The HOWELL Times
Vol. 23 - No.8
In This Week’s Edition
MICROMEDIA PUBLICATIONS
JERSEYSHOREONLINE.COM
Monmouth County Fair Marks 50 Years
BREAKING NEWS @
jerseyshoreonline.com
Government Page 6
Community News Pages 7-9
Inside The Law Page 13
Classifieds Page 15
Photos by Andrew Rice Rides like the Ferris wheel or the Super Himalaya were popular. Robinsons Racing Pigs. By Andrew Rice FREEHOLD - The Monmouth County Fair made its annual return at the East Freehold Showgrounds, as people from around the county came out for music, food, rides, and games to celebrate the county they call home. The fair itself was celebrating its 50th anniversary as well. The fair ran for five days, with each day having a different set of shows and events. The rides, food, games and exhibits, however, were mainstays. Some of the rides that were there included a Ferris wheel, tilt-a-whirl, carousel, the Super Himalaya
Dawg Pro Wrestling’s Ty Thomas defeats Jay “The Key” during a match at the fair.
and the Pharoah’s Fury. The other attractions included the NJ Fire Museum Display and various carnival style games. Animal lovers could check out exhibits featuring reptiles, rabbits, horses and other barn animals such as goats, cows and chickens. The fair also had a lot of different shows including DAWG Pro Wrestling presents DAWG Days of Summer, Robinson’s Racing Pigs, and the Pups Gone Nuts Dog Show. Robinson’s racing pigs featured races that had (County Fair- See Page 3)
Rules Clarified For Replacing Councilman By Chris Lundy HOWELL – After the deputy mayor resigned, many people have asked what the rules are for filling that spot. Councilman Fred Gasior stepped down on July 17. The Howell Times reached out to the township clerk to learn what happens next. His council term ends December 31, 2026. Who will fill the seat until then? The clerk’s office said that since Gasior is a Republican, the town’s Republican committee will send three names to the council. The Township Council has 30 days after Gasior left to select a temporary replacement. This appointment must be made by a majority vote of the Township Council. Since Gasior’s resignation was effective on July 17, 2025,
a successor will need to be appointed by August 16, 2025. Since there was not a council meeting until August 19, they rescheduled the August 19 meeting to August 12. The private session begins at 6 p.m. but the regular meeting begins at 7 p.m. If the Township Council fails to pick someone by August 16, then the Republican committee makes the choice. They would have until August 31 to do so. By law, the appointee would need to be sworn in immediately upon selection. Whoever is the temporary office holder will have to run in the general election in November for the rest of the term. The election will be held as usual. All candidate petitions to run ( Councilman- See Page 3)
August 2, 2025
Board Reviews GPA Scores By Andrew Rice HOWELL - A significant portion of the latest Freehold Regional High School District Board of Education meeting dealt with the students’ performance on the 2025 New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment. According to NJ.gov, the NJGPA is a test that is administered to students in grade 11 to meet the state graduation assessment requirement and test each student’s graduation readiness in English Language Arts (ELA) and Math. Director of Student Services Dr. Bruce Henecker gave a presentation, explaining that graduation readiness for each student taking the NJGPA is assessed differently in Math and ELA, as ELA is held to the grade 10 standards, while Math is held to proficiency standards set for Algebra 1 and Geometry. The district greatly exceeded the state average percentage of graduation ready students in both categories, he said. They also widened the gap that the district had over the state average last year. The state average for graduation readiness in ELA is 80.7 percent, while the Freehold Regional High School District had 88.9 percent of students show that they are graduation ready. A similar result showed in math, as 75.3 percent of the district’s students proved they are graduation ready, compared to the state average of 58 percent. It was mentioned several times during the meeting by Superintendent Dr. Nicole Hazel and by Henecker that the school district had poured more resources into the math departments the previous year and has been making a concentrated effort in that area with the hopes of boosting graduation readiness. One part of this effort included hiring a new math teacher in each of the schools to help reduce class sizes, according to Hazel. Henecker believes that this effort has begun to pay dividends as the district’s graduation readiness percentage in math rose from 68.5 percent in 2024 to 75.3 percent in 2025, a rise of 6.8 percentage points in just one year. The NJGPA wasn’t the only state assessment discussed at the meeting. In addition to the NJGPA, English language learning students take the ACCESS 2.0 ELL, a test used to track (GPA Scores - See Page 4)
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