Dreamers Club executive committee members Selena Martinez-Santiago, Madelyn Sanchez-Berra and Bethzy Vera Varela looked on as president Edith Lozano Zane addressed the RBR board on September 11. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
UPDATE: Because of rain in the forecast, this Saturday’s Hispanic Heritage Celebration in Riverside Gardens Park has been rescheduled for September 30.
By JOHN T. WARD
Kicking off Hispanic Heritage Month, Red Bank’s mayor and council trained a spotlight on four young Latina students at Red Bank Regional High School last week.
The self-styled “Dream 4” were fresh off an emotional revival of a school club that advocates for Hispanic and Latinx students.
From left, the “Dream 4:” Madelyn Sanchez-Berra, Selena Martinez-Santiago, Edith Lozano Zane and Bethzy Vera Varela with Mayor Billy Portman at Thursday’s council meeting. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
At its semimonthly meeting Thursday’s night, the council approved a proclamation in recognition of Hispanic Heritage Month, celebrated nationwide from September 15 through October 15 to recognize the contributions to American life by Spanish speakers and people with roots throughout Latin America.
Called up to accept the proclamation from Mayor Billy Portman were the Dream 4, four young Red Bank women who lead the Dreamers Club at RBR: president Edith Lozano Zane and executive committee members Bethzy Vera Varela, Madelyn Sanchez-Berra and Selena Martinez-Santiago.
At a September 11 special session of the RBR board of ed in the Little Silver school’s cafeteria, the four rallied an unusually large crowd, including Red Bank’s entire governing body, to reinstate the club after a monthlong shutdown.
By a 6-1 vote, the board restored funding for the $2,256 annual stipend paid to Marisol Mondaca, member of the school’s SOURCE youth services arm, to serve as club advisor.
The action undid an 4-1 vote by the board August 16 not to renew Mondaca’s advisory role, the impact of which was to immediately terminate the club. Little Silver representative John Venino, cast the sole vote to deny the funding, which left the measure one vote shy of the majority needed to pass.
That vote “made it clear that the Dreamers are not welcome at RBR,” though 39 percent of Red Bank residents are Hispanic, said club secretary Madelyn Sanchez-Berra. It also prompted the club to file formal complaint with the New Jersey Division of Civil Rights alleging it has been “singled out for nine years” of discrimination.
The shutdown left Martinez-Santiago, “completely in shock,” she told the board. But “without this situation, we would not have been able to get all this support, and realize how much people actually care about our club.”
At the council meeting, Councilperson Ben Forest denounced what he called the club’s “grotesque developments of the club being banned by that one board member.”
“These are our kids, that went to our schools,” Forest said. He said the Dream 4 at the event “spoke profoundly” at the RBR board meeting “and got me all teared up, actually.”
Venino did not respond to a redbankgreen request for comment. He had previously said he favored “equality for all groups, all applicants for clubs,” and suggested that the Dreamers had received preferential treatment over “surfers, sailers, rugby students and young Republicans came seeking club membership.”
On Sunday, board president Patrick Noble told redbankgreen via email that he was thankful that two of the three board members who’d been absent August 16 were present September 11, “enabling us to do what the board always intended to do and approve funding for the RBR Dreamers Club.”
“The residents of all three constituent towns deserve to have their elected representatives showing up to meetings and making decisions in the best interest of our students,” Noble said. “I hope we never find ourselves in the position again where a lone no vote can alter the outcome of any Board decision.”
On Saturday, September 30, the borough is scheduled to host a free Hispanic Heritage Celebration in Riverside Gardens Park. The festival, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., will feature live music by Xol Azul Band, performances by the Calpulli Mexican Dance Company and others, food and other attractions.
The rain date is September 30.
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