Board put issue to rest: Don’t start new controversy
The Ocean City Board of Education members who voted against adopting new state Health and Physical Education Standards last August forcefully stopped last week’s attempt to bring the standards back into the spotlight. That fact should put this issue to rest. More telling is something that has become obvious over the course of the school […]
Remember when ‘grooming’ was teaching your teens to shower and brush their hair?
If there is one term I’d love to see retired from its current usage, it’s “grooming.” It used to be the thing you were taught when you were young, that you had to shower regularly, brush your teeth and comb your hair … and that when you became a parent you passed on to your […]
Establish clear expectations, consequences for high school coaches, athletes and their parents
Everyone who has ever volunteered to coach youth sports remembers the parent or two who thought Suzy was a superstar in the shadows and would surely prove it if only she got more playing time. Or the parent walking up and down the sidelines, screaming directions to Jimmy and others, despite what the coach tells […]
Hungering for the society Dr. King imagined
It was wonderful to see the large turnout Monday for Ocean City’s annual celebration of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. The primary speeches were compelling, from the four Ocean City Intermediate School students to the powerful words of the Rev. Marcia Stanford, honoree Dr. Patrick Kane and the Rev. Gregory Johnson. The essays […]
Is it better to be woke or blissfully asleep?
And how do we teach our children? Why would anyone choose ignorance over knowledge? Why do people choose to be offended at the slightest things rather than saving their outrage for the outrageous? We are in the land of no in-between, no compromise. How are we supposed to teach our children? The term “woke” was […]
The freight train is coming down the tracks
No public hearing will slow it What was the point of Monday evening’s virtual public hearing on Ocean Wind 1’s plans to divert less than an acre of Green Acres land so it can put transmission lines through the island? For more than two hours, a hearing took place over Zoom. Ostensibly, it was to […]
Vote even after watching mud slung at all candidates and at New Jersey
If people skipped voting next Tuesday, Nov. 8, we could almost understand. And it has nothing to do with the candidates we are able to vote for (or against). Because we’re in the Philadelphia media market, we have been inundated with a ceaseless barrage of negative ads from the Pennsylvania Senate and governor’s races and […]
Love and acceptance is an easy decision; demonization doesn’t help
Early this month when three Ocean City Board of Education candidates held a rally in Mark Soifer Park, not one of them said anything about excluding LGBTQ+ students from local schools or that they were not welcome. Even the candidates’ invited speaker, who caused outrage among members of the larger community because of his virulently […]
The devil will be in details implementing state health curriculum
The members of the public who gathered in the Ocean City High School library last Wednesday to oppose the new state Department of Education’s Comprehensive Health and Physical Education standards came away disappointed and angry. They chose the all-or-nothing approach, asking the Ocean City Board of Education to reject the standards entirely. That didn’t happen. […]
Know your beach etiquette
Mind your manners. We’ve all heard that since we were kids, but some of us forget to do it when we’re at the beach. There’s plenty of summer still ahead, so the timing couldn’t be better for a review of the dos and don’ts of beach behavior. Here’s a look at some rules of beach […]