Photo: from left to right , Councilman Nicholas Marchese, Site Development Manager with J.S. Hovnanian, Ty Pennington from Extreme Makeover Home Edition, and Don Yoos, Director of Construction with J.S. Hovnanian

On July 30^th on Federal Street in Pennsauken the Extreme Makeover team and local builder, J. S. Hovnanian & Sons, Inc. along with hundreds of trade contractors built a home in less than 100 hours. This home was completed with the utmost speed and quality to help a family from Camden, the Marerro\’s. The family moved in Monday and is doing well.  

Gloucester City Councilman Nicholas Marchese is a Site Development Manager with J.S. Hovnanian and was a part of the building of this home. When asked what was the best part of this experience Nick replied, \” the ability to bring so many different trades together and have them all helping each other is something that\’s not normally done. On this project we made the impossible, possible. I\’m proud to have been a part of this endeavor and thank the Hovnanian family for the opportunity to help.\”  

With everyday being 90 plus degrees the entire team worked very hard to bring this special job in on time. Gloucester City helped by donating 1000 bottles of water to the effort.

Photo:Our local massage therapist, Marika DeTot of Back to Front on Kings Street donated her time both morning and night massaging the weary workers so they could continue working.

Many local restaurants and food providers donated food the entire week. Hundreds of organizations were involved in making this project a success.  

The Marerro family will have the future help of the Extreme Makeover team to run this home economically and efficiently. They continue to monitor each and every home they have built to date to make sure each project remains a success.

Photo: Gene McLeer, of J.S. Hovnanian, Tonya McQueen, from Extreme Makeover Home Edition, Councilman Marchese, and Paul DiMeo, from Extreme Makeover Home Edition.

see more photos

Barrington Tries Extreme Makeover; Playground Edition

JS Hovnanian Dies 
 

By MATT KATZ
Courier-Post Staff

Headed into the new school year, there\’s a shuffle among the top school posts in South Jersey.

Mount Holly Superintendent Paul Spaventa was hired by the Gloucester City school district, a low-income, Abbott school system, as the new superintendent. He will start as assistant superintendent of the 2,200-student district in November and begin as superintendent in January.

No replacement so far has been named in Mount Holly for Spaventa. He is a former superintendent in Clementon, a former vice principal in Gloucester Township and at Gateway Regional and a former teacher in Collingswood.

A resident of Gloucester Township, Spaventa replaces Mary Stansky, who is retiring after nine years in the Gloucester City district and 28 years in education.

Pemberton Township also has a new schools chief. The new superintendent, Michael Gorman, began work Aug. 1 and will earn $172,500, according to his contract.

Gorman was the superintendent in Glassboro, where the district credited him with improving fourth- and eighth-grade test scores and addressing the fact that a disproportionate number of black male students were classified for special education.

Gorman has been replaced on an interim basis by Leonard Fitts, who was until this spring the interim superintendent in Camden.

Fitts is expected to be an interim superintendent for nine to 10 months, according to a district statement, and will be paid an undisclosed sum on a per diem basis. Fitts is a former county superintendent.

The Glassboro school board will begin looking for a replacement Sept. 21 when it meets with the New Jersey School Boards Association.

Source http://www.courierpostonline.com 

 

Spaventa named to lead Gloucester City schools

The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 14, 2007

 The Gloucester City school board has named Mount Holly\’s school superintendent, Paul Spaventa, to become chief in the Camden County district in January.

Spaventa was appointed Thursday and will join Gloucester City in November as an assistant superintendent. In January, Spaventa will replace superintendent Mary Stansky, who will retire Dec. 31 after heading the district for nine years.

Spaventa, who holds master\’s degrees from Temple and Rowan Universities, will be paid $145,000 annually. He has been chief in Mount Holly for two years and has been paid $128,000. An educator for 28 years, he previously was schools chief in Clementon and was a teacher in the William Penn and Collingswood districts.

Gloucester City is one of the state\’s 31 special-needs or Abbott districts, which receive additional state funding under court orders to bring spending in line with their wealthier counterparts. The 2,200-student district has four schools with pre-K through 12th grade. It has a $38 million annual budget and 425 teachers and support staff. – Melanie Burney

Source Philadelphia Inquirer http://www.philly.com

 more stories on Spaventa
 

  

  Commentary by Hank F. Miller Jr. 

\”Because I want to make a statement, \”says the girl.\”And my statement is that I am unique, which my choice of fashion demonstrates.\”So that was her answer. 

And the question? Why the Bulgaria watch, the Louis Vutton bag, the Christian Dior blouse and the flirty whiff of Chanel? Why–little Miss College Student–Why the obsession with so many brands? 

Then this unique girl flashed a Max Factor smile, turned and took a seat with her classmates–each dressed almost the same, \”all decked out in very expensive high class brand name gear. 

\”Cheek to cheek chick. True, not all Japanese coeds come packaged in so many labels. And many more can better afford Hello Kitty than Hanae Mori. Still, in Japan there exist a sizable number of young females who do not leave their homes for school or work without at least one designer item in their ensemble. 

 

Some say these women are to brand goods what hot air is to ballons that may be true. The fashion industry might not crash without them, but neither would it fly so high. 

The well–heard figure is that one third of the world\’s brand items are produced by Japanese.Chuo Avenue in the Ginza is but one of many Tokyo spots where the fashion boutiques line up like models on a walkway. Not that the shops are packed. Subtract both the window shoppers and the tourists and Chuo Avenue might echo with the remaining footsteps. 

 

Yet somebody is buying. For along with the boutiques come pawn shops specializing in used brand goods. Further evidence includes women bedazzled in fashion. 

Or perhaps in well–fashioned fakes. Regardless in Tokyo even some college freshman wears Prada–or at least what looks like it. So much so that girls selling themselves–so called enjohosai–in order to keep up with the Takahashi, fashion–wise have long been passe. Even a boom of one-of-a-kind goods reflects against the trend it is backing–the national passion for brands. 

 

Why? Is it as simple as peer pressure, like the coed who insists she is matchless, despite being matched by all her friends? Or is it–as is often argued–just a middle class lust for luxery? Granted, I don\’t possess much fashion sense myself. I wear no brands at all, unless you count the stains of French wine and the German mustard on my cuffs. Typically, I leave my house with holes in my sweaters and socks, my wife Keiko permitting such shabbiness only because she says the openings go so well with the one in my head. But my holey head sees more to Japanese status–seeking than fashion.  

 

Snobbery Japanese–style operates on a number of levels, with one fine example being the–gakureki shakai syndrome, where advancement in life is tied to university rank. 

 

To get to the top, you have to start at the bottom, but in the ideal scenario the steppingstones in between are embossed with the names of elite schools, from kindergarten up. Society then presents pecking orders for almost every endeavor you\’re a better company man if you work for let\’s say Mitsubishi,Soni,Toyota or the like than if you get paid by any place with a lesser–known shingle. You\’re a better stewardess if you can serve tea for let\’s say JAL, you are a better clerk if you can dot i\’s for the Ministry of Finmance, you are a better ballplayer if you can shag flies for the Tokyo Giants. And so on.  

 

Perhaps this is the root of Japan\’s designer crazed world. The idea is not that man makes the clothes, but rather that proper form demands a good fit of class.\”Was I your fashion statement then?\”I ask my wife, nothing that too many a foreign spouse is a retreat from \”Japanese–ness.\” \”Was I your moment to buck the trend?\”She tells me she thinks differently. That she instead sought a ritzy brand name from overseas. So that\’s how she got me. Words that make me blush. Until her next line. Which is? 

\”Now–those pawn shops. Where are they again?\”  

 

Warm Regards from Kitakyushu City, Japan 

Hank F. Miller Jr.