Pine Barrens Tribune May 18, 2024-May 24, 2024

FUNDING

By D ouglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

SHAMONG—The Lenape Regional High School District (LRHSD) Board of Education, which governs a district that has been faced with an unexpected $4.69 million loss in state funding, and purportedly is “underfunded” by another $4.5 million when it comes to special education, in addition to reportedly being underfunded in other areas, instituted major cuts to its operations, student programing and even staffing, and also implemented new student fees, all beginning with the 2024-25 school year, in adopting a budget for the upcoming school year on May 7, approved at the very last possible minute to be in compliance with a state deadline.

But now at least a substantial number of the pink slips and notifications that reportedly went out in the days that followed (they were required to be received by affected staff by May 15) could now very well be recalled given that Democratic Governor Phil Murphy, late on May 14, signed two bills passed by the Legislature (just days after the latest LRHSD school board session) “offering flexibility and relief to school districts” across New Jersey “as they work to finalize their 2024-25 school budgets.”

Murphy Signs Restorative Aid Bill into Law

According to a press release from the governor’s office, Murphy signed A-4161, which “aims to increase funding for school districts experiencing reductions in aid under S-2,” such as is the case for the LRHSD, “easing the impact” of the final year of its

Photos By Tom Valentino

Tabernacle’s

Deputy

Mayor Resigns

from Office, Calling

Out ‘Virtual Mobs’ That Have Pummeled Her Over ‘Pineys’ Posting Stone Has Also Been Subject of Fierce Blowback Over Town Hall Decisions

By D ouglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

TABERNACLE—The deputy mayor of Tabernacle Township, whose social media post of 2020 containing derogatory comments about “Pineys” invoked fury in the municipality and beyond in recent weeks when it resurfaced, only this time in a much more public forum causing many to learn of the remarks for the first time, has announced that she has officially resigned from office.

Natalie Stone, who came into elected office on the Tabernacle Township Committee in January, found herself not only having to contend with this controversy, but numerous others, including her remarks that Tabernacle Town Hall was simply “sentimental” to some and “not historic” (despite the building being a designated historical landmark).

Stone, in pushing the issue, called for the Town Hall to be re-evaluated after a prior study had described the building needing work and unable to be safely occupied, and the subsequent review caused a conclusion to be formulated by the township’s Construction Official Tom Boyd, Engineer Tom Leisse and Architect Scott England that the building is in imminent danger of collapse.

She voted along with Mayor Mark Hartman and Committeeman Samuel “Sammy” Moore to demolish the building, initially without having sought the

Natalie

who announced she resigned from the Tabernacle Committee on May 9 after just a little more than four months in office. She had been the township’s deputy mayor.

opinion of a structural engineer (but the Pinelands Commission ultimately forced the committee’s hand in obtaining the opinion of one).

This too led to outrage over a building that many recognize as the centerpiece of the town and a storied part of its history, and caused many to begin invoking

See RESIGNS/ Page 4

Photo By Tom Valentino

Stone,

Eagle Scout Project Revamps Ramp on Historic Chatsworth Church, Spiffs Up Exterior, and Draws Far More Assistance Than Anticipated Recent 16-Year-Old Transplant to Rural Community Orchestrates Project That Revitalizes Century-Old Landmark and 20-Year-Old Handicap Access

By Bill B onvie Staff Writer

WOODLAND—At a time when so much of the news we read and hear appears to reflect the very worst inclinations of which mankind is capable, a recent occurrence in the locale considered to be the “Capital of the Pine Barrens”— the Village of Chatsworth in Woodland Township — seems to suggest there is still hope that “the better angels of our nature,” as President Lincoln famously put it, might prevail after all, given the kind of leadership that succeeds in bringing them out.

While the setting is a very small, centuryold country church said to be the sole religious institution in this township of 1,544 residents (as of the 2020 Census), the number of participants who ultimately became involved has far exceeded its congregation of from 10 to 15 members, and the area from which they came to help out has extended well beyond this rural enclave. And leading the remarkable restoration effort involved was a lad of just 16, whose family had only lived here a couple of years, having relocated here during the pandemic at a time when the township’s

population had actually declined by over 13 percent in the previous decade.

As a dedicated member of the Boy Scouts since first grade, Ethan Wojdyla, who remained with Scout Troop 59 in Toms River after his family’s move to Chatsworth, was finally on the cusp of earning the rank of Eagle Scout, for which one of the requirements is to “plan, develop, and give leadership to a service project for any religious organization or any school or community.”

In the course of letting it be known that he was looking for a suitable project to take on, Ethan was told by RuthAnn Brower, the treasurer of the historic Chatsworth United Methodist Church located at Main and Second streets, about something the church had been hoping and literally praying to accomplish, but lacked funds to take care of—replace a handicapped access ramp leading to its entrance that had originally been installed two decades before as the project of another aspiring Eagle Scout named Paul Fitzpatrick, who has since moved to North Carolina.

Group photo on steps of Chatsworth United Methodist Church, marking completion of new ramp orchestrated by Ethan Wojdyla, 16, as his Eagle Scout project. Bottom row, from left are church Treasurer RuthAnn Brower; Cathy Fitzpatrick, the mother of the Eagle Scout responsible for the original ramp who presented Ethan with its blueprints and a donation; Ethan, and his father Derek; on the top row, from left, are church member Cathy Pepper and Ethan’s mother, Kathleen Wojdyla.

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“One day he put it out on Chatsworth Chat (a social media site) that he needed somebody in the community to help him with his Eagle Scout project,” Brower told the Pine Barrens Tribune. “So, I showed him the ramp, and it went from there.”

When Ethan, a junior at the Burlington County Institute of Technology in Medford, looked at the now-rickety and somewhat unstable ramp, he immediately noticed that it wasn’t the only thing on the church grounds in need of some renovation. But then, having spent a couple of years getting hands-on training in making home repairs at the house his family had bought in Chatsworth, during which time he “learned a lot of carpentry and renovation,” as he recently related to this newspaper, he was far better equipped than most people his age (or any age, for that matter) to both identify and address such problems.

In addition, he was more aware than most of his contemporaries of the problems faced by handicapped individuals, having coincidentally earned his very first merit badge in “disability awareness.”

But Ethan’s talents, as it turned out, weren’t just limited to knowing what to do, but how to go about organizing an effort to get it done. His organizational skills and ability to reach out to friends, acquaintances and even complete strangers from both Scout troops and communities throughout the area, including locales as distant as Toms River, Medford, Tabernacle and Jackson townships, proved to be beyond anything that either Brower or any of the other congregants of Chatsworth United Methodist could possibly have imagined, with around 45 individuals ending up taking part in the project.

Not that he didn’t have training in those areas as well, however, his scouting activities having included completion of a National Youth Leadership program, for which his troop leaders had nominated him, and participation in a special branch of scouting called Order of the Arrow, which focuses on such values as “brotherhood, cheerfulness and service.”

The end result of all that combined formal training in people skills and ‘home-schooled’ experience in building was the “Revamp the Ramp” project, as it came to be called—one that not only succeeded in accomplishing what its name implied, using the foundation of the original ramp while replacing the rest, but an extra exterior makeover of this landmark edifice involving the completion

in the course of a single Saturday (May 11) of a number of those other tasks that Ethan had noticed needed attending to (and which he had a direct hand in getting done).

They included painting the main door of the church itself, along with the metal rails on the steps and the marquee sign out front, installing a new outdoor bench, patching potholes in the parking lot, putting down new gravel in the driveway and re-mulching and replanting the flower beds and even lining them with newly acquired railroad ties.

Among those who came out to lend a hand with the project, Ethan emphasized, were members of the Woodland Volunteer Fire and EMS Station, who at one point went out on an emergency call, but then came right back.

“One guy showed up on his birthday,” he added, and spent half the day helping rebuild the ramp.

But orchestrating such an ambitious project went beyond just getting so many people to contribute their time and physical labor. There was also the considerable cost of the materials involved. And that is where yet another of Ethan’s extraordinary attributes came in — his ability to connect with donors.

While some of the materials used in the project, such as the mulch, were purchased through fund-raising efforts in which the family participated, the largest single expense of this ambitious undertaking was, of course, the wood used to replace the ramp.

As it happened, according to Kathleen Wojdyla, Ethan’s mom, the founders of

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her past residency of Medford Lakes in various public spats.

County Route 532 was ultimately closed for a period of several weeks, partly based on questions that the deputy mayor had asked, but that decision was reversed after major public outcry, and the demolition of town hall has been put on hold now via a court-ordered injunction.

Stone reportedly began receiving threats, and even her day job of being an actress got caught up in the controversy when a State Trooper filed charges against an outspoken critic of the Town Hall demolition for having posted online, as part of protest material, an image of a woman holding a pistol (which the Trooper characterized as harassment and having the intent to cause false public alarm), which was actually of Stone in a scene from the 2022 film, “Not for Nothing.”

The State Trooper appeared to be unaware that the image was from the movie, and the situation signified just how Stone would be the subject of continuing intense scrutiny that came with being a public figure.

There were other controversies too, including her seemingly distancing herself from her running mate, Committeeman Noble McNaughton, in her first meeting as a committeewoman, assuming the deputy mayor post as a newcomer, despite McNaughton having over 40 years of service to the town. During that same session, she also shot down McNaughton’s suggestion of the governing body holding workshop meetings.

Additionally, during a Feb. 26 committee session, Stone had made the comment that she could be ‘Netflix and chill’ with her husband (rather than be at the governing body meeting), which, as Transparency Advocate and Resident Fran Brooks found, is reportedly slang for “having sexual relations with your partner.”

While Stone denied having known that, Brooks declared her behavior is “totally unbecoming to an elected official” and called on her to resign. The two got into a heated argument after that particular meeting, as captured by a Pine Barrens Tribune photographer.

Brooks later repeated those calls for Stone to resign when the “Pineys” posting had come to light, and was joined by numerous others by that point in time.

Also drawing controversy in the

Republican stronghold of Tabernacle were pictures that emerged in recent days of Stone, a Republican, appearing to be somewhat chummy with Democratic Governor Phil Murphy and First Lady Tammy Murphy. She was accused in one online posting of being a “Rhino Republican.”

In Stone’s last committee appearance, almost every time she spoke up, she was shouted down by the audience.

She appeared to try very much to make amends with the community in recent days, issuing a public apology for the “Pineys” remarks, discussing the history of the Pinelands in a Podcast-like program, and even reportedly working with some who were dismayed to create a forum for facilitating questions and answers about the current Town Hall, and a planned future one.

But it was evident that she faced significant headwinds in continuing in the deputy mayor post, which she had only held for a little more than four months. Many posted that they would simply not forget some of the things she had said and done.

Stone, the subject of some rather intense social media posts online, in a May 14 pronouncement, said she resigned from office on May 9. She condemned what she called “virtual mobs.”

“In this day and age where the Internet has created virtual mobs where all sense of social responsibility is absent, it is now so very easy to flippantly comment on something, attack a person or group, or be influenced by mob ideals,” she wrote. “When many people post comments, or attack another person online, they actually don’t feel as though they are talking to a real person. The virtual nature emboldens them to say things they would never have said face-to-face to a person – all humanity is lost. It is so very easy to actually destroy someone’s life, spread hate and actually feel righteous about it.”

Stone went on to allude to “some examples” of what she referred to as “abuse” that she has had to “deal with daily for about six weeks because of the position I was in.”

“You all know typically I do not back away from confrontation and I’ve always defended myself, but because of the position, I unfortunately couldn’t utilize social media to shut it down and no one did it for me, so it continued and got worse and worse and worse,” Stone wrote. “There are hundreds of comments and posts, and with that, will say kudos to the two town pages that refuse to supply the forums

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Photo Provided

Volunteers help to construct the revamped ramp for the Chatsworth United Methodist Church.

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seven-year phase-in as school districts adjust to funding levels calculated under the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA).

By signing the legislation, the release explained, the governor has established a “Stabilized School Budget Aid Grant Program” in the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE) to provide grants equal to 45 percent of a school district’s State school aid reduction for the 2024-25 school year.

Dr. Carol Birnbohm, superintendent of the LRHSD, previously revealed that 146 school districts in the state had seen a funding cut in Murphy’s proposed Fiscal Year 2025 budget through S-2.

A-4161, according to the governor’s office, appropriates $44.7 million to support the program, and in addition to providing supplementary state aid, the legislation allows certain districts experiencing reductions in state aid to “request increases in their adjusted property tax levies” above the 2 percent cap established under current law.

“From the onset of my administration, we have strived to ensure every child in New Jersey receives the top-notch education that has become synonymous with our state’s public education system,” said Murphy in a statement through the release. “Through seven budget cycles, we have never wavered on our commitment to our school communities – and that rings true today. With this legislation, we are giving local school districts critical support during trying times, as difficult financial realities muddy the already complex process of adopting a balanced budget. I am pleased to provide relief to school districts facing reductions in aid and, as we look ahead, I anticipate working alongside (Acting) Commissioner (Kevin) Dehmer to ensure our tax dollars are being used responsibly to uplift all of our students.”

It was pointed out in the press release that one of the sponsors of A-4161 is local 8th District Democratic Assemblywoman Andrea Katz.

“I am very happy that my bill to restore almost half of the school funding cuts was quickly signed into law by Governor Murphy,” Katz told this newspaper. “This will save jobs and programs at Lenape, Lumberton, and plenty of other schools across South Jersey. I am not done fighting for the rest of the funding, though. On Thursday (May 16), I plan to introduce a bill to restore the rest of the aid cuts and then push for more funding in the final budget

that will be approved next month.”

The second bill Murphy signed on May 14, A-4059, authorizes the Commissioner of Education, to permit certain school districts experiencing a reduction in state aid to submit budgets no later than five days following the enactment of the FY2025 Appropriations Act (the state budget usually must be adopted no later than July 1 of each calendar year.)

“The combination of additional state aid and school district tax levy growth cap flexibility achieved by this legislation strikes a key balance in easing the transition to full funding amounts while further empowering school districts to sustain education and support programs beyond S-2’s phase-in schedule,” said Dehmer in a statement through the release. “For our part, the department is committed to working with districts on finalizing their budget plans for next school year; for their part, this legislation provides districts additional revenue sources to further help transition to sustainable spending plans that meet the needs of all students. I commend the governor and the Legislature for their commitment to this impactful legislation.”

Katz was also a co-sponsor of A-4059.

LRHSD BOE’s Hand Forced Before Signing

Prior to news of Murphy signing the restorative aid measure into law, along with the other bill that extends the submission deadline for budgets, Birnbohm, on May 7, given that the district was having to close a “canyon size hole” in the millions by the original deadline, had declared, the “outlook for Fiscal Year 2025 is devastating.”

David Stow, a member of the LRHSD Board of Education, and who also leads the board’s Finance Committee, in noting during a May 7 board session that the district has seen its state aid reduced from $28,299,836 in 2019 to $18,931,779 for the upcoming school year (the latter figure before any restorative aid is factored in), called it a “race to zero” with respect to what has been continuous state aid cuts, even before S-2 had been enacted seven years ago.

Stow prefaced his May 7 budget presentation by noting that if the Legislature and governor were to act just following the board session, it “will restore jobs and programs in the LRHSD.”

But given that the governor and Legislature had not by that point, as adopted by the LRHSD Board of Education on May 7, the district’s 2024-25 school year budget sets in motion, for now, over 90

“non-renewals of non-tenured staff,” and has also eliminated two positions through a “Reduction in Force.”

“These are real people – people who have been part of our family for years and some of them are going to just have to find a job somewhere else,” Stow declared.

That is not to mention that there are over 40 upcoming retirements or resignations, in which for those positions, “we will not be replacing them,” according to Stow, and the district is also “cutting over 20-stipend (extra pay) positions.”

“There are new cuts in all areas, including programs and staffing,” said Birnbohm at the time. “There will be someone or something a student loves that won’t be here next year.”

Stow ultimately announced that the U.S. Navy JROTC program at the district’s Cherokee High School, as well as gymnastics and bowling across the district, is eliminated through the budget adopted on May 7, in addition to 20 clubs.

“There is nothing ‘extra’ about an extracurricular activity, in my opinion,” Birnbohm said. “They provide a ‘whole’ experience, which is high school.”

It was not immediately clear as of this newspaper’s deadline time whether the school board will have to meet again to re-adopt a new budget, should it choose to take advantage of the relief mechanisms now afforded to the LRHSD, and what any proposed tax levy increases in the district’s eight sending towns beyond the 2 percent cap could look like.

Superintendent Details ‘What Led Us Here’

Birnbohm declared during the May 7 presentation on the LRHSD budget that she “feels it is important for the community to be fully aware of what led us here tonight” and “why we are to the point we are now where uncomfortable and undesirable cuts are inevitable.”

She contended that back in 2006, the SFRA was drafted, and while it initially had a “hard time passing,” it was enacted in 2008 with the “promise” that school districts in the state “would not see less state aid as a result.”

The act, she explained, was developed to “provide equity and resources” to school districts serving “poorer neighborhoods,” including by sending them more state funding, and it was intended that for districts such as the LRHSD, not facing such a predicament, adjustment aid would stay “flat.”

But “so many things occurred” following enactment of the act, Birnbohm said, including the banking collapse of 2008,

and it led then-Republican Governor Chris Christie to order “massive cuts” in state aid to school districts, with aid to the LRHSD at the time cut by 21 percent, or $6 million.

The “second thing” Christie did, Birnbohm noted, was that he “enacted a 2 percent tax levy cap.” Birnbohm asked those in attendance for the budget hearing to envision, for simplicity sake, a school district with a budget of $100 million, that then sees their costs rise by 4 percent the following school year.

With aid at best flat, “you are not getting it (money to cover the increased costs) from state aid,” and given the cap, with 2 percent of $100 million only $2 million, “that is only going to get you so much.” Other maneuvers, such as raising fees, amounts to “tiny revenue” and therefore, “What do you have to do?,” she asked, before answering her own question with, “Make cuts.”

“The district’s ability to raise funds through the tax levy (have been) capped, all while costs rise,” she said of the situation before the enactment of A-4161.

The “bottom-line,” Birnbohm said, is that the SFRA was “not created to co-exist with the 2 percent cap.”

She pointed out that even if the district’s aid had remained constant, the district would still have been “left with a gap.” S-2, she noted, enacted in 2018 by Murphy, had been intended to address “years of flat funding” and make school districts “whole” and “catch them up,” but instead, “what isn’t fair is instead of the state providing money” to all districts, “they took it away from school districts such as ours.”

“There is no ability to make up state aid lost every year because, again, we are capped at 2 percent,” the superintendent emphasized. As a result of the cap, the “hole got bigger,” she maintained, and was only “compounded” further by reductions in state aid.”

Then there is what Birnbohm described as “stressor after stressor” further compounding the situation, including what Stow described as the district “not even fully-funded for special education.”

According to Stow, the “state has a law” in which the NJDOE can “only provide support for 15.9 percent” of a district’s special education population, and some 19.1 percent of LRHSD pupils are classified as “special education students, or students with disabilities.”

That means the district is lacking special education aid, he explained, for 40 students, or what amounts to 3.6 percent.

“So actually, in addition to the $4.7 million they are cutting us, we are almost $4.5 million underfunded,” Stow said.

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Additionally, in 2020, according to Birnbohm, there was “some pressure” put on the Legislature to “lower amounts public employees pay for benefits,” and legislation was ultimately passed in that regard, which was billed that it was “going to save taxpayers, districts and employees money,” but that “they forget” about rising “health insurance premiums.”

With “employees contributing significantly less” towards their healthcare, Birnbohm pointed out, “we cannot raise enough with what we get from employee contributions,” and therefore, it has been “shifting the burden to the district budget (and the taxpayers).”

“It becomes another hole in our budget,” she added.

Stow pointed out that the LRHSD faces a 5.3 percent increase in health premiums for the upcoming fiscal year.

The funding formula, Birnbohm noted, also was developed prior to national and global events of the last several years that have caused school districts to reimagine school security, all while the formula only provides for what she described as “moderate safety and security aid.” And in the LRHSD’s case, it “only covers 35 percent of our actual security costs.”

Events of the last several years have also included the Coronavirus pandemic, which Birnbohm recognized, “did drastically change our priorities in a short amount of time.” And while masking and contact tracing are no longer required of districts, the pandemic has forever “changed the way we do business,” including with there being a reliance on technology, to include the district now having to provide students with laptops and Wi-Fi. The pandemic’s aftermath has also required greater mental health services for students, she noted.

The budget, as a result, according to the superintendent, now supports some of these post-pandemic societal changes, with the temporary pandemic relief money (which has now expired) having only “created an illusion” for the district, with the superintendent comparing the relief funds accounted for in prior budgets to having been simply a “Band-Aid.”

And further “compounding” the situation, Birnbohm maintained, is “inflation” or a “huge increase” in the Consumer Price Index (CPI) that has been observed for the past two years now.

In just giving one “costly example” of how inflation has impacted the budget, Birnbohm contended transportation costs have “skyrocketed” by 27 percent in just one year.

“Nobody would have ever thought that,” she declared of the rate of increase with the CPI, while noting the Transportation Aid to the district still only covers 25 percent of the district’s transportation costs.

It is how, she said, the district has approached a “fiscal cliff.”

Reduction to Enrollment ‘Not Proportionate’

All of the aforementioned factors, according to Birnbohm, “indicate the school funding formula needs to be updated” (beyond any last-minute stop gap measures). But in addition to those factors, according to Stow and the superintendent, the aid proportion to the LRHSD “doesn’t seem right.”

“We are facing a $4.69 million deficit

in state funding,” Stow said. “Now that sounds like it should reflect maybe the loss of students we are incurring, but we are only really looking at an enrollment decrease of maybe 80 students. The proportion doesn’t seem right – we have a 1.23 percent decrease in students, but are seeing an almost 20 percent decrease in state funding.”

Birnbohm, in citing from a story published by NJ Advance Media (which publishes The Star Ledger and Trenton Times) analyzing a “look back period” for state school districts, said the reporting found that the LRHSD saw an overall enrollment decrease of 12 percent, but lost 33 percent of its state aid during the period looked at, compared to the Willingboro School District, which “went down 21 percent in enrollment, but went up 27 percent in state aid.”

“They are getting $54 million in state aid for 3,000 students,” Birnbohm said. “We have close to 7,000 students, and we are getting $18 million in aid.”

In noting that the LRHSD is “sort of” like the Delran School District, Birnbohm, in citing from the story, pointed out that Delran saw less than a 1 percent increase in enrollment, but yet “saw its state aid increase by 200 percent.”

“What is going on here?” asked Birnbohm in indicating her disbelief that the formula allows for results that appear to not be proportionate. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

And if one thinks it is a matter of wealth, Birnbohm pointed to statistics gathered in the piece for the Moorestown School District (serving an affluent community), which show that while its enrollment went down by 12 percent, its aid increased by 36 percent.

“All of this is pointing to this funding formula not working, and something is definitely wrong, and it needs to be fixed,” Birnbohm declared.

Then there is the fact, Birnbohm noted, that the LRHSD was projected to lose a total of $8.3 million through S-2, the “NJDOE recently calculated the total S-2 reductions should have been $6.8 million” to the LRHSD, but at the end of the day, the LRHSD’s total reduction has been $10.32 million, or a “$3.52 million difference.”

“There are flaws we are witnessing in the state funding formula,” the LRHSD superintendent said. “The outdated funding formula needs everybody’s attention.”

In the final year of S-2 phased in funding cuts, the LRHSD, according to Birnbohm, was anticipating only a $337,000 loss in funding, but it “turned into $4.7 million,” or “over 14 times the amount we were projected to lose,” in which the “hole we were anticipating became a canyon.”

The Pine Barrens Tribune previously reported that Birnbohm, in addition to other area superintendents, revealed being completely caught off-guard by the level of reductions in funding in Murphy’s proposed Fiscal Year 2025 state budget, to the point they initially thought the aid figures announced were a mistake.

This newspaper pressed both the governor’s office and NJDOE for an explanation of the unexpected losses in aid, as well as for a justification of the level of cuts, and now, after this newspaper’s original reporting, the NJDOE has offered this explanation for what happened:

“The New Jersey school funding formula was established in state law: the SFRA of 2008, which was amended by the S-2 legislation in 2018 (S-2 was enacted as a way to level-out funding for historically overfunded/underfunded school

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districts.),” wrote NJDOE Spokesman Howard R. Seidman. “The New Jersey Department of Education administers the funding, as per the SFRA. The SFRA is applied to all districts in the same manner, based on various characteristics listed below. The NJDOE applies the school funding formula evenly and uniformly to all districts.

“State education aid in the SFRA is based on the enrollment and characteristics of the students served, while also accounting for the community’s economics in determining the level of state support needed to educate those students. Changes in aid year-toyear – outside of the multi-year phase-in prescribed in the 2018 amendments noted above – are determined by several factors. Major factors include:

• District’s student enrollment;

• Proportion of low-income students;

• Number of students with limited English proficiency; and

• Student grade levels.

Also factoring into the amount of aid received are the measures of a district’s ability to contribute to local schools, as measured by property value and income.”

Seidman also noted that a “change in one or more of these factors” such as a “spike in property values or a decrease in enrollment” can impact a school district’s funding amounts.

“Note that districts also receive additional aid to support transportation, school security, high concentrations of military-connected families, and other forms of categorical funding not adjusted by community factors,” Seidman added.

Closing ‘Hole in the Millions,’ Barring Any Relief

According to Stow, the district, in total, was at one point faced with a $12.8 million budget deficit for the upcoming school year, but was able to bring that down to about $10.8 million after utilizing “some funding in fund balance,” but that it “still leaves $10.8 million to have to find somewhere to balance our budget.”

Among some of the other cuts that were implemented, for now, is a cancellation of a contract with Chancelight, described as an alternative education program, an elimination of a school resource officer

at Cherokee High School (the officer is reportedly retiring and will be replaced with SLEO [Special Law Enforcement Officers] III officers instead), a reduction in textbook and supply purchases, and an elimination of student activities “at other locations.”

Additionally, Stow said the district will rely on security guards to provide supervision at events versus paying for law enforcement coverage.

As for the added fees to be imposed, it includes having parents cover the cost of a cap and gown for graduates, Stow noted, with parents having to also now pay out of pocket if they wish to have their child’s Chromebook under warranty. Fees will also now be assessed for PSAT and Seal of Biliteracy tests.

“All students will speak about activities that they don’t want cut,” Birnbohm said.

“The staff in our district and in our programs make our schools a place where kids find their passions, voices. I could not be more proud of what we offer. It is not LRHSD failing our students, it is our state – it is the state that claims they support our education, but they don’t show their support by funding all of its students, in all of its towns.”

Dr. Megan Jones, president of the Lenape District Education Association (LDEA), in reacting to the May 7 adoption of the LRHSD budget reflecting cuts, recognized that the funding formula and cap that has been in place “isn’t the fault of the administration or board,” but called it a “harsh reality.”

“And I think we all agree that it is not ideal for our community or our schools,” Jones declared.

Jones further declared that while she understands “the board faced difficult decisions,” she wanted to “draw attention to who is bearing the brunt of these cutsour members.”

“To put it in perspective, you are proposing to cut the jobs of over 10 percent of our members,” she observed. “If we add the number of our members who are scheduled to resign or retire this summer, that is almost 110 fewer adults - over 13 percent of our members - in our schools next year.

“You are cutting the jobs of people who have the most direct contact time with our students – the ones who make the biggest difference in their educational experience. I said it last month, and I’ll say it again: these cuts affect real people. For when you take away those who the students depend on every day to succeed it jeopardizes the quality of their education and the well-being of the students.”

As adopted on May 7, the district’s

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CROSSWORD SPONSORED

FirstBaptist Church

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General Fund Budget is $167,228,713. Its debt service, which Stow noted has not been raised in years, is $7,907,362, making the total budget $175,136,075.

This newspaper inquired of the LRHSD why it had been decided to eliminate the JROTC Navy, to which this newspaper was told, in a response:

The total tax levy is $136,896,147 (again that is a figure that had been set prior to Murphy’s enactment of A-4161 and any board decision to take advantage of the relief mechanisms).

BY

It was also noted during the budget presentation that in an attempt to “save as many positions as possible” in the budget, the LRHSD:

• Reallocated funds that could have been used on facility related expenses; and

• Instituted a hiring freeze (since December), creating additional fund balance.

The two methods, it was maintained, allowed the board to save many staff positions, “equaling $2 million in salaries.”

For the clubs and activities selected to be cut, Stow said the determination was based on “low participation” and finding that there was a “duplication of services.”

As for the gymnastics program, Stow maintained there was also “low participation,” while there is a “high cost per pupil,” adding “all but one district (other than LRHSD) in South Jersey” has eliminated gymnastics or “never had gymnastics.”

In anticipating that the cut to gymnastics could potentially still remain in place, this newspaper received an email from a parent that about 50 or so parents had planned to gather this week to try to save the program.

“The Department of Defense JROTC regulations stipulate in order to receive financial support all programs must maintain the minimum enrollment status of 100 cadets or 10 percent of the students enrolled in the school, whichever is less. With a school population of over 2,000 students, Cherokee JROTC must have at least 100 students. Despite our dedicated efforts to bolster enrollment within the program, we found ourselves confronted with persistent challenges in maintaining the minimum enrollment requirement. We received notification from the Department of Navy on December 15, 2021, warning of probationary status due to insufficient enrollment, which prompted us to intensify our recruitment initiatives. Regrettably, despite our best endeavors, our enrollment numbers remain below the requisite threshold, as there are only 55 students currently in the program. Faced with the impending lack of matching funds from the Department of Navy, coupled with our current fiscal situation, we are unable to sustain the program.

It is important to note, this decision was not made lightly, and we understand the disappointment this decision may cause students, parents, staff, and supporters of the program. Cherokee’s NJROTC has been a source of pride and opportunity for numerous students over the years, fostering leadership skills, discipline, and a sense of civic duty. Our priority remains providing quality education and opportunities for all of our students.

Cherokee students who are interested in

participating in a JROTC program have the option to attend JROTC programs at either Lenape or Seneca, which has always been the case for a student at Shawnee High School, which has never had a JROTC program.”

As for what specific clubs, at the moment, are among the 20 cut through the current adopted version of the budget, as well as what stipend positions are affected by cuts, this newspaper was told by the district:

“We are closely monitoring Bill S-3081 (which was substituted by A-4161), … and our plan is to restore over half of the clubs and stipend positions with the Stabilization Aid Grant … . Once we receive details regarding the Stabilization Aid Grant, we will finalize the clubs and stipend positions for the 2024-25 school year.”

“Both the board and administration empathize with our community's disappointment regarding the necessary reduction of programs, personnel, and

positions to achieve a balanced budget this year,” Birnbohm told this newspaper.

“As we navigate through this challenging period, I implore all of our elected officials to engage in genuine dialogue to resolve this pressing issue, which is negatively impacting thousands of students throughout our state. We urge for viable solutions that prevent cuts in state aid to any district, ensure equity among all districts, and refrain from burdening taxpayers with increased taxes.

“We cannot emphasize enough the urgency surrounding a permanent solution to school funding. It is imperative that school leaders have access to a predictable funding formula that addresses both current needs and those that will arise in the future across all districts. Ensuring adequate funding for education should be a nonnegotiable priority for our state, reflecting our shared commitment to nurturing our educational system.”

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Medford Cedar Products Inc., a Southampton Township firm, had all once been members of the Chatsworth Methodist Church, and the family had played a part in the construction of the original ramp. The problems that had developed with it in recent years had come to the attention of Kurt Scheibner, the son of the owner, who had extended an offer to Brower to do some piecemeal repairs on it as his schedule allowed.

But when Ethan visited Scheibner in person to ask for help with his Eagle Scout project, his mom recounted, the latter was so impressed that he volunteered to contribute all the wood required as well as the material used in amenities like the bench, which, according to Brower, would have cost around $7,000.

“Kurt, who grew up in Chatsworth, had gone to Sunday school there, and the church was near and dear to his family,” she

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explained, adding, “we kept begging to pay Kurt, at least for the hardware, but he said he was contributing everything.”

Not everyone who helped out in this effort, however, had a connection with the church, let alone the town. As relative newcomers to the community, Ethan’s family certainly didn’t, Kathleen Wojdyla explained, noting that the last church to which they had belonged some years ago was a Lutheran church in Asbury Park. But the renovation project and all that went along with it soon became very much of a family affair for them as well, with her husband Derek having conceived the original red and white design for the “Revamp the Ramp” campaign, complete with a graphic of the church.

The shirts were also donated by Beckman’s on the Beach in Belmar, whom she described as “a lifetime friend of ours.” A total of 66 shirts were distributed to the 45 or so volunteers, as well as other participants, including the employees of Medford Cedar Products and members of the church.

To the small congregation and officials of

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Ethan thanks Kurt Scheibner of

for donating and delivering the wood for the project.

the church, including Brower and the pastor it shares with a sister church, Tabernacle United Methodist, the Rev. Kee Yang, who will have been there six years in July, Ethan is one of the angels that God has sent their way to keep their church going in times of need or crisis so it, in turn, can continue to engage in its own charities, such as the necessities and toys it gets together every year as Christmas presents for local families who may be facing their own financial challenges.

Another example of such a divinely sent envoy, Yang believes, was the man who showed up some years before at a yard sale Brower was conducting, following a storm that had done considerable damage to the shingles on the church roof which, while insured, would have required a $5,000 deductible to repair that the church didn’t have. This stranger, however, agreed to cover that cost, allowing the roof to be repaired.

The pastor said he was particularly impressed by the “great job” that Ethan did of making this entire effort come together, noting that “his leadership was fantastic, and so were his organizational skills.”

Agreeing with that assessment was the assistant scoutmaster from Ethan’s troop

in Toms River appointed to supervise his Eagle Scout project, who wished to only be identified as Mr. M.

“Ethan has consistently shown an ability to get things done efficiently and effectively,” he told this newspaper in an email. “His dedication to contributing to the community is evident through his dedication to his Eagle project. With his strong work ethic and leadership qualities, Ethan will make significant contributions in any endeavor he pursues.”

Ethan, who was honored the following day with a plaque and a copy of the blueprint for the original ramp built as an earlier Eagle Scout project back before he was born, rather modestly summed up his own as having been “just a thing to give back to the community and a need I wanted to meet,” as well as helping the disabled as he learned to do in pursuing that first merit badge, but that somehow ended up going way beyond his expectations, perhaps proving to him what a difference a dedicated individual can make in the scheme of things.

As his mom put it, “We were blown away by the amount of support his effort received.”

Photo Provided

Medford Cedar Products in Southampton

BUSINESS & SERVICE DIRECTORY

RESIGNS

(Continued from Page 4)

and stages for such displays of hate. It is a shame for normal people who live here that a small group make it intolerable for civilized people to want to get involved and make a difference in their community.”

She called out “personal attacks against me,” which she maintained have focused on “my looks, my body, my career, my hobbies and even my children, calling them “insane and downright evil.”

“If this was really about a motion to demolish a condemned building, why so much emphasis on extraneous personal details of mine when the majority of the township council also voted the same way as I?” she asked. “As a woman, I am especially horrified at the participation of other women in the attacks. And the men? Not much to say about you – not yet anyway.”

Stone added that she “feels sorry” for the “sincere people who truly want answers” and “go about it in a respectful and civilized manner.”

“I have shaken off the horrific ones like dust on my sandals long ago,” she wrote. “All of your feigned outrage over

a cocky comment or two or 20 I may have had 10 years ago is laughable and fake.

Accusations of ‘racism’ because I quoted a book about Pineys in a private group.”

Stone put on blast the individual who had shared the comment from the private group, calling that person a “do nothing” lowlife.

“Thinking I deserve this because of whatever comment I made – whenever I made it that hurt your feelings years ago is also laughable and fake,” she declared. “All of your feigned outrage is oh so fake, it makes me sick. What happened here is you are outraged at yourself for not paying attention – I wanted to find out about the Town Hall and find out I did. I’m sorry the results of the inspections and inquiries were that it is indeed a nightmare of decades of neglect and you neglected it, not me! But you loved it sooooo much! I just wanted to find out just how bad it was. But I get it, this building is ‘the most important thing in your life.’ How pathetic. Beloved my a**. Ignored like some of your teeth.”

She asked who in the community “wants to show up to a meeting where people are screaming at them” to the point “state police need to monitor a small town meeting.”

“Does that really accomplish anything?” she asked.

Stone, despite the fair share of

controversies, actually had brought an end to one spanning two years, just minutes into office –convincing her colleagues to end a two-minute time limit on public comments, with now four minutes being given to each speaker to make comments. She pointed this out in her resignation pronouncement.

“I moved to this community and was encouraged to become involved as I felt I had a voice and a drive to help make things better for EVERYONE in the community,” she declared. “Isn’t that what local level politics is about? The first thing I did was to make a motion to increase the time citizens got to speak and I vowed to be transparent, which was something townsfolk, and I as a new resident prior to getting on committee, felt was lacking.”

She went on that the “majority of residents didn’t pay any attention or get involved” or “didn’t care for years.”

Stone ended her pronouncement, in part, by contending that she had “wanted to

accomplish more community involvement,” and “so yay me, I guess I did just that!”

“Now the community is more involved,” she asserted, also contending of those bashing her that they have “99 percent of things WRONG.”

Stone signed her pronouncement, “Former Tabernacle Township Committeewoman/Deputy Mayor.”

“That’s right, I resigned last Thursday,” she concluded, with one outspoken local that brought the injunction suit, declaring afterwards it is a “stepping ‘stone’ onto

issues at hand.”