Friday, March 9, 2012
Fund-raising efforts given full support; $5,000 set aside for coordinators
The Stokes State Forest trip for Berkeley Township's sixth-graders, and efforts to fundraise for the trip, have the formal blessing of the Berkeley Township Board of Education. The school board unanimously approved two resolutions Thursday night, one approving the trip and setting aside $5,000 to pay for the trip's two coordinators. The other authorized the Berkeley Township Environmental Education Program Foundation to raise money to hold the trip this June for the current year's sixth-grade class. "If we are going to get this paid for without taxpayers' money we have to do everything we can to encourage fundraising by this foundation," Board Vice President James Fulcomer said after both were approved. Students will have to pay $150 per…
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Is the 42-year-old traditional trip to the outdoor education program in Sussex County going to happen this year?
March 2011. The nonprofit Berkeley Township Education and Environment Foundation is born. The group has a sole purpose — to raise money for the elementary school students' traditional trip to Stokes State Forest in Sussex County. James J. Byrnes — who was Berkeley Board of Education president at the time —takes over as chairman of the foundation. The group's board of directors consists of Byrnes, board member Dawn Parks and Michael Hill, with more members to be added. "It's a great environmental trip," Byrnes said back then. "For some kids, it's their only trip out of Bayville. They get to share a lot with their friends, learn a lot about the environment and learn a lot about life. That is something you can't put a monetary value on. I …
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
Foundation accuses administration of blocking trip; administration says foundation has failed to raise money
A 40-year tradition appears to be on the verge of ending – again. Maybe. But no one seems to know for sure. “I am not involved with that program at all,” said Joseph H. Vicari, superintendent of the Berkeley Township School District, when asked if the sixth-grade trip to Stokes State Forest was still in the plans for the end of the current school year. “You would have to talk to Jim Byrnes or Jim Roselli.” Lori Fitzsimmons, a parent of a sixth-grader at Berkeley Township Elementary School, says she has asked James Roselli - who until January was the principal at BTES - and his answer was that it hadn’t been decided yet. “We just want to know: Are we definitely still going or not?” said Dana Dozois, another parent of a sixth-grader. Byrnes…
Friday, April 22, 2011
School board candidate has no qualms about Joseph H. Vicari's return as schools superintendent
School board candidate Gerard Reuter says the Berkeley Board of Education has become politicized in recent years. He and his running mate Louis Tuminaro want to put the board's focus back on the students. “Me and Lou feel very strongly that people can have their politics, but that politics has no business on the school board,” Reuter said. “People on the school board need to be unified in working for parents and children and not for a political party.” Reuter, 34, lives on Scott Drive in Bayville. He has lived in town for seven years. He has a daughter who is currently enrolled in the school district. Reuter says he supports the consolidation of resources to save tax dollars, provided those efforts do not hurt the district's students. With…
Peter F. La Rocca says he is untainted by board politics
Peter La Rocca is on his own. And that's the way he wants it. La Rocca, 32, is running for one of the three, three-year seats on the Berkeley Board of Education. He lives on Woodhaven Boulevard with his wife and four children. He had originally planned to run on a slate with candidates Louis Tuminaro and Gerard Reuter, but changed his mind earlier this year. "I'm on my own," La Rocca told Berkeley Patch. "A lot of politics got mixed in and ultimately I decided I wanted to do in own my own." La Rocca is a detective with the Berkeley Township Police Department. He has been with the department for 10 years. "I have some new ideas and I don't think I'm influenced by politics, like some of these other guys," he said. Like many of the other …
Thursday, April 21, 2011
Salvatore P. Ferlise running on a slate with Jim Fulcomer and Noriko Kowalewski
Salvatore P. Ferlise's quest for one of the three seats on the Berkeley Township Board of Education is his first venture in running for public office. "It's time for me to give a little back," he said. "I've never run for anything before. This is it." Ferlise, 74, is running on a slate with James Fulcomer and Noriko Kowalewski for the three, three-year terms on the Board of Education. He lives on Sandlewood Drive in the Bayville section of the township. Ferlise is married with three children and eight grandchildren. The cornerstone of the team's campaign is the eventual merging of the Berkeley Township and Central Regional school districts into a single K-12 district. "I think it's going to be extremely hard to do, but not impossible," …
Thursday, March 24, 2011
The Berkeley Township Education and Environment Foundation is seeking to raise $80,000 to keep popular program in the curriculum
The fledgling Berkeley Township Education and Environment Foundation - formed to save the annual school trip to Stokes State Forest - now has a board of directors. Paperwork for the nonprofit organization has been filed, and the first meeting of the group will be held soon, said Berkeley Board of Education President James J. Byrnes. “If we want to save the program, it is going to take a commitment from everyone to get it going,” he said. The foundation will try to raise the $80,000 needed to fund the outdoor education excursion, a 40-year-old tradition in the Berkeley school district. The board of directors includes Byrnes, board member Dawn Parks and Michael Hill. More members can be added in the future, but a minimum of three was needed…
Monday, February 14, 2011
Parents, former students, want 40-year-old tradition to continue for elementary school students
Armed with posters and signs, two dozen former students, along with a group of parents, recently pleaded with the Berkeley Board of Education to put the traditional Stokes State Forest environmental education field trip back in the school budget. Whether the $80,000 trip will be included in the new 2011-2012 budget was a bone of contention at a sometimes raucous meeting earlier this month. Board members discussed the possibility of setting up a 501 (c) (3) foundation in order to cover the costs of the trip. Board President James J. Byrnes said the board would consider covering any costs for the trip not raised through the foundation. “The board could fill a void if there wasn’t enough raised,” he said. “Do what’s right for the kids,” some…
Mike
12:14 pm on Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Glad they found the money for this. I'd hate to see them waste it on something like replacing the text books that are outdated and falling apart. more ›