Dolly Parton’s literacy program, Imagination Library, has provided nearly 800 children with free monthly books mailed to their homes in West Philadelphia.
In Montgomery County, around 3,500 children have been served in the Norristown and Pottstown areas since 2023, thanks to Parton’s program.
“We don’t anticipate any changes to the program,” said Jennifer Leith, executive director of the West Philadelphia Alliance for Children (WePAC).
Imagination Library, which Parton started in 1995 in Tennessee, provides deeply discounted books that are mailed each month to any child in a given zip code whose parent or guardian applies to participate. Governments and nonprofits provide funding to cover the remaining costs of the program, which is available for children from birth to age 5.
The Dollywood Foundation said in a recent fact sheet that it has delivered more than 300 million books to children in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Ireland.
WePAC started with one zip code, 19104, in July 2024, then expanded to include four more zip codes in July 2025, Leith said.
“In that time, literally thousands of books have been delivered to West Philadelphia children,” Leith said.
“Anyone from any income level, from any background, can participate,” said Eliza Brumbaugh, executive director of the Literacy Council of Norristown, which helps to run the program, with assistance from the Justamere Foundation, in Montgomery County.
Leith said “it would be great” if Mayor Cherelle L. Parker or Gov. Josh Shapiro “decided to do this in honor of Dolly Parton’s legacy.”
In Delaware County, The Community’s Foundation has provided books from the Imagination Library program to more than 140 children in Eddystone since 2024, said Dierdre Woody Konar, president of the nonprofit.
“The Dolly Parton Imagination Library has shared with TCF and their other partners that they have prepared carefully for this day and for the future of the Imagination Library,” Konar said in an email Wednesday morning.
“TCF is incredibly sad to hear of Dolly’s passing, and we look forward to continuing this important work,” Konar said.
Foundations Inc., a national education nonprofit based in Mount Laurel, ran the first Imagination Library program in Philadelphia for five years, helping to provide books to children in North Philly’s 19133 zip code.
“It was pretty much a book desert,” Casey Jones, executive director of marketing and communications for Foundations, said of the zip code before the program started.
Through Parton’s program, Foundations was able to deliver around 27,000 books to children in that one zip code until the five-year commitment was completed at the end of 2025, said Rhonda H. Lauer, CEO and president of Foundations.
“We went to Dollywood to present it to her in person,” Lauer recalled, saying she had several in-depth conversations with Parton about life and family and the program.
In the end, Lauer said, “all she cared about was getting books in the hands of children.”
People take phone photos as Dolly Parton performed at the Wilmington Public Library, in 2022. She promoted her Imagination Library, a free book gifting program for children.JOSÉ F. MORENO / Staff Photographer
Six South Jersey gas stations that the White House promoted in July, touting below-market fuel prices, have racked up environmental violations with the state dating back to 2023.
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection issued close to $430,000 in fines in May to operators who run 17 gas stations, including the six Freedom Fuel locations, for the violations accrued over the years, according to an administrative order first reported by Politico and obtained by The Inquirer. The fines were issued before these stations rebranded to Freedom Fuel.
The Freedom Fuel stations, which made their debut this summer, accrued more than $202,000 in fines, according to department records. All 17 stations are owned by asset manager Blue Owl Capital and operated by Cherry Hill developer Shamikh Kazmi and his brother Syed Kazmi.
Blue Owl and the Kazmi brothers could not be reached for comment.
The owner-operators have requested a hearing, according to DEP spokesperson Larry Hajna, but no date had been set as of Wednesday.
The violations include failing to properly register underground storage tanks, failing to provide overfill prevention for some tanks, failing to cut and cap lines that lead to out-of-service tank systems, and violating delivery bans.
A Freedom Fuel location at 6801 Tilton Rd. in Egg Harbor was issued a fine of $50,000, the maximum penalty for the violation. The location received four deliveries in November 2023, despite having been banned from doing so because it did not properly register its storage tank.
In its justification for the fine, the department described the operator’s actions as a “deliberate and knowing act,” noting it was a major violation.
The Kazmi brothers have been embroiled in at least two lawsuits related to previous gas station ventures, including a 2021 trademark dispute with BP American Inc. and BP Products North America Inc. Additionally, Petroleum Marketing Group Inc., a fuel distribution company, accused the brothers of stealing thousands of gallons of gas from the company.
City won’t shut down Philly Freedom Fuel station
The Freedom Fuel station on Bustleton Ave. in Philadelphia.Dana Munro / staff
The network’s Bustleton Avenue station — also linked to the Kazmi brothers — failed a license renewal inspection at the end of July that could have forced its closure. But the owners remedied the issue and can continue to operate the station, according to a city spokesperson.
More than two months after having been loudly promoted by the White House and PresidentDonald Trump, Freedom Fuel’s owners have remained silent about their discount gas operation.
Baltimore Ravens assistant coach Randy Brown and former commodities trader Yoni Gontownik signed the company’s certificate of formation in Delaware and have not spoken publicly about the highly touted enterprise.
Freedom Fuel launched with prices 40 to 50 cents a gallon cheaper than nearby stations, frustrating competitors and confusing experts who follow the notoriously low-margin business.
“With every new site, we’re driving down gas prices at the pump for more communities,” reads a message on the network’s website.
In recent weeks, prices across Freedom Fuel locations have risen closer to other discount locations.
Take the location on Dreshertown Road in Upper Dublin Township, which was promoted in a video shared by the White House. When it launched at the beginning of July, the station sold gas for $3.47 a gallon — a nod to Trump being the 47th president. But as of Tuesday, the station was selling gas for $3.89 a gallon, about a dime cheaper than a nearby Citgo station and slightly more than Sam’s Club, according to gas-tracking website GasBuddy.
The average cost of a gallon of gas in Philadelphia on Tuesday was $4.15, according to AAA. That was up more than 28% from this time last year, when the cost averaged $3.23.
It’s not all spike ball and boogie boards at the ocean’s edge. That singular spot can be a place of reflection, beauty, memories both welcome and painful, a grasping for meaning, a bracing crash of the waves of time.
One recent evening, I went to sit out after work, a perk of living here, but it started with an uncomfortable land breeze: hot, flies, stifling air, and existential doubt. Should I just go back inside and watch Jeopardy? But then, a lovely wind shift, spectacular in its suddenness. Things became lighter, cooler, calming. Everything seemed, well, solvable. There was that lesson again: perspective, insight, change, sometimes just a wind shift away. I stayed for that lovely pink dusk.
This week, I spoke with Shanda McManus, former resident of Ventnor, family physician and professor, and author of the riveting new memoir Brother Epistles, a collection of letters to her little brother, Monir Hall, who was shot to death in Philadelphia in 1992 at the age of 20. Now living in Monmouth County, not far from Sea Bright, McManus, 56, has written vividly of her girlhood in North Philadelphia, across from the old Connie Mack Stadium — it’s “a really Philly book,” as she says. She also writes of the adulthood she moved through without her brother, most of it at the Jersey Shore. How, and why, their trajectories diverged underscore McManus’ intimate storytelling.
“I do feel like young Black boys aren’t given the same opportunity to be children,” she said. “Even when I lived in Ventnor, two nephews came to visit, and the police chased them home, they assumed they would have stolen those bikes. What does that do to you if you’re always suspect?”
Shanda’s decades of proximity to the ocean, to the natural beauty and spaces that were mostly missing from her Philly childhood, she says, has helped her grieve.
“The access to the ocean and the beach, natural places in general — if you grow up in the inner city, North Philly, there’s not a lot of places,” she said. “Growing up, my grandmom and granddad, they used to drive down the Shore, but we would never go on the beach. We would go in the stores and get saltwater taffy. It wasn’t until I was an adult that I actually sat on the beach. To have the community here, with my children. It was restorative.”
As she writes in Brother Epistles, “Grief for me is not a series of five steps, but a spiral and a repeating loop. I walk alone outside of time. The past is the present is the future — it is infinite and eternal, like you and me.”
Like the ocean.
Keep scrolling for a slam book Q&A with Shanda, and a Shore memory. Plus, your thoughts on Ocean City remaining a dry town. Shanda’s forthcoming Philly appearances are here.
👋 That’s it for me this season. Jason Nark, as usual, will wrap up Down the Shore next week. Thanks for playing along! Let us know what you liked and didn’t like! What would you want to see more of in this newsletter or in our Shore coverage? Send your thoughts to us here.
🥶 Nights are starting to cool off down here, bring on September (local’s summer).
🎣 The 72nd annual Surf Fishing Classicbegins this weekend on LBI, a Shore sign of fall.
Shore snapshot
Cathy Green, owner of Cathy’s 14th Street Bakery in Ocean City, finishes preparing cream-filled donuts on Aug., 13, 2026. Former Cathy’s dishwasher and junior baker, Dominic Sessa, plays Anthony Bourdain in the new A24 biopic “Tony.”Tim Hawk / For The Inquirer
🧠 Trivia time
Rich Coniglio was first with last week’s answer: Atlantic City has the country’s oldest operational beach patrol, established in 1855.
This week: Ocean City’s been dry since 1909, and drinking on the beach was officially banned in 1951. But it took a city council vote to totally eliminate BYOB.
What year did Ocean City do away with wine-with-dinner?
We asked our Shore Line texters. Not many advocated bringing bars or liquor stores to Ocean City, but there was some sentiment for BYOB.
The best case for remaining dry:For years I wanted BYO’s but lately the old charm of this town seems to be drifting away. I have little doubt that the OC would lose its unique identity. It should remain a dry town.
The best case for BYOB: I think it would be nice if Ocean City was at least a BYOB. So many wonderful restaurants, but we just don’t go for that exact reason.
Author Shanda McManus shared her faves. (She’s still got a soft spot for Ventnor after all these years in Monmouth County.)
Favorite beach: Ventnor. We live 10 minutes from Sea Bright, but we’ll drive down to go to the beach in Ventnor. The sand is softer. I love the community.
Favorite summer breakfast? Blueberries. Fresh.
Perfect beach day: Going to the beach with two books and finishing one and a half and sitting on my chair all day.
Perfect night: Walking on the boardwalk, stopping for ice cream, walking back with that nice wind.
Favorite Shore sandwich: I don’t usually buy lunch meats, but when I’m down at the beach, it’s Lebanon bologna, peppered turkey, Martin’s potato rolls.
Water ice order: Classic lemon water ice.
When the end of summer approaches I feel: Devastatingly sad. I can feel the winter coming.
Surfing or fishing? Reading.
Sunrise or sunset? Sunrise.
Shore pet peeve: People riding their bikes on the boardwalk during the hours they’re not supposed to.
The Shore could be improved if: It enlarged access. I would love if the beaches were free and open to all. Up here [Sea Bright], I live in the land of the beach clubs. It’ll cost you $5,000 for a locker.
Your Shore memory
In Brother Epistles, McManus writes: I lived a short walk from the ocean for five years. You know where? Ventnor, the town right next to Atlantic City. I could see the casinos from the beach. AC was the place to go and party. Dad never took us to the beach because he didn’t like sand, and that was even before he had his prosthetic foot. Grandmom took us to Atlantic City and Wildwood, but that was to ride the rides on the boardwalk and get saltwater taffy. It never occurred to me that we might sit on the beach like the white people we saw. Grandmom laughed at them for “trying to get Black.” I never thought of Atlantic City being a place of natural beauty either, where ocean waves crashed and foamed. But it is. From my house in the next town over, I could hear the steady, endless roll of waves crashing at night. The sound made me think of infinity or eternity or our souls. I would pack up however many kids I had at the time, and we’d spend days in the sand and water.
ACLU-NJ is defending protesters who received traffic and criminal citations from the Bellmawr Police Department during summertime protests against President Donald Trump and his administration.
The infractions include honking and jaywalking, according to the roadside rallies’ organizing group, Cooper River Indivisible.
ACLU-NJ sent a letter to the Camden County borough’s police department asking it to investigate officers’ conduct regarding the protesters’ “free-speech activities.”
“No one’s freedom of speech should be chilled because they’re afraid of getting a citation,” ACLU-NJ’s criminal law reform advocacy director told The Inquirer.
Bohemian doughnuts, traditional kolaches, apple strudel, babka — Four Green Cats Cafe is known for these Czech treats and more, with customers traveling from both nearby in South Jersey and across the country to sample its authentic European flavors.
The Mount Laurel café will soon be taking over a larger space in Haddonfield to meet demand.
The new location will allow Four Green Cats to offer more menu items and host more live events for those of the Czech diaspora and beyond, owners Mila and Nadia Vasa say.
New Jersey will get more than $500 million from a landmark Meta settlement over child protections, part of a larger payout of up to $17.1 billion. A multistate coalition sued the tech giant for failing to keep kids from becoming addicted.
A Franklin Township man has been charged with first-degree murder for allegedly strangling his 40-year-old daughter in June, prosecutors said.
A dean of research at Rutgers University has been charged with invasion of privacy for allegedly taking “upskirt” photos while working at the Jersey institution.
A Philadelphia man was arrested for allegedly trying to meet and have sex with underage girls in a Mount Laurel hotel.
Camden County officials are warning residents to follow federal guidance on rabies prevention and safety after a rabid raccoon was discovered in Barrington.
Marlton-based Virtua Health and other health systems in the region have filed lawsuits against healthcare provider network MultiPlan and several major insurers, Philadelphia Business Journal reports.
RIP, Dolly Parton, who is remembered as both a singer and philanthropist whose Imagination Library worked to get books into children’s hands. Mount Laurel-based nonprofit Foundations Inc. ran the first Imagination Library program in Philadelphia and awarded Parton as its “Champion of Children” in 2020.
🗓️ The best things to do this week
🌿 Life that Glows: Take a guided walk and use UV flashlights to see fluorescence on various plants, invertebrates, and mushrooms that glow in various colors at night. ⏰ Friday, Aug. 28, 7:30-9:30 p.m. 💵 Free 📍Long Bridge Park, Hainesport.
🎤 Music on the Porch Day: Enjoy live music on porches, storefronts, lawns, and other gathering spaces. ⏰ Saturday, Aug. 29, noon-4 p.m. 💵 Free 📍 Downtown Mount Holly.
🍷 Wine Down Summer: Sample award-winning wines, listen to live music, and peruse food and artisan vendors at this annual fest. BYO chairs, blankets, and pop-up tents. ⏰ Saturday, Aug. 29 and Sunday, Aug. 30 12-5 p.m. 💵 $20-25 plus fees, $5 for spectators 📍Veterans Island at Cooper River Park, Pennsauken.
Thanks for starting your day with The Inquirer. Ellen Dunkel has you covered tomorrow.
Clarification: Yesterday’s newsletter featured a story on the opening of Del Buono’s Pastry Shop. Its cream doughnuts are reminiscent of the ones McMillan’s Bakery once sold.
By submitting your written, visual, and/or audio contributions, you agree to The Inquirer’s Terms of Use, including the grant of rights in Section 10.
The ACLU of New Jersey has urged the Bellmawr Police Department to investigate its officers’ conduct after local protesters alleged the department gave out citations while attendees engaged in “free-speech activities.”
The letter, sent by email Tuesday, said ACLU-NJ had been contacted by several members of Cooper River Indivisible, a Camden County-based grassroots organization, after members alleged that they were targeted by Bellmawr police officers during months of summer protests against President Donald Trump and his administration despite sidewalks and streets being “traditional public forums.”
“As I understand the facts, officers have been issuing traffic and criminal citations — for honking, jaywalking, and other offenses — to participants and supporters during lawful roadside rallies,” the letter reads.
Rebecca Uwakwe, ACLU-NJ’s criminal law reform advocacy director, said Cooper River Indivisible members told her that Bellmawr police have been targeting them since at least June, but that the citations have ramped up this month. She could not confirm how many citations have been given out but said she is representing “a good amount of people” affected by the citations in municipal court.
“No one’s freedom of speech should be chilled because they’re afraid of getting a citation,” Uwakwe said.
The letter asks the police department to investigate officers’ conduct and requests that the department respond by Sept. 11.
The Bellmawr Police Department declined to comment. Uwakwe said she has not heard from police yet.
Cooper River Indivisible, a South Jersey affiliate of nonprofit Indivisible, hosts weekly roadside rallies at an intersection in Bellmawr Borough, Camden County, where people gather to “joyfully disturb the peace” to protest fascism and actions taken by the Trump administration.
Neither Cooper River Indivisible nor its founder, Craig Strimel, immediately responded to requests for comment.
It was unclear who was arrested or whether charges were filed after the recent rally.
If the police department is not receptive to dialogue, Uwakwe said, the ACLU will continue to defend protesters and drivers against citations. ACLU-NJ is still interviewing people affecting by the citations, she said, and investigating the situation.
Frank Spagnuola, 85, formerly of Philadelphia, one of the original American Bandstand dancers, 1957 Chalypso dance champion, longtime interior designer, and gourmet home cook, died Monday, Aug. 17, of congestive heart failure at the Complete Care at Court House nursing center in Cape May Court House.
Born and reared in South Philadelphia, Mr. Spagnuola was lifelong friends with performers Bobby Rydell, Frankie Avalon, Fabian Forte, James Darren, and Jerry Blavat, and dozens of other singers, dancers, musicians, and disc jockeys from the neighborhood. He enjoyed socializing as well as music and dancing, and, at 15, became one of the original dancers when the old WFIL-TV station hosted Bandstand and then American Bandstand in the 1950s and ’60s.
The TV station invited local teens to dance to the latest hits in its Studio B on Market Street in West Philadelphia, and Mr. Spagnuola did just that on many afternoons from 1955 to 1963. In 1957, he and partner Dottie Horner finished first in American Bandstand’s first Chalypso contest, spotlighting an original Philly dance that combines the cha-cha and the calypso.
“We would cut classes” to dance on Bandstand, Mr. Spagnuola, a graduate of the old Bishop Neumann High School, said in a 2017 video interview. “We had eight or nine classes, and we would leave, like, the sixth class. Father would say, ‘Where are you going?’ Well, you know where we’re going, Father. The priests watched the show. I mean, everybody watched the show.”
Mr. Spagnuola graduated from the old Bishop Neumann High School in 1958.Courtesy of the family
It was downstairs at Studio B, Mr. Spagnuola said, that he encountered Bandstand guest stars Pat Boone, Bobby Darin, and Sal Mineo. As a teen in the neighborhood, he performed in local skit shows with Rydell and played football and double-dated with Fabian.
On Facebook, Fabian called Mr. Spagnuola “a gentleman and talented dancer,” and said: “Frank Spagnuola was one of the most popular and beloved regular dancers on Dick Clark’s American Bandstand during the show’s iconic Philadelphia era.”
Mr. Spagnuola is profiled at history-of-rock.com and bandstand.cafex.biz, and he and Dottie Horner are on the cover of the 1997 Dick Clark’s American Bandstand souvenir collectors’ magazine. He is featured in the 1997 New Jersey Network documentary Bandstand Days and called the show “part of American history.”
Over the years, as Bandstand’s popularity ebbed and flowed, he routinely reconnected with other original dancers — they were called the Bandstand Regulars — at reunions, public events, and celebrations in the region. American Bandstand went off the air in 1989.
Mr. Spagnuola and his dance partner, Dottie Horner, were on the cover of this 1997 souvenir collectors’ magazine. Courtesy of the family
“Everybody loved Frank,” said longtime disc jockey and music director Tommy McCarthy. “He had an infectious smile. He was a guy you just liked.”
Friends on Facebook called Mr. Spagnuola “movie star handsome,” “a rock & roll soldier,” “a Bandstand pioneer,” and “one of the nicest gentleman you could ever meet.” One said: “Wonderful dancer, wonderful person, wonderful friend.”
After graduating from Bishop Neumann in 1958, Mr. Spagnuola worked in a high-end carpet store, studied interior design, and earned an associate’s degree at the old Philadelphia College of the Arts. He became an interior designer, worked for Sears at the Moorestown Mall for 25 years, and was active with the American Society of Interior Designers.
On his own, he did private design work for Muhammad Ali, former Eagles assistant coach Jon Gruden, and other local notables. “He cultivated an eye for beauty and design,” his family said in a tribute, “shaping spaces with elegance and functionality.”
Mr. Spagnuola (left above) stands with his wife, Janet, and Bobby Rydell. Below, he is flanked by Fabian (left) and Frankie Avalon.Courtesy of the family
Francis Michael Spagnuola was born Nov. 2, 1940. The oldest of three brothers, he liked to hang out at the Jersey Shore and dine on Italian food.
He married Janet Moretti, and they had a son, Stephen, and a daughter, Carrie, and lived in South Philadelphia and Center City. His wife died in 2005.
Mr. Spagnuola moved to Cape May later, became an accomplished home cook, and was known for his crab salad dip. He was passionate, upbeat, and funny, everyone said, and his children called him “a steadfast anchor and a lifelong source of support.”
His family said: “He leaves behind a memory as warm and enduring as the summer shore and the Wildwood days he so dearly cherished.”
Mr. Spagnuola enjoyed time with his children (above) and grandchildren (below).Courtesy of the family
His son said: “He loved life. He loved people. He loved characters.”
In addition to his children, Mr. Spagnuola is survived by three grandchildren and other relatives. Two brothers died earlier.
As part of a settlement involving almost every U.S. state, Pennsylvania and New Jersey will each receive more than $500 million from Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, after a multistate coalition sued the tech giant for failing to protect kids from becoming addicted.
The two states’ shares are part of a larger payout ofthe $12.1 billion to $17.1 billion Meta will be required to make over the next 10 years to the states and U.S. territories involved in the suit. The exactfigure will depend on other social media companies agreeing to make similar changes.
Pennsylvania is expected to receive at least $516 million and up to $729 million, while New Jersey is expected to receive at least $525 million and up to $752 million, according to statements from each state’s attorney general.
“We can’t simply tell parents to do better while allowing technology companies to design platforms that are engineered to addict children,” Pennsylvania Attorney General Dave Sunday said during a news conference Wednesday. “Parents deserve better. Children deserve better, and today shows that Big Tech can do better — some just chose not to. Today is the first step in forcing Big Tech to do better.”
Meta did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
In addition to the monetary payments, the tech giant will also be required to make changes to satisfy the states’ concerns over child safety.
“As a parent, protecting your kids is always your North Star,” New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said in a statement. “This agreement achieves critical protections for our children today.”
Neither attorney general commented on how the settlement funds would be used.
Instagram and Facebook will have to implement a combined two-hour daily time limit for child users with a mandatory pause after 15 minutes of continuous use and again at 60 and 90 minutes. These time limits will be in effect for five years. If Snapchat, TikTok, and YouTube — social media apps owned by other companies — agree to adopt similar terms, the daily limit on each platform would drop to 60 minutes and last for 10 years.
Child users also will not be able to access the websites from midnight to 6 a.m., will have limited access during school hours, and willnot receive push notifications on weekdays between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. during the school year.
The company will be required to bolster its age-assurance measures to more accurately verify the age of users. It will also need to improve its age-appropriate content controls to better shield child users against bullying, content promoting eating disorders, and content related to suicide and self-harm.
Meta will have to limit its social comparison features, including beauty filters and visible tallies of likes on posts, and willbe required to make parent controls stronger and more user-friendly.
“These are changes that matter because they directly address how young people interact with these platforms, how long they use them, when they use them, what they are exposed to on these platforms, and the role that parents can play in keeping them safe,” Sunday said.
These changes, which are required to be enacted in the next six months, will be regularly assessed by an independent auditor and the settling parties.
The Gloucester County Institute of Technology and its superintendentare facing multiple lawsuits after the school’s former principal and the administrator who replaced her filed complaints alleging the schooldiscriminated against them and mishandled its recent staff cuts.
Two lawsuits, filed in June weeks after GCIT first voted on the cuts, are the latest in a series of legal actions against GCIT alleging retaliatory and discriminatory behavior.
GCIT, the sole school in the Gloucester County Vocational-Technical School District, did not renew the contract of former principal Sybil Girard and two teachers. The school also cut the positions of former vocational education director Gina Mateka, another teacher, and the aquatics coordinator in a reduction of force.
The cuts, a response to a $500,000 budget shortfall that was only partially supplemented by the county, came down in a unanimous vote first in May and then again in August, according to meeting minutes approved last week. They follow budget struggles across South Jersey school districts.
Girard, who was hired in 2020 and was the district’s only Black administrator as well as the first Black principal in GCIT’s 55-year history, according to the complaint, sued the Deptford tech school and its superintendent, Susan Heiken, about four weeks before the school first voted not to renew her contract. She alleged racial- and gender-based microaggressions, negative performance reviews, and exclusion from staff hiring processes.
In a separate lawsuit filed in June, Girard alleged the school board voted not to renew her contract without providing the 48-hour notice required by New Jersey’s Open Public Meetings Act.
That case closed in state court Thursday, after GCIT’s school board hosted a special meeting, only two minutes long, to redo the personnel vote with proper notice.
Mateka, meanwhile, alleged in another June lawsuit that the district cut her administrative position and demoted her to principal to retaliate against a suit she filed last year alleging age and gender discrimination.
Mateka’s position was the only administrator role cut by August’s reduction in force, and the only tenured administrator position eliminated, according to her lawsuit.
Both Girard and Mateka declined to comment due to ongoing litigation. Heiken did not return repeated requests for comment, nor did Assistant Superintendent Amy Capriotti, who sits on the GCIT school board. Two board members also did not return requests for comment.
Students and others in the district community have spoken out against the staff reductions by defending the impact Girard and their teachers have had on their lives.
“For us GCIT students, our teachers and staff serve as parental figures, inspirations, support systems, and outlets; it would be a grave disservice to them, the students, the school, and morale to let them go,” former student Serena Smithwrote in a Change.org petition to call for the protection of staff. The petitiongarnered more than 1,600 signatures.
At board meetings leading up to the cuts, dozens spoke in defense of Girard and other employees at risk. At one March meeting, 58 people spoke, according to meeting minutes, and those comments took up more than 2½ hours.
A longtime district employee, who declined to be named for fear of retaliation, said recent actions taken by Heiken have hurt staff morale.
“Nobody is feeling secure,” they said.
Mounting complaints
Mateka’s beef with Heiken and the Gloucester County Vocational-Technical School District began in 2022.
The district had long shared its school board and administration with the Gloucester County Special Services School District, which educates children with disabilities, down the street.
But county officials restructured the district in 2022 and split the Deptford education campus back into two separate entities, meaning each school had to find its own staff.
Heiken became the temporary superintendent at the special services district while the school sought a permanent option.
According to an April 2025 complaint, Mateka saw herself as that option. She worked for the vocational technical school district since 1997 and became a shared chief academic officer in 2014.
With her teaching and administrative experience, Mateka applied for the superintendent opening at the special services school district, but the district’s board of education chose to hire James Dundee, a principal at GCIT, instead. Dundee is still superintendent.
Mateka sued GCSSSD, its school board, Dundee, and Heiken. She claimed the district did not handle the hiring process equitably, due in part to her age — she was 66 years old when she applied — and gender.
She alleged that Dundee did not have teaching experience, had never been a superintendent or assistant superintendent, and was not certified by the state to be a school administrator. That lack of experience, the complaint alleges, meant Dundee required a mentor when he was hired.
The same day, Brian Shakespeare, who held several roles at GCSSSD since 1992, also filed a lawsuit alleging age-based discrimination, since Shakespeare — 10 years Dundee’s senior — had applied for the position and lost out, too.
Both lawsuits are ongoing in state court.
Girard’s discrimination lawsuit came in April 2026, about a year after the complaints by Mateka and Shakespeare.
In its 20 pages, Girard alleges Heiken sought “dirt” on her and another Black administrator (who had her own racial discrimination lawsuit seeking $300,000 against GCSSSD, Heiken, and Dundee until the case was settled this summer), demoted Girard but not her white colleagues, refused to call her by her professional title, and constantly left Girard out of the loop.
After she first reported Heiken’s discrimination to the district’s human resources department, the complaint alleges, Heiken began to try to force Girard out of her position, including cutting Girard’s speech from the 2025 GCIT graduation program.
When GCIT did investigate Girard’s discrimination allegations, no one ever asked why she felt discriminated against, the lawsuit reads, and GCIT’s counsel notified Girard that her complaints were “unsubstantiated.”
This is the second consecutive year that GCIT had to pursue a reduction in force due to rising costs and cuts to state education funding, Heiken said during a spring budget hearing.
“[The rising costs are] primarily everything that we need to run a school,” Heiken said in the meeting recorded by the Woodbury Warbler. “Our energy costs, our medical infrastructure costs have risen double digits.”
Carl Heil, GCIT’s teachers union president, said in an interview that the district was ”going through tough waters.”
“My hope is that we navigate it together rather than someone just making decisions and us just dealing with it,” Heil said.
A Rutgers University dean of research has beencharged with invasion of privacy, the New Jersey attorney general announced Wednesday.
Joshua Kohut, 51,who serves as the dean of research at the School of Environmental and Biological Sciences, is accused of using his mobile phone to record “upskirt” videos of people without their knowledge while working at the university, Attorney General Jennifer Davenport said. Davenport did not say how many victims there were, or whether they were students or coworkers.
“An invasion of privacy like this is not just disturbing, it is also a criminal act. We will prosecute accordingly,” Davenport said.
The attorney general’s office received a complaint regarding Kohut on June 14. He was observed on multiple occasions using his cell phone to record a person’s intimate parts underneath “her skirt,” according to the Office of Attorney General.
A search warrant was executed Monday, and authorities seized five of Kohut’s devices. During a forensic review, one of the seized devices was found to contain “upskirt” videos of another person’s undergarments and “intimate parts,” according to the attorney general. Prosecutors did not disclose where the warrant was executed,how many videos were discovered, or over what time period they filmed.
A Rutgers spokesperson said Kohut was banned from campus pending the outcome of the investigation, and the university placed him on administrative leave “after being informed of the extremely disturbing charges.”
Kohut is facing a charge of fourth-degree invasion of privacy, which carries a prison sentence of up to 18 months and a fine of up to $10,000.
The opening comes as renovations, which took the bakery down to the studs and expanded the space after its 86-year legacy, wrap up.
Other thana few final finishing touches to the space, “what’s really left to do is to bake,” said Robin Lange, the shop’s social media director.
Trays of donuts at Del Buono’s Pastry Shop on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, in Haddon Township.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
The shop’s most popular items, which include cream doughnuts reminiscent of the ones McMillan’s once sold, pizzelles, biscottis, and more, are already for sale, according to Lange.
But no one seems to know the place is open yet, owner Tom Whitman said. His daughter was the first customer.
The grand opening is scheduled from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday, Aug. 29, coinciding with the township’s music festival on the same street.
Owner Tom Whitman poses for a portrait in the kitchen at Del Buono’s Pastry Shop on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, in Haddon Township.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Whitman and his 30 employees will give out 1,000 free cream doughnuts, swag, and a chance to win a cake by Al DiBartolo, the South Jersey baker and Food Network alum working at the pastry shop.
DiBartolo’s Kakery, which sells custom and ready-made cakes and baked goods, takes up half the 2,000-square-foot bakery in what was once McMillan’s storage closet. By 10 a.m. on Tuesday, DiBartolo had fully stocked his two display cases after baking late into the night and early in the morning. He eventually plans to host monthly themed cake decorating classes there.
Al DiBartolo speaks with a reporter at Del Buono’s Pastry Shop on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, in Haddon Township.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
DiBartolo flipped through an old notepad featuring decades of his family’s recipes, as employees worked on a cannoli filling created by his uncle. He showed off the original McMillan’s ovens, which Whitman had refurbished rather than replaced.
“You’re really getting authentic, old-school baking in here,” DiBartolo said. “But with a modern twist.”
The DiBartolo family recipe book at Del Buono’s Pastry Shop on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, in Haddon Township.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Del Buono’s Pastry Shop is the latest in a series of food destinations Whitman, 63, has developed over the years. Whitman, once a Domino’s Pizza franchisee, owns 100-year-old Del Buono’s Bakery in Haddon Heights and all three Carmen’s Deli locations in South Jersey. He purchased the shop for $500,000 last September and said he has since spent millions in renovations. Two apartments Whitman is building over the shop, which he said could rent for more than $3,000 a month, are still in progress and don’t have confirmed tenants.
The new pastry shop will have specialty coffee in addition to doughnuts, pastries and other desserts, all made in house, and Whitman said he hopes to sell products made there at his other stores.
While bread and rolls and a few other items will be sourced from Del Buono’s Bakery, Whitman is carrying on McMillan’s legacy in other ways.
Doug Biemiller, a grandson of McMillan’s founders George and Evelyn McMillan, has returned to the new building as a Del Buono’s employee.
Two more McMillan’s alumni sped around the kitchen Tuesday afternoon, maneuvering around sheet pan racks and icing doughnuts. Both said their current work isn’t much different from their time at the now-closed bakery.
Juan Cutz works on a batch of donuts at Del Buono’s Pastry Shop on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, in Haddon Township.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Juan Cutz, a mixer and baker, worked at McMillan’s for two years after 12 years at Classic Cake Bakery in Cherry Hill. He said he does pretty much everything but decorate, and he hasn’t changed his technique since working for McMillan’s.
“It’s the same,” Cutz said.
Longtime McMillan’s Bakery employee Ed Skotnicki stands in the kitchen at Del Buono’s Pastry Shop on Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, in Haddon Township.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Ed Skotnicki, 73, worked at McMillan’s for 53 years. He now plans to help out at Del Buono’s for at least a few months as the pastry shop gets settled.
”The only reason I’m here is to see this place come back to life,” Skotnicki said.
