Race to Nowhere : Why we’re getting the homework question wrong
By Valerie Strauss
This was written by Vicki Abeles, a mother, activist, and filmmaker. She directed the documentary “Race to Nowhere.”
By Vicki Abeles
Hayley Eaton was always an academic achiever. Like many American teens, college was uppermost in her mind, as well as that of her parents and guidance counselors. She signed up for all the available AP and honors courses at her high school and performed well. She didn’t flinch when homework meant getting five or six hours of sleep a night before “waking up and repeating the cycle all over again.” Haley used to joke, “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.” One afternoon while driving home from high school, Haley nodded asleep and crashed into a tree, totaling her car. She escaped with minor cuts and bruises but the experience caused her to rethink her concept of success. “I’m grateful,” she says. In reprioritizing she found her life goal. Today she’s pursuing a master’s in education so she can help create school reform — away from “endless homework and inadequate high stakes testing” and toward “healthy priorities for young people’s physical and mental health.”
Are American students like Haley spending too much of their lives at their desks? And is putting in that grueling second shift of homework paying off in the long-term?
Road Closure May 21 – Crossing from Ho-Ho-Kus Train Station into Ridgewood
Please be advised that the subject roadway crossing into the Borough of Ho-ho-kus from the Village of Ridgewood over the train tracks will be closed by New Jersey Transit for work on their crossing starting May 21, 2012 for a period of approximately 1 to 2 weeks. The crossing will be closed during the duration of the work. The road will be closed with barricades and signs on both approaches (Ridgewood and Ho-ho-kus).
The work is the replacement of the track crossing area and some paving work on the approaches.
Pedestrian access across the tracks will be maintained during the road closing so that the walking commuters can get to the Ho-ho-kus Train Station.
Please share this information with those who travel in that area that utilize the subject crossing.
Ridgewood High School rated among the top high schools in New Jersey
TUESDAY MAY 15, 2012, 12:25 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Boasting statistics that rise above the state’s averages, Ridgewood High School (RHS) has been rated New Jersey’s 15th best public high school and awarded the gold medal for excellence in education, based on U.S. News and World Report’s annual rankings.
RHS scored second overall in Bergen County, trailing only Bergen Academies in Hackensack. When stacked up against the country’s best schools, RHS was ranked No. 282.
The Valley Hospital Partners with the Bergen County YJCC
May 12, 2012
The Valley Hospital is partnering with the Bergen County YJCC to bring community health programs and screenings to their membership and the residents of Pascack Valley. The first two programs will be held in May and will focus on heart health.
“Understanding Cardiac Medications: The ABC’s of Heart Meds” will be held Tuesday, May 15, at 1 p.m. Pat La Rezza, BSN, RN, from The Valley Hospital Cardiac Rehabilitation Department, will review the anatomy of the heart, what happens during a heart attack, and discuss the details of ongoing care, with emphasis on the different categories of cardiac medications.
“Women’s Heart Health” will be held on Thursday, May 31, at 7:30pm. Pat Delaney, RN, director of cardiac outreach from The Valley Hospital Heart and Vascular Institute will discuss the unique cardiac symptoms women experience and how to prevent and treat heart disease. She will also discuss the Heart Risk Assessment program offered at Valley’s Center for Women’s Heart Health.
The Bergen County YJCC is located at 605 Pascack Road in Washington Township. To register, call 800-825-5391 or register online at www.valleyhealth.com/events.
Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger at BOOKENDS , Tuesday, May 15th @ 7:00pm
Heroic Hudson River Pilot, Capt. Chesley “Sully” Sullenberger, will sign his new book: Making a Difference
Books available May 15th
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
Teacher professional development—the quiet controversy
As the Christie administration presses for changes to teacher tenure and evaluation, upcoming revisions to teacher standards and the kinds of professional development that would be required could spark their own debate.
For more than a decade, the state’s teachers have been subject to rules enacted under former Gov. Christie Whitman that require they accumulate 100 hours of approved professional development every five years. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
Can legislators Use Price Fixing to prevent solar sector from flaming out?
For the second time this year, lawmakers will take up a bill this week that industry advocates hope will stave off a collapse of the solar market in New Jersey.
The legislation (S-1925), in the works for several months, is up before the Senate Environment and Energy Committee on Thursday, the first step in what clean energy advocates hope is a legislative solution that will prop up prices for the power solar systems produce. (Johnson, NJ Spotlight)
Fed up with wasteful spending, New Jersey told school districts in the 1990s to use school buses more wisely or possibly lose state aid.
Hundreds of districts have boosted bus transportation efficiency since then, but scores still failed to meet a state standard in the latest accounting, according to state Department of Education reports. (Bates, Gannett)
Education Reform : Putting the teacher evaluation pilot in perspective
NJ Spotlight on Saturday hosted the second in a series of roundtable discussions about New Jersey’s pilot teacher evaluation program, in which 10 districts and another 19 schools are testing new methods for how teachers are judged on both their own performance and that of their students.
Sitting on the panel were the director of the state program and four educators working with the system from Newark, Paterson and Elizabeth. More than 150 attended the two-hour discussion held in the City Council chambers of Jersey City’s City Hall. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
‘Secret’ question on statewide standardized test angers parents
Some New Jersey parents are steamed about a question on a statewide standardized test this week that asked some third-graders to write about a secret and why it was hard to keep.
Richard Goldberg, a Marlboro dentist, was appalled when he asked his twin 9-year-old sons about the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge and they told him about the question, which state officials say was given to about 4,000 students as a tryout. (Mulvihill, Associated Press)
Look for the Union Label
May 14,2012
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
According to PolitickerNJ , Union backed candidates did well in last Tuesdays’s Municipal Elections Edition including our own Paul Aronsohn, As we all know the Ridgewood Councilman’s slate won in Tuesday’s elections, and according to his friends at PolitckerNJ “likely making the former 5th Congressional District candidate and former Jim McGreevey mouth piece the next mayor of the Bergen County town (Ridgewood)” https://tinyurl.com/c482dzt
No Surprise New Ridgewood Council rethinks review process if hospital expansion plan rekindled
MONDAY, MAY 14, 2012
BY EVONNE COUTROS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD
RIDGEWOOD — Last Tuesday’s non-partisan election that ousted one of two Village Council incumbents has left residents questioning what the new mix of leaders will bring to the table regarding The Valley Hospital’s proposed expansion plan — an issue considered dormant since last year.
Mayor Keith Killion, who voted against the $750 million plan to double the size of the hospital, lost his bid on Tuesday for one of three four-year seats up for grabs on the council. The new council could revisit the vote, because a change in the master plan that could permit the expansion still exists.
The most votes Tuesday went to incumbent Paul Aronsohn with 2,479, followed by newcomers Albert J. Pucciarelli with 2,078 and Gwenn H. Hauck with 1,727 votes. Killion lost with 1,711 votes and was trailed by Mary Jane Shinozuka with 1,484 and Russell R. Forenza with 817 votes. Stephen Wellinghorst, who won a seat in a special election two years ago, did not seek reelection.
Killion’s loss was viewed as a blow to opponents of expanding the hospital on Van Dien Avenue. The council had unanimously voted last year against the plan.
N.J. to contribute to proposed Amtrak tunnel
By Paul Nussbaum
INQUIRER STAFF WRITER
The Christie administration, which killed a trans-Hudson rail tunnel because of fears of cost overruns, will pay its “fair share” of a proposed Amtrak tunnel project linking New Jersey and New York City, Christie’s transportation chief said Friday.
The payment would probably be a user fee to share the tunnels that Amtrak proposes as part of its $14.5 billion Gateway project, state transportation commissioner James Simpson said.
Simpson, in Voorhees to address the Chamber of Commerce of Southern New Jersey, declined to predict how much of the cost New Jersey would be willing to shoulder. He said he was meeting with Amtrak president Joseph Boardman and other officials to discuss cost-sharing.
Garrett Offers Amendment to Protect Investors
May 9, 2012
WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Scott Garrett (R-NJ) today offered an amendment to H.R. 5326, the Commerce, Justice Science and Related Agencies Appropriations Act of 2013, that will prohibit the Department of Justice from entering into any future residential mortgage-backed security settlement agreement with state attorney generals and banks that would take money away from private investors without their consent.
“While I sympathize with underwater home buyers hit hard by the recession, there is no reason why private investors who fund our mortgage market should have their private contracts broken and their money stolen,” said Garrett after offering his amendment on the House floor. “They were deliberately left out of the administration’s negotiations on the recent mortgage settlement and weren’t even given a seat at the table when the decision was made to have them foot part of the bill. Actions like this will cause investors to factor in new ‘political risk’ on mortgage bonds if and when they invest going forward, which will drive up costs for new home buyers and make it more expensive to achieve the American dream.”
Specifically, Garrett’s amendment would not allow the Department of Justice to be a party to a single or multi-state court settlement where funds are removed from any residential mortgage-backed securitization trust. This amendment protects investors such as state retirement systems, 401(k) plans, public and private pension plans, insurance company annuities, and mutual funds by ensuring that the Department of Justice will not interfere with private contract rights or the investor’s right to due process before the government can take their property.
Background:
Earlier this year, the Obama administration and state attorneys general entered into a mortgage settlement with some of the nation’s largest mortgage servicing companies. These servicing companies are owned by the country’s largest banks. The administration stated that this settlement would require servicers to use their money to reduce the principal amount of mortgages for over-extended home buyers held in securitization trusts. Mortgages act as collateral for the bonds that a securitization trust issues to investors. Unfortunately, the investors who own these bonds and receive payment from the trust were not part of the settlement discussions. As a result, while the settlement claimed to take money from the big banks to reduce the mortgages of underwater homeowners, what it really did was permit the banks to take money directly out of securitization trusts and away from investors. In essence, the settlement treated investors like perpetrators of a fraud as opposed to victims. Private contracts were broken and the investors who didn’t have an opportunity to be heard are now suing to enforce their rights in court.
