Category: Village of Ridgewood

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High lead levels close local ballfields

>June 10, 2008

Wednesday June 11, 2008, EDT 11:52

AMBY KAREN SUDOL AND COLLEEN DISKINSTAFF WRITER

High lead levels found in artificial turf at both of Northern Valley Regional’s high schools have prompted school officials to close the fields indefinitely.

The results came just a week after state officials recommended that the federal government investigate nearly 4,000 artificial turf fields in use nationwide, following sample tests that found lead at three fields in New Jersey.

That round of testing did not include Northern Valley, which tested its fields independently.

Now, more testing of the fields at the Demarest and Old Tappan locations will be done to determine how serious the problem is and whether the fields might need to be replaced.

“We want to take every precaution to find out exactly what we have&hellip before we let anybody go back on the fields,” said Ray Jacobus, the assistant superintendent for business.

State health department officials say children would need to have prolonged contact with the fields as well as exposure to lead in other settings before their health would be at risk. Inhaling or ingesting lead can cause brain damage and other neurological illnesses, state health officials say.

“The main concern is the cumulative effect of a child being exposed to lead from a field when also exposed to lead at home,” said Marilyn Riley, a Department of Health and Senior Services spokeswoman. “That’s where more of the concern is.”

Concentrations of lead in fibers from the green-colored synthetic turf at the Demarest school’s field were about 15 times the state standard for residential soil — 6,300 milligrams of lead per kilogram of fiber over the state standard for soil of 400 milligrams of lead. A sample taken of the green turf fibers of Old Tappan’s field was 10 times the state standard.

The state recommends restricting the use of fields for children under the age of 7. If the fields are used, they should be watered down to suppress dust and hand, body and clothes should be washed thoroughly. The most conservative recommendation is to close the field.

A statement by FieldTurf Tarkett of Montreal, Canada, which installed both Northern Valley fields six years ago, said the company was “astonished’’ by the findings, given that the state health department tested 10 FieldTurf fields this spring and found “very low or undetectable levels of lead.’’

“As an industry leader in the synthetic turf industry with more than 2,500 installed fields around the world, FieldTurf is fundamentally dedicated to the health and well being of everyone who plays on our fields,’’ the statement reads.

FieldTurf is working with the Northern Valley to verify the results and wants to conduct its own tests, said spokesman Elliot Sloane.

The field closures could mean finding new on-campus locations for graduations on June 19 in Demarest and June 20 in Old Tappan, said Superintendent Jan Furman.

Four turf samples from each school’s field on May 21 were tested, said Gary Leverence, president of Environmental Remediation & Management, Inc. of Trenton. Each field had one sample with elevated lead levels. The results showed the lead is contained within the product used to dye the fields green, he said.

When she received the results on Friday, Furman closed the fields, which cost $700,000 each to install.

ER&M is performing more tests at the two fields: of the sand underneath the fields to determine if lead has leached beneath the turf and on dust from the field, which is collected from shoes. Results should be available by the end of the week.

Northern Valley hired ER&M after the state tested turf from about a dozen municipal parks and colleges and found elevated levels at fields in Hoboken and Ewing. A Newark field tested for high levels last summer. The turf was replaced at those sites.

The turf industry contends the potential harm to children is overstated.

Lead chromate has been used in some dyes to keep the green color of the blades from fading in the sunlight. The industry is moving to phase lead out as an ingredient, said Rick Doyle, president of the Synthetic Turf Council.

But Doyle said experts hired by the industry have determined that the lead chromate in the fields is insoluble and encapsulated, meaning that it won’t leach into the soil below and can’t be absorbed into the body.

The industry claims that a 50 pound child would have to ingest 100 pounds of synthetic turf to be at risk of absorbing more than the recommended standard for lead, Doyle said.

“At the end of the day, we are still saying that this turf is safe,” Doyle said.

Parent Peggy Blumenthal, whose 17-year-old son Sean has played soccer on the Demarest turf field, said state and federal agencies should have required lead testing statewide long ago.

“If state is coming down now saying we think there’s a problem, why didn’t they come down six years ago and do the research before it’s a problem, before everybody has it down?’’ she asked.

“What are we supposed to do as parents?’’ said the Haworth resident. “Do I take my child for lead testing? Do you get a blood test or urine test? What are you supposed to do? Accept it and see what happens 10 years down the road?’’

E-mail: sudol@northjersey.com

——————————————————————————–
GRASS VS. SYNTHETIC
A debate has been raging for several years in the United States and Europe over whether artificial turf improves or worsens the environment.

Pro

* Minimal watering needed, only on hot days to cool playing surface.

* No fertilizer runoff into surrounding waters.

* No need for weedkillers and other pesticides.

* More than 25 million tires kept out of landfills, crushed and used as fill on synthetic fields.

Con

* Chemicals. Activist groups call for more testing of not just lead content but of whether the chemical ingredients in crumb rubber can leach into the environment, give off gas or be ingested when they get on children’s hands.

* Runoff. Water flows off turf just like pavement, creating another impervious surface that could potentially damage surrounding wetlands and streams.

* Ground warming. Turf fields can overheat on hot days, creating mini heat islands.

* Disposal. When fields wear out, the fake grass and other materials likely will end up in landfills.

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>Posamentier: Abandoning traditional math approach doesn’t add up

>Wednesday, June 11, 2008BY ALFRED POSAMENTIERThe approach taken by the reformists is a nice form of enrichment, but it does not replace the need to teach children basic arithmetic skills.

FOR THE PAST FEW YEARS, parents and educators in this country seemed to be obsessed with the conflict about the best way to teach mathematics – particularly in the elementary grades.

This conflict, known nationally as “the math wars,” has recently flared up again in Wayne and Ridgewood, where the school system has been using a “reform program,” one that stresses arithmetic-concept understanding over algorithm skills.

The educational ideas that form the basis for this approach to teaching elementary mathematics are good and have their place on the instructional stage. Most math-savvy adults would agree that children should be exposed to these ideas, largely because they give students some useful quantitative insights.

However, when we adults look at this approach, we do so with a well-established arsenal of arithmetic skills; that is, we are thoroughly familiar with algorithms for the basic arithmetic operations, and we have many “number facts” solidly memorized.

Surely, from this vantage point, the approach taken by the reformists is a nice form of enrichment. But it does not replace the need to teach children basic arithmetic skills.

It is incumbent upon towns such as Wayne and Ridgewood to look at mathematics education from the vantage point of the learner who must get facility with arithmetic tools before, or while, being exposed to discovering quantitative patterns.

Familiarity with numbers

For example, if asked to multiply 25 x 28, some adults would say that this is equivalent to (25 x 4) x 7 = 100 x 7 = 700, or they might say 25 x 28 = (25 x 30) – (25 x 2) = 750 – 50 = 700, or other such combinations. However, we already know how to use an algorithm to multiply 28 x 25 directly. This sort of number facility might be less useful when multiplying 63 x 27, where the algorithm would be more desirable.

There is a school of thought among reformers that with today’s technology, arithmetic skills are less important. Yet, this position is taken by those who take their own arithmetic skills for granted.

As students gradually increase their quantitative talents – something we always enhance throughout our lives – they rely increasingly on the calculator, discounting their reliance on their now-well-ingrained arithmetic skill. They look at nifty number patterns and relationships and marvel at alternative ways of doing simple calculations based on these relationships.

Educators who discount their own arithmetic facility in making recommendations to others run the risk of providing inappropriate suggestions.

We constantly denigrate our own educational system – particularly when it comes to learning mathematics. We look overseas to other countries that seem to show better results on standardized testing. All too often, these tests are run on different types of populations and under different circumstances in different cultures, all of which clearly affect the outcome and render it inappropriate as a comparison.

Interestingly, many of these countries to whom we draw comparisons look to the United States as the educational paradigm to follow. This history of mathematics education of the past 50 years has been one of alternating fads, where we tend to go from one extreme to another, each time retaining some small particles from each extreme.

Aiming for the middle ground

We are once again at a point where the middle ground should be the goal.

Students must master arithmetic algorithms and as many number facts as they can, and then investigate number relationships and patterns, many of which they should be guided to discover on their own for a more genuine understanding.

The towns of Wayne and Ridgewood, which seem to have brought this issue to the surface through parental discontent, could serve to model these alternative forms of arithmetic calculation as mathematical enrichment, but only after students have attained a solid command of arithmetic, even if that is a somewhat traditional approach.

There is nothing wrong with a somewhat traditional approach. Quite the contrary, it is surely time-tested.

Alfred Posamentier of River Vale is dean of the School of Education at City College of New York and co-author of “Progress in Mathematics.”

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Wall Street’s Pain Felt By North Jersey Retailers

>By Hugh R. Morley, The Record, Hackensack, N.J.

Jun. 8–Rick Breitstein has a small businessman’s eye for the economy and figures it curdled about a month ago.

That’s about the time his store, the Cheese Shop of Ridgewood, a purveyor of up-market dairy products to the village’s affluent, suffered a double-digit drop in business, he said.

Part of the problem, he said, is the economic woes of Ridgewood’s sizable pool of financial-services workers.

“I have customers that don’t come here anymore,” said Breitstein, surrounded by slabs of English Stilton and French Epoisse and Brillat-Savarin cheeses that sell for as much as $60 a pound.

“They are bond traders,” he said. “They are all suffering — They are not making the money.”

Breitstein is one of several Ridgewood storeowners who say they have felt the impact of the plummeting fortunes of the state’s financial industry on their own bottom line.

Experts say the industry’s loss of 4 percent of its workforce in the last 30 months is just the start as Wall Street firms carry out thousands of layoffs announced in recent months.

Financial job cuts in New York also hurt North Jersey because of the high volume of commuters. That’s especially true in Ridgewood, where the 2000 Census found one in six of the village’s employed residents worked in the financial-services sector.

Other North Jersey communities with sizable numbers of financial-services employees included Wyckoff, Wayne, Paterson, Clifton, Fort Lee and Edgewater, the Census reported.

The impact on Ridgewood offers a snapshot of the variety of ways that these communities are affected by the industry’s hard times.

A few blocks from Breitstein’s store, bagel maker Elliot Cohen said he has been seeing far fewer customers from the Morgan Stanley and Smith Barney offices on Ridgewood Avenue than in the past.

“We used to get breakfast and lunch deliveries there, and we’ve seen a lot less,” he said. “One guy used to buy breakfast for the whole group on Friday. He doesn’t come anymore.”

At Re/Max Properties of Ridgewood, Sal Poliandro said the changing fortunes of the financial sector are evident among his clientele. He sold a house for a man employed at UBS’s Weehawken office after that office downsized and he was moved to Charlotte, N.C. The company said in March it would lay off 14 employees at the office.

Another UBS employee, who recently moved from Virginia to work in the same UBS office, bought a $900,000 house with Poliandro’s help but is getting jittery about her job security, he said.

“I spoke to her and she is a little concerned,” he said. “But she is still working.”

Gary Sparker, a system designer at Sound View Electronics, which sells high-end video and sound equipment, said concern about the future among financial brokers is one reason the store’s business has been slow for about six months.

“I’ve had a few people say, ‘Let’s see what my bonus is like this year, and I’ll be back,’ ” he said. “People are more cautious with the decision-making.”

—–

To see more of The Record, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to https://www.NorthJersey.com.

Copyright (c) 2008, The Record, Hackensack, N.J.

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>Is there Math in Real Life?

>Maybe 5% of the school population will be anywhere near math wizardry or use math in any endeavors after high school/college. Many of them will wind up on Wall Street selling things they are told to sell while not fully comprehending their mathematical significance. Mob psychology would be more useful. Have you ever met a doctor that can balance a check book? They are far and few between. Lawyers only know about math because of billable hours which are usually pulled out of thin air anyway. So, Let’s give the math voodoo a rest, please.

or

I use math at home and at work every single day. Many, many of us are scientists, statisticians, engineers, etc.

My kids are math oriented and will likely go in that direction later in life. I am afterschooling them in traditional math so that they can compete for the more technical colleges that they may wish to attend (MIT, Stamford).

I my professional life, I am seeing more and more of thes jobs go to non-U.S. educated people.

Give it up. There is NO excuse for dumb dumb math.

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>More parents question innovative math

>Sunday, June 8, 2008

BY ANDREA ALEXANDERSTAFF WRITER

What good is an innovative math program designed to raise national standards if it leaves some students unable to figure out a grocery bill?

That’s the question Wayne parents have raised as their school district struggles with an issue — the best way to teach students math — that has sparked nationwide controversy.

The debate, dubbed “math wars,’’ pits supporters of traditional math, which stresses the basics, against educators favoring reform programs that aim to make students better analytical thinkers and problem solvers.

Reform methods stress revisiting all aspects of math — for example, how to do fractions, subtraction and multiplication — over and over in a continuous “spiraling.” It includes such tools as lattice graphs, physical models and games as opposed to the old pen-and-paper approach.

Advocates say the new methods force pupils to tap into long-term memory, rather than learning a topic by rote memorization, only to quickly forget it. But critics say reform math doesn’t allow children enough time on any one aspect to master it.

Schools in Wayne and Ridgewood have joined the debate in the past year.

Wayne has been using a reform program, Everyday Math, for more than 15 years. It’s one of the top-selling elementary school math programs — used in 185,000 classrooms by about 3 million students, according to Andy Isaacs at the University of Chicago, a director for the latest edition of the program.

But Karen Stack of Wayne says, “I have a son who is an A-plus student, but in a store he can’t figure out how much money he needs if he buys three of something.’’

And during a family game of Monopoly her third-grader “has to use a sheet of paper to do calculations,’’ Stack said. “He doesn’t have the drilling to just know.’’

Illustrating the perplexing nature of the debate, however, not all Wayne parents fault the program.

“I think it gives them a variety of ways to look at a problem rather than being locked into one method of doing things,’’ said Joyce Duncan, a parent of three Wayne students.

When she asked her fourth-grade son to solve a multiplication problem, “he showed me three different ways to do it,’’ Duncan said. “If my children can show me three different ways to do multiplication, I think that is a plus.’’

Nevertheless, so many Wayne parents are alarmed that this spring they put more than 800 signatures on a petition — representing about 20 percent of elementary school families. They expressed concern that the program did not teach basics, and they asked for a more balanced approach toward math education.

The issue flared in Wayne a year after doing so in Ridgewood. There, nearly 200 parents last year signed a petition demanding that the district adopt a traditional curriculum. A newly hired superintendent backed out of the job amid the controversy two weeks before he was to begin work. The Ridgewood schools use two different reform programs and a traditional program in elementary schools.

Both districts have formed committees and hired consultants to seek solutions. Ridgewood hired a conflict-resolution specialist to lead community meetings and wants to seek advice from a university on the next steps, said interim schools Superintendent Timothy Brennan.

Wayne has hired a consultant to oversee a review of its program. It also has surveyed elementary parents and teachers and has hired facilitators to run math committee meetings. The committee is working up a report.

Wayne’s interim schools Superintendent Cindy Randina expects the findings will include the need to emphasize basic skills.

“Our goal is to improve instruction,’’ Randina said.

Everyday Math, one of four or five reform programs available, started 25 years ago at the University of Chicago in a project funded by industries.

“There were concerns that the American worker was not being educated to compete in the international marketplace,’’ Isaacs said.

Jessica Garofalo, a second-grade teacher at Wayne’s Packanack Elementary School, said the program is geared toward a new generation of learners who are used to constant stimulation.

Instead of presenting an equation such as 10÷2=5 and expecting children to remember, Garofalo said, she hands pupils 10 blocks and ask them to divide them into two groups.

“The way we are teaching gives them a solid understanding of what they are doing,’’ she said.

The program also is geared to accommodate the way kids learn, she said — “That is how the brain works: You do it and you form your own meaning; as opposed to: We tell them and they forget.’’

It’s the difference between telling someone how to change a tire, and making them change the tire, Garofalo said.

But parents critical of the program say its not teaching students the basics, including automatic recall of the multiplication tables.

And some are skeptical that reform math is succeeding in making American workers more competitive in the global marketplace.

“I see my children not mastering skills, and I am reading reports that children are not as successful as they should be,’’ said Robyn Kingston, a parent who wrote the petition that circulated in Wayne.

She doesn’t want to see the program’s critical-thinking aspect eliminated, but says, “We need to make sure we get back to basics, and we need to make sure they are mastering skills.’’

Educators predict that future math programs will meld elements of both styles.

Brennan, Ridgewood’s interim superintendent, said it’s an “illusion” that districts can go “back to basics.’’

“ÿ‘Back’ means when you used to sort out kids and give some of them advanced math knowing that some of them would be able to go down the street to the factory or the mill and get a good job and work 40 years without ever having to master advanced math,’’ Brennan said.

“Those places are gone. They are replaced by the global distribution of the workforce,’’ he said. “Now we have to figure out a way for every student to learn advanced math.’’

E-mail: alexandera@northjersey.com

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>Taking Care in a Heat Wave

>Slow down. Avoid strenuous activity. If you must do strenuous activity, do it during the coolest part of the day, which is usually in the morning between 4:00 a.m. and 7:00 a.m.

Stay indoors as much as possible. If air conditioning is not available, stay on the lowest floor, out of the sunshine. Try to go to a public building with air conditioning each day for several hours. Remember, electric fans do not cool the air, but they do help sweat evaporate, which cools your body.

Wear lightweight, light-colored clothing. Light colors will reflect away some of the sun’s energy.

Drink plenty of water regularly and often. Your body needs water to keep cool.
Drink plenty of fluids even if you do not feel thirsty.

Water is the safest liquid to drink during heat emergencies. Avoid drinks with alcohol or caffeine in them. They can make you feel good briefly, but make the heat’s effects on your body worse. This is especially true about beer, which dehydrates the body.

Eat small meals and eat more often. Avoid foods that are high in protein, which increase metabolic heat.

Avoid using salt tablets unless directed to do so by a physician.

Signals of Heat Emergencies…

Heat exhaustion: Cool, moist, pale, or flushed skin; heavy sweating; headache; nausea or vomiting; dizziness; and exhaustion. Body temperature will be near normal.
Heat stroke: Hot, red skin; changes in consciousness; rapid, weak pulse; and rapid, shallow breathing. Body temperature can be very high– as high as 105 degrees F. If the person was sweating from heavy work or exercise, skin may be wet; otherwise, it will feel dry.

Treatment of Heat Emergencies

Heat cramps: Get the person to a cooler place and have him or her rest in a comfortable position. Lightly stretch the affected muscle and replenish fluids. Give a half glass of cool water every 15 minutes. Do not give liquids with alcohol or caffeine in them, as they can make conditions worse.

Heat exhaustion: Get the person out of the heat and into a cooler place. Remove or loosen tight clothing and apply cool, wet cloths, such as towels or sheets. If the person is conscious, give cool water to drink. Make sure the person drinks slowly. Give a half glass of cool water every 15 minutes. Do not give liquids that contain alcohol or caffeine. Let the victim rest in a comfortable position, and watch carefully for changes in his or her condition.

Heat stroke: Heat stroke is a life-threatening situation. Help is needed fast. Call 9-1-1 or your local emergency number. Move the person to a cooler place. Quickly cool the body. Immerse victim in a cool bath, or wrap wet sheets around the body and fan it. Watch for signals of breathing problems. Keep the person lying down and continue to cool the body any way you can. If the victim refuses water or is vomiting or there are changes in the level of consciousness, do not give anything to eat or drink.

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>Unlike Ridgewood, Wash. Twnsp. meets parents, reviews Constructivist Math

>I’m Lovin’ Our Board of Education Right Now

June 5, 2008 ·

I attended the June 3rd Washington Township Board of Education meeting and I was very pleased. You should be pleased because unlike other Board of Eds in towns like Ridgewood NJ, your BOE listened to the concerned parents and are going to review our K-8 math curriculum. To recap here’s what they talked about on Tuesday:

The Education Committee reported that they supported a review of our math curriculum to examine what’s working, what’s not, and offer improvements
They are forming a committee in the summer to review the math curriculum
They are writing a letter back to the community that basically will say “we heard you” and here’s what we are going to do (I’m guessing because I didn’t actually get to read the letter).
I spoke with several board members before and after the meeting and every one was very supportive of listening to our concerns and evaluating the curriculum. That also includes Interim Superintendent John Sakala who I had a one on one meeting with last Friday. I also spoke with Board President Michelle Skurchak and she was very supportive and seemed happy to help. Here’s what appeared in the May 13th minutes that hinted at board action:

Members of the public commented on the Everyday Math program; equal time should be given to science and social studies in addition to math; request for an update on the gifted and talented program; grouping of students in Middle School classes; and board member e-mail addresses and answering of e-mail in a timely manner. Mr. Sakala commented that the board hears the concerns about Everyday Math and that time is needed to look into the matter. The meeting was closed to the public at 8:37 p.m. “

I stood up and addressed the board after they outlined their plan . So I don’t bore you anymore, here’s a quick synopsis:

I thanked the BOE for listening to the parents who raised concerns
I handed a copy of the petition (without your emails) to Interim Superintendent John Sakala
I volunteered to be on the evaluation committee and offered to help recruit more people
Right now perhaps some of you supporters are not satisfied with just a review and wanted an outright recall. Obviously as the person that started this noise you may be upset with me, but please don’t be. This is a great solution for our community.

There are plenty of parents who believe that Everyday Math works for their kids and are happy with the program. There are obviously a lot of you that want it removed. We could all just dig our heels in and have this town become a casualty in the math wars like Ridgewood or we can all work together and come up with the best solution that is right for our town.

Right now our Board of Education did they right thing and it is my hope that changes will be made to the curriculum. I have some ideas that I’d like to see implemented, but until then the best thing you can do is raise your hand and volunteer for the committee when our Board of Education is ready.

Thanks again for your support. It meant a lot to me to know that there were/are so many supporters out there. As one board member said to me, “it isn’t easy to be a lightning rod” and he is correct. However, running into you at baseball games, restaurants, town events, and etc provided me with a huge boost to keep going. Please don’t stop now, because we still have some work to do.

Peace,

Eric

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>teachers unions are destroying public education

>For once, I agree (in part) with something the Fly said. Across the country, and particularly in NJ, teachers unions are destroying public education. Failing to properly incentivize teachers has something to do with it. But, that is only symptomatic of two larger problems.

Unlike automotive workers decades ago, public school teachers have a high total compensation package (salary & benefits) with a very attractive work schedule, when compared to most other professions. Yet, unions like the NJEA continue to act as if this is not the case by squeezing school districts with automatic annual salary increases and tenure policies that cripple the district’s budget, removing a powerful incentive for teachers to work harder or be more accountable, and result in annual tax increases for taxpayers. One must only look to what the UAW did to the US auto industry in the 1980’s to see where their union’s policies are leading us.

As a result of the arrogance, greed, corruption and incopmitence of organized labor’s leaders, companies like GM were saddled with massive legacy and overhead costs that made the american auto industry totally uncompetitive. Quality of the product was poor and cost were as much as 50% greater than foreign manufactured cars. Does this sound a little like our educational system? The only hope of salvaging the broken US auto industry was for union membership to agree to huge concessions that did away with costly and outdated benefits packages and forever changed the way management compensated and incentivized auto workers in the US.

The other problem is a result of the failed legislation and leadership in Trenton that require high levels of services and then redistribute tax money from one district to another, leaving districts like Ridgewood with a service obligation it cannot fund.

Public education is badly broken right here in Ridgewood (don’t kid yourself). Getting Trenton to fully fund legislated programs or correct flawed legislation may never happen. But, our teachers need to acknowledge that they are part of our community and their children will suffer right along side of ours. They should be treated and compensated like any other professional. Employment cannot be guaranteed. Nor can automatic salary increases. teachers should be evaluated and paid fairly on their performance, like any other profession. The most powerful incentive is financial. And the best teachers should be rewarded (we have many of them in Ridgewood). The flip side is that the “safety net” for unmotivated and underperforming teacher must be removed (yes, we have plenty of them, too). The teachers have the power to change their union’s behavior. They must acknowledge that their advocate, and therefore the teachers themselves, are a major part of the problem. But, it is a part of the problem that can be fixed with their help, as it was in the auto industry with cooperation from UAW membership and leaders. We have to scrap the existing compensation, benefits and tenure structure, as it exists today, and start with a clean piece of paper. It WILL be painful for some teachers, at first. But, it WILL lead to a better school district. Until it happens, the future for our public schools will continue to be bleak.

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>State schools lose $13.2 million math and science grant over union laws

>
The Fly asks: What’s wrong with our public schools? Answer: Teachers Unions that won’t allow successful teachers to be rewarded for their efforts. No bonuses for you..

By Linda Shaw

Seattle Times education reporter

Two Seattle high schools are among seven statewide that will lose a chance to add and strengthen Advanced Placement courses in math and science because a $13.2 million grant that Washington state won last year has been scrapped.

The National Math & Science Initiative (NMSI), based in Dallas, announced that it will end Washington’s grant because NMSI was unable to reach agreement with Washington’s schools on the terms of the contract.

NMSI declined to give any specifics, but state Rep. Bill Fromhold, who resigned his legislative post as of next year so he could help administer Washington’s grant, said it had to do with how teachers would be paid for the time they spent in training, and how they would receive incentives for how well students scored on AP exams.

NMSI wanted to pay teachers directly, he said, while Washington’s collective bargaining laws require that teacher pay be negotiated between teachers unions and school districts.

“We worked hard to try to find middle ground,” Fromhold said. But at the end of the day “we got caught in the middle of the grant requirements and the collective bargaining laws in the state of Washington that have to be followed.”

He didn’t want to lay blame on either side, he added.

Washington was one of seven states to receive the six-year grants.

In Washington, NMSI said the grant would have provided teacher training and coaching, tutoring for students, materials and equipment, and incentives for teachers and students.

NMSI said that about 22 percent of the $13.2 million would have been spent on merit pay for teachers based on their participation and performance in the program.

Franklin High was one of the two Seattle schools signed up to be part of the grant. West Seattle could have been the other, although it recently voted against accepting it, in part because of concerns about teachers receiving merit pay for student test scores, said district spokesman David Tucker. Another Seattle school would have likely been added, however, if the grant had gone forward.

The other five high schools included two in the Evergreen School District in Vancouver, and three in the Spokane area.

Each school would have received roughly $114,000 this year. More schools would have been added in subsequent years.

In a prepared statement, Tom Luce, NMSI’s CEO, said that NMSI understands some states and school districts “may have policies that do not accommodate this grant model and we respect those local preferences — this is a voluntary program.”

NMSI is a nonprofit organization, created in 2007 to expand successful math and science programs.

Linda Shaw: 206-464-2359 or lshaw@seattletimes.com

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>For the Record – Voter Turnout Percentages from Recent Municipal Elections

>1998 – 3.27% – 2 seats, unopposed

2000 – 15.36% – 3 seats, 5 candidates

2002 – 16.35% – 2 seats, 4 candidates

2004 – 18.33% – 3 seats, 8 candidates

2006 – 7.94% – 2 seats, 3 candidates

2008 – 16.87% – 3 seats, 5 candidates

In summary, the percentage of voters turning out in 2008 was slightly higher than the 10-year average (13.02%).

So why is one of the incumbents continuing to insist that their resounding loss resulted primarily from low voter turnout/voter apathy?

Does this person truly believe that all of the incumbents’ supporters stayed away from the polls on municipal Election Day?

The fat lady has finished signing. Time to face reality; it’s over.

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>We need to begin opening up our own fuel sources here in the U.S.

>Dear Friends:

This past week, I hosted a press conference at the Mahwah Sunoco gas station in Mahwah, NJ to address the concerns of constituents from New Jersey’s 5th congressional district about New Jersey’s rising gas costs.

America’s taxpayers work too hard to have their family’s money wasted by Washington bureaucrats. Washington must focus on decreasing the skyrocketing gas and food costs and actually focus on the family budget not the federal one. I strongly believe that we need to develop our nation’s current resources. We need to begin opening up our own fuel sources here in the U.S. and begin deep sea exploration. The Energy Information Administration estimates that untapped U.S. reserves would provide 1 million barrels per day for 30 years. At the price of $125 per barrel, this new oil would deliver $191.1 billion in corporate income tax and royalty revenue to the federal government.

Americans and New Jerseyans have experienced sky-rocketing gas prices. Families across the nation and state have been struggling to make ends meet because of rising prices at the pump. And to make matters worse, our great state of New Jersey is one of the hardest hit states. For every gallon a gasoline attendant puts in your tank, you as a New Jersey resident will pay 18.2 cents in federal taxes.

This taxpayer money is then sent to Washington where part of it is lost in the bureaucratic process and this is where the real problem lies. All too often, the federal government simply wastes your hard-earned money on unnecessary projects like the infamous “Bridge to Nowhere. For New Jerseyans, there’s another issue at stake. Our state is what’s known as a “donor” state. That means that we send more money to Washington than we receive. In recent years, for every dollar we pay in federal gas taxes, we receive about only 92 cents back.

I have fought hard to make up for this discrepancy during my time in Congress. For example, I was able to direct a $1 million appropriation toward a study to focus on bus and transit service in four northern North Jersey counties. Even so, the process isn’t completely just. Washington bureaucrats simply don’t know how to spend your money wisely or fairly.

That’s why, I’ve come up with what I think is a simple solution to this problem—it’s called the START Act, which stands for Suspend Taxes And Revitalize Transportation. This bill, which I’m in the process of introducing, would suspend the federal gasoline tax until the end of the year. After December 31, state legislatures would decide if they would like to again resume paying federal gas taxes. I believe many states, especially donor states like New Jersey, wouldn’t want to re-join the federal system. Instead, they could keep the money within the state and direct it toward the transportation projects that are most important. This legislation would save you money at the pump and improve the roads in New Jersey.”

Sincerely,

Scott Garrett

1318 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-4465
fax: (202) 225-9048 210 Route 4 East Suite 206

or

210 Route 4 East Suite 206
Paramus NJ 07652
(201) 712-0330
fax: (201) 712-0930

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>Act Now To Make School Choice A Reality

>You can join tens of thousands of concerned taxpayers in supporting historic school choice legislation in New Jersey. This proposed law — S-1607, The Urban Enterprise Zone Jobs Scholarship Act — will help low-income students to access effective private schools, while reducing the skyrocketing cost of public education.

We need you now to help pass S-1607. This landmark education reform would allow New Jersey corporations to receive a 100% tax credit for contributions to local scholarship funds. The math makes great sense for taxpayers. The S-1607 scholarship would cost taxpayers about $6,000 in tax credits for private education. But it would save taxpayers about $18,000 for every student it keeps out of urban public schools.

To make this happen, please contact Senator Buono, Chair of the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee, and Senate President Richard Codey to urge them to post S-1607 for a hearing.

Take Action Now!

Many Thanks.

Sincerely,
Steve Lonegan
Executive Director, AFP-NJ

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>Low turnout expected for Tuesday’s NJ primary

>By GEOFF MULVIHILL

Associated Press Writer

June 1, 2008

MOORESTOWN, N.J.

By moving its presidential primary to February, New Jersey gained a bit of clout in picking candidates and drew a higher percentage of voters than any primary since 1940.

Now, for the downside: Because the presidential primary was moved up, voters don’t have as much incentive to turn out for Tuesday’s primary, which features a slate of candidates for U.S. Congress, county and local offices.

Political observers and campaign insiders expect a low voter turnout despite some intriguing intraparty races and an environment where politics is dominating the news.

They say many voters may be either worn out or confused by the higher-than-usual number of elections in New Jersey. In a handful of towns, it’s the fifth election since the beginning of the year.

Here’s one possible harbinger of turnout trouble: Some of the politically astute retirees who gathered for breakfast at the Heart to Heart Cafe in Moorestown on Friday were debating whether it would be worth voting in the primary.

They said they’re tired of voting and leery of politicians. Besides, some of the registered Republicans would like have a chance to cross party lines and support a Democrat _ something they can’t do under New Jersey’s primary rules.

And, a few admitted, they didn’t realize the primary was coming up until a few days earlier.

“The only reason you’d know there was a vote was that you got a sample ballot (in the mail),” said Rick Young, a retired heating oil distributor.

Some campaigns are preparing to spend more money than usual on election-day efforts to drum up votes. That means you should brace for a lot of last-minute phone calls reminding you that the vote is coming up.

Rutgers University political scientist Ingrid Reed says this year’s primary season reminds her of a primary eight years ago, when 17 percent of the electorate turned out.

“If we had that many this year, that would be good turnout,” she said.

Since 2000, about 1 in 10 of New Jersey’s registered voters have participated in June primaries.

This year’s presidential primary was different. New Jersey, like many states, moved up its voting to try to have more influence on the presidential nominations, and turnout was heavy at 35 percent _ the best turnout in New Jersey since 1940.

While the presidential primary brought out new voters, Reed said it’s largely the party loyalists who will show up Tuesday.

“This is more like an insider’s primary,” Reed said.

The Democratic State Committee is doing something it’s done before only for this year’s presidential primary: Mounting a campaign to remind its members when the election is.

The party, though, is not endorsing any of its candidates.

Democratic State Chairman Joe Cryan, who is also a state Assemblyman, said he expects the two big-spending U.S. Senate candidates, incumbent Frank Lautenberg and U.S. Rep. Rob Andrews, to give extra attention on get-out-the-vote efforts. Cryan didn’t expect the same kind of push for the third candidate, Morristown Mayor Donald Cresitello.

“There’s a lot more focus on election day as opposed to putting that extra TV ad up,” Cryan said.

He said those Election Day efforts will include paying people to direct voters to the polls.

Bill Caruso, a spokesman for Andrews, said the campaign will have workers on volunteers around the state on Tuesday.

Julie Roginsky, a spokeswoman for the Lautenberg campaign, said she wouldn’t divulge her candidate’s Election Day strategy. She predicted turnout might not be so bad _ thanks to the interest generated by the presidential primary between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. “We’ve got so many newly registered Democrats,” she said.

The Republican campaigns might not be able to do as much because the three candidates for U.S. Senate have raised far less than their Democratic counterparts. None of the three _ Joe Pennacchio, Murray Sabrin, or Dick Zimmer _ has been able to advertise heavily on television.

Republican State Committee Chairman Tom Wilson said that a big get-out-the-vote effort may not help lesser-known and lesser-funded candidates in his party.

“I don’t know whether Pennacchio or Sabrin would have the luxury of being able to say, ‘My message has been heard, now I’ve got to turn people out,”‘ he said.

Besides, he said, in primaries it can be tough to guess which partisans are on their side. “You can’t just turn people out randomly” and expect it to help, he said.

Wilson expects candidates in his party to focus on building name recognition until the end, and most campaigns are doing something to get voters to the polls. For instance, Pennacchio’s campaign has said it will have a phone bank set up to encourage supporters, while Sabrin has had a get-out-the-vote drive online.

With all the angst over primary turnout, there’s some renewed concern over whether the separate presidential election _ with a cost to the state of about $10.5 million this year _ is worth having again.

“I would say, keep it in June,” said U.S. Rep. Bill Pascrell Jr., a Democrat from Paterson. “You’ve got too many elections.”

___

On the Net: www.njelections.org

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>State League of Municipalities faces public records challenge

>Tuesday, June 03, 2008

BY TOM HESTER
Star-Ledger Staff

A state Superior Court judge has directed the New Jersey State League of Municipalities, the lobbying arm for New Jersey’s 566 municipal governments, to show why it should not be subject to the state’s Open Public Records Act.

In what is considered a unique case for New Jersey, the Fair Share Housing Center, a nonprofit Cherry Hill-based affordable housing activist organization, has gone into court in Trenton to argue that the League of Municipalities is, among other things, taxpayer funded. The organization says the league should be ordered to make public records detailing its opposition to new affordable housing regulations being shaped by the state Council on Affordable Housing.

Judge Linda Feinberg has set a hearing on the issue for July 18 in Trenton, it was learned yesterday.

Kevin Walsh, Fair Share Housing Center counsel, said the league, with input from local officials, recommends actions for local governments to take, including opposition to affordable housing.

“The league has two committees that include mayors set up to study” proposed housing regulations, he said. “League employees are part of the state pension system. The league was established by an act of the state Legislature and has members covered by the Open Public Records Act. The league is actively involved in fighting the regulations and we are interested in what they have to say about them.”

League of Municipalities officials strongly disagree.

“We are not a government agency,” said Bill Kerns, league counsel. “The league has no governmental powers, no governmental authority. It’s a volunteer organization.”

“It’s a frivolous lawsuit,” said William Dressel, league director. “It has absolutely no standing. Quite frankly, it’s kind of annoying.”

Walsh is hoping Feinberg will consider a 2005 state Supreme Court ruling in a case brought by the Times of Trenton against the Lafayette Yard Community Development Group, which said a private nonprofit body created to assist the city of Trenton with the development of a new hotel is subject to OPRA.

Yesterday was also the court-ordered deadline for so-called “third-round” affordable housing regulations to go into effect for some 300 municipalities under COAH jurisdiction as it attempts to provide 115,000 new or refurbished houses and apartments by 2018.

Under the new rules, COAH director Lucy Voorhoeve said, the towns must ensure there is one affordable unit for every four market value houses constructed or one unit for every 16 new jobs created by commercial development in the town.

But proposed amendments to the regulations that will not be settled until late October, COAH’s decision to grant the towns an extension until Dec. 31 to submit their new affordable housing plans, and a potential lawsuit by the League of Municipalities are expected to delay serious action on providing the housing into 2009.

The league has sought $500 from each municipality to finance a lawsuit. “We are considering a lawsuit,” said Mike Cerra, the League’s senior analyst. “It’s no secret we may challenge the regulations.”

Tom Hester may be reached at thester@starledger.com or at (609) 292-0557.

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>Joseph Ferriero’s tenure as Bergen County Democratic chairman may depend on the outcome of a low-visibility county committee race on Tuesday.

>Democratic chairman’s job may be in jeopardySunday,
June 1, 2008
BY KAREN SUDOLSTAFF WRITER

Joseph Ferriero’s tenure as Bergen County Democratic chairman may depend on the outcome of a low-visibility county committee race on Tuesday.

Democratic voters in Bergen will go to the polls to choose members of the county committee, an 1,100-member body that essentially decides which Democrats get to run for public office in the county. Committee members also are responsible for electing the leader of the Bergen County Democratic Organization, and they are scheduled to do so on June 10, one week after the primary election.

The primary election comes a week after Ferriero surrendered documents subpoenaed by federal authorities involving a consulting firm in which he and Dennis J. Oury, the attorney for the Bergen County Democratic Organization, shared an interest. Over the last two weeks, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie has issued 14 subpoenas requesting information about Oury or the consulting firm, Governmental Grants Consulting, sometimes called Government Grants Consulting.

In most Bergen municipalities, there is no contest for county committee. But in Englewood, Bergenfield and Teaneck, among other towns, candidates affiliated with Ferriero, running under the banner of the BCDO, are squaring off against members of a slate called the Real Bergen Democrats, which is affiliated with state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, a Ferriero rival.

And some Real Bergen Democrats are suggesting that if enough of them secure seats on the county committee, they will work to remove Ferriero as chairman.

“The point is to elect enough Real Bergen Democrats and enough organization people who are sick and tired of Ferriero,” said Robert Gulack, a Fair Lawn county committee member running for reelection.

But Bill Maer, a spokesman for the Bergen County Democrats, said the primary isn’t about Ferriero and his reelection.

“It’s about Bergen County Democrats having a successful primary and putting into place individuals who will share the organization’s beliefs,” he said. “It’s about getting good Democrats in position so we can win elections and better serve the citizens of Bergen County.”

Maer said he doesn’t anticipate the document subpoena will have any effect on Tuesday’s vote.

“Voters are going to look at the records of the individual candidates running throughout the county and decide to elect them based on those facts,” he said.

Weinberg, D-Teaneck, said, “My hope is, we elect enough county committee people who want to run a fair, open, inclusive party with the proper leadership and who, in fact, are tired of seeing the kinds of people leading us that we’ve been reading about in the newspaper the last several days.”

Gulack said he can’t predict whether the subpoena will have any effect on choosing a chairman — a post Ferriero has held since 1998. Gulack wants to challenge Ferriero again for the position.

Elaine Rabbitt, chairwoman of the Bergenfield Democratic Municipal Committee and a Ferriero supporter, said she found the timing of the subpoena suspect, given its proximity to the primary.

“Why should we [Bergenfield county committee members] let this interfere with what we’re planning on doing if we really don’t know if this is legitimate?” she said of the subpoena.

She said she supports Ferriero because “he took the Democrats and put them on the map in Bergen County.”

But Carol Hoernlein, a Tenafly councilwoman running in the Democratic primary for a Bergen County freeholder seat, said Ferriero’s link to the subpoenas may affect the county committee race and his reelection chances.

“For a long time, a lot of people from the county committee were afraid of Joe,” Hoernlein said.

“Now, I think maybe they’re realizing that … now is the time where they can make a difference.”

She is encouraging write-ins in districts where Real Bergen Democrats are not on the ballot.

Ferriero has been credited with reviving the county Democratic Organization through aggressive fund raising and rigid party discipline. But he has been criticized for encouraging a system under which political contributors are rewarded with lucrative county and municipal contracts.

E-mail: sudol@northjersey.com