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>Ridgewood Municipal Alliance continues its outreach efforts
Monday April 9, 2012, 2:07 PM
BY JOSEPH CRAMER
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
The Ridgewood Municipal Alliance is continuing efforts to reach out to parents and local organizations to promote teen safety relating to alcohol and substance abuse following an awareness raising campaign started last fall.
The group – consisting of parents, local officials and professional staff from village public safety and medical authorities – has held and funded several events over the past six months, including a visit from Tim Silvestri, a psychologist and substance abuse specialist.
The most recent, a second iteration of the “Parent to Parent” forum last October, was held last week. Parents and group members engaged in a more intimate and personal discussion about the effect of teen drinking on their lives and the lives of their children.
>Health-care law will add $340 billion to deficit, new study finds
By Lori Montgomery,
President Obama’s landmark health-care initiative, long touted as a means to control costs, will actually add more than $340 billion to the nation’s budget woes over the next decade, according to a new study by a Republican member of the board that oversees Medicare financing.
The study is set to be released Tuesday by Charles Blahous, a conservative policy analyst whom Obama approved in 2010 as the GOP trustee for Medicare and Social Security. His analysis challenges the conventional wisdom that the health-care law, which calls for an expensive expansion of coverage for the uninsured beginning in 2014, will nonetheless reduce deficits by raising taxes and cutting payments to Medicare providers.
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New Jersey Choral Society presents “bel canto”
The New Jersey Choral Society is proud to host its third annual patron celebration “bel canto” on Saturday, April 28 from 7:00-10:00 pm at The Woman’s Club of Ridgewood, 215 West Ridgewood Ave., Ridgewood, NJ.
Under the direction of dynamic conductor Eric Dale Knapp, with Linda Sweetman-Waters on piano, a talented group of singers from NJCS will perform familiar selections from opera, operetta, and Broadway. Musical selections from opera will include “Flower Duet” from Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, “Barcarolle” from Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffman, and arias from Bizet’s Carmen and Verdi’s La Traviata. Selection from the Gilber and Sullivan operettas Pirates of Penzance and Mikado, as well as Sondheim’s Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Sweeney Todd, will also be featured.
This patron event will include dinner and wine and there will also be a silent auction featuring a variety of unique items, including tickets to NY Yankees and NY Mets games, a Nook color, Dooney & Bourke leather handbags, a tour of the historic Bergen County Courthouse, a gift certificate to Spa Envy Massage, and a dinner party for eight with Dawn’s Catering. All proceeds from the evening will support the New Jersey Choral Society.
The New Jersey Choral Society is one of the state’s most prestigious choral groups. Well-known for presenting outstanding and unique programs, NJCS performs three major programs annually in Bergen and Essex Counties, and have performed in Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, China, and Australia. This summer they will perform at Westminster Hall in London as part of the prelude to the Summer Olympics with a follow-up concert in Edinburgh, Scotland.
Tickets for this special fundraising event are $75.00 and can be purchased by visiting www.NJCS.org or calling 201-379-7719. The Woman’s Club of Ridgewood is wheelchair accessible.
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Photo by Boyd Loving
Ridgewood plans new crosswalk safety initiative
MONDAY APRIL 9, 2012, 2:22 PM
BY JOSEPH CRAMER
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
A new initiative to promote pedestrian safety near schools and throughout Ridgewood, born out of a cooperative effort between numerous local school and government groups, is set to begin this month.
In mid-April, the village will launch “Stop, Look, Wave: Be Safe Be Seen,” a safety campaign targeted at pedestrians and drivers throughout the village, with the goal of preventing pedestrian accidents that have been an increasingly urgent issue for authorities over the past year.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/146692075_Ridgewood_plans_new_crosswalk_safety_initiative.html
>Microsoft trumps Amazon, others for AOL patents
By Nadia Damouni and Jennifer Saba
Mon Apr 9, 2012 4:43pm EDT
(Reuters) – Microsoft trumped Amazon, eBay and other tech giants with its more than $1 billion purchase of the majority of AOL Inc’s patent trove.
AOL said it was selling more than 800 patents related to advertising, search, e-commerce and mobile to Redmond, Wash-based company, surprising investors with the size of the deal and sending AOL shares up more than 40 percent.
The sale includes technology rights from AOL’s current and former businesses, ranging from Netscape, ICQ and MapQuest to CompuServe, Advertising.com and others, according to a source close to the matter.
The sale process, which AOL Chief Executive Tim Armstrong described as a “full-blown dynamic auction,” started last fall after board approval.
https://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/09/us-aol-microsoft-idUSBRE83809X20120409
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Bud Harrelson & Phil Pepe Wednesday April 11th @ 7:00pm
Former New York Mets shortstop, Bud Harrelson, and sports writer, Phil Pepe, will sign their new book: Turning Two Books available April 10th
Appearing authors will only autograph books purchased at Bookends and must have valid Bookends Receipt.Availability & pricing for all autographed books subject to change.Bookends cannot guarantee that the books that are Autographed will always be First Printings.
Autographed books purchased at Bookends are non-returnable.
While we try to insure that all customers coming to Bookends’ signings will meet authors and get their books signed, we cannot guarantee that all attendees will meet the author or that all books will be signed. We cannot control inclement weather, author travel schedules or authors who leave prematurely.
Bookends, 211 E. Ridgewood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ 07450 201-445-0726
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Village Council elections: Voters see Aronsohn flip-flop on Valley
While rumors continue to circulate the Councilmen Paul Aronsohn is quietly tell people to vote for Gwenn H. Hauck ,Albert Pucciarelli and himself.
Paul is know as an opportunist. He will grandstand when it convenient. And not say anything when also convenient for votes.If Councilman Aronsohn thought any other council person would vote for Valley he would have went the other way. He took the safe root and vote no. The big question is knowing Aronsohn quest for power and higher office will he flip flop if the council had more Valley supporters on it.
A Valley trustee(Dittrick) gave 500.00 to Paul Aronsohn’s Congressional campaign. It’s public record. Dittrick is a Republican and Aronson a democrat. It’s payback time. Watch out for the Aronson-Valley flip-flop.
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BOE Elections: Does the grass vs. artificial turf issue still resonate in Ridgewood?
The high school football field was a shrine — off limits to anyone who wasn’t a football player practicing or playing, or a marching band member (only performing, not practicing).
Now it is open to many more students for any number of activities and at many different times of the day and year. This must be improving the student experience in a measurable way.
So was Lorenz one of those who was against switching from grass to turf? Also, does his support of Morgan mean that Morgan if elected would help shake things up at the BOE in terms of, say, ridding us of the poor math curriculum in the middle schools?
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Is the field noise excessive ? Readers say yes!
You shouldn’t have to suffer repeated and excessive noise inside your house just because a field is in your neighborhood. Especially megawatt amplified noise from a PA system.
And from what the orig poster describes, it is the school folks who have changed the game, not the poster. That seems very unfair.
One person here noted they are 2 blocks away from the noise and it is still loud inside their house. That’s also wrong and could clearly be changed and resolved.
Would the school like it if someone nearby decided to crank up a megawatt system and blast loud music (or other stuff) for several hours each day when kids are supposed to be in classes and/or studying? Or if someone decided to just put the police scanner on a PA system and broadcast all the traffic to the neighborhood loudly for hours?
It can’t always be the “divine right of me” or “it’s for the kids” argument when stuff like this impacts many others nearby, partic. several blocks away. They need to stop it and if that requires legal action, it’s unfortunate but that’s the choice of those responsible for making the noise or allowing it.
As residents we are not permitted to do that — so why should the school be allowed to?
This is not “the sticks” nor is it “the country”. It’s a mature, built up town and people pay premium prices and taxes to have a certain quality of life. Things that impact that adversely have to be controlled for the benefit of all taxpayers.
That’s why we have laws against building whatever you want w/o complying with zoning and regs process, against landscapers running power equipment any time and hour they wish… against heavy truck traffic on some streets… and many more… and against things like noise pollution too. Read the laws – they are on Vill website.
Everything affects everything else, and so a happy medium has to be found. Adding new noise in homes 2 blocks away from a school is obviously not meeting that simple test.
It’s far diff from the argument “well before you bought a house next to a school or field, you should have expected noise as a natural consequence of the location”.
>BOE RESOLUTION SEEKING AMENDMENTS TO TEACH NJ S1455
The Ridgewood Board of Education has carefully reviewed The Teacher Effectiveness and Accountability for Children of New Jersey Act (TeachNJ). We agree that teacher effectiveness is one of the most important factors for improving student achievement. We agree that high quality evaluations are needed to identify a teacher’s strengths and weaknesses, shape a professional development plan, and inform personnel decisions. We support changes to the seniority system and welcome the flexibility to make personnel decisions based on students’ needs and staff expertise when budget cuts force reductions in staff. We applaud the wording in the bill that calls for tenure charges to be “adjudicated in an expeditious and timely manner.” However, there are two proposals in the bill that would undermine the effectiveness and efficiency of public school teacher and administrator hiring and assignments and mandate new costs for districts that are of great concern. Therefore we propose the following resolution:
Resolution
Seeking Amendments to TeachNJ, S1455 To Retain Board of Education and Superintendent
Authority over Personnel Decisions
Whereas, under current law, school district hiring decisions are made based upon the recommendation of the
superintendent and the Board of Education’s approval or rejection of that recommendation; and
Whereas, the superintendent when making hiring decisions listens carefully to the perspective and input of
district supervisors and school principals; and
Whereas, the superintendent also considers district staff vacancies and resources, instructional and educational
goals, and student enrollment when recommending staff to be hired to the Board of Education; and
Whereas, TeachNJ gives sole authority to appoint or remove instructional staff to the principal, in consultation with a school improvement panel, and requires the mutual consent by the principal and teacher, assistant principal and vice principal for placement in a school. If the principal does not consent, then the employee would be placed in a priority hiring pool. Furthermore, the superintendent is precluded from recommending a staff member be hired or assigned to a school without the principal’s consent; and
Whereas, TeachNJ establishes a priority hiring pool requiring that staff in this pool be paid their full salary and benefits for up to 12 months when an assignment is not mutually agreed upon by the staff member and the principal; and Whereas, TeachNJ would completely remove the Board of Education and the superintendent from personnel decisions and replace the current district-focused system of teacher hiring and assignment with a system that promotes employee and school motivated hiring and assignment decisions; and
Whereas, TeachNJ would not promote cost efficiencies or effectiveness and would negatively impact the hiring and assignment practices that are focused on students’ needs and achievement; and
Whereas, TeachNJ also proposes a requirement that tenured teachers, principals, and assistant principals in
positions eliminated due to reductions in force (RIF) would be placed on paid leave of absence, with benefits
for 12 months, following a RIF, if no mutual agreed upon assignment is identified; and
Whereas, budgetary reasons and/or declining student enrollments drive districts to eliminate positions; and
Whereas, Public schools funding has been reduced in the last few years causing staff reductions; and
Whereas, to require districts to pay full salaries and provide full benefits for 12 months to a tenured staff member who has been laid off for budgetary reasons would cause unwarranted and excessive financial burden on the school district and the local taxpayer; Now, therefore, be it resolved, that the Ridgewood Board of Education urges the legislature to amend the TeachNJ Act to ensure that personnel hiring and placement decisions remain under the authority of the superintendent with approval of the Board of Education; and be it further
Resolved, that the Ridgewood Board of Education urges the legislature to amend the TeachNJ Act to ensure that employees whose positions are eliminated due to RIF and employees who do not have a school assignment due to lack of their or their supervisors consent are not paid their full salary with benefits for 12 months; and be it further
Resolved, that this resolution be delivered to Governor Chris Christie; State Senate President Stephen M. Sweeney; Senator Teresa Ruiz and the members of the Senate Education Committee; Assembly Speaker Sheila Y. Oliver; Assemblyman Patrick Diegnan and the members of the Assembly Education Committee; Senator Kevin O’Toole: Assemblyman Scott Rumana; and Assemblyman David Russo; and be it further
Resolved, that copies of this resolution be sent to NJSBA, BCSBA, NJASA, NJASBO, and the Garden State Coalition of Schools
