Spring recess was to blame for tape not airing BY DANIELLE MEDINA Correspondent BRICK TOWNSHIP - Officials have denied a resident's charge that a Township Council meeting was intentionally not shown on the local cable channel, and cost the former school board president the election. "B-20 belongs to all of the people of Brick," 17th Avenue resident Cathy Ericksen said at the April 27 Board of Education meeting. "It should not be used for political reasons. It should be run fairly." Ericksen contended that the April 10 Township Council meeting was intentionally not aired on the township public access channel before the election. Council President Stephen C. Acropolis called up then-school board President Sharon Kight to the microphone to discuss the possible closure of the district's Educational Enrichment Center, a school for special needs students. Kight said the school was never going to close and that she was disappointed in the way the issue was handled. Ericksen said that if the public had the opportunity to hear Kight's comments on the issue on B-20, the election results might have turned out differently. Kight was the lowest vote-getter in the April 17 school elections. Schools Superintended Thomas L. Seidenberger said that there was nothing sinister in the meeting not being aired. "I wish I had that much power," Seidenberger said. "Honestly, I have 10,089 students and 1,800 employees to worry about. The last thing on my mind is whether a Township Council meeting is aired on B-20." Seidenberger said that the reason the tape never aired was because the school district was closed from April 6 through April 15 for spring recess. "I wasn't even here," he said. "I don't even know what happened at that meeting she's referring to." Township Council secretary Debbie Alwin said that the fact the meeting did not air was an exception to how the tape delivery is usually handled. "That meeting was a problem," Alwin said. "It wasn't a normal situation." The Township Council meetings are videotaped on Tuesday nights. A school district courier picks up the tape the following Thursday and delivers the tape to the B-20 studio at Brick Memorial High School, Alwin said. The council meeting first airs that Thursday night, then runs for two weeks on the channel, she said. "It's like clockwork," Alwin said. But because the school district was closed on April 12, the tape never got picked up and therefore never aired prior to the school elections, Alwin said. The courier didn't pick up the April 10 tape until April 26, when he also picked up the tape of the April 24 council meeting, Alwin said. "A similar situation occurred last year also," Alwin said. "Even if we brought the tapes over, there was no one over there to accept them." Alwin said she thought the April 10 council meeting would be airing this week and the April 24 council meeting would air next week.