Pine Barrens Tribune May 21, 2022-May 27, 2022

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Vol. 6 – No. 30 ♦

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Tabernacle Township Administrator Replaced in April by Shared Service to Receive Severance Pay

AN APPROACHABLE APPROACH TO SERVING HIS COMMUNITY New Evesham Police Chief Walt Miller.

Approved Separation Agreement Provides Former Official with $29K; Puts ‘Confidentially Clause’ in Place By Douglas D. M elegari Staff Writer

TABERNACLE—Casey English, who was appointed as Tabernacle Township’s administrator in November 2021, but was then suddenly replaced in the position by Maryalice Brown through a shared service agreement with Woodland Township for municipal administrator services following an “adverse job action” taken on the night of April 4 which had placed an employee on “administrative leave,” with English’s name removed from the municipal website the following day, has formally resigned from her position, but appears to have been given at least three months’ severance pay totaling over $29,000. While that pay appears to meet the statutory minimum for when a municipal administrator is immediately removed from their position, the circumstances surrounding English’s removal have yet to be explained with an agreed-to “confidentially clause” now further limiting the township from being able to release details to the public. But the lack of details has now led to a question about whether the township could have in anyway averted the payout by providing English with three months’ notice. A copy of English’s undated resignation letter was obtained by this newspaper through an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request, with English writing, “Please accept this letter of resignation of employment with Township of Tabernacle, conditioned upon

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In His New Role as Evesham’s 7th Police Chief, Department Veteran Walt Miller Welcomes the Chance to Further Enhance the Security of His Fellow Residents, Utilizing the Extensive Knowledge of His Profession Behind His Modest Manner

By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer

EVESHAM—To understand the sense of dedication to public service that Walt Miller brings to his new job as the seventh chief of the Evesham Township Police Department where he has spent the past 25 years, it helps to know something about where he’s ‘coming from’ – or to be more specific, how a particular incident in his childhood influenced him to make the career choice that he did. It happened during a family outing at the Jersey Shore when he, his mother and

sister were standing in line for the octopus ride at what was then the Sportland Pier in Wildwood, waiting for his father, a Philadelphia fireman who retired with the rank of deputy chief, to buy tickets. “There was a little girl who fell off the ride and landed on the platform,” he recounted in a phone interview with the Pine Barrens Tribune. “I remember the ride was spinning and the operator was on the other side, so he didn’t see it happen. And you could tell that if the ride didn’t stop, it would have crushed that child.” Miller recalled that at that moment, “it

seemed that the entire crowd just stopped.” “And I still remember as a kid that helpless feeling of standing there watching this, when I saw someone run through the crowd, jump up on the ride, and move the child to safety,” Miller said. “As he did so, the ride hit him on the back, but he ended up jumping onto the side of the ride and moving with it until the operator shut it down. That person was my dad.” Watching how his father didn’t hesitate to spring into action at that fateful See CHIEF/ Page 13

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INDEX Business Directory...................................20

Marketplace..................................................... 18

Job Board.................................................18

Opinion.....................................................22

Local News.................................................2

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Saturday, May 21, 2022

Grand Jury Declines to Bring Charges Against State Trooper Who Fatally Shot Stranded Driver During Scuffle on Parkway Decision Comes Almost Exactly Two Years After Incident that Followed Victim’s Trip at Excessive Speeds from Upstate New York to Bass River; Lawsuit that Claims Racism Was a Factor in Shooting Is Yet to Be Heard

By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer

BASS RIVER—Just short of two years after the fatal shooting by a State Trooper of a Poughkeepsie, N.Y. man on the side of the Garden State Parkway in Bass River Township, a state grand jury that convened in Trenton has voted not to file any criminal charges against the officer, Staff Sgt. Randall Wetzel, of Troop “D” of the New Jersey State Police, according to a press release from the Department of Law and Public Safety of the state Attorney General (AG)’s Office. The investigation of the fatal encounter, the release noted, “included interviews of witnesses, collection of forensic evidence, review of video footage, and autopsy results from the medical examiner.” After hearing testimony and evidence from the investigation, the grand jury concluded its deliberations May 16, and voted ‘no bill,’ which means it determined that Wetzel’s actions should not result in charges against him. The victim, Maurice Gordon, Jr., a Jamaican immigrant, was shot by Wetzel five times during an alleged scuffle with the State Trooper, who had reportedly first asked him to remain in his car, which was stalled in a dangerous part of the Parkway straddling the Mullica River, until a tow truck arrived, and who then purportedly invited him to sit in the back of the patrol car for his own safety after he insisted on exiting his vehicle. Gordon, according to the account provided by the Attorney General’s office, opened the door of the patrol car when Wetzel offered to give him a COVID mask and engaged the trooper in the struggle that ended in his being shot. A camera mounted inside the patrol car showed some of that encounter, during which Wetzel maintained Gordon had attempted to pull his gun out of its holster. Wetzel then immediately called for medical aid following the shooting, but after paramedics trained in advance life support arrived and conveyed Gordon’s failure to register vital signs on a cardiac monitor to a doctor, he was pronounced dead at the scene. The incident took place following what has been described as an erratic highspeed drive down the Parkway by Gordon, who had reportedly left a friend’s home in Poughkeepsie in a state of extreme agitation, causing the friend to subsequently call local authorities about his state of mind, but to no avail, with police in upstate New York having “sought the whereabouts of Mr. Gordon to check on his well-being,” the press release noted. However, the police were unable to locate him. In the course of that trip, which took place during the early morning hours of May 23, 2020, and which the AG’s office said included an incursion into Connecticut prior to his getting on the Parkway, Gordon had other interactions with law enforcement, once when he ran out of gas and was assisted by a Red Bank police officer, further on when a State Trooper found his car stopped in the southbound lane near Waretown and called for a tow truck (after which he was given a ride to a nearby convenience store by a motorist, then returned to his car and left), and again near Stafford Township, when he was issued a summons by another State Trooper for allegedly driving at 101 mph. In March of last year, a Westchester County, N.Y. law firm owned by attorney William O. Wagstaff III filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court, in Camden, on behalf

of Gordon’s parents, Maurice Gordon, Sr. and Racquel Barrett, against Wetzel, the State of New Jersey and its then-Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, New Jersey State Police Colonel Patrick Callahan, and other unnamed individuals, alleging that the younger Gordon’s constitutional and other rights were violated and that racism in policing was a factor. That litigation has yet to be heard. Why Gordon was reportedly traveling at an excessive speed down the Parkway that morning has never been established. But in a phone interview given to the Pine Barrens Tribune not long after the shooting, a former girlfriend of his, whom this newspaper located by accessing his Facebook page, alleged that he had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, adding that he had been hospitalized three or four times for the condition and was on medications dispensed by a mental hygiene clinic. T he ex-g i rl fr iend fu r ther clai me d that Gordon kept all his mental health appointments, was always very compliant with law enforcement and had a pronounced fear of firearms. She also maintained, however, that she had seen fit to get a restraining order against him after he threatened her on one occasion, although he never actually engaged in any violence toward her, and that while she later had the order dropped, it had resulted in his being arrested. The story in which quotes from that interview were included was subsequently picked up and linked to by The New York Times, which noted what the former girlfriend, whom the paper said could not be immediately reached for comment, had told this newspaper about the victim’s alleged schizophrenia. According to the Times, “His mother, sister and a family lawyer neither confirmed nor disputed that, but they said it was irrelevant to his death.” “I don’t think his mental health has anything to do with it,” Ms. Barrett was quoted in the Times as saying. In response to an email query from this newspaper as to whether such information had been included in the material presented to the grand jur y, Kaitlyn Lopez, a spokesperson for the AG’s office, noted, “Under New Jersey Court rules governing criminal practice, we are not permitted to discuss what evidence was before the grand jury.” An attempt by this newspaper to contact Wagstaff for comment was unsuccessful. However, according to the Associated Press, the lawsuit filed by his office acknowledges that the victim had an “unfortunate history of psychiatric difficulties,” but claimed there was no history of violent expression associated with them. The OAG’s press release also noted that “the fatal police encounter was investigated by the Office of Public Integrity and Accountability (OPIA) and presented to New Jersey residents called to serve on the grand jury in accordance with Directive 2019- 4, the “Independent Prosecutor Directive” issued in 2019. The release further stated that in July, “OPIA issued standard operating procedures to ensure that these grand jury presentations are conducted in a neutral, objective manner, and with appropriate transparency regarding the process, consistent with the Independent Prosecutor Directive.”

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Saturday, May 21, 2022

Use of ESSER Funds to Hold Onto 18 Pemberton Kindergarten Aides in 2022-23 School Year is Like ‘Putting Lipstick on a Pig,’ Official Says

Pemberton District Approves $107M Budget with $72M in Assistance, But Says It Can No Longer Afford Ink Cartridges, Printers for Classrooms

Board Member Who Made Remark Warns of ‘Detrimental’ Consequences If ‘We Don’t Restructure as a Whole’ to Try to Avoid Cuts in the Classroom; Another Says ‘Need’ Will Still Be There in Event of Cuts to Aides, Programs

Revelation That Printers Were Being Taken from Classrooms Due to Finances Has Roiled Recent Board of Education Meetings, Leading to Alternative Plan

By Douglas D. Melegari

By Douglas D. Melegari

“jumping on” Havers because “he is new” and “inherited this,” but that “we have to look at the whole picture” before proceeding with such a plan. “Because if I was an aide, I couldn’t think outside next year, because now I have to look for something else,” Lowery said. The board member added that she could foresee a scenario where the aides currently employed with the district “leave in the middle of the year” and “jump” to “grab another job opportunity,” knowing their positions could soon be eliminated. “I don’t know if it is proper to say it, so I do apologize in advance, because you (Havers) are a new superintendent here, but there was a lot of spending – a lot of spending – before you got here and it was all top management, and now it seems like the first thing we are saying is the aides are going to go next year,” Lowery declared. “… These are the people who affect our kids in the classroom, and I feel like as a board member – and I don’t know any of the aides – these are the people who actually give teachers the support.” L owe r y wa r ne d of “d et r i m e nt a l” consequences to a “small town like this” if “we don’t restructure as a whole,” pointing out that “when it comes to getting cut, the first thing getting cut are local people in the town,” who will then have to travel out of town in search of a job, noting that given the proximity of the town, it can take around 20 minutes for one to leave to go to another town. “Are we thinking about that whole picture?” she asked. “This is your (Haver’s) whole first year, and you didn’t make any of these choices, but it does seem like the first thing that goes is the classroom and that is going to affect the kids. You got to think about … the bigger picture.” At a previous board meeting, Smith also pointed out that the district’s “extended Jr. Hive Services” (student support services) as well as “summer school and enrichment” would “disappear” and be “eliminated” and “not return” to the district’s General Fund when the ESSER funding is exhausted (though he had waffled on that position in the wake of previous critical school board member questions, but would return to it at a later budget presentation to Pemberton Borough Council). Board Member Lionel Lee, on April 28, noted that the “summer school programs being systematically cut right now in lieu of having to balance the budget” had been See AIDES/ Page 11

Staff Writer

P E M B E RT O N —T h e P e m b e r t o n Board of Education, through adopting the Pemberton Schools 2022-23 budget of “just under $108 million” on April 28, has approved the removal of 18 kindergarten aides from the district’s General Fund, with the positions “reallocated” (or transferred) for now to Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds, or temporary, federal Coronavirus pandemic relief monies. But as the 8-0 board approval was given (with Board Member Terry Maldonado absent from the budget’s public hearing), some board members again expressed concern with a plan previously presented by Business Administrator Daniel Smith to eliminate the aide positions once the ESSER funds are exhausted/expire “as of 6-30-23.” Smith, in March, cited a continuing loss in state aid as the reason for the anticipated elimination of kindergarten aides beginning with the 2023-24 school year, with Smith, on April 28, noting that the district, thus far, has lost some $16.5 million in adjustment aid since 2018, with another $4 to $9 million in state aid cuts currently anticipated to occur from the 2023-24 school year to the 2024-25 school year. Sup er i ntendent Jef frey Havers, i n previously defending the plan to eliminate the aides, said that if you have 10 tables and are faced with a situation where you can’t keep all of them, “If we don’t cut two here, we have to cut two over there.” He added that the only other alternative is to find more money, but indicated finding any additional funding was unlikely, but something that he continues to advocate for. Smith, after announcing during a previous board meeting that items moved to ESSER funds “will not go back into the General Fund budget,” and when the temporary federal funds run out, “those services and personnel items” will also “disappear with that funding,” said on April 28 that a “big note” he wanted to make is that the “18 aides in kindergarten are allocated to ESSER funds” for the 2022-23 school year. “I have some concerns with the 18 aides,” declared Board Member Sheri Lowery in response. “I know that they have been saved (with the ESSER Funding in the 2022-23 school year budget). But it seems like we are putting lipstick on a pig. Because if I was an aide, and I knew my job was going to be cut next year, how committed can I be?” Lower y cautioned that she wasn’t

Staff Writer

PEMBERTON—A some $107 million budget for the Pemberton Township School District, for the 2022-23 school year, received Pemberton Board of Education approval on April 28, but despite the budget containing $72,460,823 in financial assistance from both the state and federal governments, as well as special revenue of $11,220,418 (the majority of which is special preschool aid and a couple of grant awards), in addition to a local tax levy of $20,252,825, the district is apparently unable to continue to afford ink cartridges for its classroom printers in the majority of cases, as well as maintain printers in at least some of its classrooms. It is part of a public revelation that has roiled recent school board meetings here in what is considered a School Development Authority (SDA) district (formerly known as an Abbott District, in which the state provides additional financial remedies), with somewhat different accounts being offered about the exact circumstances surrounding either the apparent, recent removal of printers, or threat to take them away. However, there has been an acknowledgement by Superintendent Jeffrey Havers and School Board Member Carmen Bivins, chair of the board’s Finance Committee, that what has occurred is connected to the state aid cuts that began in 2018 (with the latest one for the 2022-23 school year of some $4.9 million, with a total loss of adjustment aid to the district, since 2018, put at around $16.5 million). The teacher who made the revelation back in March, Nancy Myer, of Pemberton Township High School, now says she was “slapped on the wrist” for it and “spoken to” in a manner afterwards that she didn’t even observe when teachers first spoke out at school board meetings this year against a controversial nozero policy, but declared on April 28, “we only know what we know if we don’t ask” and that “while I believe that I am being encouraged to be silent, silence is a form of acceptance.” “And, as you can see, here I am,” Myer said on April 28. “I am an educator, through and through. And I took an oath, just like people in the medical field do, many years ago, and it went something like this: speak for what is right, speak for what is just, protect your students, protect your talents, do what is right. Isn’t that what freedom of speech in public is all about?” And since the revelation, the district administration has apparently backed away from removing at least some printers, coming up with an alternative plan that would now add larger printers in certain areas of district

facilities, while also allowing teachers to now buy their own ink. Myer, on March 24, told the school board (which has been beleaguered by the district losing state aid since 2018 and an anticipation that more is to come through the 2025-26 school year – possibly as much as $9 million), that Pemberton high teachers were recently told “all of our classroom printers will be removed when our ink cartridges run out,” pointing out that she was “extremely disheartened” to have to share such information with the school board, which appeared to be caught completely off-guard at the time by the revelation. The high school special education teacher added that she understood “you need to save money” and that she thinks “it is a great idea to save money,” but that teachers like her have students who are on Individual Education Plans (IEPs), which she explained are “legal documents” often requiring accommodations for special needs students, such as enlarged printing of classwork material. “When a student is sitting in front of me and saying, ‘I can’t see this.’ and ‘I need this a different way.’, and I have to do it (print the document) on my printer right then, I can do that because I have one in my room,” Myer explained. “However, with this now getting ready to be eliminated from my room, I am not going to have that opportunity.” According to Myer, Denbo-Crichton School, which opened in 2020, one of nine district schools, “is going through this same issue right now,” with reports that “it is an absolute nightmare with those teachers.” She described that with “one printer per floor” at Denbo-Crichton, “many teachers are having to go to areas in the building that are nowhere near their room.” “So, they want copies for their students – whatever it is that they are copying, and they can’t get them,” Myer contended. “Or, they have to wait in line, but they need to run back to class. And if they send a paraprofessional (to make copies), they still can’t get them, and now they are there, and their students now don’t have their para. So that is a problem. This is like a mushroom effect of problems.” Another teacher, she described, reported to her that she is now having to travel across town to the Brotherhood Administration Building to make photocopies for her students, a situation she called “crazy to me.” “When she goes there, she picks up her copies, thinking they are hers, and some of them are not hers, it belongs to somebody else,” said Myer in describing what’s been See BUDGET/ Page 12

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Handful of Recent Black Bear Sightings Captured on Video in Browns Mills, Woodland and Sweetwater, Proving They’re Here

Saturday, May 21, 2022

Pemberton Township Education Association Releases Survey Results Showing Most Respondents ‘Dissatisfied’ with ‘District Administration’ Questions Asked Pertained to School Climate, Morale, Discipline, Curriculum and Having Voice in Initiatives; Superintendent Suggests Survey Was Skewed

By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer

The black bear spotted prowling around a Browns Mills area residence.

By Bill Bonvie Staff Writer

PEMBERTON—Anyone who believes that the Pine Barrens, unlike the wooded hills of northwest Jersey, are free of bears might want to rethink that assumption after seeing a couple of videos that were recently posted online by area residents. It now appears that at least one black bear is prowling around these parts, scrounging for whatever might be edible in the vicinity of people’s homes – and that might not be the only such critter to have made his or her way past the bear barriers created by the Interstate highways and the turnpike that crisscross the northern and central parts of the state. The first of these bear sightings was reported by Geri Bove Marchitto, a volunteer at Deborah Heart and Lung Center, who resides off a rural dirt road across from the Brendan T. Byrne State Forest in the Browns Mills section of Pemberton Township. She and her husband first found some minor damage to their home on May 9, along with telltale pawprints leading back into the woods, she told the Pine Barrens Tribune. On the following night, however, “we actually saw it at the end of the driveway,” she said, noting that it was after garbage pails that had been put out for collection, which although secured, the bear had managed to pry open. W hen it started to saunter up the driveway, she said, they went safely inside, but managed to get a video of the animal, which also ventured into a neighbor’s yard, attracted by suet put out for the birds. “We’ve been here 43 years and had never seen a bear before this,” said Marchitto, just before being interrupted by her husband warning about a rattlesnake in their yard. The next day, she said, she called the

Photo By Geri Marchitto

New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP)’s Fish and Wildlife Division, which sent a ranger to their house who said he thought it was a young male, and that “it’s not uncommon anymore to spot them in South Jersey.” A couple of days later, on May 13, two homeowner videos captured by Ring cameras were posted online of a bear passing through the area of Route 72 in Woodland Township. Yet another bear—if not the same one, as black bears can roam over an extended area— was spotted on May 18 and recorded on video at least 20 miles to the south of the initial sighting, off Indian Cabin Terrace in the Sweetwater section of Mullica Township, Atlantic County, which sits between Washington Township and Batsto, with video posted by resident Gina Vitagliano in a local social media group. Queried by this newspaper as to whether there have been more bear sightings than usual this year, NJDEP Spokesman Larry Hajna said he would need more time to look into the matter, but did note that there have been bear sightings in all 21 counties in New Jersey, although the majority have been in the northwestern part of the state. He also suggested that anyone concerned about bears consult the “Know the Bear Facts” page at the NJDEP’s website, which provides tips on how to avoid attracting bears as well as safety tips for if you do see one. But black bears, it should be noted, are not to be trifled with. Eight years ago, a student at a New Jersey university took some pictures of a bear he and fellow hikers encountered in the Apshawa Preserve in West Milford, Passaic County, just before the animal attacked and killed him, thus becoming the state’s first bear fatality.

PEMBERTON—The results from a Pemberton Township Education Association (PTEA) “membership survey” administered in February by the union and released publicly during an April 28 Pemberton Board of Education meeting, indicate that the majority of respondents are dissatisfied to “very dissatisfied” with how things are going in the Pemberton Township School District, and believe the district administration has not done enough to address issues in the district such as student behavior outbursts, with a whopping 88 percent of those polled responding that morale is either “not great” or “horrendous.” Superintendent Jeffrey Havers, upon Rob Horn, PTEA president, handing each individual school board member on April 28 a copy of the survey results, indicated the survey was skewed, maintaining that the process also took place during active contractual negotiations between the district and PTEA (which have now since come to an end with a new PTEA contract reportedly “approved and ratified”). A copy of the survey was provided to this newspaper following the April 28 school board meeting, with it containing a total of 12 pie graphs. The first pie graph indicates from which of the ten district facilities (nine being school buildings) the respondents are reportedly employed, with 18 percent from Helen A. Fort Middle School, 17.6 percent from Denbo-Crichton School, 15.7 percent from Fort Dix Elementary School, 11.8 percent from the Brotherhood Administration Building, and the remainder from Samuel Busansky, Howard L. Emmons, Helen A. Fort Middle, Marcus Newcomb Middle and Joseph S. Stackhouse schools, as well as the Pemberton Early Childhood Education Center and Pemberton Township High School. “The survey was administered to all of our units, in all buildings, between Feb. 9 and Feb. 23,” Horn told the school board. “Members were in no way told how to respond to any of the questions. Statistically, a sample size of 243 respondents, out of our 657 members, would provide a 95 percent confidence level, with a margin of error of 5 percent. We had 255 respondents, which is 39 percent of our membership, so I can assure you these results are quite valid.” The first question the respondents were asked is if they felt their “opinion or input” is valued “when it comes to district educational initiatives,” with 71.8 percent

of those questioned answering “no.” Only 7.8 percent replied, “yes,” with another 20.4 percent answering that they were “unsure.” When the respondents were asked if they felt like they were “respected as a professional by district administration,” 62.4 percent answered “no,” with only 23.9 percent replying “yes.” Another 13.7 percent of respondents answered that they were “unsure.” “Please do not allow anyone to tell you that these survey results are skewed,” Horn declared. “The data here backs up what you have heard anecdotally from our members throughout the year. Our members deserve to have their voices heard on these issues.” The results went from bad to worse for the district administration as one turned to page two of the results printout, with 89.8 percent of respondents contending that the “district administration” is “not doing enough to provide relief and support for the many challenges” staffers are facing during the current school year, many of which have been reported on extensively by this newspaper, with a number of grievances voiced by school staff and parents since last August. Some 86 percent of respondents answered that they felt the “district administration” is not doing enough “to provide self-care and mental health opportunities” for staff. Additionally, nearly 73 percent of respondents answered that they felt the “district administration” is not doing enough “to provide self-care and mental health opportunities for the students.” “In ter m s of the su r vey that was ad m i n istered i n Febr uar y, wh i le we were without a contract and people were encouraged to come to board meetings and speak out about grievances, even though that was an encouragement that is against board policy – I will point out this is not an anonymous survey; and I will point out that the association leadership, some would say autocratic, got the names of people who submitted and didn’t submit,” Havers responded. The superintendent further pointed out that some “61 percent of the people decided not to submit to reply to the survey.” “Although, it is my understanding that there were plenty of people pressured to complete the survey,” Havers added. “The association leadership knew who completed it and who didn’t. I am not sure if the association leadership actually saw how many replied and how many didn’t reply, but that part I don’t know. Because that See SURVEY/ Page 15

Pemberton High Teacher Calls Reformation of Grading Committee, Which Will Reportedly Review Controversial No-Zero Policy, a ‘Win’ Grandmother Tells Pemberton Board That Superintendent ‘Is Not Your Boss,’ But Rather Is His, in Demanding Policy ‘Compromise,’ End to Special Ed Cuts

By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer

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Saturday, May 21, 2022

PEMBERTON—Although a controversial no-zero policy still remains in place in the Pemberton Township School District, Nancy Myer, a teacher at Pemberton Township High School, is calling the recent reformation of a committee that is now reportedly reviewing the policy a “win.” But following the teacher’s declaration during an April 28 Pemberton Board of Education meeting, Superintendent Jeffrey Havers appeared to downplay the committee’s reformation, stressing the committee is not new and that there was always the “intention” and “goal” of not only bringing it back, but soliciting staff input at the end of the school year about the policy at issue. Meanwhile, as public pressure mounts for the policy to be overturned, a grandmother and district employee, Vicki Adams, who previously decried the policy and spoke of its adverse impact on her granddaughters, announced that she has now set up an online petition titled, “Remove ‘No 0 policy’ from our schools,” which, as of this newspaper’s deadline time, already garnered some 68 signatures, with Adams noting that the amount of signatures collected on ipetitions. com was without her even pushing it yet. “Kids should only be given grades that they earn,” it is stated in the description of the petition. “They should not be given points for missing, failed or incomplete assignments. Give them the grades they earn.” Adams, during the April 28 Pemberton board session, also took Havers to task

for a comment reportedly made during a question-and-answer session that followed a budget presentation to local seniors that left her “flabbergasted,” and declared at one point to the local school board, “Mr. Havers is not your boss! You are his boss!” before demanding that the public body “hold him accountable for what he is doing to these kids in our district,” also taking issue with the district administration highlighting future cuts to the district budget due to state funding cuts, all as there are reports that district special education students are struggling as it is (see separate stories). According to Adams, she had asked Havers “about the no-zero policy” during the question-and-answer session in April, and that is when the superintendent “began giving the story – and this paraphrased to save time – ‘if a student has one bad grade, it will take him forever to bring their score back up again.’”(Havers has also expressed a similar sentiment during school board meetings). “I told Mr. Havers about my granddaughter having an IEP (Individualized Education Plan) and I was going to send him an invite,” Adams recounted. “He said he would not come. I was sort of flabbergasted. He said he was not an expert in that area and would not come. I was flabbergasted because he is our leader. And in my opinion, a leader needs to be involved in every aspect of a school district.” Adams put the question to the local school board, “He doesn’t know how to handle them?” But what left Adams also flabbergasted was when Havers, she contended, “didn’t See REFORMATION/ Page 10

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Tabernacle Twp. Committee Catches Flack for Asking ‘What’s Best for Me’ Rather Than ‘What’s Best for the Public’ After Deciding to Remain Virtual, Appoint a Public Information Officer, and Hold Its Sessions at Dinnertime Resistance Against Reinstating Evening Hours for the Town’s Construction Office as Well as Having the Administrator Attend Insurance Meetings Fuels Sentiment

By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer

TABERNACLE—The underlying theme of the Tabernacle Township Committee’s latest meeting on May 4 was that instead of doing “what is best for the public,” officials here are voicing that they are doing “what is best for me.” It was a sentiment not only expressed by two resident transparency advocates, but also at one point by a township committeewoman who recently cited her dismay with the direction of the township as the reason why she is not seeking reelection in November, pointing out that she is outnumbered on the public body. Leading to the sentiments was the actions taken by the township committee during a preceding April 25 meeting that seemingly could limit transparency and township committeeperson access, when after public comment was closed for the evening and new business had passed, three new topics were raised in committee reports, leading to a handful of major decisions being abruptly passed down, two of which drew strong dissent from Committeewoman Nancy K. McGinnis, who is the official not seeking re-election, and another in which she stated she would “go with the flow,” but expressed some dissatisfaction with. McGinnis has been pushing for a return to in-person township committee meetings. Tabernacle has not held one since 2020, when the Coronavirus pandemic first began. But recently some officials have been citing

the closure of Tabernacle Town Hall due to structural issues and the temporary relocation to construction trailers as the reason for not re-starting in-person sessions, though McGinnis has pointed to other meeting hall options that exist. She asked once again during her report on April 25 if the township committee could start having in-person meetings again at the Tabernacle Emergency Services Building, where some were held prior to COVID when there were questions about the second floor of town hall. “I personally like the hybrid,” replied Mayor Samuel Moore III, though the governing body has only been holding allvirtual meetings lately. “More people can attend, and it makes it a little easier for ‘us.’ I would like us to stay hybrid for a while, especially with all the town hall stuff going on. To me, that just helps me out with my schedule for right now. I am just one member of the governing body and I just think it is a win-win for all of ‘us.’ It is easier for ‘everybody.’” Mark Hartman, who was appointed earlier in the year to the governing body, declared that he “seconded” that sentiment, contending that he “feels like ‘everyone’ can be more included on the web.” “It is a more open to ‘everyone,’” he contended. “Plus, we really don’t have a space to have it. So, let’s keep doing webbased meetings.” But all-virtual meetings prevent those See COMMITTEE/ Page 15

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Saturday, May 21, 2022

Local Business Promotes Rain Gardens as Part of Makeover Program, Helping to Reduce Pollutant Runoff, Flooding for Homes, Businesses

Example of a residential rain garden. For the Pine Barrens Tribune MARLTON—Dave Scott, co-owner of Laurel Oak Garden Center in Marlton (Evesham Township) and a self-described environmentalist, is part of a growing group of New Jerseyans who are embracing rain gardens. These landscaping features, which generally include native wildlife with native plants that can absorb a significant amount of water, are being encouraged by the South Jersey Landscape Makeover Program as a way to reduce pollutant runoff and flooding for homes, businesses and municipalities. Scott recently constructed a rain garden at his store to introduce customers to the concept and educate them about their design, installation and benefits. “Putting in a rain garden felt like a nobrainer for us,” he said. “There are a lot of benefits, both for the homeowner and the environment, not to mention that they really improve the aesthetics wherever they’re installed.” Installing rain gardens, according to Scott, also “makes a lot of sense for our business, too.” “We are seeing an increase in customers who are interested in buying native plants, installing rain gardens, and other activities to promote environmental conservation,” the garden center co-owner pointed out. Scott noted that he first learned of the “South Jersey Landscape Makeover Program” when he was contacted by his alma mater, Rutgers University, whose design professionals act as consultants for the project. Such rain gardens focus on using native plants, particularly those found in wetlands or near bodies of water, and generally with deep root structures. This allows them to take up large volumes of water during rainfall, and “slowly filter it through these root systems and back into the water table.” Doing so, it was pointed out, “helps mitigate flooding and acts as a filter to remove pollution such as fertilizers and pesticides.” The South Jersey Landscape Makeover Program also offers financial incentives to

Photo Provided

home and business owners who choose to set up their own rain garden. Rebates of $3 per square foot, up to a $450 maximum, are currently available, with the program to date having provided a total of about $8,000 in rebates. The program also provides free design ser vic es, instr uctional webinars and consultation on rain gardens to help interested parties get started. “Our program is easy for municipalities, r e s i d e nt s a nd a g r i c u lt u r e bu s i n e s s owners,” said Jaclyn Rhoades, director for Conservation Policy at Pinelands Preser vation Alliance. “The team of experts do most of the work and show the property owners how to maintain these green infrastructure gardens. The projects are beautiful and functional. As more green infrastructure projects are installed, more people will see how easy, natural and beneficial it is for their property and community.” To date, the South Jersey Landscape Makeover Program has used rain gardens to prevent an estimated 30 million gallons of polluted stormwater from streaming unfiltered into waterways that feed into the Delaware River and its surrounding watershed. Wit h t he deva st at i ng floo d i ng of Hurricane Ida still fresh in the minds of many New Jerseyans, the advantages of a rain garden’s flood mitigation ability may be even more appealing to home and business owners. It is likely that this advantage will become more obvious in the future, as flooding events like Ida are predicted to increase in both frequency and severity with the progression of climate change. Funding for the South Jersey Landscape Makeover Program is made possible through grants provided by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, under their Delaware River Restoration Program, and Wells Fargo Community Resiliency Program. For more information on the South Jersey Landscape Makeover Program, visit www.sjwatersavers.org/makeover .

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Medford Sunrise Rotary to Honor Area Veterans with ‘Field of Honor’; Township to Resume Its Memorial Day Parade After Two-Year Hiatus

Photos Provided

Photos from past Burlington County Field of Honor events.

By Douglas D. Melegari Staff Writer

MEDFORD—The “Burlington County Field of Honor,” an annual Memorial Day tradition first put together by the Medford Sunrise Rotary Club back in 2019 with 200 full-size American flags lined up in meticulous rows at Medford Township’s Freedom Park to pay tribute to the sacrifices of local veterans, will return again this year from May 27 to June 3, but this time it will have expanded to 350 full-size American flags. And after a two-year hiatus due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Medford Township’s Memorial Day Parade will return this Memorial Day to the streets of Medford.

David Forward, event chairperson of the Medford Sunrise Rotary, explained to this newspaper in a May 17 interview that the club started the Field of Honor in 2019 because it “wanted to do something that is a way for the community and Burlington County to show its patriotism” and, at the same time, also “do something to help disabled veterans.” “So, in 2019, we created the Burlington County Field of Honor, which we held and continue to hold at Freedom Park in Medford,” Forward said. “With the first one, we had 200 full-size American flags all arranged in meticulous rows, sort of like a military cemetery where you see the gravestones lined up so beautifully. And

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we said in order to allow people to honor a person they would designate as one of their hometown heroes, we would place commemorative medallions on each flag.” Those who have family members who are deceased veterans, or have an active-duty military person in their family who they would like to honor can sponsor a flag in the field for $30, according to Forward and “tell us about their loved one.” “And we will then put that story on the back of the medallion and place it on a flag,” he explained. “If you go to the Medford Sunrise Rotary Facebook site right now, you can see we just gave an example of one of those attributions.” When the first Field of Honor was held,

according to Forward, “we had people from all over the county and even from Pennsylvania who heard about it, show up, and walk through the flags, picking up the medallions and reading them.” “Sometimes, they would leave the field with tears coming down their cheeks,” he added. During the course of the event, each night at sunset, members of the Medford Sunrise Rotary “take a representative number of those tributes” and “we read them very solemnly at sunset, and then a bugle plays taps.” By the end of the week-long event, “everybody’s flag is honored or referenced.” See VETERANS/ Page 21

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REFORMATION (Continued from Page 7)

even know if the no-zero policy affected the special education kids.” She claimed that Havers “had to cal l (Assist ant Superintendent) Mrs. (Adelina) Giannetti and ask her” about it. And when Havers contacted Giannetti, according to Adams, “she gave him the ‘it’s about equality’” line as well as its “‘about everything being equal across the board.’” “Guys (board members), there has to be some type of compromise here,” declared Adams after recounting what took place. “This ‘no-zero policy’ is pushing these kids further and further behind.” One of the things that is happening, according to Adams, is that students who should really be failing are technically not on account of being given scores of a 55, and therefore are not eligible for a transfer to another district. “My granddaughter is not succeeding, but yet you guys insist she stay here because she has got the grades,” Adams said. “Well, the only reason she has got the grades is because you guys are giving her the 55.” Adams, who was speaking to the school board from a podium, looked straight ahead at the school board as she made the next statement. “School board – you are the leaders here!” Adams declared. “Mr. Havers is not your boss! You are his boss! It is up to you guys to

WWW.PINEBARRENSTRIBUNE.COM take (the lead) and stand up for these special education kids who need to get an education where they can survive in the school! My granddaughter is not going to have a job. With what is going on now, she is not even going to know how to do a load of laundry unless I teach it to her.” Ad a m s de s c r ib e d that the one granddaughter she is speaking of “doesn’t even know how to add without a calculator,” but yet is “being taught 7th grade math she doesn’t know how to do, because you need to know how to add, subtract, multiply or divide.” “You guys are falling short,” she declared. Adams pointed to a budget presentation that had been held earlier in the evening in which district administrators spent time “looking at the future,” including highlighting likely future cost cutting due to additional state funding cuts that are anticipated. “How much more is it going to affect our Special Ed department?” she asked. “They are not even there (students making it), you are not even meeting them (their needs) where they are needed now. What is going to happen when we cut the budget even more?” Adams then reminded the school board – which recently put some of its energy into passing another controversial policy pertaining to recording of board meetings, raising transparency concerns – that “you are voted on by the parents of this township to take care of the needs of their kids,” and that if she was up at the dais, she would “be sitting there fighting like crazy for the kids of this district first and foremost,” noting that she would be demanding

Saturday, May 21, 2022

a “line item” review, looking for areas where cuts can be made without impacting the education of local students. “I wouldn’t be cutting the Special Education department!” Adams declared. “I wouldn’t be cutting the services that they need! And you guys are responsible for that – you board members! “He (pointing to Havers) is not your boss! You are his! Hold him accountable for what he is doing to these kids in our district!” Adams maintained that she “knows some of you (board members) agree with me,” but that “you are too afraid to speak up.” She contended that her petition had close to 100 signatures, and “while that doesn’t seem like a lot, I haven’t been pushing it either.” “But 100 people out there are flabbergasted when I’m telling them about this – that our kids are being pushed through like this,” Adams said. “I am not the only parent who feels this way! I may be the only parent coming here, standing up, because I have kids to defend … but I am going to defend them till my dying day!” (Other parents and district teachers, at prior meetings, have decried the policy as well, with there being dissatisfaction about it expressed online as well. Additionally, Board Member Robert King has said on several occasions that he disagrees with the policy.) Myer, who delivered lengthy remarks about the importance of not staying silent and asking questions of district officials about implemented policies and procedures, declared that “many” teachers at Pemberton Township High School were “thrilled”

because “our comments and concerns” about the 55-policy “have not gone unnoticed.” “Today was the very first meeting of this new committee that last week was reformed for looking at the 55 (policy),” Myer said. “That is a win for us; that is win for our kids. So, I say to all of our colleagues, and to all of our grandparents who have come for many meetings to speak, and our public: thank-you; thank-you; thank-you. Because it is not a perfect system, but with many people involved, hopefully we can make it better.” Myer described that “there are going to be cracks in the system,” but that “we need to keep talking and … asking those hard questions.” “So, we are elated it has happened,” she said. “The first meeting happened today at the high school, and two more will be (held) in May.” Havers, however, in referring to the committee as the “Grading Committee,” maintained “it is not a new committee.” He contended that the “intention” was always to “reinstate” the committee and “bring that committee back after the year is over – at the end of the year” so that “we can reassess” and “figure out what it is that we can do to improve.” He added that there was also the intention of Eder Joseph, principal of Pemberton high, collecting staff input and feedback on the no-zero policy. “The goal always is to improve,” declared the superintendent, who also maintained that he sat in many IEP meetings as a teacher, but that it would be “inappropriate” for him to sit in such sessions now as a superintendent, contending that he knows of no other superintendents who do.

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AIDES

(Continued from Page 4) talked about in a board committee meeting. “I would really like us to stay conscious that with the loss of these programs, the ‘need’ will still be needed,” Lee declared. “Now, I understand that we are systematically trying to downsize the budget so that we can make sure we meet our goals, but we cannot lose sight that at the end of this particular journey, the ‘need’ is still going to be there for the aides in the classrooms, and the summer school programs being shifted around. We cannot lose sight of that going forward.” Board Member Sherry Scull asked on April 28 how many positions “will be lost” for the upcoming school year, with Smith explaining that the budget calls for a reduction of 24 full-time employees, but that figure includes the aides being temporarily covered through the ESSER funds, “so, right now, six positions are being cut.” Of those six positions, he said, five are classroom positions being eliminated through attrition, or are being vacated due to retirements and not replaced, including one Spanish teacher position and two elementary teacher positions at the elementary level, as well as a math teacher position and Auto Shop teacher position at the secondary level. “It’s been a goal to utilize attrition as much as possible so we can minimize the number of job loss reductions being made,” Smith maintained. An administrative clerical support position is the other position being eliminated through attrition, according to Smith. Smith, in response to Scull’s question,

AD HOTLINE: (609) 801-2392 or SALES@PINEBARRENSTRIBUNE.COM note d that the d istr ict’s “long-ter m planning” has entailed posting “a lot of interim positions.” “I have a com ment about ‘inter im positions,’” Scull retorted. “I don’t like posting ‘interim’ because why would they care about staying here? They’ll jump ship in the middle of the year. We know teachers are in high demand right now. It is not like it was 10 or 15 years ago.” She added that if candidates aren’t told you might “not have a job next year,” but rather are hired on a more permanent basis, “at least they’ll feel some connection and dedication” in working for Pemberton Schools. The 2022-23 budget, according to Smith, represents year five of seven of state aid adjustments, applied through Senate Bill S-2, a revised school funding formula enacted by Democratic Governor Phil Murphy. Smith emphasized there are “two years left of S-2” and “so far, we lost $16.5 million in adjustment aid alone.” “Obviously, $16.5 million over five years is a large sum of money to lose, because not only are we losing our revenue, but also our expenses are going up,” Smith declared. The state, Smith explained, considers the Pemberton Township School District an “overfunded district,” with a determination by the state that the district is “overfunded by just under $14 million.” “So, we are $14 million overfunded and spending $8.8 million more than what the state feels we should be spending,” said Smith of the state’s determination. That has resulted in the local tax levy being “below” adequacy, meaning the state

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would like to see the district raise taxes to meet its “local fair share.” “So, right now, we have a 9 percent tax levy increase worked into our budget which would bring our tax levy to $20.2 million,” Smith explained. “Now, that generates $1.6 million in new revenue in the 2022-23 budget, but also leaves us $3.9 million below our local fair share.” Therefore, further rises in the local tax levy will be required in subsequent school year budgets, Smith explained, with the district’s “goal of reaching the local fair share in year eight,” one he anticipates being reached by the district following a plan “that the board and administration came up with” to raise the local tax levy by 9 percent each year through the 2025-26 school year, or what will be the “the first year out of S-2” with only a 2 percent increase in the tax levy at that time. Of the amount to be raised through taxes in the 2022-23 school year budget, borough taxpayers will contribute about 6.9 percent, Smith said, while some 93.1 percent will be paid by the township. “The township’s average assessment is $164,000, which comes out to be about $2,084 in local school taxes to fund 2022-23 budget, or what amounts to about a $172 annual increase, or $14 per month,” Smith said. “The borough average assessment is a little higher, and its tax rate is a little higher. That calculates to about $2,550 in annual school taxes, or a $281 annual increase, or $23 per month.” The district, according to Smith, lost some $4.9 million in state aid for the 202223 school year, necessitating “$4.9 million in reductions,” with “almost $3.9 million (in

LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES

♦ Page 11

the reductions) coming from salaries and benefits,” which he called “significant.” “In Supplies and Miscellaneous Services, and Professional Services, we cut about $800,000 from those line items, which have been reduced dramatically over the last four years, and we are at a point where those non-salary items really cannot be reduced anymore unless we start eliminating programs and things like that,” Smith declared. “We’ve really taken those line items down to critical levels. “There are some areas that we are nervous about to be honest with you, such as utilities, fuel costs, and insurance, but it is a risk we are willing to take so that we can maintain the services and programs we have today, next year, for our students.” (See separate story about the purported removal of printers and ink cartridges from Pemberton classrooms, with the aid cuts over the last several years cited as the reasoning.) Helping to “balance the budget” and avoid job losses for the 2022-23 school year, Smith noted, was that the “district has been able to realize a significant savings in health benefit line items.” Scull, in the final remarks made before the board voted to approve the 2022-23 school year budget, said she wants “breakdowns from administration on the last five years” with respect to “how many positions have been lost, where they were lost, and how many people hired weren’t part of the district five years ago.” “I’ll give you a while to get this together, but it’s something I want to see before I vote on the budget next year,” Scull declared. “I want that analyzed.”

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LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES

BUDGET

(Continued from Page 4) happening. “So, then she has to make a trip back to return what is not hers. Again, this is like a mushroom effect.” Myer contended that “so many people here at the high school and other buildings” asked a district official, in light of the circumstances, if it was possible “to buy our own” printers and ink cartridges, but that “we were told flat out ‘absolutely not – you cannot do that.’” “So, we asked why, and the response was ‘you just cannot,’” Myer maintained. “So, that is a problem. We are willing to pay for it ourselves and hook them to our computers so we can do our job and were told ‘no.’ So, I implore the board please look at this, please look into this, and please investigate this for us because this is an issue for special ed teachers, as well as regular teachers.” Some board members were seen at that moment looking at each other and the district administrators attending the meeting, both seemingly baffled and astounded by the revelation. “In terms of printers, I taught for 13 years, and I’d love to have a printer in every classroom,” said Havers in an initial reply to the request from Myer. “I’d love to continue to put cartridges in there, but the sad reality is, we continue to lose money and we just can’t afford to have the same things that we had before.” Board Member Terry Maldonado, chair of both the board’s Policy and Negotiations Committee, at the time, following the revelation, asked for a “breakdown” of “what we are saving” by reducing the number of printers. “Sure,” Havers replied. During a subsequent April 14 school board meeting, Bivins reported that the board’s Finance Committee had since met, and one of the points of discussion was about the printer situation, acknowledging that “some teachers expressed the need there be printers in the classrooms, especially for the special ed classrooms, and students with IEPs.” She noted “three options were presented” to the Finance Committee to rectify the situation, but contended “the biggest thing is we are cutting so much money that we have to save money somewhere.” Havers then took over from there, indicating that the direction the committee was moving in was to place 10 “large printers” in “different targeted locations” in the hallways of Pemberton high. The superintendent also acknowledged he was “a little taken aback” that the issue had come up publicly on March 24, maintaining that his shock was because he had met the day prior with Pemberton Township Education Association President Rob Horn to talk “about why we are moving in the direction we are moving” and the “different options.” Havers maintained that when Horn said to him “‘there are teachers who want to buy their own ink,’” and asked if they can keep their classroom printers if they do, “I said, ‘Yes, we will do whatever we can if you buy your own ink.’” The bottom-line, according to Havers, is the Finance Committee has now not only agreed to “still get the large printers,” but will “allow people who want to buy their own ink” to do so and “if your printer breaks, we’ll replace it, so long as you continue to buy your own ink.” The district, according to the superintendent, will also now provide “printer and ink for certain special ed classrooms” where IEPs require a teacher “be able to print at almost a moment’s notice.” However, he cautioned that there are “not many” classrooms where there is currently such a need. “That is not convenience,” he stressed. “It is a need.” Board Member Sheri Lowery inquired whether the printers being removed were

WWW.PINEBARRENSTRIBUNE.COM going to be kept in supply, to which Havers replied, “I don’t think there is a large stash of printers somewhere.” Havers added that what happened leading up to the removal of printers in district classrooms is that if a printer broke, “we just took it out” and “didn’t replace it.” He noted, however, that at DenboCrichton, the printer circumstance is “different,” contending that it was decided prior to construction of the facility, “before” Dan Smith was named district business administrator, to install “large printers” there “for cost savings.” “It opened that way,” Havers maintained. Board Vice President Wanda Knox asked if the large printer system “has worked well.” “My desire would be that every teacher have a printer in their classroom and we buy the ink,” Havers responded. “There are a lot of things we desire … but we have to make tough decisions about what we are going to keep and not keep.” Havers went on to say that “printers are a rare exception” where the district is telling its educators that it would “love for you to have it, but we can’t really afford it, and if you want it, we’ll get you a printer, but you have to maintain the ink.” Maldonado – who is now seeking the GOP nomination for township mayor – again asked for a printer cost analysis “breakdown” during the April 14 school board meeting, and was advised it was in her email, which she noted she did not receive. She asked for it to be sent again. This newspaper recently put a question to District Spokeswoman Jeannie Mignella, via email, asking how much does the district estimate it would save by removing printers and ink cartridges from its classrooms, and just how many have been removed to date, but was told that the school district would not be responding. Havers told Maldonado on April 14 that the “only thing” not in the breakdown is it is “very tough to say if we saved $50,000, what would we get to keep.” “It is real ly toug h to disse ct,” he maintained. While Havers on April 14 told the board that the “next step” is to come up with a plan to communicate the Finance Committee’s decision and new protocol with staffers, it appeared that had not yet happened by April 28, with Myer that day asking for an update on the situation. “Once again, I go into uncharted territories,” she said. “Dare I ask the questions about the ink cartridges and printers in the classroom. … How much money is being (saved) by taking out those printers in the classrooms? Will teachers be able to bring in their own printers to print information for themselves and their students? Can printers be left in special ed classrooms for special ed teachers, which they need to adapt curriculum for their students? I do know many questions have been asked by supervisors, secretaries, teachers, and CST people, from this past summer, July and August 2021, and these questions have been asked and nothing has been settled, except the fact the printers have been removed from some classrooms. “This has also been brought up by our liaison at the central office, and they have been silenced. Red tape doesn’t seem to be working, which is why I brought it up at the board meeting. So, I ask where do we stand on this issue, and will all classrooms lose their printers? Have you found a way to fix this additional stress for educators? So, I end with this – don’t roll over, keep asking those hard questions my fellow Pemberton people, keep asking. We just don’t talk the talk; we walk the walk here in Pemberton.” For more on the Pemberton budget and school funding predicament, please see separate story.

Saturday, May 28 Tuesday, May 24, 4 p.m.

Saturday, May 28 Tuesday, May 24, 4 p.m.

Saturday, May 21, 2022

CHIEF

(Continued from Page 1) moment – a decision that resulted in his receiving both internal injuries (which he tried to ignore at first, suggesting that the family visit the pier’s funhouse, only to start coughing up blood and having to spend the night in a hospital) and a heroism award from the city of Philadelphia – had what Miller described as a major impact on his own life. From then on, he knew he wanted to make it his mission “to always be the one that runs through the crowd and helps” – something that becoming a police officer would put him in the best position to do whenever the occasion arose to render immediate aid to someone who needed it. “There was no other profession that would enable me to do that,” he maintained. Now, as he picks up the mantle from his predecessor, Christopher Chew, who retired at the end of January after eight-and-a-half years as chief, and with whom he worked closely for practically his entire quarter century on the local force, the 49-yearold Miller is hoping to spread his benign, protective view of policing throughout his 98-member department (which also has 10 civilian employees) while continuing and expanding the programs and reforms launched by Chew, which include initiatives aimed at promoting officers’ health and psychological well-being. One of Miller’s main objectives is to “make sure the community is and feels safe, and that when residents need our service, it’s available to them,” as well as to instill them with “confidence in our abilities as a police department.” In his view, the previous six chiefs of that department, which was formally created by the township council back in 1966, “laid a pretty strong foundation” when it comes to establishing good police-community relations, a connection which he contended is lost in too many places, leading to the types of problems that only tend to cause further alienation between police officers and residents. Now, he contended, “it’s a matter of writing a new chapter and taking us to the next level in which the police and the Evesham community are aligned together with the same goals, and both are willing to put in the work to get there.” An important part of the process of further “blurring the lines,” as he put it, that separate law-enforcement personnel from the people they’re sworn to protect, is

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the kind of community outreach in which he himself has long been engaged and plans to continue in his role as chief by always making himself accessible to citizens with concerns or complaints. Miller emphasized that he has lived in the township during the entire time he’s been with the department, during which he has gotten to know many of its other inhabitants, having served as former president of the Municipal Recreation Council, a nonprofit that supports programs for kids, of which he’s a current trustee, as well as serving as president of the Evesham Heroes Fund and as a trustee of the nonprofit group, Hands Uniting Generations. “I’m always approachable, and actually where I feel most comfortable is out in the community, relating to residents,” he said. “I consider myself a community member first and a police chief second.” Behind that unassuming assertion, howeve r, a re some i mpre s sive lawenforcement credentials, which include having served as a captain in both the department’s Operations and Administrative divisions, as well as its accreditation m a nager, a l ieut ena nt i n charge of several of its bureaus, including criminal investigations, an investigator for both the Burlington County and New Jersey State Police Narcotics Task Forces, and, prior to joining the Evesham police force, as an officer for the Amtrak Police Department, assigned to its Philadelphia field office. In addition, Miller holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in law/justice from Rowan University and a Master of Administrative Science degree from Farleigh Dickinson University, as well as being a graduate of the FBI National Academy and the agency’s Law Enforcement Executive Development MidAtlantic training at Princeton University, among other academic distinctions, and serves as both a professor at the Rutgers University School of Public Affairs and Administration and a senior adjunct professor at Rowan College of Burlington County. The comprehensive knowledge of police work derived from both his extensive experience and academic qualifications is something that Miller now aims to utilize to further enhance the proficiency and training of a department that was already ranked among the top one percent in the nation when he was chosen from a field of potential candidates by Township Manager Rob Corrales. Miller’s selection to become police chief of Evesham was based on interviews with Corrales in consultation

LECK’S

with representatives of the Burlington County Police Chiefs Association, as well as on a plan he submitted outlining his vision for the department in the coming years. In practical terms, that vision not only involves improving community outreach, but putting a greater emphasis on the training of officers, as well as streamlining the department’s equipment and technological capabilities – for example, the prospect of adding “more eco-friendly vehicles to try to lessen our carbon footprint” being currently contemplated. The department, he noted, is also now upgrading both its body-worn cameras and tasers and is “in the process of implementing employee training on new tasers,” which are due to be rolled out in a few weeks, and will provide officers with greater flexibility in being able to handle dangerous situations without having to resort to the use of firearms to protect themselves, which has culminated in the kinds of fatal encounters that have too often made national headlines. (A recent example Miller cited was an incident in which Evesham police were able to successfully disarm a woman wielding a knife by using a taser, and thus “potentially prevent a police-involved shooting.”) Also about to be introduced to the standard equipment worn by members of the department, he noted, are sensors, which will be placed on their holsters and activate both their body-worn and vehicle cameras any time they find it necessary to draw a weapon. It’s all a very long way from when he started with the department in July of 1997, when pagers were considered cutting-edge equipment, and “computers and cameras were rare.” But “one good thing about our department,” Miller maintained, “is we’ve always stayed ahead of the technology and leveraged it to provide more efficient and cost-effective services” to the Evesham community – something he would like to continue doing by “looking at some structural changes in order to increase levels of efficiency and financial responsibility in the police department,” which has grown to become the largest one in Burlington County. In addition to those measures, he also would like to initiate some new ways of thinking, of leading and of cultivating the “team concept” within the organization, so that all its members have “the same focus and the same goals,” yet “everyone feels that their voice is heard.” It’s all part of doing everything possible to “make sure they’re properly trained and prepared to handle

♦ Page 13

any situation they’re confronted with safely and effectively” in what he describes as still being a “high-risk profession.” In addition to the changes that technology has brought about in policing, the greatest impact on the profession that Miller indicated he has seen in the course of his career – one that has affected his own outlook – is in its approach to illicit drug use. The so-called “War on Drugs” that became official national policy in the 1970s and was pursued over the next three decades was something that this veteran narcotics investigator came to realize “probably wasn’t the most effective answer,” having now been replaced in Evesham and other locales with a “Straight to Treatment” program aimed at putting addicts who once would likely have been arrested and jailed on the path to recovery. But by the same token, he pointed out, his department now has “increased enforcement” to hold accountable anyone selling narcotics that result in overdoses, both fatal and nonfatal, and does “proactive investigations to target those who are selling illegal drugs in the community.” As for the recent legalization of cannabis sales in the community and other New Jersey municipalities, “our only point of reference is looking at other states that have legalized it,” and the police department’s focus is on “trying to convey message that if people feel impaired, they shouldn’t drive.” “We’re not legislators, and whatever the law is, from a policing perspective, we have to make sure the regulations that the law provides are followed – that is, you have to be 21, and if you choose to use recreational marijuana, please do so responsibly and don’t get behind the wheel,” he said. But the police, he noted, have long been arresting motorists who appear to be under the influence of these substances and will continue to do so “in the interest of making the roads safer, he said. “We knew this was coming and were preparing for it.” On a personal note, Miller and his wife, Kelly, who were one-time high-school sweethearts, have a 21-year-old son who’s now studying biophysics at Rowan and a 17-year-old daughter who will graduate in June from Cherokee High School and also attend Rowan, where she plans to study finance. His wife’s father, Miller noted, was also a police officer, who worked in Philadelphia and was forced to retire 10 years early due to injuries he sustained when he was shot. “So, she kind of knew what she was getting into when she married me,” Miller quipped.

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that, “after a brief review of the emails,” it was determined that there were none pertaining to the matter involving English, or two other Tabernacle employees also recently the subject of employment hearings. Clause “20” of the separation agreement contends there is “no admission,” with the parties agreeing it “shall not be construed to be an admission of liability or the violation of any federal, state or local statute or regulation.” The township in clause “14” agreed to provide English with a “neutral employment reference” moving forward, and that if a third party seeks “the reason(s) for your separation,” the municipality “shall only provide the dates of employment positions held.” “Whether the committee’s decision to pay the $29,237 instead of just giving the former administrator three-months’ notice was wise or foolish, I cannot say because I lack sufficient knowledge of Tabernacle’s internal workings,” said John Paff, who serves on the board of directors for the New Jersey Foundation for Open Government (NJFOG) and is a leading state transparency advocate who is knowledgeable in settlement agreements involving government institutions. “But I can say two things: First, I’m glad the Supreme Court decided the way it did in Libertarians for Transparent Government v. Cumberland County. Otherwise, the public may have been denied access to this agreement because the township could have labeled it as a ‘personnel record.’ “Second, the mayor and committee members should be reminded that the $29,237 they elected to pay to immediately discharge the former administrator belonged to Tabernacle taxpayers and not to them personally. Accordingly, they should have put the maximum amount of information about the matter into the public domain. While they could (and should) have publicly released the agreement itself without need for an OPRA request, they clearly should not have included a confidentiality clause within the agreement because the only purpose of such a clause is to suppress the free flow of information.”

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the execution by the township of the attached Separation Agreement and General Release, and subject to its terms.” In that separation agreement, which was also obtained by this newspaper through an OPRA request, signed by English on April 28, the township has agreed to pay English the “pro rata share” of her “annual salary” in “the amount of $29,327.30, less standard deductions.” English, in the same agreement, agreed to “release and forever discharge the township and their predecessors, successors, past, present and future assigns, committee members, employees, attorneys, insurers, their present or former officers, directors, agents or employees or representatives of any kind, of and from any and all actions, causes of action, demands, or claims of any kind, whether in law or in equity, direct or indirect, known or unknown, which you ever had or now have against the released parties.” In addition to releasing the township from a whole slew of potential claims, English represented through the separation agreement that she “has not” and “will not” file “any lawsuit or claim against releasees based on any events, whether known or unknown occurring prior to the date of the execution of this agreement, including, but not limited to any events related to, arising out of, or in connection with, your employment with the township, grievances filed or pending internally within the township, or externally with any government entity, or termination of such employment in any couror tribunal.” Township Solicitor William Burns, also now the municipality’s public information officer (see separate story), on May 18, confirmed to this newspaper that English’s salary was $75,000.90. While he said he couldn’t comment on how the $29,327.30 figure was derived, Burns referred this newspaper to township ordinance 2-2.2, “Appointment and Tenure,” one adopted back in 1983. In that ordinance, there is a provision that states, “the administrator shall serve at the pleasure of the committee; provided; that he (in this case a “she”) may be removed at any time by a 2/3 vote, on motion of any committee person,” and that “the resolution of removal shall become effective three months after its adoption, unless it is given immediate effect,” and “in that case, the committee shall cause to be paid to the administrator forthwith, any unpaid balance of his salary and his salary for the next three calendar months following adoption of the resolution.” Burns also referred this newspaper to state statute, NJSA 40A:9-138, “Administrator; Removal from Office.” “The municipal administrator may be

The resignation letter is “non-revocable” with it also stated in the agreement that English “may not apply for, or otherwise seek or accept employment or re-employment with the township,” as well as she has “no right or entitlement to future employment with Tabernacle.” Tabernacle officials have not yet explained the circumstances surrounding the adverse job action, or English’s resignation, with Burns repeatedly telling this newspaper, “the committee and the township cannot and will not comment on specific personnel matters.” The separation agreement contains a “confidentiality clause” which states, in part, “neither you nor any of your agents or representatives, nor the township, its agents, directors, trustees, officers or employees will disclose directly or indirectly any information concerning the terms of this agreement and release such subject matter to anyone except your spouse, personal financial tax advisors and/or attorneys, if any, or unless required by law, including OPRA or pursuant to a lawful order of the court.” An exception is provided for reporting to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Another part of the “confidentiality clause” prohibits English from making any “disparaging statement or comment” that concerns the township or any of its personnel. English could not be immediately reached for comment on this story. This newspaper’s OPRA request for email logs of the now-former administrator and other high-ranking officials was responded to in a letter with the township wanting to charge a “special service charge,” contending it would have to spend 6.78 hours in having to review the records, with English alone, according to the letter, having “3,757 lines of data.” Traditionally, however, email logs have been provided to this newspaper by governmental agencies within days or a couple weeks of an OPRA request, with no special service charges applied. But the township claimed in the letter

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(Continued from Page 1)

removed by a 2/3 vote of the governing body,” a provision says. “The resolution of removal shall become effective three months after its adoption by the governing body. The governing body may provide that the resolution shall have immediate effect; provided, however, that the governing body shall cause to be paid to the administrator forthwith any unpaid balance of his salary and his salary for the next three calendar months following adoption of the resolution.” The employee subject of an adverse job action, though not named by the municipality during Tabernacle Township Committee meetings, but rather identified by Employee No. 1097, was put on “administrative leave” in a 5-0 township committee vote on April 4, with the subsequent vote to appoint Brown to the position of township administrator also unanimous. “Without comment with respect to any specifics pertaining to any employee, or anything along those lines, I will say New Jersey state law gives broad authority to governing bodies with respect to the employment of administrators and also details severance in the event that an employee is separated,” Burns told this newspaper. Beyond that, Burns maintained, “the committee and the township cannot and will not comment on specific personnel matters.” However, an April 25 vote to “accept the resignation of Employee No. 1097 and ratify the draft of the Separation Agreement and General Release” was not unanimous, with Committeewoman Nancy K. McGinnis casting the lone opposing vote, and Deputy Mayor Kim Brown absent from the Tabernacle committee meeting. (It should be noted that by the township releasing English’s resignation letter and the separation agreement in answering the newspaper’s OPRA request for the April 25 action items, Employee No. 1097 is revealed to be English.) “As I strongly disagree with the separation agreement, I vote ‘no,’” declared McGinnis when it came time for her to cast her vote on the matter. English’s separation from the township, as noted in the agreement, “is effective as of the close of business on April 25, 2022,” with the document also noting that “effective March 30, 2022, you were relieved of all employmentrelated responsibilities and are not required to report to work,” with her access to “township information technology and databases, including email,” also ended on March 30. She was given until April 5 to return all township property in her possession. “On the next pay date following your last pay, and upon satisfaction of the preconditions contained in this agreement and release, the township will pay you any accrued, unused vacation hours,” the separation agreement says. “… The township agrees it will neither contest nor oppose your application for unemployment benefits.”

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SURVEY

(Continued from Page 6) would further skew the results.” On page thee of the printout, when participating members were asked, “In your opinion, has the district administration done enough to make the buildings safe for staff and students this year?”, some 64 percent of respondents answered “no” with only 23.9 percent replying, “yes,” with the rest surveyed answering that they were “unsure.” W hen the par ticipants were asked how satisfied they were with the “way the district administration has handled student behavior this year,” 52.2 percent of those polled answered they were “very dissatisfied” with another 25.1 percent of respondents answering they were “somewhat dissatisfied.” Only 12.5 percent of those surveyed expressed they were “somewhat satisfied,” with the number of those “very satisfied” too minimal to even have a percentage for such a response register on the corresponding pie graph. (After immense public pressure, the board authorized the temporary hiring of ten additional security guards for the remainder of the school year and Havers announced he was moving to increase the number of out-of-district placements, as well as making it mandatory that parent meetings be held before suspended students

COMMITTEE (Continued from Page 7)

without internet or computer access, or even a strong internet connection (common in the rural Pines), from partaking in township committee sessions. There had been a time when the township was allowing those without such access to be in town hall to watch and partake in meetings via a screen, but that offering has been removed from recent agendas. Additionally, Moore has strictly enforced a new two-minute provision on public comments (brought about by Hartman), sometimes cutting speakers off mid-sentence using remote meeting controls, whereas at an in-person meeting, curbing the time of public speakers is a much more difficult task. There has also been the issue raised at recent governing body meetings of the Tabernacle committeepersons and officials not providing live video of themselves to be engaging and assist those in trying to follow along of who is exactly saying what. All-virtual sessions also raise questions about access for the hearing impaired, for example. “I look at it this way, if the courts can stay hybrid, and not just because of

It was also indicated by some 74 percent of respondents that “there is far too much time being spent on testing and data collection, at the expense of more meaningful learning activities.” The final question of the survey asked, “How would you assess the overall morale among the staff in your building this year?”, with 46.3 percent of participants selecting “morale is not great; the negatives outweigh the positives” while another 42.7 percent of respondents answered “morale is horrendous; staff is demoralized and despondent.” Only some 10.6 percent of those surveyed selected “morale could be better; but the positives outweigh the negative.” There was also a choice offered that “Morale is great; the staff feels supported, valued and respected. They are hopeful and optimistic.”, but one couldn’t even make out the representative blue coloring on the corresponding pie graph due to so few individuals selecting that choice. “Please look over the responses at your leisure so that you are familiar with how our members responded to questions about school climate, morale, student discipline, curriculum, and having a voice in educational initiatives,” asked Horn of the school board members in presenting them with the survey. While Horn didn’t respond to Haver’s assertions following the release of the survey with 255 respondents, as public comment

had closed by that point of the meeting, on a cover page for the survey results, it was written that “members were informed that their names and individual responses would not be shared with administration” and that “their names and email addresses were collected to verify that the respondents were PTEA members, and (that they) did not respond to the survey more than once.” Havers and Board Secretary/Business Administrator Dan Smith have said at past school board meetings that the total number of district employees is somewhere around 1,000. “I am pleased to report that 98 percent of our voting members voted to ratify the contract between the PTEA and BOE,” Horn announced during the April 28 meeting. While the survey results are less than pleasant for the district administration, there was some praise thrown about by union membership at the April 28 school board action meeting with regards to the contract (which took more than a year for the parties to arrive at). “I want to thank-you again for working so nicely with us on the negotiations,” said union representative and district employee Donna Lefebvre. “There were some ruts and bumps, but we were able to smooth it out and it was very nice working with board members and all the professionals that were here. Have a wonderful night and thank-you for listening.”

COVID anymore, (then this is OK),” Moore maintained. “I hear that (remote court sessions) is going to be an alternative.” Committeeman Robert Sunbury, who is seeking re-election in the fall, said the continuance of remote governing body meetings “is fine through the summer,” but that he would “like to revisit it maybe in August to see how things are going.” At that time, he added, the governing body could decide “whether or not we want to adopt a true hybrid model or remain pure virtual.” But McGinnis retorted that she thought “it would be nice that residents can actually come in person, and see who is actually working for them.” “And we do have a place to meet,” she added. Township Solicitor William Burns said that “while I don’t have an opinion on this,” there has been “a recent discussion” at the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA) per taining to vir tual meetings for public bodies, as well as input from the Burlington County Joint Insurance Fund (JIF) and League of Municipalities. “So, as long as township entities follow prior promulgated guidelines with respect to virtual meetings, they remain a viable option,” Burns maintained. “There have been some questions in the past if they can

continue, and at least at this point, under state law or regulation, they can.” Then, after the township committee provided a “consensus” on how to approach tow nsh ip com m itte e me eti ng ac c ess moving forward, Sunbury, in his report, pointed out that “one thing I learned when I was emergency manager, when we have significant events and such, is my call list had a PIO (Public Information Officer).” “One of the things I think would behoove the municipality would be to have PIO for Tabernacle, and in that light, I don’t see why we shouldn’t follow Woodland Township’s lead to appoint William Burns (also the solicitor in Woodland) to be our official PIO, just to have our ducks in order, and for those who need a contact, to have a ready name to contact,” Sunbury declared. He then made a motion to that effect, seconded by Hartman, the latter who will face township voters to fill an unexpired term in November. “I am just going to say that if somebody asks me a question, I am going to answer it,” declared McGinnis at the moment, who recently gave an interview to this newspaper about why she was not seeking re-election, which included her expressing her dissatisfaction with the direction of the township. “I am not going refer to him. I

think us being on the board here should answer any questions that the residents have for us, and not have to pass the buck to somebody else.” But Moore maintained that “if this gets voted on Nancy, unfortunately that’s how it goes.” “Remember, the PIO is the official spoke sp erson who is trai ne d and knowledgeable, and can speak to things like the media, and it becomes especially critical in times of emergency, and with people running around in different directions, you need to have a clear and concise message being communicated. … Even myself, unless you are in the incident command center, you frankly don’t know what you are talking about and should keep your mouth shut.” Moore added that he understood where Sunbury was coming from because of his years involved with the New Jersey Forest Fire Service. “You always want to get that ‘one message out,’ as sometimes there are different sides to it, with the way it is portrayed and stated, and the way it is portrayed in the paper, and on television. It is one thing to answer a question in regards to the election you just ran in, but some of these big line items, you want to have one word out there.” See COMMITTEE/ Page 23

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can return to school, in addition to placing school administrators on school buses.) Another concern voiced throughout the school year at school board meetings is that district teachers have lost their prep periods and have been asked to take on responsibilities during what would otherwise be their breaks and lunch periods, as well as now working late into the evening hours to prepare lessons and respond to parent inquiries, etc. One question asked membership if they “have adequate time during your contractual work hours to complete your required job responsibilities,” with 83.5 percent of respondents answering “no,” while only 16.5 percent replied, “yes.” The on ly area where the “distr ict administration” didn’t score as badly amongst sur vey participants is when respondents were asked how satisfied they were with the way the “district administration” implemented “curriculum and instructional services” during the current school year, with 32.5 percent of those survey answering “somewhat dissatisfied” and 30.2 percent answering “very dissatisfied,” with another 22.4 percent saying they were “unsure.” Some 13 percent of respondents answered they were “somewhat satisfied,” with the percentage of those who answered “very satisfied” too minimal for that figure to register on the corresponding pie graph.

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Deborah Heart and Lung Center Celebrates Century of Life-Saving Care Official State, Federal Proclamations Recognize Hospital’s 100th Anniversary

For the Pine Barrens Tribune BROWNS MILLS—Deborah Heart and Lung Center celebrated on May 17 its 100th anniversary, marking the hospital’s founding in 1922, and subsequent incorporation the following year. In recognition of this pivotal milestone, Deborah has received numerous state and federal recognitions, including a letter from Governor Phil Murphy; a joint New Jersey Senate/Assembly Resolution signed by Nicholas P. Scutari, president of the state Senate and Craig J. Coughlin, speaker of the state General Assembly; a proclamation from the Burlington County Board of Commissioners; and a collective letter from New Jersey’s Congressional leaders, including Senator Robert Menendez, Senator Cory Booker, and 3rd Congressional District Rep. Andy Kim. “We are delighted that Deborah Heart and Lung Center has received these special recognitions from the governor, the Legislature, the county commissioners, and our federal congressional representatives,” said Deborah President and CEO Joseph Chirichella. “One hundred years ago, our founder Dora Moness-Shapiro was determined to help those who could not afford the cost of healthcare. Dora was a pioneer in healthcare, recognizing that health disparities create barriers to accessing care. This drive gave rise to a 100-year legacy of caring that has since allowed Deborah to heal 2.3 million patients, reaching patients from every state in the U.S. and from 87 countries throughout the world, without ever billing a patient for care provided at the hospital. These extraordinary statistics prove how one person’s dream to make the world a better place can create a powerful surge of immense good.” Ch i r ichel la added that Deborah’s “excellence” is “built on a combination of innovation in medical advances, clinical research, investment in the future of medicine, embracing new technology, and educating physicians and caregivers of the future” as well as “adhering to the highest ethical and medical standards, and an unwavering commitment to the Deborah team, our community, and our patients.” “Ever yone who ha s worke d here, volunteered at the hospital, or helped fundraise in support of the Deborah mission that allows for equal access for all patients, regardless of ability to pay, has played an important role in Deborah’s history,” he said. “We are all so proud of the hospital we have helped create, and are proud to celebrate its 100th anniversary this year.”

The Deborah Story — 100 Years of Care Deborah was founded by MonessShapiro, a New York City philanthropist, in 1922, as a place of healing for tuberculosis

(TB) sufferers. Tuberculosis, caused by bacteria and easily spread from person to person, was rampant among New York City’s poor largely because of their living and working conditions, which were often cramped, with no indoor plumbing and improper ventilation. At the time, the only relief from TB was fresh air, a high-calorie diet, and relaxation, so Shapiro sought a rural location within driving distance of New York City to provide refuge for those less-fortunate individuals who could otherwise not afford this care. Shapiro found her hospital in the “healing airs” of the Pine Barrens, purchasing a small group of cottages where a physician was already treating TB patients in the Browns Mills section of Pemberton Township. She then hired the physician, and soon Deborah was treating patients. To fund her founding principle, “there is no price on life,” Shapiro in 1923 incorporated the Deborah Jewish Consumptive Relief Society, whose fundraising supported Shapiro’s vision that no patient would be turned away from care because they could not pay. One hundred years later, today’s Deborah Hospital Foundation – and its legion of volunteers – continues this tradition. Transition to Heart and Lung Specialists By the 1950s, antibiotics were widely used to treat TB. During a 30-year span, Deborah physicians and staff had become experts in treating diseases of the chest. Building on the foundation that Shapiro built, Deborah transitioned from a tuberculosis sanatorium to a specialty hospital in 1957. The hospital’s transformation into a world-class specialty heart and lung center was spearheaded by the work of Dr. Charles Bailey. Bailey, a pioneering heart surgeon, performed the first open-heart surgeries in New Jersey on July 28, 1958, on a 36-yearold woman and 3-year-old boy. In recognition of his revolutionary techniques, Bailey was featured on the cover of Time magazine in an article titled, “Inside the Heart, Newest Advances in Surgery,” which introduced the world to the work being done by Bailey at Deborah. Providing Care to the Community Over time, the hospital grew and expanded from a single cottage, to a 55-acre medical campus, with partner medical practices located in Atlantic, Burlington, Mercer and Ocean Counties in New Jersey, expanding access to care and adding services that relate to heart and lung disease, including vascular surgery, diabetes care, sleep medicine, wound care and rehabilitation services. Additional milestones in the hospital’s expansion included the creation of a clinical

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Deborah Heart and Lung Center’s Founder Dora Moness Shapiro with Albert Einstein, one of the hospital’s benefactors.

Hundreds gather on May 28, 1923 to celebrate the hospital’s incorporation. research program in 1981, collaboration on the establishment of an emergency room in 2010, and the construction of a 60,000 square foot, three-story medical office building in 2018 offering services needed in the community, including physical therapy, pharmacy, podiatric medicine, urgent and primary care, obstetrics and gynecology, pain management and a comprehensive ambulatory surgery center scheduled for opening in late 2022.

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Training Future Heart Specialists Named a Top Teaching Hospital by The Leapfrog Group, Deborah has trained talented and highly-skilled Fellows since 1965. The program, accredited by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) includes the training of Fellows in general cardiology, interventional cardiology, electrophysiology, advanced heart failure and transplant cardiology, and vascular surgery.

Get on the Community Calendar for June To feature your June event, contact Jayne at 609-801-2392 or email jcabrilla@pinebarrenstribune.com

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Dora Hansen and three-year old Bill DiMartino were the first heart surgery patients in New Jersey, when on July 28, 1958, Dr. Charles Bailey performed their groundbreaking operations.

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In the operating room in 2021, Deborah surgeons implant a left-ventricular assist device.

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Deborah breaks ground on a $108 million expansion project, timed with the hospitals’ 100th anniversary. Deborah Fellows spend between one and five years in training (depending on the area of focus) and leave Deborah with handson practical experience gained by working in a cardiovascular facility that treats over 70,000 outpatients and 4,000 inpatients; and performs 1,600 surgical and 6,000 nonsurgical procedures each year. The Deborah Fel lows are par t of the future of our country’s heart care, training with an organization of clinicians

committed to quality and recognized by the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) as a leader in cardiac outcomes, and the New Jersey Department of Health for having the lowest risk-adjusted mortality rate in the state for cardiac surgery.

The Next 100 Years In the tradition of founder MonessShapi ro, Deborah has fur thered its commitment to patients in the region,

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having commenced a $108 million capital investment project. Aimed at meeting quality of care, privacy and comfort standards consistent with the offerings of a world-class specialty hospital, the project recently began construction. This project will result in the addition of three new floors to the main building of the hospital, creating new, all-private patient rooms, the renovation of existing patient rooms, and the addition of bedside

technology and decentralized workstations for medical staff. There are also plans for a new state-of-the-art cardiac catheterization lab, a new state-of-the-art electrophysiology lab and an updated pharmacy clean-room. Once completed, according to hospital officials, the investment in new infrastructure and inclusion of forwardlooking technology positions Deborah Heart and Lung Center as a leader in care for the next 100 years.

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VETERANS (Continued from Page 9)

The event has become larger with each passing year, according to Forward, and “this year we will have 350 flags there and we have what we call the ‘Heroes Circle,’ in the front of the field, which is where we take the flags of the U.S. Army, U.S. Air Force, U.S. Coast Guard, POW/MIA, police, EMT and fire, and they are arranged in a circle.” In some instances, Forward noted, veterans can be forgotten about, especially from the World War I (WWI) era, in which relatives of those veterans have moved away or have become distant with time. But Medford Sunrise Rotary, he said, “didn’t want to have any flag to not have a hero on it,” so “we did a lot of research and found a lot of men from Burlington County died in WWI, and we were actually able to get the history on most of those 93 young men.” Therefore, so that “every flag on the field will tell a story,” any flag that doesn’t have a sponsor, the Medford Sunrise Rotary will “put the details of one of these local WW1 heroes on it.” Forward noted that the primary purpose of the Field of Honor is to not serve as a fundraiser to the club, but rather it takes any proceeds made from the event and donates them to charities that help veterans,

Lic# 1283

including Operation Yellow Ribbon, another that supports people who are diagnosed with PTSD when they come home from being in conflict as well as one charity that helps train service dogs for wounded veterans. This year’s event, he said, will begin on the afternoon of May 27 and stay up throughout the whole Memorial Day weekend, and all of the following week, before being taken down on the afternoon of June 3. “It is open day and night,” Forward said. Medford Township Council and Medford VFW Post #7677 are also “most pleased to announce” that they will hold Medford’s A n nu a l Me mor ia l Day Pa r a de a nd Observances on May 30, beginning at 11 a.m. “It is nice that we are actually going to have a Memorial Day Parade again after two years,” said Medford Mayor Charles “Chuck” Watson at a recent council meeting, noting that for the past two years during the COVID pandemic, officials instead went out and celebrated the occasion at a local cemetery. The township is reminding residents that as of 2019, the parade route has changed. The parade, it explained, will now start at Allen School, on Allen Avenue, near Union Street, and proceed east to South Main Street. The parade will turn left onto South Main Street; stopping briefly at the War Memorials adjacent to the Medford Memorial Community Center at 26 South

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Main Street, where a flag will be raised and a wreath presented, as well as a 21gun salute presentation. The parade will then re-start and continue north, turning left on Union Street. The parade concludes in Freedom Park, at 86 Union Street. A township ceremony for Memorial Day will start immediately at the conclusion of the parade in Freedom Park. This year’s parade participants will include members of the VFW Post #7677, the Shawnee High School Marching Band, the Medford Township Police Department, Medford EMS, the Union and Taunton Fire companies, as well as the Civil Air PatrolAir Victory Museum Composite Squadron. Medford Masonic Lodge #178, the Warrior Watch Riders, as well as many other public safety representatives and military reenactment associations from neighboring communities are expected to participate in the event as well. This year’s Grand Marshall is Capt. Richard L. Bucko. After graduating from Wilkes University, Bucko was commissioned as an Ensign in the Navy in 1966. He was assigned to the USS Tanner (AGS 15) in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. That ship was deployed to the West Coast of Vietnam. As officer in charge of a 52-foot survey vessel for nine months, Bucko helped prepare inshore nautical charts from the Cambodian border to the tip of the Mekong delta. The following year, he performed the same duties

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in Micronesia, surveying harbors of Truk, Palau and Guam. After completing active duty, Bucko joined the Naval Reserve where he served for an additional 21 years. He was active in harbor protection Reserve units on Sandy Hook and was commanding officer of the unit in Lewes, Delaware. He achieved the rank of Captain and retired after a total of 24 years of decorated military service. Bucko attended the doctoral program in Educational Administration at Rutgers University, and was a school principal for 28 years, 24 of those years in Moorestown. He has resided in Medford for 25 years, raising two sons with his wife, Marilyn. He has been active in many community affairs and currently is a member of Medford VFW Post 7677 and president of the Medford Historical Society. Council invites and encourages veterans to march in the parade or join them in a vehicle. Local Scout troops and civic organizations who wish to march in the parade are also encouraged to do so and should contact Open Space Coordinator Beth Portocalis at bportocalis@medfordtownship.com, or by calling 609-654-2608 x324. Also, participation in the parade on decorated bicycles is highly encouraged. Bikers should report to the Allen School staging area by 10:45 a.m., and must wear safety helmets.

Page 22 ♦

OPINION

OPINION

WWW.PINEBARRENSTRIBUNE.COM

infrastructure improvements. We have billions of dollars that was billed by Governor Phil Murphy and President Joe Biden as being needed to keep people safe throughout the pandemic, yet with the pandemic waning, the millions in funding specifically meant for school infrastructure improvements has yet to go out the door. But back to the issue at hand. One of the top unintended consequences of slashing funding for seven straight years is it forces these districts to turn to their property taxpayers with hat in hand to make up the difference. More money coming from the state means less from property owners who already shoulder enough of the tax burden in New Jersey. We could also help ease the property tax burden by fixing the special education section of the funding formula. Currently, school districts receive state funding based on how many special needs children are listed on the census, rather than those who are actually enrolled in the school. This often undercounts the amount of special needs students in districts with good special needs services, in turn punishing them for excelling at meeting the needs of the special education community. It would be a simple legislative fix to change from census-based funding to enrollment. The Department of Education already has all this data. It would also just be common sense. T he st at e c ou ld look i nto t he s e individual adjustments or it could create a committee to rebuild the school funding formula altogether, which is something that has the support of many legislators in Trenton. The least we could do is show interest as a governing body in periodically investigating an issue that might have the single-greatest impact on property taxpayers, students and teachers. There’s no reason to let 14 years go by without looking into something that’s so important. It’s time to dust off the school funding formula and open it back up.

Brandon Umba 8th District State Assemblyman Medford, New Jersey

Both Amused and Astounded at Hysterical Reaction to Bag Ban I am 76 years old and both amused and astounded by the hysterical reaction to the ban on single-use bags. The very first time I ever came across needing to bring my own shopping bag to a grocery store was in 1967 when I was stationed overseas, as I served in our military. The other shoppers looked on in amazement at this young American who expected the store to supply bags to pack her groceries! I quickly learned to bring my own reusable bags with me, and for the most part, continued to do this when I rotated back stateside. It really is no great hardship. Fo r t h o s e s h a k i ng i n fe a r t h at the reusable bags will spread ger ms throughout the universe, there is a simple solution – wash them! What is so difficult about tossing the bags in the washer once a week?

ff oun d S O

SOCIAL MEDIA

Stop the Bleeding from Schools Losing Money Hand-Over-Fist Budget season has started in New Jersey, and we shouldn’t let it go by without making school funding front and center to the conversation. There are far too many school districts losing money year-over-year, issues with special education funding and transparency concerns that can all be traced back to the current formula. New Jersey’s school funding formula was established in 2008. It exists to determine the amount of state tax dollars needed to bridge the gap between what local school districts are able to fund through local taxes and the remainder needed to provide an adequate education. In 2018, the legislature passed a bill to “properly fund” the formula, which resulted in winner and loser districts by creating a seven-year timeline where hundreds of millions of dollars would be taken from some schools and given to others. The years of funding losses have put the screws to a lot of schools, some in my 8th Legislative District. These schools have had to cut staff, programs and increase class sizes all because of a 14-year-old formula that isn’t even made public to school districts. New Jersey classifies portions of the formula as proprietary and won’t release it to school districts, adding salt to the wounds of schools that are losing money and can’t see exactly why. It’s time we update the funding formula, creating a more transparent process that doesn’t rob Peter to pay Paul. I’m signed onto a couple pieces of legislation that would provide short- and long-ter m solutions to all schools in the state. First, we need to stop the bleeding. For the schools losing money hand-over-fist, a one-year pause in funding losses would go a long way in allowing them to recover from the pandemic without slashing staff or the offerings they provide to students. The Legislature can pass a bill tomorrow that would dedicate a very small piece of its more than $6 billion in federal pandemic funding to offset the school funding cuts. While we’re at it, the state can also rele a s e fe der a l f u nd i ng for s chool

Saturday, May 21, 2022

One person complaining about the ban insinuated that the ban made life harder for the poor and described sorrowful scenarios of elderly shoppers and shoppers with children suffering, “trying to juggle reusable bags.” I guess it’s better for these shoppers to have a paper bag rip and spill their groceries in the parking lot? This same person urged people to change their party affiliation to protest the ban on single-use bags. Sure, it takes some getting used to, but I prefer to think that Americans are tough, resourceful people who will be able to survive the horror of having to bring their own bag to go shopping. I learned to do this when I was in the U.S. Army over 50 years ago. It isn’t difficult!

Janet Walsh Medford, New Jersey

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(Re: ‘Aren’t We Interested In Transparency?’ Pemberton Education Association President Asks Local School Board, District Admins Prior To The Body Nonunanimously Voting To Adopt ‘Recording Board Meetings’ Policy) Sounds like a clear violation of peoples’ First Amendment rights. There should be no rules making it harder for people to record a public meeting. ~S. Lubetkin (Re: Aromando Blames Low May Turnout, Stolen Signs, and Himself For His Latest Defeat In Medford Lakes Borough Council Election) 20 percent turnout. Pathetic. ~ C. Randall (Re: While Healey And Smith Exchange Barbs In GOP 3rd District Race, Admitted Long Shot Nicholas Ferrara Is Hoping To Outrun Them) Ferrera sounds like a moron when he says that “the COVID shots don’t prevent you from getting it or transmitting it, just allegedly lower your chance of hospitalization … But all the data I’ve seen shows it is the vaccinated who are in the hospital now, not the unvaxxed.” How can people still be in such denial after 2 years? ~D. Hoag (Re: Browns Mills Man Dies In Five-Vehicle Collision On Route 70) Traffic light needed (at Spring Lake Blvd. and Route 70)! Also repave the boulevard! ~V. Neuroth

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Saturday, May 21, 2022

COMMITTEE (Continued from Page 15)

The Tabernacle committee took a vote to appoint Burns Tabernacle’s public information officer, which turned out to be 3-1 with McGinnis casting the lone dissenting vote and Deputy Mayor Kimberly Brown absent from the April 25 session. Burns, following the vote, replied, “thankyou for the opportunity, I think,” and then maintained he had received the necessary training to be a PIO through FEMA, but would take a “refresher course.” He further maintained that “regular comments won’t be billed” unless there are any “legal tasks” that he has to perform as PIO. “It should not cost the taxpayers of Tabernacle any additional funds with respect to billing,” he vowed. “This is not a paid position.” In Woodland, the appointment of Burns as PIO has been a point of contention among some residents, with not only the media being referred to Burns, but also residents who have questions they would otherwise like to ask their elected and appointed officials (though in recent months, Woodland has backed off this policy to some extent, with the committeemen there reportedly once again taking calls, and answering some questions posed during public comment). Following the decision on the appointment of Burns as PIO of Tabernacle, then it became time for Moore to give his report, with the Tabernacle mayor recommending during it the moving of the Tabernacle committee meeting start times from the longstanding 7:30 p.m. to 6:30 p.m. or 7 p.m. “We have been starting meetings ever since I have been on committee at 7:30 at night, and it seems like it is getting very late, and we have a lot of discussion, a lot going on, and one night we ran into 11 o’clock,” Moore explained. “I am thinking of a 6:30 or 7 o’clock time start, to up it a little, and get us out.” Hartman replied “6:30, I agree with you,” maintaining “we are also professionals and have to get up early also.” “I think it is a great idea,” declared Sunbury when asked for his opinion. “Everybody has to get up for work in the morning. And this isn’t ‘our’ day job. So, I think starting at 6:30 would be a benefit for ‘ourselves’ and ‘our’ families.” McGinnis, however, suggested beginning at 7 p.m., but said she would “go with the flow” and “that’s just my two-cents.” The governing body voted 4-0 to change the meeting start time to 6:30 p.m., with the first session at the new time on May 4. The change required re-advertisement of the annual meeting schedule at the expense of township taxpayers. On May 4, both Stuart and Fran Brooks, resident transparency advocates, took the Tabernacle committee to task for making such decisions with significant implications for the public, after public comment was closed and new business had passed on April 25, as well as for the access issues they can present. Stuart Brooks pointed out that the Tabernacle mayor, at the preceding meeting, said “‘there was no new business,’” but “in truth,” there “were new business items” such as appointing Burns the municipality’s PIO and moving the meeting times to 6:30 p.m. “You did these under ‘reports,’ and that prevented any comment that 6:30 might be too early due to work, dinner, kids or school or something else,” he said. “Instead of asking, ‘What is best for the public?’, the committee asked, ‘What is best for me?’ Moore, you answered, ‘6:30 is easier for us and it helps me out with my schedule.’ You were all elected for the public good, not your personal convivence. The action items raised under new reports also should have been

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‘new business’ at the next meeting. Stuart Brooks further pointed out that “you (the committeepersons) don’t show your faces at public meetings, you don’t address public comments and now you have hired Mr. Burns to speak for you, and not just in emergencies, but all the time.” The Brooks, through an Open Public Records Act (OPRA) request, found that Burns recently charged the municipality $66 for speaking to a reporter in April about the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA), following questions about the legalities of the Tabernacle committee reducing public comment to two-minutes per person. “He is even charging taxpayers for the time he speaks to reporters!” said Stuart Brooks of the charge. “When elected officials I Am That I Am in a small-town can’t face the public, face Please join us for Ministries, Inc. reporters, and can’t speak for themselves, it All Are Welcome! In-Person Services shows a lack of ability, and lack of concern. Sunday Worship Seervice You can do better!” at 11:30 a.m. Fran Brooks pointed out that a review 8:15 am | 9:30 am | Pastors Florence and of Burns’ recent billing not only revealed a 11:00 am | or via Russell Webberr charge for speaking to a reporter, but that Facebook Live follow us on 50 Burrs Mill Roadd, he “also had to confer with another attorney Southampton, NJ 08088 regarding the length of facebook.com/MedfordUMC public comment.” 609 - 847- 4848 www.iamthatiamministriesinnc.com “Whether he is a PIO or not, charging taxpayers for answering a reporter’s question is gouging!” Fran Brooks declared. “That bill shouldn’t have been paid and somebody 2 Hartford Road | Medford NJ 08055 medfordumc.org | 609/654-8111 should have stood up and said we need to info@medfordumc.org review it, instead of paying him for speaking with a journalist!” As of the May 4 meeting, the minutes posted to the Tabernacle website, Fran Brooks pointed out, “are all screwed up.” “Dates of the minutes don’t match with 18 Mill St. the listed dates,” she said. “They even show Vincentown, NJ 08088 minutes for the May 9 meeting, which is Worship: Sundays 10 a.m. tonight. This is incredibly sloppy work!” Fran Brooks contended that the person 609-859-2299 in charge of the municipality’s website is Transportation Available paid “a lot of money to do crummy work.” Call 609-859-2883 “And it is about time somebody takes control of this and makes sure the work done by Tabernacle employees for all the money they are earning in their salaries is done correctly, and otherwise, these people are totally overpaid!” Both Sturt and Fran Brooks received a reply from the Tabernacle mayor when done speaking, “Thank-you for your comment,” but their concerns were not addressed further. The general theme of the May 4 meeting at least once a week for our residents, so The underlying theme of the May 4 session continued when McGinnis, who has recently they can come in, and ask questions, and get continued when Maryalice Brown suggested been pushing for the township Construction the right, correct information,” McGinnis appointing a Tabernacle employee to the Office to reinstate evening hours one night a retorted. post of JIF fund commissioner at a stipend week, asked if there had been any progress Moore turned to Boyd and declared that of $1,000. Although the request received in that regard. he wanted to hear directly from him as “you 4-0 committee approval initially, McGinnis Tabernacle Township Administrator are the one dealing with the public every later grilled the township administrator as Maryalice Brown, who also holds that title day; ‘we’ are not.” to why she just couldn’t hold the position, in Woodland, replied that she looked into Boyd acknowledged that prior to COVID, contending that Maryalice Brown “works McGinnis’ request, and that “after speaking the Tabernacle Construction Office was 16 hours a week for us and gets paid some with Mr. (Tom) Boyd (township construction open until 8 o’clock in the evening once a $40,000,” and therefore, “I think you can do official),” learned that the evening “was not week, and then it was reduced to 7 p.m., it” instead of paying someone else. a busy time at all.” but maintained, “there were no customers Maryalice Brown, in reply, disputed those “He sat there many ti mes without coming in during those hours.” He said figures and pointed out that she “also works visitors,” she contended. “And then, of there was a brief resumption of evening in another town, and I don’t do their fund course, during COVID, we did away with hours a few weeks following the start of the commissioner meetings either because I all evening office hours, and now that we are pandemic, “but nobody came in,” but rather, don’t have time to do that.” back, the workload has not increased. We anyone who pulled into the parking lot just After McGinnis pointed out that Maryalice have not had any complaints about people left any applications in a drop box. Brown has off on Fridays and believed she needing to be seen at night. Additionally, “As far as I know, there are no complaints could carry out the responsibilities then, the state has allowed for permits to be coming in where people are saying they are Maryalice Brown rebutted that the fund received via email. As a matter of fact, they not getting answers to their questions,” Boyd commissioner post requires attending just passed a new law allowing us to receive said. “In fact, most nights, I am there till meetings, often on Thursdays, which caused electronic seals. You don’t even need hard 5 p.m., anyway. And the majority of folks the committeewoman to ask if Brown was copies anymore that have raised seals on who are asking questions are asking them in fact working Thursday afternoons in plans, and electrical permits. So, everything electronically via email, and quite frankly, I Tabernacle, as agreed to. Brown retorted can be submitted electronically. So that is prefer that as I have record of their questions that while she does work in Tabernacle the way society is moving.” being responded to.” on Thursday afternoons, attending fund Therefore, Maryalice Brown said, she The construction official, who is also commissioner meetings wasn’t “part of the was not sure it would be in the township’s the Tabernacle code enforcement officer, original agreement” to become the shared best interest to resume evening office hours noted that on the “rare occasion” someone administrator between Tabernacle and for the Tabernacle Construction Office, requires evening hours, he will go out to a Woodland. assuming it would take Boyd offline during job site via appointment. That latter issue of providing a stipend the day when he is needed, unless overtime The issue appeared to die at the moment and having an employee attend fund is paid. with no governing body movement towards commissioner meetings is scheduled to be “Being it is for our residents, and not for him, it is only right to have nighttime hours re-establishing evening hours. formally decided this upcoming week.

Trinity Episcopal Church

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LOCAL NEWS / FEATURES

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Saturday, May 21, 2022

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