Letters

Howell has recently been embroiled in a dispute with the Freehold Regional High School District regarding a redistricting plan imposed on the community in September. This issue, which has played out over the past two months, has garnered the interest and support of residents throughout Howell, yet has not once reached the pages of your newspaper. This is the fourth redistricting thrust upon Howell since 1998 and the third high school my neighborhood is sending its children to in eight years.

Residents of Howell discovered errors in the projections used by the district demographer, and after two months the Board of Education acknow-ledged this and amended the original plan.

There is much more to the story, most importantly the fact that the current projections used in this latest move have also been called into question. The data being used to justify this latest plan was presented to the public at the Nov. 7th board meeting but varies widely from data posted two weeks later on the district’s Internet Web site.

This latest redistricting plan will move Howell students from one over-capacity regional high school into one that is projected to reach capacity in the second year of the plan, while two other district high schools will have a combined under-capacity of 500 seats.

It is very puzzling to the residents of Howell as to why this board chose this time to return Howell students to two high schools (we have had students in three district high schools since 1998), when district enrollment is at an all-time high. In the last redistricting efforts of 2002 the district had 1,900 fewer students than today yet Howell students remained in three high schools.

Howell will assuredly be redistricted yet again in two years. A disturbing point is the flip flop by the administration regarding longevity of the plan. In July, the superintendent committed verbally to a three- to four-year plan. By August, he committed to a three-year plan. It is now November and he has acknowledged the attendance boundaries may need revision in the second year of the plan.

This disruptive movement of Howell neighborhoods has been occurring at the same time the district quietly embarked on an ambitious plan to add numerous specialized programs which serve only 15 percent of the student population. These programs clearly have unseated our students. It is apparent that the need to permanently house these 15 percent supersedes any effort to permanently house the 85 percent of the regular students here in Howell and throughout the district.

Three years ago when the Freehold Regional High School District was enmeshed in litigation with another community in the district over this very same issue, media coverage was abundant. Why hasn’t this story been significant enough for you to report today?

Joan Leimbach

Howell

Pumpkin patch proprietors thank supporters

On behalf of the Jackson United Methodist Church, we want to take this opportunity to thank everyone that so generously supported our Pumpkin Patch: from businesses that made donations to offset the operating costs, to members of other organizations that lent us support, to all of the people that came to us to buy their pumpkins and have fun in the patch. Despite a lot of bad weather this year, we still sold a lot of pumpkins!

Thanks to your generosity we were able to realize a profit of just over $4,000, half of which will go to the Jackson food pantry, the other half to the United Methodist World Service Fund, which supports mission projects around the world. You helped us to make a difference, and for that we are truly grateful. Please plan on coming back to visit next October.

Pauline Sloane

Pumpkin Patch chairwoman

Jackson

Municipal alliances keep up the battle against impaired driving

The December holidays are upon us once again. The increase of deaths and injuries due to impaired driving is still a tremendous problem during this time period. Nationwide in 2003, 17,105 people were killed in alcohol-related fatalities and in New Jersey 275 alcohol-related fatalities were accounted for that year.

The Ocean County municipal alliances and the Ocean County Health Department Drug and Alcohol Unit want to make our roads safer this year and we have a plan to do that.

Join us on Dec. 2-3 at the Ocean County Mall in Toms River as we present our fifth annual Drunk Driving Preven-tion Expo. We will have numerous display tables with information, an Ident-A-Kid program and free giveaways.

Present at this event will be representatives from the Ocean County Municipal Alliances to Prevent Alcoholism and Drug Abuse in addition to law enforcement, traffic safety and intoxicated drivers resource center personnel.

Due to these combined efforts substantial progress has been made in reducing alcohol-related fatalities in New Jersey. In the last 20 years there has been a decline of approximately 60 percent. Help us in making a community commitment to end impaired driving.

Joanne Schuh

Ocean County

Alliance coordinator

Ocean County

Health Department

Toms River

Howell’s emergency food pantry will remain in operation

There seems to be some confusion as to the future of the Howell emergency food pantry. Even though Human Services is closing its facility at 450 Adelphia Road, the Howell emergency food pantry will still be operating at its same location.

There will be no changes to our hours of operation or distribution. Donations can be dropped off Monday mornings and mailed to P.O. Box 580, Howell 07731. Our next distribution will be on Monday, Dec. 19, between 3-7 p.m. For further information please call the pantry at (732) 938-2368.

Eileen Lukenda

President

Howell Food Pantry

Howell