Your Local Connection March 27, 2008 North Brunswick • South Brunswick 504 Singin'inthe Rain SCOTT FRIEDMAN Jasmine Chang, a North Brunswick first-grader, participated in a master class piano recital at Jacob's IVIusic in Lawrenceviiie on Saturday to benefit the Damien Dixon Memorial Piano Scholarship at Westminster Choir College at Rider University. See story, page 13. Quote of the week: N.B. schools propose 4.6-cent tax increase staff members with incoming, lower salaries; He said the $1.3 million program includes Officials hope budget keeping down the administrative cost per custodians to maintain the 104,000 square feet will pass for pupil; an increase in about $1.2 million of state of additional room space, the hiring of teachers aid; zero based budgeting; a budgetary sur- and aides, curriculum writing and staff devel- first time in four years plus; enterprise accounts such as an interlocal opment. agreement with the township to do mainte- There are also other expenses included in BY JENNIFER AMATO nance at the municipal building, renting out the budget that are required of the district by Staff Writer the high school auditorium and charging for40 the state. 1 orth Brunswick Township school dis- seats in an integrated pre-Kindergarten pro- There are $1 million worth of mandated" trict taxes could increase by 4.6 cents if gram; the receipt of grants- and triple-tiering programs such as a full-day autistic program, voters approve the proposed budget on transportation so one bus route travels to the three English-as-a-Second-Language teachers ApriNl 15i. high school, then the middle school, then the to accommodate Spanish-speaking students, Residents could see a $72.65 raise in taxes elementary school. and a special education behavior class. There per year on an average assessed home of Because of these savings the district will be are $1.3 million of assumed grants and DEPA, $157,878, or abo.ut $6 per month. able to fund a new high school engineering TARAandlSA. The total operating budget is $80,9 million, course, expanded academic support, a possible Special education requires $19 million, while the local tax levy increased 2.4-percent ROTC program, an SAT review course, about $4 million of which comes from govern- of last year's budget, to $64.4 million. instructional technology resources, an expand- ment aid. Over 800 North Brunswick students Superintendent Brian Zychowski said the ed summer academy, a reading specialist, a sci- receive special education services, and in the efficiency in achieving this number could help ence and technology teacher, three additional past six months 120 new students were includ- the budget pass for the first time in four years. classroom teachers and expanded nursing ed, Zychowski said. "In educational programming and in educa- services at the high and middle schools. The superintendent also said that although tional environments, we have to make sure we Yet the increase in the budget is due most- autistic students cost $16,000 to educate and have the best sound environment for student ly to the implementation of a full-day transport, the in-house cost is dramatically achievement, and we have to make sure we are Kindergarten program, starting for the first lower than the $55,000 per student cost to monetarily efficient and fiscally responsible," time this fall. Although Zychowski said this send them out of the district. Zychowski said. was not a necessary addition, it was a promise ft www.gmnews.cDm The superintendent stated a number of rea- made to voters if they approved a building ref- (Continued on page 26) sons for the low increase; replacing retiring erendum in 2006, which they did. % SENTINEL, March 27, 2008 NS www.gmnews.com 1 / Yom Community, Y@w News, Yom GMNEWS.COM! 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Later in life, she took a needlecraft Instead, at around 7 years old, class at the North Brunswick high school, R and then, as a Girl Scout troop leader and her mother taught her how to weave the yarn in and out of the hook to form pat- an assistant at her Sunday school, helped terns. ' teach children how to crochet. She laughed "It seems like almost all my life," she when she said she used to teach the said of the numerous pieces she has cro- women in the launderette how to complete cheted throughout her 84-year life. "I their crafts. never kept count." She also subscribes to a series of cro- Donnelly, a North Brunswick'Township cheting magazines, which serve as inspi- resident all her life, has a display of her ration, and used to receive a doll a month artwork at the North Brunswick munici- from "Annie's Attic." She said she would pal building throughout the month of design dresses for the dolls for children, i • March. She said she used to make afghans and she made blankets for her grandchil- for sale, and in recent years she has made dren. The general timeframe is one week dresses for dolls, stuffed animals with cot- per item. ton, mini baskets to hold candy, lace cra- "If I see something in a magazine, I dles, crayon holders, little pouches, a make it. Some things I can make without windmill, a decorative hanger for Christ- directions. I do a lot on my own," she said. maSj a witch and other decorative designs. Besides being just a hobby and a form The majority of her work was done dur- of relaxation, Donnelly has also entered ing her travels cross-country while her late her pieces into the Middlesex County Fair husband John was with the 7th Air Force, every year for the past several years. She stationed in Redding, Calif. He also spent said that nine out of 10 times she receives 55 years as a road forrm-m for sheet metal a blue ribbon award. Mic al-o in ike ^ .ilt'Ji ms IO do into hh( She said he used lo diaw worm n on LIIL r 1 front of airplanes ami vmulrt build nrndi 1 said -In |iisi llm-hid i h il>\ afn han I-IIL planes himself. While lhe\ dio'e -ho will cn\i totholli_>hl indPaikbuniorCtu- would crochet, stopping e\ei \ -.o ofifii al a toi which will in turn t>i\<_ n Lo a \eieian-. hobby store, for him, oi .i ualt it DM- foi ho-pital oi a (.liildiciit hospital Sho-ud -he ha- lout mine th.it m 11] lobe finished her, to pick up mate I ials 1 "There was nothi nc; to do while m\ hus- I HM> it, moil oi I' -s (o la-op Inisj just band was building planes, &ht> l.iuirhcd in do sunn lhiirx ' sin said "We went four tiim-*- Lo California and 1 Tin municipal building I-* located at crocheted going ou1 and crotched 710 Hotmnnn Road HninnJK s displav 1-, back." " in ihc. limit lnhh\ 1 4 4 SENTINEL, March 27,2008 NS www.gmnews.com Gang members plead not guilty to Nov. murder handgun and a rifle for unlawful pur- nounced dead at 11:44 p.m. He was killed in the early morning hours of Nov. 28. Former North Brunswick poses, third-degree unlawful possession of by a single gunshot wound from an as- Criminal complaints were signed on Nov. the handgun without first having ob- sault rifle, according to Middlesex County 11. According to Nieves on Monday, his high school student was tained a permit, third-degree unlawful Chief Medical Examiner Andrew Falzone. bail status is still set at $2 million. killed in shooting possession of the rifle without first having The former North Brunswick high Because of the gang association, if con- obtained a firearms purchaser identifica- school football star had been employed at victed, the term of incarceration would be BY JENNIFER AMATO tion card, third-degree unlawful posses- a candy factory in Somerset, according to 35 years to life for murder, with the possi- Staff Writer sion of a loaded rifle, third-degree the prosecutor's office.