and met once a year for GG&S…golf, golf and steak! Kevin, big, quieter than Dave, and good looking with an easy-going smile, was an Army veteran, disabled, and living in Virginia. As a veteran, he had access to all the plush golf courses the Department of Defense provides for our fighting men and women on many installations, so is generally the half of the golfing pair who makes the selection for the annual get together.
Dave, it turns out, is a New Jerseyan from Camden County, in the banking business by profession, and an outgoing, smiling, talkative gent who loves his wife, his children, the Garden State and his friend Kevin…to say nothing of the game of golf!
So over wine and beer…, none of us opted for any of the full range of other spirits the Brickhouse Run offers, we shared stories of what brought us to Petersburg, what we did at home, our families, and their accomplishments, as well as the state of the Union, the museums in Petersburg, the weather and just about anything else you can imagine. By the time dinner arrived, we were fast friends, I had seen photos of Dave’s two beautiful young daughters and learned something of Kevin’s work as an MP in the Army as well as his Iraq tours.
We pored over the menu which sounded English-Pub enough, what with its Bangers and Mash, Shepherd’s Pie, and fish and chips. But there was also a Petersburger and Trout Ploughman, as well as Irish rarebit and the Halibut Catch complete with Eggplant Napoleon.
We admired the photos of other eras on the walls, as well as the antique clock and the porcelain that were here and there around the room, now filled to overflowing. The fireplace and wooden beamed ceiling added to the charm, and our waitress, Christine, easily joined in the fun, laughter and conversation with us.
The evening went so fast, the conversation was so great, the food was delicious, and the evening ended with a lot more laughter, a lot of handshakes and thanks for a great evening, and we all left, to go our separate ways and look forward to new adventures for me, more golf talk, and plans for the next course for them.
And that’s when I learned, gentlemen, that they were, they picked up the tab for my dinner as well!
The Brickhouse Run is closed on Mondays, but I strongly suggest you try it another evening. Hopefully, you too can make new friends like Dave and Kevin.
Wait! an appeal may be in the cards! The attorneys stall and make money at the same time.
Whether there will ever be a regionalization of two or three towns, whether the taxpayers will ever be given a few million dollars for education from Sea Bright taxpayers, and whether Henry Hudson Regional school will remain a 7-12 school until forced into a regionalization at some time in the future are all still unknowns.
What is known and made clear…attorneys are making a lot of money in the process of stalling and preventing the public from having their own say in how they want their kids educated.
I’ve heard that at the 11th hour, Cinco de Mayo, Friday, May 5, the Oceanport and Shore Regional Boards of Education appealed the decision the Commissioner had made more than a month before. That means they have re-instituted yet another legal action against a petition the state Commissioner of Education has not yet seen!
The refiling of their appeal could well mean that Atlantic Highlands Borough Council and the board of education will once again delay any decisions on whether the regionalization question can be on the November ballot so voters can decide what they want for their education dollars.
The petition originally filed by Oceanport and Shore Regional charged that Sea Bright, with no school or board of education of its own, has no right to disassociate itself from the Oceanport and Shore regional boards of education and create the possibility of joining a new tri-district K-12 with Highlands and Atlantic Highlands. Sea Bright had first initiated a new regionalization proposal when state law was unanimously approved several years ago specifically to enable regional and local schools to expand as a tax savings measure and improved education possibilities.
But the petition unanimously approved by the Highlands, Atlantic Highlands, Henry Hudson boards of education and the governing bodies of all three towns had not yet been filed with the Commissioner of Education when the Oceanport and Shore Regional boards appealed it. Therefore, without knowing what the petition was, the Commissioner could not take any action on a petition she had not yet received, so she rejected it.
She still has not yet received the petition. But that did not stop Shore Regional and Oceanport from appealing that decision at the 11th hour. It would then seem logical that the Commissioner, once again, has no alternative but to once again deny an appeal of a petition she has not yet seen.
All of which spells more delay, more attorney involvement, and more tax dollars spent on delays and appeals of something that is not there.
Nor are the costs incurred simply by Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Sea Bright. Since Oceanport and Shore Regional are regional districts, taxpayers in Monmouth Beach, West Long Branch, Oceanport and Sea Bright are also paying for all the attorneys involved in delaying tactics that thwarts the voters in their attempt to express their own opinion on what happens with their own tax dollars. And costs them tens of thousands of dollars they can never recoup in the process.
The public’s right to know does not appear to be a major concern judging from the actions and lack of information offered in a timely fashion by municipal governing bodies and boards of education in Highlands and Atlantic Highlands.
There appears to be an awful lot going on about school regionalization as a major issue as well as the employ of the superintendent of the Henry Hudson tri-district. But at the same time, it does not look like many of the official boards involved in all this activity are sharing the news with the public.
That is not to cast a slur at either the Highlands or Atlantic Highlands governing bodies. They do not have an obligation to post meetings of the boards of education. Quite simply, they might not have been given all the information from the school boards. If the school boards have all the information on the meetings they have to attend, they apparently do not feel it important enough to post on their own board of education pages.
If you stay with it, this appears to be the situation today.
Atlantic Highlands Borough Council has announced and included on its agenda that it is going into executive session Thursday night at its regular meeting both to discuss regionalization as well as land acquisition. They also promote they make take action one or both of these matters during the regular meeting.
But they do not include in news or upcoming meetings on the borough’s official page that the very same night of their meeting, Henry Hudson regional Board of Education has scheduled a special meeting to discussion regionalization.
It isn’t on the Highlands borough page either.
However, if you look at the Highlands Borough official page, you will see yet another meeting in black and white. That is a special meeting of the Tri-District Boards of Education at 7 p.m. Wednesday May 24, in the school cafetorium. They are the only ones who have advertised that meeting.
The Henry Hudson District Board of Education page doesn’t announce that meeting. They do, however, announce their special meeting this Thursday, at 7 p.m. in the Cafetorium and apparently a meeting with all three boards of education.
The purpose cited for that meeting? So the boards can go into executive session to get some legal advice regarding the regionalization process, something, it seems, they would know long before now, or at least have been researching when all the discussion began so many months ago. The notice further advises they may actually take formal action after that meeting.
Keep in mind that is the same night as the regular Atlantic Highlands Borough Council meeting when they have announced they are going into executive session and may take action both on land acquisition and regionalization.
So could it be so that after all this time, all these delays, all those studies, all that money, and all those experts something is actually going to be getting done now?
Certainly sounds important enough that people would love to attend both meetings.
Highlands does not have information about the regionalization discussion by the school boards this week on its official page. Neither school board meeting is on the Atlantic Highlands Borough page at all. Nor are there any notices on the official board of education pages for either the Highlands or the Atlantic highlands boards of education who will be meeting at Henry Hudson.
So now look at the meeting that only Highlands Borough has chosen to publicize, the one that is set for May 24 at 7 p.m. in the cafetorium at Henry Hudson. Purpose of that meeting? Purpose of that meeting?
The superintendent’s evaluation.
Perhaps that has been lost in the shuffle of all the regionalization chatter, money spent, decisions delayed, more meetings held, and attorneys and mediator involved along with all three boards of education, mayors and council presidents of two towns and lots of highly paid specialists in law and finances.
But at the same time, it is drawing close to the timeline when the boards of education quite frankly have to decide whether they want to keep Dr. Beams on for another two, three or five years beginning next year when her contract expires June 30 of 2024. Or do they want to listen to the many parents who have cast some disparaging remarks about her, expressed in no uncertain terms they think she has failed as an educational leader, and don’t want to see her at the head of their educational program any longer?
Why does it all happen now when regionalization is such a key issue you say? Her contract isn’t even up until next year.
Blame that on state legislation.
According to the law in New Jersey, IF a superintendent is NOT going to be re-hired at the end of his or her term, the boards of education MUST advise the educator one full year IN ADVANCE that he or she is out by June 1 of the following year as spelled out in the contract everyone signed.
Presumably, that law was put into place to give a superintendent time to search around for another job. But by the same token, one wonders if that is fair to the taxpayers. Or the education of the children.
Could it be possible that an educator, annoyed at not being selected for excellence, might get a bit bitter and do a less than perfect or admirable job during that last year? After all, what would he or she have to lose by setting a slower, easier pace for himself, possibly even sloughing off a little bit on principle, or dedication.
It appears each of the boards comprised of elected officials have failed the public in some way in not keeping them aware at an early date of exactly what meetings are underway or getting underway.
It can only be hoped that with Atlantic Highlands and the boards of education both meeting in secret session to discuss regionalization, and the school board reaching out to get some legal advice at this late date, perhaps something is really happening on that issue.
Maybe, just maybe, it’s getting close to enabling the public in these two boroughs as well as their neighbor and friend across the Shrewsbury, Sea Bright, to have their say, be it yea or nay, to a K-12 tri town regionalization to save money and improve educational standards.
The Ragland Mansion, the luxurious B&B where I stayed on my weekend trip to Petersburg, Virginia, is a testimony to antebellum Italianate beauty, and one of several both Italianate and Greek Revival homes its wealthy builder and owner had constructed along the road within a few years of the start of the Civil War. Today, it is a magnificent B&B with an owner, manager and chief housekeeper and chef Claudia retaining the charm of yesteryear with the modern conveniences of today. Blend that in with Claudia’s efficiency and unending desire to ensure every guest has a spectacular time and you simply cannot go wrong.
The Ragland Mansion is located in the historic Poplar Lane district, 205 Sycamore Street was a fashionable street address in that century and features a hip roof and cupola for its four-story construction.
Reuban Ragland was a descendant of high Welsh nobility linked to the Tudor monarchy and was a wealthy entrepreneur who built this 10,000 square foot home in the 1850s. Through the years, it later became home to Alexander Hamilton, a railway magnate, not the first Secretary of the Treasury. During World War I it was the first Officers’ Club for the nearby Fort Lee installation, and it has been said that many fascinating and well-known people slept there at varying other times since its construction.
It fell into difficult times in the 20th century and in 2001 was restored as a B&B by Claudia’s mother. And it is now in Claudia’s capable hands.
Every nook and corner of the Ragland mansion is magnificent. The first-floor level includes a huge ballroom, on one side of the main foyer, now designed as a spacious and sunlit filled living room with a fireplace and period furnishings at one end, and a dining room table for groups traveling together for breakfast meetings and refreshments at the other. On the opposite side of the main entrance and stately staircase to the second floor are twin parlors, a solarium filled with gorgeous plants of all sizes and species, along with a working table and sink to keep the plants decorating the entire house healthy and brilliant in their varying shades. The library is on the first floor and is now the bedroom where I stayed, a hallway or two away from the buffets of coffee, tea, and hot chocolate always ready for each guest. There’s also a neat buffet in the parlor loaded with glasses and buckets for the supplies of wine, beer, and soft drinks also available for guests at their leisure.
The center hall staircase has more than 200 hand-carved balusters leading to the cupola which offers a great view of the city that suffered so much through not only the Civil War but was the scene of the Battle of Petersburg during the Revolution as well.
Each of the rooms has a private bath and marble fireplaces, along with the carved woodwork and embellished décor that makes this mansion a standout.
Breakfasts are served at the guest’s desire for time over several hours in the morning, and each guest has a menu of numerous items ranging from toast and coffee to waffles, some of the best bacon ever cooked, and fruits, cereals, and more.
The Ragland Mansion, built next to a church with a spacious yard of its own, there is off-street parking available near the Solarium and a walk around the exterior continues to show the care and constant attention made to maintain a historic building in a historic district.
Public transportation isn’t readily available in Petersburg, but that wasn’t even necessary for an Amtrak arriving guest because of the generosity and thoughtfulness of Claudia. Not only does she recommend a series of restaurants in the area, but she drives you there and return at your call to bring you safely back to the mansion for a late-night glass of wine, some conversation with other guests in one of the couches in the living rooms, and a discussion on everything Petersburg has gone through in its lifetime. Bookshelves and magazine racks are filled with fascinating literature on everything from Virginia to architecture, to history and modern up to date news.
The Ragland Mansion survived the Battle of Petersburg, a battle known as the Battle of Old Men and Young Boys, when Northern Major General Benjamin Butler dispatched 4,500 cavalry and infantry against the city’s defenders, numbering about 2,500 Confederate troops. Butler’s troops demonstrated against the outer line of entrenchments east of the city, while a cavalry division attempted to enter from the south. The home Guards repulsed them, Butler withdrew, but some days later, the Siege of Petersburg began.
It was all this scenery, beauty, comfort and history I absorbed and enjoyed for an hour or so after my late afternoon arrival. Then Claudia recommended I go for an early dinner because of the crowds and popularity of the little Irish Pub I had selected for dinner.
Dinner at the Brickhouse Restaurant halfway down a cobbled street was another exciting and unforgettable adventure where I was joined by two gentlemen for a wonderful dinner sharing stories, laughter, ideas, and excellent food.
Local residents have the opportunity tomorrow, May 9, to receive free Disaster Preparedness Ready Go Bags and Emergency ID cards in a program at the Senior Citizen Center at the Municipal Yacht Harbor.
Sheriff Shaun Golden is urging all residents who qualify to take advantage of the distribution to ensure greater safety in the event of any emergency.
Persons qualifying for the Ready Go Bags and Register Ready Emergency ID cards, are anyone who considers himself frail, seniors aged 60 and older and persons with disabilities of any age who may feel or foresee the need for assistance in evacuating during a disaster.
In addition, caregivers of any age caring for anyone of any age are also encouraged to attend and receive a Ready Go Bag for a care recipient.
All participants will have the option to enroll in Register Ready that will provide police with specific needs during an evacuation.
Those interested in attending are requested to bring ID and an emergency contact phone number.
Environmental groups reflected on the one-year anniversary of the full implementation of New Jersey’s “Get Past Plastic” law (P.L. 202, c.117) last week, lauding officials who sponsored, supported, and eventually passed and signed the law, as well as the public for shifting behaviors to adapt to the law. The law bans all plastic bags from stores, paper bags from large stores, foam plastic (e.g., Styrofoam) food containers, and limits plastic straws upon customer request.
In the first five months of the law in effect, the New Jersey Food Council estimated that 3.44 billion plastic bags and 68 million paper bags were eliminated from the waste stream. This spring, Clean Ocean Action’s 2022 Beach Sweeps Report, which provides information about items collected by thousands of volunteers from New Jersey beaches and along waterways, shows bags, foam items, and straws declined in 2022:
Plastic Shopping Bags decreased 37% and were not in the top 12 most collected items (called the “Dirty Dozen” list) for the first time since 2007.
Foam Plastic Takeout Containers decreased by 29% from Spring to Fall 2022; an overall decrease by 38% from 2021-2022.
Plastic Straws/Stirrers fell to #6 on the Dirty Dozen list for the first time since 2016, decreasing 39% from 2021.
“We are grateful to the Legislature and Governor Murphy for making national history with the law’s passage, and we are proud of New Jerseyans and visitors who switched from single-use plastic bags, foam, and straws,” said Cindy Zipf, Executive Director of Clean Ocean Action. “We have made a huge dent in single use plastic use and abuse with the elimination of billions of bags, foam items, and straws. However, there is still more work to do, especially with implementing plastic straw limitations and compliance. This law, and New Jersey’s response, proves that we can live without single-use plastics.”
“Today marks a historic landmark for plastic reduction in New Jersey. Our comprehensive plastic reduction law has been able to tackle the menace of plastic pollution in New Jersey. In the past year, we’ve seen a major reduction in single use plastics. This is an incredible step towards protecting our environment and our public health,” said Anjuli Ramos-Busot, New Jersey Director of the Sierra Club. “Today we celebrate an important one-year anniversary for New Jersey’s plastic law, however we have a lot more work to do when it comes to enforcement, reductions in plastic straws, a strong EPR bill and more.”
“One year ago, New Jersey made a tremendous leap forward in the fight against plastic pollution by implementing the bag ban law.. Instead of bringing New Jersey to a halt, the law that banned bags and polystyrene foam (aka Styrofoam) has been a smashing success,” said Amy Goldsmith, NJ State Director for Clean Water Action. “In order to achieve more sustainable solutions and create a cleaner, healthier future for all New Jerseyans, regardless of their zip code or color of their skin, New Jersey must now pass a robust packaging reduction bill.”
Environmental groups have set sail to support several key bills to help further reduce plastic waste, including an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) bill, a bottle bill, “Skip the Stuff,” among others. For more information, visit http://www.CleanOceanAction.org or citizens@cleanoceanaction.org
Atlantic Highlands – The monthly Prayers on the Porch, an informal group who invite all to join, will meet Tuesday, May 9, on the porch at 60 Ocean Blvd. at 6:30 p.m.
The Prayers on the Porch group meets monthly for half an hour for an informal prayer session during which all are invited to ask for prayers for any need or thanksgiving.
No need for any invitation, reservation or advance notice, nor are there any attendance records or roll calls, simply a way local residents can meet and pray together for whatever anyone desires or is in need of. Persons of all religions are invited to participate.
When we married May 7, 1955, Jimmy was in the Army and could not get a furlough. That meant we did not go on a honeymoon but rather settled down to a life of him reporting for duty at Fort Eustis Virginia late every Sunday night after coming home every weekend. He promised me then that since we did not have a honeymoon, he would take me away to celebrate May 7 every year thereafter.
He did that. So, for the next for 51 years, we had a honeymoon every year. Sometimes they were weekend trips, sometimes a week long, sometimes they were in the United States, sometimes in Europe, or an island or Mexico.
But he kept that promise of a honeymoon for 51 years. When he died 18 years ago this Thursday, I felt I should keep up the tradition alone. Only, since he had been an engineer on the railroad for 40 years, I thought I would take all my “honeymoon trips” by train.
Which is exactly what led me to a wonderful, full of fun, lots of learning, incredible conversations, laughs, meeting some mighty nice people and staying in an elegant historic 19th century mansion in Petersburg, Virginia. It was a weekend that started with a great driver getting me to Metropark for my Amtrak trip, included sharing dinner and great conversations with two strangers when we all learned we shared lots of commonalities, another day shared with another 15 men doing a reenactment of a six mile march by members of the 44th and 47th regiments of the Virginia troops in the civil war, comfortable evenings surrounded by other B&B guests sipping wine and trading stories of what brought us all to Petersburg, and another day of a private tour with a historian who knows just about everything about the Civil War in general, Virginia’s role in it in particular, and has a provocative and easy to understand way of sharing so much information.
With the honeymoon coming to a close, it was back on the train for the ride home and the start of what will be a series of columns to highlight some of the highlights of a great weekend trip.
Not able to drive at night, and knowing I was coming home late, I called that great standby driver, Bill Osborne in Highlands, to arrange for transportation to and from Metropark. As dedicated and dependable as Bill is, he regretted that while he could not meet my schedule, he had a partner who could. And when Maura Richardson showed up bright and early Friday morning to get me to the train on time, I met that second driver.
I think everyone in the Bayshore and beyond should call for either Bill or Maura for rides. Both Bill and Maura not only leave plenty of time in case of traffic build-up, but they’re so dependable you don’t even think to worry for a second that they’ll be there for a late-night pick-up at the station on the way home. Besides that, they’re both great drivers! Happy to give you their phone numbers or check them out on Facebook. Don’t see how they keep their prices so low considering parkway tolls and fuel prices, but they’re a bargain!
Amtrak is so easy, comfortable and convenient leaving from Metropark, the Iselin NJ station heading south. Traveling through New Jersey, Philadelphia, Delaware, Maryland and Washington before hitting Virginia, and my destination about half an hour past Richmond takes about six and a half hours of comfort and on time performance. A dining car in the middle of the train is amply supplied with both hot and cold snacks, appetizers, or full meals, plenty of liquid refreshments of all kinds, and friendly staff that really like their jobs and the people they serve. Traveling on Northeast Regional train 185 terminates in Norfolk, so there’s no need to change in Washington, though other south bound trains can get you to the Richmond area as well, simply by switching at Union Station in Washington.
Once in Petersburg, it was the gracious owner of the Ragland Mansion who met me for the five minute drive to her magnificent 19th century B&B, showed me through some of the beautifully furnished public rooms, pointed out the coffee, teas, and hot chocolate always available and showed me to my room, the former first floor library, now a beautifully decorated and comfortable private room and bath with a huge four poster bed, great décor including live plants, and solid comfort.
But that’s a story for tomorrow…
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Not sure what the Council-Women meant by dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s since it will be two weeks Friday, May 5, since the representatives of Highlands and Atlantic Highlands, together with their administrators, attorneys and financial consultants met with a mediator overseeing, as the borough administrator explained it at the last council meeting, the discussion of school regionalization. They all promised to keep it all hush hush until they had it resolved. All they agreed to say is that the meeting was very upbeat and positive.
Atlantic Highlands Councilwoman Lori Hohenleitner did venture to say a few more words, explaining that the discussions were at the point of dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s, the point she said is “exactly where we’re at now.”
Still the Atlantic Highlands administrator did not respond to the question and the Highlands administrator said he is still working on getting a date set with that borough’s attorney. when asked whether another meeting has been set to follow up the “very positive meeting.”
Exactly how do 11 people dot the I’s and cross the T’s if they aren’t even talking with each other?
The other idea is that the next meeting to complete the whole petition might be delayed until after May 5. That’s the last day they say that Oceanport or Shore Regional school districts could file an appeal of the state Commissioner of education’s dismissal of their first action, when they filed against the petition because of Sea Bright wanting to split from them and regionalize with Highlands and Atlantic Highlands in the first place.
Are you confused yet? Or do you just think this entire matter has been handled poorly, delayed unnecessarily, cost, and continues to cost, taxpayers in all towns involved tens of thousands of dollars and running the risk of the school districts losing state aid, and missing an election date everybody used to say they wanted so the issue could be resolved “as soon as possible.”?
Maybe looking a bit more closely at the entire disaster created by highly paid and elected personnel will make the current issue more clear.
Think about this. Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Sea Bright, together with the three boards of education, all unanimously agreed they want a K-12 regionalization to go before the voters to see if that’s what the people want.
But Highlands and Atlantic Highlands had a difference of opinion on splitting the millions Sea Bright would be bringing into the mix with the regionalization. Atlantic Highlands wanted the percentages of monetary distribution settled now and forever; Highlands wanted to get it settled now but reviewed again every few years … Dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s.
So, the petition they had all agreed on was going to the Commissioner of Education still needed a couple of blanks filled in. It has never gotten to the Commissioner of Education. As of today, it has still not gone to the Commissioner… Dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s
But Oceanport and Shore Regional jumped the gun. They knew the petition was not before the Commissioner. Yet they filed their own action, paying their own attorneys, to challenge a petition the Commissioner had not even seen. … Dotting the I’s and crossing the T’s
Of course, the Commissioner dismissed their complaint. Why? She had to, because she did not have any petition in front of her, so how could she deny something she had not yet seen? Seems the Commissioner dotted her I’s and crossed her T’s
So, absent the petition, what could Oceanport and Shore Regional possibly be appealing? Do they really think the Commissioner could change her mind if they challenged her dismissal in the first place?
People. The Commissioner of Education STILL DOES NOT HAVE PETITION! And time is wasting while the two towns take more than two weeks to dot the I’s and cross the t’s, tell the taxpayers what they’re doing, and fill in the blanks on that petition everyone agreed to but has not yet been sent to the Commissioner.
This must be real life. Because it seems too fanciful and far out to be make believe.
The longer Highlands and Atlantic Highlands stall on getting that petition completed and put on the Commissioner’s desk, the longer it will mean for Oceanport and Shore Regional to file action against it, if that is their intent.
Which also means, if you want to look at more insanity in the entire story, Sea Bright is paying on both sides; they are actually having to pay for the very attorneys in their two school districts that are opposing their desire to leave those districts. 0
In addition to Highlands and Atlantic Highlands paying more money for their attorneys, financial consultants, AND the mediator to try to get their problems resolved, this would also cost the taxpayers in Monmouth Beach, West Long Branch, Oceanport, and Sea Bright more thousands of dollars to have the attorneys for their two school districts oppose a law created last year specifically to have communities form large regional school districts.
Atlantic Highlands resident Chris Longo told council at the last meeting that “Time kills deals” Yet still there does not seem to be any action of any kind since the very secret mediation all attendees have apparently promised to be mum other than to say it was very positive.
If they’re crossing the t’s and dotting the I’s, why can’t the public know if there is another meeting set? Why can’t the public know what this is all costing that they cannot know anything about?
It has been said by an Atlantic Highlands councilmember that the date of the next meeting was May 10 or so, certainly after the May 5 deadline they say is the deadline for when Oceanport and Shore Regional could file an appeal of the state Commissioner’s dismissal of their original complaint.
Taxpayers. Think about that! At least eleven people were at a meeting discussing terms for the petition that will be placed on the ballot whenever they get it done and approved. Of those eleven, seven are highly paid professionals. They met two weeks ago. But we’re still crossing t’s and dotting I’s?
Or are we waiting to see what two other school districts want to do?
Are we ever going to get the opportunity for the residents of Highlands, Atlantic Highlands and Sea Bright to vote on whether they believe what those two studies highlighted many months ago? Or are they just going to continue to stall, delay, stay secretive, and pay thousands of dollars to professionals to keep the issue delayed. If the question ever gets to the ballot, I’d bet the voters will dot their I’s and cross their T’s
