BY DAVE BENJAMIN
Staff Writer
The Freehold Regional High School District is asking people age 62 and over to “come on in” to school events.
Gold passports will soon allow people age 62 and over to attend all events held in the district, including football games and theater productions. Instead of an admission ticket, people will only need their gold passport card.
“One of the things we talked about last year, and we spoke more about it during the summer, are gold passports for seniors,” Superintendent of Schools James Wasser said. “We’re working out a process where seniors can apply for a gold passport that will allow them into our events.”
Wasser said many people who do not have children or grandchildren in the district’s six schools often ask what they get from the school district. The question is frequently asked in the spring when the FRHSD Board of Education seeks approval for its annual multimillion dollar school budget.
This is one way to answer that question, according to Wasser, who said, “We would like to offer them the opportunity to come to athletic and extracurricular events at no fee. There will be a gold passport that will allow them to get into all the events. They would have to apply for the card, which would be issued to them.”
Ilse Whisner, public information coordinator, said the cards are being printed and further information will be forthcoming as soon as they are available.
Wasser said administrators are also planning to have a speakers bureau that would consist of employees from the FRHSD who will be available to meet with civic and religious organizations.
“There may be an interest for people in the public to have teachers and administrators who have expertise speak on various topics,” the superintendent said.
Whisner added, “Basically it’s another way for the district to give back to the community by sharing our expertise, by inviting them to come into the schools.”
The public information coordinator said she expects there will be communication with the area’s adult communities to let the residents of those communities know when events will be taking place in the high schools. Whisner said she will network with the adult communities to let the residents know what is happening and to invite them to the activities.