by Brett Ainsworth, Publisher
Inside these pages every week are numerous stories about the issues of our towns, triumphs of our people and, even, our losses. Under appreciated, perhaps, are the businesses that advertise. Not only do these advertisers look to serve your needs, their dollars support this independent, locally-owned newspaper’s service to all of us.
by Brett Ainsworth, Publisher
This issue marks number 1,232 for me as publisher of The Retrospect and each edition still provides surprises. That’s the nature of originally produced and authentic journalism.
by Brett Ainsworth, Publisher
What does $75 buy these days?
Plenty when you sign up for two years of award-winning journalism from The Retrospect.
That’s 104 weeks of original, hometown reporting! (See page 23 for our latest awards haul.)
The Haddon Township Board of Education, with only five members present - board president Kellie Hinkle, John Kendall, Jim Lex, Allison Rodman, and Kristyn Souder - somberly approved the 2024-2025 school year budget that featured the tentative elimination of 16.5 fulltime equivalent positions.
A glitch in the Collingswood School District’s communications came to light Tuesday just hours before a specially called board of education meeting for that evening, forcing postponement to Monday, May 13.
After the Audubon school board approved the budget, see story on page 6, they then unanimously approved Sandra ‘Sandy’ Allen to be the new superintendent for the district, effective July 1 until June 30, 2027. Applause followed the approval, and Allen was invited to address the board. “I want to thank the board for this opportunity. It means a lot,” Allen said.
The Audubon-Haddon Township-Oaklyn Rotary Club is ramping up their latest community service efforts. Started in 1945, the club consists of a host of local professionals and business owners with the goal of giving back to their communities, their creed being “service above self.”
Oaklyn’s Monday caucus meeting left the council discussing who should have dibs on the borough’s parking lot at the corner of W. Clinton Ave. and Kendall Blvd. on June 8. Borough administrator Bonnie Taft explained that she had received a request from Oaklyn’s PTA to host a scaled-down version of their annual spring fling in the borough-owned parking lot from 12 to 5 p.m. that day.
In last week’s story “Colls Schools Lambasted on Racial Bias Incident,” where 20 people testified to the school board, the names of some speakers were spelled incorrectly. The correct names are Brenda Borkoski, Lia Forman, Alissa Hochman and Rebecca Finkel.
While the spirit and intent of testimony was reported, some details were incorrect and quotations not precise enough.
The Audubon Commissioners voted to approve several resolutions during its monthly caucus meeting Tuesday evening, including the authorization of a shared service agreement (SSA) between the borough and Camden County for street sweeping of county roadways within the borough.
Barrington Council was quick to discuss the agenda for next week during the caucus meeting on Tuesday. Most compelling on the list is an updated tree ordinance.
Following Superintendent Dr. Andrew Davis’ budget presentation, the Audubon school board unanimously approved the 2024-2025 school year budget. “This budget is about as tight as a budget can be,” Davis said, admitting it was tighter than what business administrator Deborah Roncace would like.
Five nicely dressed women of a certain age awaited Haddon Heights’ council Tuesday night, settled in their first-row seats well in advance of the 7 p.m. meeting start. They were there to ask the governing body to formally recognize a new civic group they started just two months ago — the Haddon Heights Senior Citizens Board.
