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Vol. 4 – No. 17 ♦
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December 21, 2019 – January 10, 2020
CONGRESSIONAL CALLING t mas C hrisoring C Coolntest #d3by
School Consolidation Under Consideration in Tabernacle District Due to State Aid Cuts By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer
s or e Spon pRite of S h o d for d Me S3 AGE SE E P
Photo By Burlington County GOP
Republican Kate Gibbs, currently deputy director for the Engineers Labor-Employer Cooperative (ELEC 825) and a former Burlington County freeholder who is running for Congress in New Jersey’s Third Congressional District.
Photo By Janine Seeley
Former state trooper turned lawyer John Novak, also currently deputy mayor of Barnegat Township, who announced his bid for the Republican nomination for Congress against Rep. Andy Kim (D-Marlton).
Two Republicans Compete for County Party Nominations in Effort to Unseat Third District Democratic Congressman By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer
FR EE
MOUNT HOLLY—Two Republicans, one from Burlington County and one from Ocean County, have filed to run for U.S. Congress in New Jersey’s Third Congressional District, which spans both counties and includes Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, in 2020. Lumberton resident Kate Gibbs, currently deputy director for the Engineers Labor-
Employer Cooperative (ELEC 825) and a former Burlington County freeholder, and former state trooper turned lawyer John Novak, also currently deputy mayor of Bar negat Township, have recently announced their 2020 bids for the Republican nomination for Congress against Rep. Andy Kim (D-Marlton). The two candidates believe the freshman congressman’s seat is vulnerable after he
won the district in 2018 by just shy of 4,000 votes. Since 1993, the late John Adler was the only other Democrat to represent the district, doing so from 2009 to 2011. The Burlington County Republican Committee, on Dec. 7, held its nominating convention months earlier than usual, and backed Gibbs, giving her the Burlington See CALLING/ Page 15
TABERNACLE—The Tabernacle Township Board of Education is considering moving the Tabernacle Township School District’s second, third and fourth grade classes from Tabernacle Elementary School to Olson Middle School as part of a potential consolidation to help offset a projected $2.6 million loss in state aid to the district over the next five years, the result of a recently implemented modified school funding law. Exacerbating the situation is a decline in the district’s student enrollment and an increase in the cost to educate each district pupil over the last decade. The consolidation proposal, or the “elephant in the room,” as Finance Committee Chairman and School Board Member Brian Lepsis put it during a Dec. 16 town hall meeting, was announced by the district in a Dec. 11 Facebook posting. The town hall meeting was held during the school board’s December regular meeting to provide more details about what Lepsis referred to as a “drastic measure.” Other “future-potential changes” the board is reviewing to help offset the loss in funding, according to Lepsis during the town hall, is creating a joint superintendent/principal position to oversee both district schools in the wake of the resignation of Superintendent Glenn Robbins (he starts his new Brigantine Schools job in February), eliminating one high-paying administrative position; selling a vacant schoolhouse the district owns; and moving away from individual bus stops in favor See SCHOOL/ Page 18
INDEX Community........................ 11 Hobbyist............................ 17 Opinion.............................. 10 Christmas Countdown......... 2 Job Board.......................... 22 Christmas Worship............S4 Leo the Lion Challenge..... 11 Health................................ 13 Local News.......................... 4
Senior Column................... 11 Warmest Wishes...............S1
Here's My Card.................. 20 Marketplace....................... 23 Worship Guide................... 12
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