the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Board of Education made its decision on Monday night to fill out the term of the board seat vacated on July 30th 2019 with the term expiring on April 21,2020 .
While over 400 people showed support Saurabh Dani the administrator of the “It takes a Ridgewood Village ” Facebook page , the board opted for a lesser know quantity Muhammad Mahmoud .
Even long time BOE watchers we caught off guard .
With so many well qualified candidates, Sheila Brogan called the group “stellar”, the board appears to have focused on broadening representation ,finding someone who will not make waves and tow the party line .
Brogan said Mahmoud offered a new perspective and had children in the district.
In a twist of irony Mr. Mohmoud did not attend the meeting last night and does not vote in the district.
funny!!
If Mahmoud doesn’t vote in the district, what does that mean. That he doesn’t vote in Ridgewood?
Last night was so bad it was horrible. The board would have appointed a dead body rather than appoint Saurabh Dani. What a disgusting bunch.
Duh? Is he even a registered voter?
The guy who was appointed did not even come to the meeting. What a joke. They had probably called him and told him in advance that the deal was done, no need to come to the meeting, he would be the winner.
Nice to finally see some ethnic/racial diversity on the Board, but come on? A guy who doesn’t even vote?
Man oh man, the board was shaking in their boots. Never saw such a groundswell of support for one candidate. Saurabh has all the qualities that the Board hates – you know, qualities like HONESTY, INTELLIGENCE, POLITE MANNERS.
part of the PC agenda, the hell with the kids when you can virtual signal
And then you had Stacy Loscalzo slamming everyone who supported Saurabh. She is the same one who with Jeanne Thiesen wanted to filter out the residents who would dare to criticize the board. She said she hesitated to come to the meeting because she feared being criticized on social media. Funny isn’t it, she doesn’t hesitate to criticize others on social media. FILTER THIS Miss Loscalzo, your candidate LOST
Ridgewood Mom Fascist Group , no dissent allowed
The board probably thought Mahmoud and Saurabh were the same person, in their bigoted eyes all of “them” look alike.
PJ , Brogan should have gotten the big zucchini award last night to shoveling the Bull lol
Stacey Loscalzo saying that she was speaking for a ton of people who were afraid to come. Afraid to come? Afraid of what? Everyone there in the audience was unfailingly polite. And oh, by the way Stacey, you were supposedly speaking for a ton of people who did not show, but in reality a ton of people DID show and they were all in favor of Saurabh Dani.
That decision was made before the meeting. They realized they could not apppint Mary, and no way in hell were they going to appoint Saurabh. So Mohammed got the nod. Done before everyone showed up. Sickening
This board had no intention of appointing Saurabh under any circumstances. he is everything they avoid and everythign we absolutely need – he is honest, accurate, smart, transparent, polite, and never condescending. So instead they appoint a no-show who will yes whatever they ask him to yes for the next six months.
Here’s a cropped video of Mr. Mahmoud’s public candidate interview by BOE members. The interview took place at the BOE’s public meeting held on 09/09/2019.
https://ytcropper.com/cropped/ix5d8a273120224
Stacey said she was going to speak the truth (I always mistrust people who lead with this intro). And then she criticized the people who post on social media. So SHE can criticize, but no one else can.
Anonymous who wrote above that the board probably thought Saurabh and Mahmood are same person,
You are probably right. They most likely cannot locate anything outside United States on the map.
And what the heck was with Cris Kaufman? Nice of him to represent the people who got him elected, which was the entire 400++ who supported Saurabh Dani. What a kick in the teeth, Kaufman, not nice
People were coming with newborn infants to speak. people were coming from work and on their way home. People really put themselves out there to speak on behalf of Saurabh. And what the the board do? They appointed the wrong person. Wow
The Board basically said, we heard and know what the community wants but we will do what we want anyway!
The candidate selected hasn’t lived here for more than a few seconds, he is not registered to vote in our State, has never participated in a Ridgewood election and his children mainly attended private schools prior to Ridgewood. Basically, the BOE gave Ridgewood a big middle finger!
In the next six months the Board majority needs to deliver on their promise (to special interest groups); commit to multi million dollar projects and move the election back to November so residents won’t be allowed to vote or change the school budget. None of what they are planing will directly impact the children’s programs, education or stop the decline in school ranking. Residents pockets will be tuned inside out and we will all be financially crippled by debt. The Board President and Vice President have lowered their taxes bracing for the hike. WAKE UP RIDGEWOOD! THE MULTI MILLION DOLLAR REFERENDUM IS COMING! They appointed Muhammad banking on the fact that he’s only lived here a few seconds, is not registered to vote and doesn’t know enough to stop or expose their plan.
Guys, I did support Mr. Dani. I did not attend meeting last night, but have attended other meetings at BOE where he spoke.
You can’t really have expected the BOE to have chosen Mr. Dani. Why? Mr. Dani, at the mic at BOE meetings, frequently criticized the BOE for their lack of transparency, how BOE wrongfully spend taxpayers money and other criticisms. In my opinion his criticisms were justified and that is why he had so much support among residents. But the BOE does not tolerate criticism. You know that. They are not a thinking group; they are a group=think group; who believes that whatever policies they decide on must not be criticized, or considered in need of improvement. They , the current group, and Kaufman included, are just the opposite of what educated people are supposed to be. Closed minded, intolerant of opinions differing from theirs, unwilling to explore new ideas.
I’m sure Mr. Dani woke up this morning to the realization that his embarrassing failure was directly attributable to the very people that thought bullying people on social media into silence was his path to success. All reasonable people looked at the unhinged behavior of the people he aligned himself with and said we have serious work to do here. No wonder they went in a different direction.
They went in a different direction because they have a personal agenda they can’t afford to have stopped or exposed. Since when does standing up for truth and transparency equate to unhinged behavior? Mr. Dani did not fail! He’s caused a movement and awareness that no one else ever has. You are correct, the contested now have to “seriously work,” he even has you commenting and participating. Thank you for keeping this post top thread. #BiasCorrect
“Brogan said Mahmoud offered a new perspective and had children in the district.”
.
What is the “new perspective”?
.
So, BiasCorrect you’re actually saying that his plan was: 1) Make his desire to obtain a BOE position apparent to thousands and thousands of Ridgewood people. 2) Get a few hundred to say they think having him on the board is a good idea. 3) Have the board appoint someone else. 4) Declare victory.
You may want to Google self-reinforcing delusion.
most of the current BOE will be gone with the April elections , they have all gone rogue , and are just all about themselves
Someone wrote: “I’m sure Mr. Dani woke up this morning to the realization that his embarrassing failure was directly attributable to the very people that thought bullying people on social media into silence was his path to success. All reasonable people looked at the unhinged behavior of the people he aligned himself with and said we have serious work to do here. No wonder they went in a different direction.”
This is such flawed reasoning that it is laughable. Only four people voted for the candidate last night. Hundreds of people spoke and wrote in support of Mr. Dani. His path to success, as you anonymously mis-state, is that he is greatly admired by so many people. The four pitiful idiots on the board, who are not clear thinkers, are threatened by a smart and sensible person like Mr. Dani, which is why they did not vote for him. They went in the same tired direction they always go.
That direction will change in April. Majority rules. Those four are nothing.
Saurabh Dani is the start of a new beginning. Wait until April.
Anyone who says this is a loss for Saurabh Dani misses that its a win for the community because of his efforts.
1. His main fight was for transparency, accountability and public information on financials and the upcoming debt – board chose to discuss this immediately after public comments and before nomination.
2. He has mobilized people for April 2020 elections.
So the impact of his work is already there to see and it will be even better when he is elected.
war is peace. freedom is slavery. ignorance is strength. a loss is a win.
“The community” was doing just fine, thank you, before Mr. Dani showed up full of arrogant self-importance and started to complain about everyone and everything.
Anyone that’s actually lived here long enough to see many discussions about the BOE capital budget knows that there was always give and take, those that were interested got the information they wanted, and the community reached a conclusion that everyone was a little bit unhappy with.
So you could easily argue that Mr. Dani, and those he surrounds himself with, have offered themselves as a solution to a problem of their own creation.
D Gergen – please let us know how many years has it been fine because we have met people living 40-45 years and saying that it needs to improve, additionally there are also comment in social media in which long term resident say that correction is needed.
Where is your data/ bias coming from?
Wow. The person responding to Gergen proves the point that investments in education are invaluable.
I have met people living 40-45 years. I have no idea what relevance age has in this discussion.
And a single “comment in social media” where a single “long term resident” said something is hardly compelling.
Did you mean something else? Perhaps the schools you went to were under-funded because of the antics of loud-mouthed, under-informed rabble-rousers.
Ridgewood schools deserve better.
Ridgewood has over a 110 million dollar school budget and this town and the schools are a shadow of their former self , your phony uninformed comments make you sound like your getting kick backs ??? maybe like the turf field people??? do tell ?
Moamoud has lived in this town for less than 2 you years. They picked him over RHS grads who have lived here for over 2 generations??
Cris has already shown that he is a puppet. Mamood said at the interview that he will gladly be a puppet.
They want a puppet board.
The RHS grad who showed up there and politely waited until the end was the most deserving candidate.
What a loser is JS Wilson. She did not vote for someone who helped her all these years.
Now good luck getting supprt from us for your re-election in April.
Jim Morgan may be a jerk, but he honored his promise.