Courier-Post from Camden, New Jersey • Page 15

COURIER-POST, Monday, March 1,2004 NEW JERSEYPHILADELPHIA. Pageant' board of directors acquires two new members ft V. y. i 5. -iA jflCwuEuNt LAKMflAssociated Press Students taking part in a world cultures class at Cheltenham High School reflect the school's racial diversity.

By WILLIAM H. SOKOLIC Courier-Post Staff ATLANTIC CITY The Miss America Organization named two new members to its board of directors Donna Axum Whitworth, who won the Miss America crown in 1964, and Greta Van Susteren, an anchor-woman with Fox News Channel. Since graduating from the University of Arkansas, Axum Whitworth has taught college and produced and hosted several television shows. She also has served on several advisory boards, many of which are related to the arts. "As a former Miss America, Donna brings a unique perspective in addition to a 40-year career of proven success in fund raising on a national level and hands-on experience in education, representing two elements crucial to our core programs," said Stephen Fuhs, the board's new chairman.

Van Susteren, a lawyer, hosts the prime-time news program On the Record with Greta Van Susteren and is the author of My Turn at the Bully Pulpit: Straight Talk about the Things that Drive Me Nuts. She previously served as host of CNN's legal program Burden of Proof and contributed analysis for high-profile cases such as the O.J. Simpson trial and the Elian Gonzalez custody battle. "Greta's experience, not only as an attorney but as a journalist who brings a global framework of knowledge and expertise in politics and news, will prove most valuable as we grow this organization," Fuhs said. Sculpture designer The Casino Reinvestment Development Authority and the Atlantic City Fine Arts Commission has selected artist Jennifer Fru-dakis to design a sculpture that will honor the late Horace J.

Bryant Jr. Bryant was the first African American to be appointed to a gubernatorial Cabinet position in New Jersey. The sculpture will be installed at the historic Carnegie Library, which is being renovated and transformed into a satellite cam- Diversity, uniformity: A tale of 2 schools By DAVID CRARY Associated Press PHILADELPHIA Like many large urban schools, West Philadelphia High School strives to accommodate all comers: aspiring collegians and potential dropouts, gang members and gospel singers, teenage moms with their babies in tow. Yet diverse as they are, in their promise and problems, the 1,600 students are nearly uniform in one respect: 99 percent are black. Most come from low-income families; their school has battled a reputation as one of the city's most troubled.

Ten miles away, schools in the prosperous suburb of Cheltenham have a very different racial mix. Because of fine-tuning of the township's internal boundaries, all seven of its schools are roughly 55 percent white, 35 percent black, 10 percent Asian or Latino. Cheltenham's high school is renowned for academic excellence. "We are what the country looks like. We're dealing with all the pluses and all the challenges," said Rick Topper, a white English teacher at Cheltenham High.

Work in progress The contrast between the two high schools is vivid evidence that, nearly 50 years after the U.S. Supreme Court declared segregated public schools unconstitutional, the landmark Brown v. Board of Education ruling remains a work in progress. The 1954 decision had immense impact, triggering the steady, though often contentious, integration of school districts nationwide. Yet the trend has stalled reversing in the past 15 years, even as America overall has become more ethnically diverse.

In communities nationwide, the ruling now poses an abiding challenge: Can America ensure educational equality for all its youth, regardless of race and place of residence? In Cheltenham, educators and parents know it will take hard work to avert white flight and narrow an academic achievement gap between black and white students. At West Philadelphia, segregation is simply realityits staff and students clamor for better programs and more resources, not for an overhaul of racial demographics. "I don't have a magic wand," said Clifton James, West Philadelphia's first-year principal. "But we have to start producing. AC.

Notewxjk pus for Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. The CRDA will fund the $35,000 project. "I applaud the CRDA and the Atlantic City Fine Arts Commission for their work and commitment to this project," said Lillian Bryant, Horace Bryant's daughter. "We chose Jennifer Frudakis' design because it not only depicted my father's spirit, but it captures the twinkle of my father's eye and his depth of character." Horace Bryant, a native of Lawnside, served as commissioner of the Department of Banking and Insurance in 1969. He was elected an Atlantic City commissioner three years later and won a second term in 1976.

Bryant also founded the Atlantic City Municipal Utilities Authority. Shopping spree Caesars Entertainment Inc. has teamed up with Macy's department stores to offer guests a shopping spree. Beginning today, Caesars Entertainment Connection comp dollars will be redeemable for Macy's gift cards. Connection Card holders will have the option of redeeming comp dollars for a gift card until May 31.

Cards will be available in $10, $25, $50 and $100 denominations. Comp dollars will be redeemable for gift cards in a 2-to-l ratio, so $100 in comp dollars will earn a $50 Macy's gift card. Players earn comp dollars when they use their Connection Cards while playing slot machines and table games at any Caesars Entertainment property. In Atlantic City, they include Caesars, Bally's and Hilton. Connection Card holders also can earn complimentary rooms, meals, show tickets and merchandise.

Enrollment in the Connection Card program is free. Guests may sign up at any of the Connection Centers on the casino floors at any of the properties. Caesars garage The Atlantic City Planning Board gave final approval to Cae IF YOU GO The Dr. David Flinker Pavilion Art Gallery is open daily from 8:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.

in Virtua-Memorial Hospital Burlington County, 175 Madison Mount Holly. For more information, call (609) 267-0700. "They are fairly sophisticated, but young enough to be uninhibited. Our job as art teachers is to let the kids go." Each participating student had work displayed at the hospital or in the schools. Each stu What schools like this have to fight against is the perception that the grass is greener somewhere else." Case history The Brown case one of the launching points for the civil rights movement consolidated lawsuits filed by the NAACP in four states challenging school segregation.

The case was named after Oliver Brown, whose daughter Linda was barred from a white elementary school near her Topeka, home. On May 17, 1954, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that separating black and white children in public schools was unconstitutional. "In the field of public education, the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place," Chief Justice Earl Warren wrote. "Separate educational facilities are inherently unequal." What followed over the next 30 years was tumult and confrontation in many communities, remarkable strides toward diversity in others. Scores of cities and towns implemented desegregation plans, in some cases triggering an exodus of whites to private schools or less diverse communities.

School integration reached its peak in the 1980s; since then segregation has increased as demographics shifted and court orders expired. Support for court-ordered busing has waned among both whites and minorities. Racial separation According to Harvard University's Civil Rights Project, more white children go to overwhelmingly white schools and more minority children to predominantly nonwhite schools than a decade ago. Some all-black schools excel, but many inner-city schools have suffered as the brightest local students choose magnet and charter schools. "You have to pursue both improving schools where they are and opening up the doors of every school to children of every background," said the Civil Rights Project's director, Gary Orfield.

"If we're going to make 'segregation' work, we have to re 5B sars Entertainment for construction of an 11-story, parking garage near Michigan and Atlantic avenues. Construction will require demolition of the existing Atlantic City Medical Center garage, a project scheduled for May. Completion of the $75 million garage is scheduled for July 2005. The CRDA will provide the funding. "The agreement between Caesars Entertainment and Atlantic City Medical Center means that we can move forward with a project that will bring tremendous economic benefit to Atlantic City while meeting the very real needs of one of our most important neighbors," said Wallace R.

Barr, president and CEO of Caesars Entertainment Under an agreement with the medical center, Caesars will provide parking for hospital employees and volunteers at the Claridge Casino garage during construction of the new garage. When its new garage is finished, Caesars Entertainment will designate 468 parking spaces in the new facility for Atlantic City Medical Center staff, physicians and volunteers. Physicians and on-call hospital staff will park in a lot that will be constructed outside the ACMC Emergency Department. ACMC will offer valet parking to patients, visitors and guests from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.

daily. The garage also will serve guests of Bally's, as well as visitors to The Walk outlet shopping center and The Pier at Caesars, a retail and entertainment project planned for the Million Dollar Pier across from Caesars Atlantic City. Bottled beer Following the precedent set by the Borgata Hotel Casino Spa, the Atlantic City Hilton will offer bottled beer to customers as of today. Before the Borgata opened, all casinos served beer in plastic cups on the casino floor. Reach William H.

Sokolic at (609) 823-9159 or wsokolicOcourierpost online.com dent received a certificate. "When I am sad, I look at the American flag to cheer," Michael Dingelski, an Allen School student, wrote in his mixed media work, which features images of the flag and the twin towers. One work featured a somber-looking Statue of Liberty. The artist Chris Vaughn, 10, a student at Cranberry Pines said he didn't intend to make Lady Liberty look so hauntingly sad. "I just drew as I was looking at a book," Chris said.

Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. Principal Linda Dickerson will read to kids during lunch. Kindergart-ners will sample green eggs and ham. Hartford School Students will hold a book donation drive. The goal is to raise $1,000 to held purchase books for the library of H.C.

Shai-p School in Camden. Hillside Elementary School Students from Lenape Regional High School's National Honor Society will read to students at 11:45 a.m. today. Parkway Elementary School Students from Lenape Regional High School will read to kids from 9:45 to 11:30 a.m. today.

Springville School Illustrator E.B. Lewis will visit students. Pennsauken Theodore Roosevelt School Kids will have a green eggs and ham breakfast at 9:15 a.m. Tuesday. Brad Strauss from the Camden Riversharks will read to students at 2 p.m.

Rt 42 Hirnersville tor nuwww ft irar rmnlKnc optiiin. urni krr tn M4i in rrtaw wn immht. I ikk Mwm FreedomMedford students illustrate theme i ally invest in it, massively and carefully." West Philadelphia, a red brick colossus built in 1912, was once a virtually all-white school but has been mostly black for about three decades. Its recent problems have included arson outbreaks, low test scores, crowded classrooms and high staff turnover. "It's been a roller coaster ride," said Henry Gordon, a West Philadelphia teacher since 1980.

"You'd wake up in the morning and wonder who the principal is today." Gordon, who is black, has stayed put even as many colleagues left. "I don't want to teach white kids," he said. "My people need me more." Discipline a challenge Enforcing discipline in a school designated by the state as "persistently dangerous" is challenging, yet Gordon empathizes with his students. "Society is kicking these kids' behinds," he said. Two white teachers, Jason Klugman and Pat O'Hara, say insufficient funding underlies many of West Philadelphia's problems.

"If we're spending $3,000 less per pupil than in the suburbs, nothing's going to change," Klugman said. O'Hara, whose pupils have included young offenders coming straight out of custody, says the city's magnet schools undercut neighborhood schools like West Philadelphia. "The students with parents who advocate for them go away," he said. Yet the mood in much of the West Philadelphia community is cautiously upbeat. The city school district has promised to replace the aging school building within three years; both an alumni association and a group of activist students want a voice in planning the new facility.

The district's chief executive, Paul Vallas, says he wants to help minority-dominated neighborhood schools compete with magnet schools and private schools. "If students view themselves as attending a school of last resort we want to change that," Vallas said. settlers and the relations between Native Americans and New Sweden colonists. The symposium is 9:30 a.m. at Mullica Hill Friends Meeting House at South Main Street and Woodstown roads.

Mullica's former home at 20 N. Main St. in Mullica Hill, now the site of Debra's Dolls, will be open for tours. Celebration organizers tried to find area descendants of the original Mullica settlers but none could be found, Rohrman said. "We're hoping people see this and say, 'Yes, I'm a she said.

Reach Steve Levine at (856) 251-3346 or slevinecourierpostonline.com A History on display America5 events planned Ml 111- Continued from Page 3B The students were instructed to approach freedom from any perspective, whether it be historic or current, symbolic or personal. Gallery curator Joan Mos-kowitz came up with the idea for the exhibit. She got in touch with Robert Lindgren, a Med-ford art teacher, who suggested they make the exhibit a project for district fourth-graders. "They're the best to do something like this," Lindgren said. 'Read Across Courier-Post staff Several schools in the tri-county area are holding events this week in observation of the national "Read Across America" program.

Cherry Hill Bret Harte Elementary School Susan Bass Levin, commissioner of the state Department of Community Affairs, will read to students at 9:30 a.m. today. Woodcrest Elementary The school will kick off its annual monthlong reading contest with an assembly at 9:30 a.m. Tuesday. Guests will include Stephanie Rivera, a coach from the WNBA, and Lorrie Fair of the Philadelphia Charge soccer team.

Evesham Beeler School Cherokee High School students will read to children from 9:45 to 10:30 a.m. today. A "Book Character Dress-up Day" will be held Wednesday. Family Literacy Night is 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday.

DeMasi Middle School An all-day Read-a-thon will be televised on DeMasi TV on Tuesday. Students, teachers and staff will read original works or works by a favorite author. Skits or other presentations may be included. Evans School Police officers and firefighters will read to students on Tuesday. Jaggard School Students will make green eggs and ham from 8:30 to 9:30 a.m.

Tuesday. Cherokee High School will read to kids from 1 to 2:15 p.m. Marlton Elementary School Teachers will decorate doors with Dr. Seuss items on Tuesday. Rice School A bedtime story hour will be held from 7 to 8:15 tonight.

Children dressed in pajamas may go to school with their families. Readers will include school Superintendent John Bigley, Brad Strauss of the Camden Riversharks, and Paul Deanno and Denise Saunders from KYW-TV. Van Zant School Professional storyteller Dorothy Stan-itis will read to students from 10:15 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. today.

Everyone will dress up as their favorite character on Tuesday. On Wednesday, individual classrooms will have reading activities. There will be book swaps and book reports on Thursday and Friday. If the school reads 100 books, students may wear pajamas and slippers to school on Friday. Mount Laurel Countryside Elementary Students will hold a "Read Across America" assembly Tuesday at 9:30 a.m.

Fleetwood School The "Cat in the Hat" will appear 177 JL I I Lease Highest 5 Star Safety Rating AutoV6DiialAir Roof Rack FullPowerABS CD StereoCruise Control $1 0 07A SCOTT ANDERSONCourier-Post Lewis Only of Wllliamstown looks at school photographs at the Monroe Township Historical Society on Main Street. The society invited Monroe's African-American senior citizens to visit on Saturday and share their memories for a history of Monroe's black community. EventMullica Hill to celebrate trieentennial IF YOU GO All trieentennial events except for the luncheon are free. Tickets to the lunch cost $15 and may be purchased at The Old Gray Mare, 54 S. Main Mullica Hill, or Anthony's Hallmark Shop, 1438 Kings Highway, Swedesboro.

For more information about events, call the Harrison Township Historical Society at (856) 478-4949. ate the memory of the Mullica family," Rohrman said. Other trieentennial activities Saturday will include a Scandinavian luncheon at the Mullica Hill Grange Hall, 76 N. Main and a symposium that will include discussions about the contributions of Finnish Continued from Page 3B the area known today as South Jersey, Turk said. The Mullica brothers and their wives were active in Trinity Episcopal Old Swedes Church in Swedesboro, said Ed-ie Rohrman, a volunteer with the church.

They are buried in the church's cemetery. Whatever grave markers once may have identified the burial plots have long since disappeared, Rohrman said, but an old plot map shows where the Mullicas were interred. A new grave marker will be unveiled at 4 p.m. Saturday as part of trieentennial activities. "It will be a metal marker with an inscription to perpetu- VF Purchase Maple Shade Mazda Rt 73 Maple Shade 946 PrcownedCertified at tnsmazda.com Call toll-free (800) 9886203 II Iflc prr milr, un ibrs nuuitmnul with anjimwd itmHI.

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