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>Rationalizations justifying the high school’s disappointing placement rate at Ivy and equivalent colleges very disappointing
I hear a lot of rationalizations justifying the high school’s disappointing placement rate at Ivy and equivalent colleges.
What I don’t hear from most of these comments is an awareness that we have a problem that needs to be addressed. When our top kids can’t get into the nation’s top colleges or earn National Merit Semifinalist status, then alarm bells should be going off and people should start thinking about how to fix the problem instead of trying to act like nothing is wrong
>Ridgewood Chamber Guide features Valley Hospital Centerfold
Last week Village residents were subjected to one of the most insulting Valley propaganda to date! The Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce delivered, door to door, the newest version of the Chamber Guide featuring a centerfold considered “obscene” by many Ridgewoodians! The multi-media image mixing actual imagery with renderings, coupled with an incredibly misleading paragraph of text suggesting the proposed expansion is a fait accompli, should be offensive to any Villager especially members of our Village Council.
A word of caution to the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce: a huge majority of Ridgewood Residents, who actively shop downtown Ridgewood, are opposed to the massive expansion plan of Valley Hospital. For a time Valley engaged in a little PR scheme sending “scrubs” into the business district to give the illusion of a “presence” in our shops. That illusion quickly dissipated as most Valley “scrubs” are not Ridgewood Residents nor are they interested in supporting our Village Downtown.
While it is true the Chamber guide is paid for with advertising dollars, and Valley paid for the centerfold to advance their propaganda, page 16 only serves to exacerbate the matter since it seems Valley garnered more “face time” in the guide than any other entity. There is no distinction as to what is a paid advertisement nor a disclaimer that a Valley Hospital maintains a position on the Chamber Board of Directors.
Ridgewood Chamber President, Tom Hillman, should immediately issue a statement that Valley’s advertisement is exactly that and by no means should the centerfold ad be construed as an endorsement of the massive Valley expansion by the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce.
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>Inside Christie-Sweeney plan to make N.J. public employees pay more for pension, health benefits
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>Students Stumble Again on the Basics of History
National Test Shows Little Progress in Grasping Democracy, U.S. Role in World
By STEPHANIE BANCHERO
Fewer than a quarter of American 12th-graders knew China was North Korea’s ally during the Korean War, and only 35% of fourth-graders knew the purpose of the Declaration of Independence, according to national history-test scores released Tuesday.
The results from the National Assessment of Educational Progress revealed that U.S. schoolchildren have made little progress since 2006 in their understanding of key historical themes, including the basic principles of democracy and America’s role in the world.
>FLAGS ORDERED FLOWN AT HALF-STAFF WEDNESDAY, JUNE 15
Upon Executive Order from Governor Chris Christie, flags at Ridgewood schools will be flown at half-staff on Wednesday, June 15, 2011, in recognition and mourning of a brave and loyal American hero, United States Army Specialist Richard C. Emmons, III, who was born and raised in Salem County, NJ and who lost his life in Afghanistan while serving his country.
>Supreme Court reinstates collective bargaining law
By Patrick Marley and Don Walker of the Journal Sentinel
Madison – Acting with unusual speed, the state Supreme Court on Tuesday reinstated Gov. Scott Walker’s plan to all but end collective bargaining for tens of thousands of public workers.
The court found a committee of lawmakers was not subject to the state’s open meetings law, and so did not violate that law when they hastily approved the measure and made it possible for the Senate to take it up. In doing so, the Supreme Court overruled a Dane County judge who had struck down the legislation, ending one challenge to the law even as new challenges are likely to emerge.
https://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/123859034.html
>Ouch: 1.9 Million Fewer Americans Have Jobs Today Than When Obama Signed Stimulus
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
By Matt Cover
(CNSNews.com) – Twenty-eight months after Congress passed President Obama’s signature economic stimulus law, and nearly one year after he declared the summer of 2010 to be “Recovery Summer,” 1.9 million fewer people are employed.
In February 2009, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported that 141.7 million people were employed. By the end of May 2011 – the last month for which data are available – that number had fallen to 139.8 million, a difference of 1.9 million.
https://cnsnews.com/news/article/after-28-months-stimulus-spending-19-mil
>Ridgecrest – Senior Citizen Housing in Ridgewood
Applications are now being accepted for the Waiting List for the Ridgewood Senior Housing Apartments located on Ridge Road in Ridgewood, NJ.
Beginning Wednesday, June 1, 2011, applications are available by mail or in person –
Housing Authority of Bergen County, Occupancy Dept., 25 Rockwood Place, Suite 205, Englewooe, NJ 07631-4963 – from 9AM to 4PM, Monday through Friday.
In order to be placed on the Waiting List, applicatins must be postmarked or received at the Housing Authority no later than Wednesday, July 13, 2011. After this date will be closed and applications will no longer be accepted.
Applications will be placed on the waiting list by the date and time that it was received at the main office.
In order to be eligible to apply, applicants must be 62 years old or older, and or deemed disabled. Total household annual gross income cannot exceed the following income limits: 1 person – $32,300 or 2 persons $36,900
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The History of Flag Day
https://usflag.org/history/flagday.html
The History Of Flag DayThe Fourth of July was traditionally celebrated as America’s birthday, but the idea of an annual day specifically celebrating the Flag is believed to have first originated in 1885. BJ Cigrand, a schoolteacher, arranged for the pupils in the Fredonia, Wisconsin Public School, District 6, to observe June 14 (the 108th anniversary of the official adoption of The Stars and Stripes) as ‘Flag Birthday’. In numerous magazines and newspaper articles and public addresses over the following years, Cigrand continued to enthusiastically advocate the observance of June 14 as ‘Flag Birthday’, or ‘Flag Day’.
On June 14, 1889, George Balch, a kindergarten teacher in New York City, planned appropriate ceremonies for the children of his school, and his idea of observing Flag Day was later adopted by the State Board of Education of New York. On June 14, 1891, the Betsy Ross House in Philadelphia held a Flag Day celebration, and on June 14 of the following year, the New York Society of the Sons of the Revolution, celebrated Flag Day.
Following the suggestion of Colonel J Granville Leach (at the time historian of the Pennsylvania Society of the Sons of the Revolution), the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames of America on April 25, 1893 adopted a resolution requesting the mayor of Philadelphia and all others in authority and all private citizens to display the Flag on June 14th. Leach went on to recommend that thereafter the day be known as ‘Flag Day’, and on that day, school children be assembled for appropriate exercises, with each child being given a small Flag.
Two weeks later on May 8th, the Board of Managers of the Pennsylvania Society of Sons of the Revolution unanimously endorsed the action of the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames. As a result of the resolution, Dr. Edward Brooks, then Superintendent of Public Schools of Philadelphia, directed that Flag Day exercises be held on June 14, 1893 in Independence Square. School children were assembled, each carrying a small Flag, and patriotic songs were sung and addresses delivered.
In 1894, the governor of New York directed that on June 14 the Flag be displayed on all public buildings. With BJ Cigrand and Leroy Van Horn as the moving spirits, the Illinois organization, known as the American Flag Day Association, was organized for the purpose of promoting the holding of Flag Day exercises. On June 14th, 1894, under the auspices of this association, the first general public school children’s celebration of Flag Day in Chicago was held in Douglas, Garfield, Humboldt, Lincoln, and Washington Parks, with more than 300,000 children participating.
Adults, too, participated in patriotic programs. Franklin K. Lane, Secretary of the Interior, delivered a 1914 Flag Day address in which he repeated words he said the flag had spoken to him that morning: “I am what you make me; nothing more. I swing before your eyes as a bright gleam of color, a symbol of yourself.”
Inspired by these three decades of state and local celebrations, Flag Day – the anniversary of the Flag Resolution of 1777 – was officially established by the Proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson on May 30th, 1916. While Flag Day was celebrated in various communities for years after Wilson’s proclamation, it was not until August 3rd, 1949, that President Truman signed an Act of Congress designating June 14th of each year asNational Flag Day.
https://usflag.org/history/flagday.html
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