Rumson’s Forrestdale School has been recognized as a 2024 National Blue Ribbon School.
Continue reading Forrestdale Earns National Blue Ribbon School Distinction 
A reprise in honor of those folks who used to be in charge of keeping the kids safe on their walk to school. Remember when everyone walked to school?
It was a time when kids had to walk the … rope.
The first day of school, last week, was commemorated with a look back to that first day in 1965 in Fair Haven.
It was the very first day of school — for kindergarteners. It was also a finale year. That class was the last of all that walked on a rope to the Youth Center (now Fair Haven Community Center downstairs and the police station upstairs).
While classmates were remembered, the identity of the official lady tugging that rope was not.
So, as an ode to that woman, who was eventually remembered as Mary McDaniel, the Retro Pic of the Day is another look, from the archives of the Red Bank Register, of that kindergarten class walk, headed by Mc Daniel.
Continue reading Retro School Daze: The Rope Lady 
Our annual back-to-school Fair Haven rope walk reprise …
“But I don’t wanna walk on the rope next to her!” I cried from under my fresh-cut kindergarten bangs. “I wanna walk on the rope next to Pam!”
Pam was my neighbor. She was my best buddy.
It was 1965. It was the ’60s. The memories are there, but fuzzy. I can sill see it — with my reading glasses, of course. One thing’s for sure: Our Fair Haven kindergarten class was the last to have its first year of school at what was called the Youth Center, now the Fair Haven Police Station and Community Center on Fisk Street.
We kindergarteners were also the last to be tugged down the street on a rope, yes a rope, headed by an official-looking police-type lady.
Continue reading Retro Back-to-School Walking the Rope 
A back-to-school reprise …
Knock-kneed, nervous and all dressed up with somewhere to go, this gaggle Fair Haven neighborhood girls of 1965 lined up so their moms could get that classic first-day-of-kindergarten shot. And there wasn’t a smile among them.
Continue reading Retro First Day of School Girls They had a field day.
Rumson Forrestdale School students gathered outside yesterday for a traditional annual end-of-the-school-year day of fun and games outdoors. It’s literally a field day. And it’s sponsored by the PTO.
Continue reading Scene Around: Rumson Students Have a Field Day 
Our annual reprise of back-to-school memories and walking the rope in Fair Haven …
“But I don’t wanna walk on the rope next to her!” I cried from under my freshly-cut kindergarten bangs. “I wanna walk on the rope next to Pam!”
Pam was my neighbor. She was my best buddy.
It was 1965. It was the 60s. One thing’s for sure: Our Fair Haven kindergarten class was the last to have its first year of school at what was called the Youth Center, now the Fair Haven Police Station and Community Center on Fisk Street.
We kindergarteners were also the last to be tugged down the street on a rope, yes a rope, headed by an official-looking police-type lady.
Continue reading Back to School & Walking the RopeMonmouth County authorities are investigating a Hazlet incident and asking for public input.
About the incident, from the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office …
Hazlet police this morning responded to Cove Road Elementary School after being notified by school officials regarding the recovery of a bullet projectile near the school building. Hazlet Police contacted the Monmouth County Prosecutor’s Office, members of which responded to assist.
Continue reading Prosecutor: Authorities Investigating Bullet Projectile Unearthed Near School
It’s time to say “Cheese!” for those cheesy class pictures.
The era, along with its hair and clothing styles, may be bygone, aas are some since dumped picture day prep traditions, but the freeze framed sentiment is the same — straighten up and smile right, even if your bangs and teeth are both crooked. Never mind the sudden blemish pop-up, scratch or missing tooth. It all amounts to classic picture day pomp and circumstance. Classic.
Continue reading Retro Cheesy Class Pic Posers
School bells are ringing. Class is in session. Or half session, if it’s kindergarten. Things in that department are the same as they ever were for at least more than half a century. That’s more than a little snapshot in time.
Continue reading Retro Kindergarten Class Photo Session
Well, school is back in session. Students are settling into the classroom routine. And for some, it’s a new experience. We’re talking kindergarten kids.
While many, or most, in this era have already been to some sort of pre-kindergarten class, that was not the case years ago. In fact, the first day of school really was a first day in a school for kindergarteners. And it could be traumatic for both parents and students.
Yes, it was only half a day of school, but it was all new: the drop-off (or rope walk), the first-day outfit and haircut, the new friends from the other side of town, the teachers, the classroom. All of it.
Then there was the school itself. There was a time when there were three school buildings in Fair Haven.
Continue reading Retro Fair Haven Kindergarten DazeEighth graders at Knollwood School in Fair Haven may have had a lot to say recently when asked, “So, how did it go at school today?”
Continue reading Knollwood Students & Riverview Team Up in Business Challenge
Our Retro Pic of the Day takes you back to the days of Kindergarten classes at what was called the Youth Center in Fair Haven.
Kids were walked on a rope — yes, a rope — led by an official looking crossing guard-type person to the classroom which was where the police station is now. (We’ll get to the rope another time.)
This shot, circa 1965, features some kids who are still in the area, if not Fair Haven itself.
One is a well-known funeral director (front, left), another is your own Rumson-Fair Haven Retrospect founding editor (front right, sort of), another has a mom who still lives in town and a brother who is a well-known area photographer and landscaper, and, yet another, was an impressive athlete growing up and is still in town.
Take your guesses. And, please feel free to send us your retro photos, credit included, at evd@rfhretro.com.
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