CNBNews

By ROBERT STRAUSS

Published: December 16, 2001

JEFF BROWN was a bit perplexed over the summer when Mayor John Soubasis asked him to lunch. To Mr. Brown, who owns the only supermarket in this small Camden County town, the ShopRite of Brooklawn, a call from the mayor could only mean trouble.

''We've done little things for people in town, helped pave a roller hockey rink, helped someone short on funds for food,'' said Mr. Brown. ''But when the mayor calls you to have lunch, you know it's something bigger than that.''

What Mayor Soubasis had in mind at that lunch meeting is now seen as a unique arrangement. He asked Mr. Brown to put up some money to effectively buy naming rights to a new gymnasium for Brooklawn's only school, the Alice Costello Elementary School.

Last month -- after mulling over the mayor's offer -- Mr. Brown, who also owns five other ShopRites in the suburbs of Philadelphia, pledged $100,000 over the next 20 years to pay the debt service on the $1.7 million gym. When it is finished next year, the gym will be known as the ShopRite of Brooklawn Gymnasium.

Michael Yaple, a spokesman for the New Jersey School Board Association, said he knew of no other sale of naming rights for any part of a school building in New Jersey and, as far as he can determine, anywhere else in the country.

''Certainly, advertising is in the public schools,'' he said. ''But there is nothing permanently named in return for a donation, not until now.''

So far, no voice has been raised in protest in Brooklawn, a community that is not particularly well off in terms of per capita income. The fact is, school officials would not have been able to build the gym without a tax increase or some other help.

''We've crossed the line and we know it,'' said John Kellmayer, Brooklawn's superintendent of schools. ''The issue is really the privatization of civic responsibility. In an era when infrastructure needs to be updated and it's hard to raise taxes -- well, we may be the first to do this, but I can assure you we won't be the last.''

Even in such wealthier districts as Cherry Hill, where Mr. Brown lives, the Brooklawn experiment is being taken seriously.

''Oh, yes, we're open to things like this,'' said Cherry Hill's superintendent of education, Morton Sherman. ''I can assure you if you come up with a million or two for us, we'll find a place for your name.''

Brooklawn -- a town with little crime and little abject poverty -- finds itself in a position more difficult than that of a larger town, said Mr. Kellmayer. For one thing Brooklawn is rated by the state as one level above the poorest, so it gets little state aid.

On the other hand, nearby Gloucester City, a larger city but with a similar economic profile, is one of 30 districts to obtain supplemental state aid -- $31 million in this case, while Brooklawn is receiving none.

While Brooklawn has been a stable community, Dr. Kellmayer and Mr. Soubasis realized that the school system had to improve for the town to remain that way. Last year, Brooklawn was designated a school-choice district by the state, meaning that starting next year any student in Camden County can attend Costello and the state will pay the pupil's tuition.

''Brooklawn is a safe school with high-achieving kids and small classes,'' said Dr. Kellmayer. ''We have a good start.''

Still, there had to be a more substantial reason for students from other communities to seek out Costello, so Dr. Kellmayer and the school board came up with innovative programs in music and technology.

''We would infuse the curriculum from kindergarten to eighth grade so, if the student and parents chose it, they would in effect be majoring in music or tech for their time here,'' he said.

But doing that meant upgrading. The gym was one thing. And now there are other projects on Dr. Kellmayer's wish list -- a library media center and a technology center, for instance.

''So we're out looking for sponsors there, too,'' he said. ''They kid us about looking for sponsors for a center-jump circle and a scoreboard, but I'd think about them, too.''

For his part, Mayor Soubasis said he would not stop sponsorships with the schools, noting that he had already been soliciting in the town for businesses that might want to help pay for a new street sweeper.

''Anyone who helps out will have their names printing on the side so that when the sweeper goes through town, everyone will see,'' he said. ''When I got to council a few years ago, I saw how difficult it was to do a budget in a small town. I'm into creative finance, so this idea came up. I'm saving clippings now to show people in other towns later who talk against this. When they end up doing it, too, I'll have them.''

But Dr. Kellmayer said there were lines he would not cross.

''Look, no one is suggesting us contracting with Delilah's Den,'' he said, referring to a gentleman's club in Philadelphia. ''We wouldn't consider a product tie-in. There wouldn't be a Coke Tech Center here. No alcohol or tobacco or guns, anything like that.''

He went on: ''But everyone uses food, so we contracted with a supermarket, a local supermarket. We're talking to local banks, people like that.''

For his part, Mr. Brown eschewed the idea of naming the gym after himself or his family.

''I have an ego, but I thought it would be best to have a sense of the community there,'' said Mr. Brown. ''ShopRite of Brooklawn keeps the town name on it. I could have done advertising elsewhere, but this tells us we are sticking here in this community, trying to build it.''

Moreover, Dr. Kellmayer said the gym and proposed tech center would be open to the entire community during nonschool hours.

''In this sense, it is a multiple win,'' he said. ''We really couldn't raise taxes. There are many seniors here who would just not be able to take the increase. But we needed improvements and now everyone will be able to take advantage.''

''If someone wants to criticize that we have opened up a can of worms, well, they are right,'' he added. ''Someone will eventually cross the line into something much more controversial. I hope it won't be us.''