By John P. Schmidt NEWS Correspondent

The Gloucester City Board of Education held an emergency meeting last Monday (June 30) to accept a bid to renovate the auditorium in the Gloucester City High School for $525,200.

Superintendent Paul Spaventa said the district had money in its Capital Improvement Fund, which is used to improve and upgrade facilities. The auditorium renovation had been on a list of projects deemed important.

The vote was held last week in hopes that construction can start in August, when school is not in session, because there is espestise glue underneath the floor.

Spaventa said the district had received money from the former NJ School Construction Corporation, which had been responsible for building schools in Abbott Districts.

However, due to mismanagement, the state closed it down, and now has a new organization to oversee building and construction.

Spaventa said that there was leftover money the district received for three projects deemed to be emergencies.

They are fixing the roof of Mary Ethel Costello School, the playground at Cold Springs School, and lighting at the High School.

The board also approved personnel for different positions in the district from teachers to support staff.

Also approved was a student teaching program in conjunction with Farleigh Dickinson University.

Board Member Jacqueline Borger, who runs the Municipal Alliance program, asked if it could utilize space somewhere in the district.

She said the Alliance has a record number of kids signing up for camps throughout the summer, and that the PAL Building may not be large enough.

Borger also said more than 100 children signed up for the basketball camp, which was held in June.

The board approved Borger\’s request, 6-0-1, with Borger abstaining.

It was okayed on condition that space was available. John Kenney, director of Facilities, will have to approve the request as well.

The next meeting for the Board of Education will be July 29 at 7 p.m. in the High School Media Center.

 

Link: | Philadelphia Inquirer | 07/16/2008.

High schools

Gloucester Catholic announced the hiring of Todd Powers, 30, as boys\’ basketball coach and Joe Matranga, 50, as softball coach.

*Note: At the time this article went to print the Gloucester City News could not clearly verify the legality whether or not the Superindent could act as president of the Board of Education meeting. There have been conflicting answers and as of present time the News is waiting for a response from the Office of the Interim Camden County Superintendent of Schools H. Mark Stanwood.

 

–John Schmidt

 

 

By John P. Schmidt NEWS Correspondent

As Gloucester City Mayor William P. James played the bagpipes on the Delaware River, the Schooner North Wind sailed into port Saturday evening, July 5.

It docked at the old Coast Guard Pier, which has been renamed Freedom Pier, under the direction of Captain Charles Reed.

Reed has more than 40 years of maritime experience and is volunteering his time to help the City.

\”It\’s a beginning,\” Councilman Jay Brophy said. \”The King Street Theater went down, the Coast Guard Base closed down, and all this property closed down. Now, it\’s alive. It\’s absolutely a benefit to everybody, it\’s unbelievable.\”

The Schooner was followed up the river by the Flagship IV, which also docks at Freedom Pier.

Reed said the schooner departed its dry-dock in Greenwich at 9:40 a.m.

The schooner, which will be renamed Saoirse Ceallaigh (the Gaelic for \”freedom from strife\”), and it will be the gem of the Gloucester City River Front revitalization.

The goal is to turn the waterfront into an Irish Village dubbed, \”Dublin on the Delaware.\”

According to the 2000 Census, 34.2 percent of the City\’s population has Irish ancestry, which makes Gloucester City the ninth-highest percentage of all municipalities in the United States with Irish ancestry, and the third highest among municipalities with a population above 1,000.

\”When you sit back and you don\’t do anything and stand in stagnant water, you sink,\” Mayor James said. \”You got to move your feet, and all we did was move our feet onto this pier so we can create the future. No more sitting back doing studies. Governments stall themselves doing that all the time.\”

James added, \”Let\’s start moving forward. Let\’s start doing things and making things happen.\”

The City plans to utilize the ship as a classroom and use it as a charter vessel.

Community Relations Specialist Bob Bevan said the next step is for the City to form a successful program to relate the boat to the youth of the city.

Reed said the inside of the ship will be stripped to set it up to act as a school, along with sleeping quarters.

\”Volunteers are going to be working on it, mostly volunteers will be doing the whole program,\” Reed said. \”[We] will be getting involved with teachers and environmental groups to tie it into the river and ecology as much as we can.\”

Mayor James said he hopes the ship will act as a billboard for the City and that the estimated 140,000 cars which cross the Walt Whitman Bridge each day will take notice of it.

\”We\’re thinking by bringing this here and giving Gloucester pride, having people see it coming across the bridge [that it] is going to be a great thing,\” James said.

source Gloucester City News July 10