Category: Village of Ridgewood

Parents, Coaches: Know the Risks of Concussions in Youth Sports
June 4, 2013

Ridgewood NJ. To assist parents and coaches in protecting young athletes from the serious head injuries that can result from returning to play too soon after a suffering a concussion, The Valley Hospital Sports Institute offers the ImPACT Concussion Management Test. ImPACT (Immediate Post Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing) is an innovative computerized evaluation system that assesses the effects and severity of a concussion and helps determine when it is safe for an athlete to return to contact sports following a concussion.

ImPACT testing is suitable for athletes ages 12 and older.  It is a 20-30 minute neurocognitive test battery that has been scientifically validated to measure the effects of sports-related concussion.  Typically, in the preseason each athlete is given a baseline test.  And, when a concussion is suspected during the season, a follow-up test is administered to see if the results have changed from the baseline.  This comparison helps to diagnose and manage the concussion.  Follow-up tests can be administered over days or weeks so clinicians can continue to track the athlete’s recovery from the injury.

The Sports Institute recently enhanced its Concussion Management Program with the addition of the Biodex Biosway Balance testing unit.  The test takes about 5 minutes and provides a psycho-motor assessment of concussion injuries.  Athletes should be tested in the preseason to gather baseline information that can be used for comparison in the event of a concussion to assess the extent of the injury and the athlete’s readiness to return to activity.

Since most high schools in the area have the testing in place already, the Sports Institute is providing this service primarily for the recreation and town-sponsored youth sports teams for athletes ages 12 and older.

The next scheduled baseline testing sessions will take place on Tuesday, June 18; Wednesday, June 19; and Thursday, June 27. Two sessions will be held on each testing date at 5:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m. at Valley’s Kraft Center, located at 15 Essex Road in Paramus.  The tests will be conducted in the 3rd Floor Computer Lab.

Pre-Registration is required, as space is limited.  The fee is $25.  Space is limited. Please call 201-447-8133 for more information and to register.

A concussion is a brain injury.  Concussions are most commonly caused by a bump or blow to the head, but, can also be caused by a sudden deceleration or acceleration of the head.  In either scenario, the brain, suspended inside the skull and surrounded by fluid, continues to travel with momentum until it “bangs” up against the skull – causing a brain-bruising injury – or concussion.  What may seem to be a mild bump or blow to the head can be serious.

You can’t see a concussion.  Signs and symptoms of a concussion can show up right after the injury, or may not appear or be noticed until days or weeks after the injury.  If your child reports any symptoms of concussion, or if you notice the symptoms yourself, seek medical attention right away.  Common symptoms include: headache, dizziness, feeling foggy, nausea, fatigue and confusion.  Common signs include memory loss, a loss of balance and coordination, and changes in personality.  Concussion severity varies widely, and the number of signs and symptoms vary also – serious injuries may show few symptoms.

Although less common, bleeding in the brain can occur with some head injuries.  Loss of consciousness, mental status deterioration and worsening symptoms raise the concern for a bleeding injury.  An athlete does not need to lose consciousness (black out) to suffer a concussion.  In fact, less than 10 percent of concussed athletes lose consciousness.

An athlete who suffers a concussion can be at risk for a condition known as Second Impact Syndrome if he or she returns to sports before full recovery.  Second impact syndrome is a life-threatening condition in which a second concussion occurs before a first concussion has properly healed, causing rapid and severe brain swelling. Second impact syndrome can result from even a very mild concussion that occurs days or weeks after the initial concussion.

“Second Impact Syndrome can be prevented,” Donald Tomaszewski, Director of The Valley Hospital Sports Institute.  “Don’t allow an athlete to return to sports after a concussion until their symptoms have completely resolved and they have been cleared by a medical professional experienced in treating concussions

Democrats look to squash Christie’s Proposed School Voucher Program
June .2,2013
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, At $2 million, the Christie administration’s proposed school voucher program is a very small piece of the $12.4 billion that the state projects it will spend on public education next year., but Democrats looking to support the all powerfull teachers union are looking to put an end to educational opportunity for the poor.

Democrats lead by State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), the Democratic majority leader, this weekend repeated earlier comments that she was convinced the Democrats would put an end to the pilot, which would provide $10,000 vouchers for low-income students to attend qualifying schools, public or private. (https://www.njspotlight.com/stories/13/06/03/christie-s-proposed-school-voucher-program-at-latest-crossroads/ )

State Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen), the chairman of the budget committee, last month also said much of  the same thing: there were too many Democrats against it being part of an appropriations bill — if any law at all. ( https://www.njspotlight.com/stories/13/06/03/christie-s-proposed-school-voucher-program-at-latest-crossroads/ )

Gov, Christie and pro school choice vocatives have been pressing for vouchers since he first ran for governor, and it is the one piece of his education agenda still unfulfilled..

School choice advocates have been looking to break the monopoly grip on public education and have made some inroads but the NJEA controls to many democrat votes and continues to wage a war on the poor denying them educational opportunities afforded  the wealthy and middle classes.

State Democrats seem all to happy to allow where on lives to determine the quality of eduction a child receives .

Princeton to honor four secondary school teachers including Medha Jayant Kirtane from RHS
Posted May 28, 2013; 11:30 a.m.
by Michael Hotchkiss, Office of Communications

Princeton University will honor four exceptional New Jersey secondary school teachers at its 2013 Commencement on Tuesday, June 4.

This year’s honorees are Medha Jayant Kirtane, Ridgewood High School, Ridgewood; John McAllen, Point Pleasant Borough High School, Point Pleasant; Robert O’Boyle, Hopewell Valley Central High School, Pennington; and Deane Stepansky, Nutley High School, Nutley.

The teachers were selected for the award from 62 nominations from public and private schools around the state. Each teacher will receive $5,000, as well as $3,000 for his or her school library.

“In the final analysis, if great teachers are measured by what their students accomplish, the four teachers we honor with this award represent the very finest teachers in the profession today,” said Christopher Campisano, director of Princeton’s Program in Teacher Preparation. “By challenging their students to go beyond the superficial, by encouraging them to be skeptical, and by challenging them to test the limits of what they thought was possible, these four teachers enable their students to become confident, critical and creative thinkers.”

The staff of the Program in Teacher Preparation selected 11 finalists, each of whom was visited at their school by a member of the program staff. Award winners were selected by a committee that was chaired by Dean of the College Valerie Smith. The panel also included Campisano, University faculty members Miguel Centeno, Joshua Katz and Stanley Katz; Judy Wilson, superintendent of the Princeton Public Schools; and Samuel Stewart, executive county superintendent of schools for Mercer and Middlesex counties.

“These teachers serve as a testament to the quality of education found in our schools today and serve as an inspiration to all future and practicing teachers,” Campisano said.

Princeton has honored secondary school teachers since 1959. The University received an anonymous gift from an alumnus to establish the program.

Teachers honored this year are:

Medha Jayant Kirtane

Medha Jayant Kirtane is in demand — in class, during lunch, after school, even on the tennis court, teachers and students at Ridgewood High School say. Some students want to discuss an assignment; others want to talk about life outside the classroom.

“That Medha is such a perennial student favorite is all the more remarkable (at first glance) because she is one of the most rigorous teachers that students will ever encounter,” wrote Gavin Stewart, an English teacher at the school, in a letter supporting Kirtane’s nomination. “She demands excellence from her students, and although she ‘demands’ with a smile, her standards are nonetheless admirably high. To earn an ‘A’ in Ms. Kirtane’s class is truly an accomplishment!”

Kirtane has taught a range of social studies classes during her eight years at Ridgewood and has helped revise or rewrite several course curricula, principal Thomas Gorman said. Her current course load includes an interdisciplinary senior seminar that emphasizes independent research interwoven with intensive discussion in a small-group setting.

Lauren Cubellis, a graduate of Ridgewood High School and Princeton University, said the seminar pushed her to think critically about history and question assumptions.

“It was the most difficult class of my high school career,” Cubellis wrote. “But it was also the most exciting class I had ever taken. Medha was able to turn history into a living and breathing record of humanity.”

Kirtane said she tries to instill her students with curiosity, diligence, sincerity and critical thinking skills.

“I want my students to engage with themselves, me and each other to ignite their passion to learn and create ideas anew,” Kirtane wrote. “From that heated process should emerge a distilled vision of what should be and how each of them can work, within and beyond their communities, to achieve their goals.”

Outside the classroom, Kirtane leads the high school’s girls’ tennis team and was named division coach of the year in 2009, 2010 and 2011. She is also faculty adviser to the school’s Asian Festival and the Student Broadcast Club.

Kirtane earned her bachelor’s degree from Williams College and a master’s degree from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Education.

https://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S36/97/51O82/index.xml?section=topstories

Join the Fight Against Common Core
Lindsey Burke
May 29, 2013 at 7:45 am

Two competing forces are pushing on America’s K–12 education system today.

One is an effort to infuse education choice into a long-stagnant system, empowering parents with the ability to send their child to a school that meets her unique learning needs.

The other is an effort to further centralize education through Common Core national standards and tests.

Across the country, education choice options have been proliferating rapidly, including vouchers, tuition tax credits, special needs scholarships, and education savings accounts. Educational choice is a revolution because it funds children instead of physical school buildings and allows dollars to follow children to any school—or education option—that meets their unique learning needs.

CHOICE EMPOWERS PARENTS to direct their child’s share of education funding, giving them options beyond an assigned government school.

CHOICE PRESSURES PUBLIC SCHOOLS with a much-needed competitive atmosphere, which works toward improving educational outcomes for students who take advantage of choice options as well as students who choose to attend their local public schools.

CHOICE HELPS KIDS. Seventeen states and Washington, D.C., now have private school choice programs—and more states are considering implementing choice options. Education choice represents the type of innovation and freedom that will provide long-overdue reform to the K–12 education system, and holds the potential to truly raise educational outcomes for every child across the country.

But at the same time this encouraging shift toward education choice is underway, there is a push to take education in the exact opposite direction through Common Core national standards and tests.

COMMON CORE IS an effort to centralize education by dictating the standards and assessments that will determine the content taught in every public school across the country.

COMMON CORE HAS NO EVIDENCE that it will improve academic outcomes or boost international competitiveness. But the Obama Administration has pushed states to adopt national standards and assessments in exchange for offers of billions of dollars in federal funding and waivers from the onerous provisions of No Child Left Behind.

COMMON CORE ASSUMES that top-down, uniform standards and assessments—driven by federal bureaucrats and national organizations—are preferable to the state and local reform efforts guided by input from parents, teachers, and taxpayers.

States have been competing to improve their education systems by implementing education choice options and other reforms such as alternative teacher certification, transparent A–F grading systems, and a focus on reading achievement. Check out innovations in:

Florida
Idaho
Indiana
Arizona

American education is at a crossroads: One path leads toward further centralization and greater federal intervention. The other path leads toward robust education choice, including school choice and choice in curricula.

Common Core takes the path toward centralization, and state leaders should seize the moment to resist this latest federal overreach. National standards and tests are a challenge to educational freedom in America, and state and local leaders who believe in limited government should resist them.

The Dangers of “Common Core Education”
The Eagle,TPATH May 24, 2013
Nicholas Purpura

Nicholas Purpura’s commentary is thorough and convincing pointing out the dangers in “Common Core Education ”  and the direct threat it poses to the kin of quality education Ridgewood expects from its schools.

“Education has become a national security issue, and what has your establishment incumbent said or done about it – absolutely nothing! I remind the reader that the infamous tyrant, Adolph Hitler, said: “When an opponent declares, ‘I will not come over to your side,’ I calmly say, ‘your child belongs to us already…. What are you? You will pass on. Your descendants, however, now stand in the new camp. In a short time they will know nothing else out of this new community.

The GOP establishment in New Jersey is no better. If they were, they would have stood by the Republican National Committee’s Resolution against “Common Core Education.” Then it might have been a different picture. Instead they’re what I’ve been saying is “Democrat-lite” and are going along as good progressives normally do, disregarding that it will destroy the education of children in the government indoctrination centers called “public schools”.

There is a light at the end of the tunnel. Candidates from both parties have joined Team New Jersey condemning “Common Core Education,” and will do everything in their power to rid New Jersey of this indoctrination program that will dumb them down and turn them into one-world globalist.

The candidates listed below are against Common Core, or federalizing of the curriculum, which is the newest way to dumb down our children.  

Senate Candidate:
LD-13 Leigh-Ann Bellew

Assembly Candidates:   LD-4, John Lockhart (Incumbent)
LD-7, Connie Hare Murry and Joe Siano
LD-8, Scott Fay and Gary Jacques Assembly
LD-13, Steve Boracchia and Edna Walsh
LD-36, Aharon Cohn and Sam Krause (Two more patriots joining TeamNJ)

And please don’t neglect those running for Freeholders and GOP Committee – it’s time to clean house.

Freeholders:

(Incumbent) Scott Rumana, LD 40
JoeMcDevitt, (Atlantic Co.)
LanceSilver, Burl.Co.
BarbaraEames, (Whippany, Morris Cty.
Lance Silver, (Burl.)
Ed Pekarsky, LD 13
Brian Largey, LD 13

GOP State Committee:
Bill Haney & Ashley Cameron, Burlington
Rae Rinaldi, Steve Moss, Bergen
Pat Rivera, Jim Gasko, Passaic
Bader Qarmount, Rick Shaftan, Deborah Deluca, Sussex
Vikki Jennsen, Union
Catherine McCulloch, Morris
Carol Gallentine, Essex
Ron Giordano, Joanne Cooper, Salem
Eric Dixon, Hudson

Parental control is what is truly needed. School choice where your children attend – whether private, religious, or charter – the need for a universal voucher system is long overdue. The public education system is a total failure, and must be dismantled if our children are to be able to compete in this world economy. Remember, the fed’s gave us Outcome-based Education, Goals 2000, School-to-work, and now Common Core. It’s the same garbage repackaged over and over again, and it is designed to dumb down our children and take away the local control of boards of education.

Much worse “Common Core” effectively removes educational choice. What’s more the government will collect personal student’s data for non-educational purpose without parental written consent. You may ask how these reprobates can get away with this. Let me point to one instance that will sicken you.

The enlightened progressives at the NEA have decided that advancing sensitivity and tolerance of other life styles is of the utmost importance. But, in truth, their objective is to change public opinion on homosexuality, starting with the youngest generation. On the internet, according to a former chairman of the NEA, Ex-Gay Educators Caucus, and many other critics, the NEA promotes a gay rights agenda especially following the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals see Field’s v. Palmdale School District, in which the Court held:

“parents’ fundamental right to control the upbringing of their children “does not extend beyond the threshold of the school door,” and that a public school has the right to provide its students with “whatever information it wishes to provide, sexual or otherwise.”

So you think it’s just the fed’s shoving “Common Core” down our throats? Coming to you straight from the mental midgets at the Department of Education in New Jersey this September is another program titled “Student Growth Objectives” pre- and post-testing, which is measuring and testing all year long. Ask yourselves, when the heck are they going to teach? Our teachers are now going to teach according to what will be on the tests so the school gets a good rating. In truth, if anyone needs testing it’s those posing as teachers so we get the best educators for our students and tell the Department of Education and unions to go take a hike.

We as Americans must never let those in the teachers unions and Department of Education now controlled by Marxists, Socialists, Atheists, Sodomites, and one-world advocates to usurp our parental rights any longer while repeatedly degrading our culture and history.

If we ever hope to restore our heritage and traditional values we must no longer allow the government, to tell our children what is acceptable moral behavior by indoctrinating them into ill moral sexual behavior now prevalent in grade school to higher educational institutions. No authority exists in the Constitution granting the federal government the authority to create the Department of Education, especially an unconstitutional department that partners itself with Marxists teachers unions and the UN that is determined to destroy the United States culture and heritage by mandating indoctrination into a one-world order. Orwell said it best, “those that control the language control the thinking.”

Also, I know of nowhere in the Constitution that requires parents to surrender their children to the “State” or “Teachers Unions” to undergo sexual indoctrination. Renowned educational analyst, Samuel Blumenfeld reported in his book “The Leaning Tower of Babel” that school programs are intended:

 “to discard the values and religious beliefs of their families and create new sets of values reflecting their own personal desires and leanings, particularly those regarding sex.”
 …been encouraged by values clarification to reject the traditional Judeo-Christian prohibitions against sexual perversion and adopt an open and assertive homosexual lifestyle.”Funded with your tax dollars and teachers dues, these draconian programs were co-sponsored by none other than Department of Education, National Education Association, (NEA) and American Federation of Teachers (AFT). The UN’s arm UNESCO made no attempt to disguise their Socialist and Marxist goals let their own words be a warning:

“It follows from the essence of the socialist structure of the state in countries concerned… that their educational system is centralized. This creates an extremely favorable situation for central state measures designed to modernize education. The socialist state possesses the means necessary for education…. From the point of view of the development of education technology the socialist countries are also in a favorable position because of the fact that television, school television, radio and school radio are operated centrally….”

photo by Boyd Loving

Serving Those Who Served
James Carafano
May 27, 2013 at 7:00 am

This Memorial Day, the Heritage family will join all Americans in remembering the service and sacrifices of those who gave all so the rest of us would remain free.

There is no greater way to honor their memory than making a personal commitment to serving those who served—our 22 million living American veterans and their families.

Those who give the most have the set the bar high for the rest of us. The Congressional Medal of Honor Foundation was founded by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, which consists exclusively of the living Medal of Honor recipients. These brave men have committed themselves to continuing a life of service to their nation.

One way they meet this mission is through their work with the Medal of Honor Character Development Program incorporating the ideals of courage and selfless service into the middle and high school curriculum. The lessons in the curriculum are framed using the lives, experiences, and words of these heroes. The program is now present in more than 33 states and in schools run by the Department of Defense in Europe and the Pacific.

Veterans giving back to serve other veterans and their families are found in every branch of service. Take Deb Snyder. When Snyder, a retired Army helicopter pilot, came to Heritage as part of our Protect America program, she talked about her passion to help her fellow soldiers. Deb decided to tackle a heartbreaking issue: the fact that one-fifth of the nation’s homeless population are veterans.

In 2011, the Alexandria native decided to do something in her own backyard. She founded Operation Renewed Hope Foundation, a nonprofit organization committed to one goal: getting veterans’ heads off stone pillows and onto real ones. Today, Operation Renewed Hope is a team of 50 dedicated volunteers.

We are inspired by folks like the members of the Congressional Medal of Honor Society and veterans like Deb Snyder. Some of Heritage’s employees banded together to create an organization to help educate all Americans on how to serve those who served. The team created an award-winning documentary, Veteran Nation, which is available for free to those who want to hold community screenings to help jump-start local efforts—either bringing attention and support to local volunteer programs or starting new organizations.

On days like Memorial Day, we honor the spirit and sacrifices of veterans. But every day, when Americans support and encourage the veterans in their communities, the spirit of the nation flourishes.

Development plans put cart before the horse
Friday, May 24, 2013
The Ridgewood News

Development plans put cart before the horse

To the editor:

After last week’s Planning Board meeting on the four proposed multi-family units, I realized there is truly no master town plan happening here. The municipal planner, Blaise Brancheau, suggested as much to the board.

Mr. Brancheau recommended the Planning Board step back and look at the facts, revisit the checklist, decide what was important. But almost every Planning Board member said they are fine with the facts and ready to proceed. They are all so sure of the facts, in fact, that when Gail Price, the Planning Board attorney, tried to quiet the crowd with what she knew to be the actual number of students attending our schools from the current multi-family dwellings, none of the members corrected her. Gail said the number was 88. The crowd quieted down, as the paper stated, because that was not the number we knew to be correct. According to news reports, 88 is the number of students that live in the Oak Street Apartments alone. The number that is closer to actual is 219 school-aged children living in all the town apartments. That’s very different.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/opinions/208770461_Letter__Development_plans_put_cart_before_the_horse.html

State Task force may look at full-day kindergarten in all districts

A proposal to explore the idea of bringing full-day kindergarten to schools statewide advanced in a state Assembly committee Monday.

While most of New Jersey’s elementary school districts offer full-day kindergarten, at least 114 districts still offer half-day only, according to the state Department of Education. The Assembly Education Committee approved a bill that would create a task force to explore full-day options. (Rundquist/Star-Ledger)

https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/05/ta.html#incart_river

PLANNING BOARD PUBLIC MEETING AND WORK SESSION – MAY 13

PLANNING BOARD

AMENDMENT TO MEETING SCHEDULE

Work Session & Public Meeting: Monday, May 13, 2013

In accordance with the provisions of the “Open Public Meetings Act,” please be advised that the Planning Board has scheduled a special public meeting and work session for MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013, in the VILLAGE HALL COURT ROOM, 4th Floor, 131 NORTH MAPLE AVENUE, RIDGEWOOD, NJ beginning at 7:30 p.m.

The Board may take official action during this Work and Public Meeting at which time the Board will:

? have discussion regarding multifamily housing and mixed use development in and near the CBD.

? discuss Ordinance #3368 amending the regulations in the Land Use and Development chapter of the Village Code for Houses of Worship, Schools and Public Utility Facilities.

All meetings of the Ridgewood Planning Board (i.e., official public meetings, work session meetings, pre-meeting assemblies and special meetings) are public meetings which are always open to members of the general public.

Jane Wondergem

Secretary to the Board

School traffic change at Ridge School needs more study
May 13, 2013
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ,  The Village Council has decided to  “study ” the issue of traffic congestion at Ridge Elementary School ,thereby voting down the proposed ordinance that was aimed to address traffic concerns from parents of Ridge Elementary School students.

The new traffic and pedestrian study will be conducted to determine the best course of action.

Chris Harris of the Record reported that the ordinance ,”Specifically, the ordinance would have amended regulations that prohibit vehicular traffic on Clinton Avenue when the West Ridgewood Avenue school is in session. Eastbound traffic on West Ridgewood Avenue, where left turns into the school’s driveway are prohibited, has caused backups during pickup and drop-off time” .https://www.northjersey.com/news/206882321_School_traffic_change_put_off_in_Ridgewood.html

Traffic issues have been at the center of controversy for the school the last several years , with residents , parents  and Ridgewood PD at odds over congestion in the area . Recent efforts by the BOE to encourage kids to walk to schools has done little of nothing to help the situation.

Mayor Paul Aronsohn told the Record that , “the council wants to review an overall traffic and pedestrian safety pattern for the Ridge School area” .

sourced : https://www.northjersey.com/news/206882321_School_traffic_change_put_off_in_Ridgewood.html

 

 

RHS High Times receives honors in the 2013 Newspaper Review Contest
May 9,2013

Ridgewood NJ, The Ridgewood High School newspaper, The High Times, was recently awarded second place for schools with an enrollment of 1001 to 1700 students, in the 2013 Newspaper Review Contest sponsored by the American Scholastic Press Association.

Pictured left to right: Elizabeth Kopec, Joyce Kwon, Curran McSwigan, Gabriela Bonfiglio, Theo Hong, Sarah Sandler, Jackson Stone-Esposito, Ethan Sapienza, Sumita Rajpurohit and Steven Lee.

PLANNING BOARD PUBLIC MEETING AND WORK SESSION – MAY 13

PLANNING BOARD

AMENDMENT TO MEETING SCHEDULE

Work Session & Public Meeting: Monday, May 13, 2013

In accordance with the provisions of the “Open Public Meetings Act,” please be advised that the Planning Board has scheduled a special public meeting and work session for MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013, in the VILLAGE HALL COURT ROOM, 4th Floor, 131 NORTH MAPLE AVENUE, RIDGEWOOD, NJ beginning at 7:30 p.m.

The Board may take official action during this Work and Public Meeting at which time the Board will:

? have discussion regarding multifamily housing and mixed use development in and near the CBD.

? discuss Ordinance #3368 amending the regulations in the Land Use and Development chapter of the Village Code for Houses of Worship, Schools and Public Utility Facilities.

All meetings of the Ridgewood Planning Board (i.e., official public meetings, work session meetings, pre-meeting assemblies and special meetings) are public meetings which are always open to members of the general public.

Jane Wondergem

Secretary to the Board

The Ridgewood News Superintendent’s Corner April 2013
by Daniel Fishbein, Ed.D.

Street Smarts

The following column appeared in The Ridgewood News on April 26, 2013

As I often do in April, this month I’m taking the topic of safety back to the streets.
A simple message that I often use when communicating important information to parents and guardians is this: The safety of our children is my utmost concern  It’s a phrase that I’ve written in letters responding to difficult events that have impacted our community both directly and peripherally, from the acute events of Super Storm Sandy to the Sandy shootings, for example.

These words, as much as they are intended to reassure, go beyond sincere intentions to the heart of our operating system. This phrase is a grounding expression that serves as the foundation for all that we do in the Ridgewood Public Schools, providing an essential framework for the pursuit of our mission of excellence. Safety is the first question we ask when exploring any changes in our district, when we plan new protocols and adopt new policies, when we design renovations to our facilities. It’s a phrase that cannot be repeated too often.

Unfortunately, our security was once again questioned when earlier this month we all witnessed the senseless bombings at the Boston Marathon and then the tragic fertilizer explosion in Texas. Horrific events like these make a deep and lasting impact on us . Since I am a runner and know people who ran in Boston, these events have particularly strengthened my resolve not only to serve as a school administrator but also to make sure our facilities and our events are as safe as possible, while remaining friendly and welcoming.

https://office-of-the-superintendent.ridgewood.schoolfusion.us/modules/locker/files/get_group_file.phtml?gid=955169&fid=21441161&sessionid=75fab3858d18703fd4ad981c78713411

A NIGHT OF FUTURE BROADWAY STARS
Benefit for Covenant House for Homeless Youth

Gifted rising stars from Bergen county high schools offer their talent to give back to less fortunate kids their age by raising funds for the homeless youth of Covenant House New Jersey.

Monday, April 29th 7PM at Ben Franklin Middle School. BUY TICKETS at Bookends, Ridgewood or online www.NightOfFutureBroadwayStarsNJ.org  973/286-34-5