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Sunny, High 30Details, Page A-2.

No snow through at least Monday.

WEATHERINSIDE TODAYINDEX

Vol. 263, No. 8

Get local breaking news 24/7 at nj.com/cumberland

Fairfield teacher resigns over accusations“A staff member saw what was going on, stopped it and reported it.’’

— John Klug,Fairfield superintendent

Allowed students to hit student giving wrong answer; delayed bathroom privileges

Five places were hitduring Hopewell spree

Staff Photo by Cindy Hepner

The front doors to local businesses in Hopewell were smashed over the weekend. Hair Mates of Hopewell was one of five businesses affected.

Stephen Foster

By Stephen Smithssmith@sjnewsco.com

BRIDGETON — A city man and a juvenile have been charged in connec-tion with a rash of burglaries they have been linked to in the past few weeks.

Stephen Foster, 22, of Atlantic Street, and his 16-year-old accomplice, also of Atlantic Street, were arrested Thursday after entering a home in the 300 block of South Avenue.

They had allegedly burglarized a South Pine Street residence only moments before.

Through their investigation, and from evidence gathered from the recent burglary scenes, police were able to link the two to several incidents.

The juvenile was also involved in the break-in and burglary of a candy machine at West Avenue School Jan. 17.

The vending machine was broken and candy worth $200 was taken, according to police.

He was also charged in connection with a Jan. 24 burglary of a Suncrest Avenue residence during which elec-tronics and jewelry worth $600 were taken.

Both Foster and the juvenile were linked to a Jan. 25 burglary of an Atlantic Street house during which several thousand dollars worth of jew-

Crimewaveends

(See WAVE, Page A-5)

By Greg Adomaitisgadomaitis@sjnewsco.com

FAIRFIELD TWP. — A former kindergarten teacher here has resigned amid accusations he encouraged class-mates to repeatedly hit each other and refused or delayed their use of the bathroom.

Gregory A. Love, the former Fairfield Township School teacher, allegedly let his students repeatedly hit a class-mate when they answered a question wrong.

He also is accused of either not granting his kindergar-ten students permission to use the bathroom or delaying his approval.

Following the incident, parents claim these actions have caused their children to fear going back to school and act differently at home.

According to a verbal statement from administration provided by one parent; “He (Love) instructed them to hit and beat each other up when one got a question wrong.”

(See TEACHER, Page A-5)

By Lauren T. Taniguchiltaniguchi@sjnewsco.com

HOPEWELL TWP. — The attempted burglary spree down Shiloh Pike/Route 49 in the night hours late Friday into early Sat-urday targeted five busi-nesses in total, according to state police on Tuesday.

Trooper S. Swift, of the N.J. State Police Bridgeton Barracks, reported that Hair Mates of Hopewell, at 597 Shiloh Pike, and Cum-berland Valve, Inc., at 746 Shiloh Pike, were sites of burglary attempts on the same night that Mainline Deli, Hopewell Custard and Hopewell Discount Store and Shear Mania hair salon were struck.

One of two glass doors at the front entrance of Cumberland Valve, Inc. was completely broken out with a hammer, according to owner Bruce Riley.

The hammer was left on a stool at the site, which Riley suspected may have been caused by the surprise

(See SPREE, Page A-8)

By Jason Ladayjladay@sjnewsco.com

BRIDGETON — Looking at the 2010 schools report card for Bridgeton High School, it would appear as if the school had made incredible progress in slashing its dropout rate.

According to the statewide report released on Monday by the New Jersey Department of Education (NJDOE), the dropout rate at Bridgeton High School was 22.3 per-

cent during the 2008-09 academic year.The next year, the report states the high school drop-

out rate plunged to 9.7 percent.However, the reality behind the numbers, which are

provided to the state by the school district, is a bit less glamorous than they would appear.

“I wish I could say there was a silver bullet that we used that immediately made things better,” said Bridge-ton Acting Superintendent Vic Gilson on Tuesday. “But

What’s in a schools report card dropout rate?

(See DROPOUTS, Page A-5)

“We cannot raise taxes in a city that does not have the ratable base, and there’s nothing we can do about the state cuts. We’re just forced into continuing to make our own cuts.”

— Vic Gilson,acting Bridgeton superintendent

Manor may workSheppard, Whelan want to see the study first

Bill Whelan

By Jason Ladayjladay@sjnewsco.com

MILLVILLE — The efficiency study commissioned to provide possible savings at the Cumberland Manor may allow the county to cut its losses at the nursing home by half.

While details are still unavailable and officials are currently reviewing the study’s findings, Freeholder Tom Sheppard on Tuesday told members of a community group during their public meeting in Mill-ville stated, based on his reading of the study, the county could stop up half of the $2 million in losses at Cumberland Manor.

“How it’s understood now is that we’re going to follow the recommenda-tions of the study, and give it a year to see if we can make it work,” said S h e p p a r d , before he was interrupted by Millville First official

Paul Porecca, who advocated selling and privatizing the county nursing home.

Many of the two dozen people gathered at the Millville First meeting focusing on county budget issues, also favored selling Cumberland Manor.

Freeholder Director Bill Whelan, along with Sheppard, stated officials had to be careful in coming to any decision, as “peo-ple’s lives, those staying at Cumberland Manor” are involved.

According to Whelan, the efficiency study, ordered by the Cumberland County freeholders for $30,000 from King of Prus-sia, Pa., consulting firm Premier Health-

(See MANOR, Page A-5)