Vo-Tech Might Add Academic

By JOE ZELNIK CREST HAVEN — Cape May County Vocational-Technical School District will explore offering a full-time academic and vocational program to high school students. This would be in addition to its current shared-time program. The full-time program would target students having difficulties with academic courses in their home school districts. Some educators fear that number may increase as tougher state requirements take effect over the next several years. Vo-Tech Supt. Wilbur J. Kistler Jr. said he will name a study commission this month. The earliest a new program could start, he said, would be fall of 1985. THE PROPOSAL, Kistler said, resulted from indications that increasing numbers of students were either dropping out of home schools and later coming to vo-tech to take the GED (General Educational Development) test for high school equivalency, or passing up vo-tech in order to remain in their home schools and take remedial courses in difficult academic subjects. “Students drop out of their home schools for a variety of reasons," Kistler said.

“We suspect increased high school graduation requirements. The student doesn’t do well and drops out, leaving high school with no employable skills, neither academic nor vocational.” State requirements now include physical education, two years of American historv, and courses on drug abuse and family life, according to county Schools Supt. Robert G. Bongart. The class of 1985, Bongart said, also will

have to have at least four years of language arts, two years of mathematics and two years of science. VO-TECH’S ENROLLMENT has been declining and its shared-time program lost 100 students this year, going from 800 to 700. “The not-so-academically-inclined kid does poorly in math,” suggested Kistle^ “so he has to take two math courses. That might not leave him time for vo-tech. So he has to choose between graduating with his peers, or taking vocational education. “There is an alternative," he said, “that

says perhaps the student will do better in math if the math is related to a vocational life skill that we’ll teach them, perhaps a more practical math. “I don’t want to dictate curriculum to home schools," he added. “And I want to make it abundantly clear that I’m not taking a poke at anything that is currently in existence at any sending schools. We merely want to find out if there is a need." Kistler said state Department of Educa-

tion regulations could be the greatest of several potential difficulties. "WE WOULD HAVE TO SEE if the present facility could meet state guidelines,” he said. “And there also might have to be modest modifications in curriculum such as physical education." He said space could be made available by dropping some "unpopular programs" and turning shops into classrooms. Bongart, who serves on the vo-tech board of education, said he felt the state Department of Education-would approve the program "if the school met minimum

requirements. “I favor it if it can be established there is a need and a number of youngsters who would attend it," he said. Those are the other potential difficulties Kistler mentioned — school districts and the students themselves. “We need the concurrence of the schools that this is not a threq^ to them," he said, “but a more relevant education to students.” AS FOR THE STUDENTS, cocurricular activities like athletics and band might not be available, Kistler said. “It would be nice if they could still play sports, etc. at their hometown school," he said. “That would be a problem we’d have to confront.” A potential problem no one mentioned was the board of freeholders, which pays 64 percent of the school’s budget. Hiring math, science, English, history and physical education teachers could require increased county taxes. Kistler’s proposal, which he called "at the hypothesis level," comes at a time when vo-tech enrollment is declining and the other districts are remaining stable. Bongart called both the vo-tech decline and the countywide stability ‘ ‘significant.'' (Page 21 Please)

‘I m trying to get ’em before they drop out of school...’

News—— r^iorpcf- Weeks L/1 gvra «. Top Stories

On Second Thought CAPE MAY — City Council Monday backed off a proposed $2-million boardwalk-convention hall renovation in favor of a $300,000 repair job. The city already had a promise of $500,000 in federal funds for the project, and had spent about $20,000 on preliminary planning. The project was abandoned after little support was voiced at a town meeting last Saturday attended by about 500 persons. For Free, Take COURT HOUSE — Burdette Tomlin Memorial Hospital will give free flu inoculations in Conference Room 5 from 1 to 4 p.m. tomorrow, Nov. 17. B-T suggests contacting family physicians first to see if the shots are appropriate. Frosty Response COURT HOUSE — Apparently nobody wants to clear snow from county roads this winter. Although a number of contractors collected snow plowing specifications from the county, none of them submitted bids for the job, according to Kathryn A. Willis, clerk of the Board of Chosen Freeholders. County Solicitor Albert M. Ash told the board last week that it must advertise for bids at least once more before awarding the plowing contract to a non-bidder. Assembly Recount?

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Burn

Traslv

At H-W? . t r By U.J T DUFFY ^ SUNSET BEACH - "One man s trash is another man's treasure.” That saying serves as the standard operating procedure for dealers, collectors and scavengers of everything from bar-bed-wire to machine parts to portcelain They religiously haunt auctions, karage sales, antique shops and even ti ash piles to glean from the refuse soitiethin^ worth saving, restoring and/or selling Lower Township Committeeman Robert Fothergill takes the saying much more literally, though He wants to convert trash into dollars by burning it. * With landfills closing all around them. Cape municipalities face the prospect of hauling their trash longer distances until a new county landfill opens next spring. Even then, the municipal governments face longer hauls at more expense. TO SHORTEN THE HAUL and reduce the expense for southern county municipalities, the county Municipal Utilities Authority has proposed to build a trash transfer station in Burleigh. Middle Township, before Memorial Day A public hearing on that proposal is scheduled before the county freeholders Nov 22. But Middle Township mayor Michael Voll has garnered support from officials in other communities in opposing the Burleigh site. Voll and his backers want to see the MUA build the transfer station on its land at the county Crest Haven complex. Earlier this month, Wildwood Crest Commissioner Frank McCall and Cape May Councilman Harry Gilbert suggested reviving the abandoned PennsylvaniaReading Seashore rail line, which courses through the heart of the county, and using it to haul trash by train to a resource recovery center at the magnesite plant owned by Harbison-Walker Refractories here The two officials argued that the MUA should keep an open mind about possible alternatives to the transfer station. They viewed use of the rails and plant as ways to foster economic development in the Cape THE MUA INTENDS to build a resource ‘Page 20 Please)

COURT HOUSE - First District Democratic leaders must decide this week if they will press for a recount of votes cast in the Cumberland and Cape May county races for the state Assembly. Final unofficial returns show GOP Assemblyman Guy F. Muziani leading Democrat Edward H. Salmon by 198 votes (25,981-25,783). Judges in both counties have scheduled hearings on recount motions Friday. (Page 20 Please)

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FAST SHUFFLE — Better move fast if you want to shuffle through the autumn leaves. Herald-Lantern photographer Doris Ward merged two negatives to get this photo of Lisa Frame kicking a path on Mechanic Street in Court House. She’s the 14-year-old daughter of Mrs. Frances Frame of Dias Creek Road in Court House.

S<><> ) tni Tuesthty!, Next week’s issue of the Herald and Lantern will be distributed one day early, on Tuesday, Nov. 22. News and advertising deadline for that issue is tomorrow, Nov. 17 Deadline for the issue of Nov. 30 will be Wednesday, Nov. 23. The Herald and Lantern office will be closed Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 24, and Friday, Nov. 25.