The JACKSON Times Vol. 20 - No. 43
In This Week’s Edition
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
JERSEYSHOREONLINE.COM
library building celebrates 25th anniversary
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Government Pages 6
Community News Pages 7-9
Dr. Izzy’s Sound News Page 10
Classifieds Page 15
Photo by Bob Vosseller Members of the Friends of The Plumsted Library assemble for a group photo prior to the start of the afternoon’s festivities. By Bob Vosseller PLUMSTED – Twent y-f ive years ago a dream came true with the building of a new location for the township library. The anniversary of that special event was celebrated with a party atmosphere that featured some special guests. The building is at 119 Evergreen Road, situated between the New Egypt High School and
Township Hall. The meeting room was full of white and blue balloons and tables were set for a healthy luncheon following the speeches and presentations made. A video presentation traced the history of the building’s construction from its groundbreaking to the ribbon cutting grand opening. The video played to the song of “When You Wish Upon
a Star.” Staff members put together a timeline memory board of the building that featured newspap e r a r t icle s from The New Egypt Press and The Messenger Press, two local weekly newspapers that had covered Plumsted Township at the time of the building project. Sporting their blue polo shirts were members of The Friends of
the Plumsted Library who noted they are always on the lookout for more members. Friends President Ch r istine Hammerschmidt said the group currently has a dozen members. “We have a Facebook page and people can e-mail us at plumstedfriends@ comcast.net or call 609758-0009 or 732-5805600. “Our website is plumstedfriends.org. The first Saturday of the next month we will be collecting used books at the trailer behind the library. Our book sale will be on the last week of June.” She and many of her fellow members have been active in the group for decades and some were involved with the committee to have the new library built. The previous branch was based in a small brick building on Main Street (Library - See Page 4)
RoAdWoRk, LaWbReAkInG AdDrEsSeD By Bob Vosseller JACKSON – Street maintenance and educating the public on new parking protocols are part of the roadmap of change in the township. Mayor Michael Reina announced that road improvement projects were on the horizon and were “vital to our residents and to the safety of all. These roads have been
identified through our roadway grading system which helps us identify our municipal roadways that need repair.” Jackson council members have been working with Ocean County officials on upgrading “some of the County roads in the near future,” he added. Roadways identif ied for paving and
upgrading under this project include Highland Drive, Declaration Lane, Spruce Terrace, Sapphire Drive, East Pleasant Grove Road, Daniel Court, Albert Court, West Fish Road, Sunnybrook Road, Ollie Burke Road, Crescent Avenue, Paul Road, Tilford Street, DeRose Lane and striping for Brewers Bridge Road.
“It is important not only to continue adding services for our community, but to continue maintaining and upgrading our existing services and infrastructure,” Council President Jennifer Kuhn said. Educating The Public The subject of enforcement and education came up during a recent Township Council meet-
ing following comments by an Alaska Avenue resident who asked if the council had visited Brookwood I. He stated the police “ignore” violations and “now we have people putting up orange cones where people used to park. They (police) ride through the neighborhood and never (Roadwork See Page 5)
April 20, 2024
School District Won’t Get State Loan By Bob Vosseller JACKSON – School of f icials responded to the state’s announcement that dist r icts - such as Jackson and Plumsted - seeking loans from the Department of Education (DOE) for the 2024 -2025 school year will be denied. DOE Acting Commissioner Kevin Deh mer recently announced that any school district seeking to fill their budget gap for the next school year budget will not get approval. School Dist r icts across the state have had funding slashed for seven years followi ng the i mple mentation of the S-2 State Aid f u nding formula. Jackson Board of Education President G iu se ppe Pal mer i re s p onde d t o t h is news saying, “since the start of the S-2 funding formula, the Jackson School Dist r ict has lost over $23 million in school funding.” “This caused the district to make deep cuts to the budget including eliminating facult y/st aff positions, cutting extracurricular activities and ending some spor ts prog rams. The Department of
Education refuses to ensure that school districts are able to balance their budgets with no advice ot he r t h a n t o c ut millions of dollars,” Palmeri added. Palmeri called on state legislators and Governor Phil Murphy to restore funding “to our school districts and if they are not willi ng to a ccou nt for seven years of unfair funding, they have a dut y t o prov ide options so districts can continue to provide students their constitutional rights of a ‘thorough and efficient education.’” “The Department of Education is putting the education of many New Jersey students at risk. This is no time to play politics,” he added. He told The Jackson Time s, “I wa nt to be clear to parents that they should not be looking to pack up and ship out. I have three kids in the Jackson school s ys t e m r ig ht now and they are staying there. I also stated at the last Board of Education meeting that I would not vote on a budget with any more cuts.” “ We h a v e c u t enough and even our (Loan - See Page 4)
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