>Ramapo Indian Hills regional district policy on code of conduct pledge unconstitutional
“An administrative law judge has ruled that a Ramapo Indian Hills Regional School District policy that forces students to sign a code of conduct pledge is unconstitutional.
The policy, which was adopted last June and took effect at the start of this school year, allows school officials to punish students for their actions outside of the two campuses. For example, if students break laws involving drugs or alcohol on the weekend, they are not allowed to participate in extracurricular activities.
Judge Richard McGill ruled that the policy is unconstitutional and ultra vires – beyond the powers of the school district.”
Ridgewood has the same policy, attempting to usurp the rights of parents. When will these government run schools ever learn that their only mission is education?
RIDGEWOOD — The Ridgewood Board of Education (BOE) issued a statement Friday regarding a petition sent to school officials urging the BOE to ask the village’s Planning Board to commission an environmental impact study.
The study, the petition states, should be conducted before the Planning Board votes on a Master Plan amendment required for Valley Hospital’s “Renewal” plans to move forward.
At a Planning Board meeting on Monday night, at least four residents pleaded with the board to hire a specialist to conduct the environmental impact study. The residents believe the study will help predict the future effects of any construction at the site and the surrounding area.
A group of parents with children in the Ridgewood Public Schools made a last-ditch effort to request the study and crafted a petition June 3. The petition, which began circulating June 4, asked the superintendent of schools and the Board of Education to press the Planning Board for the study.
Ridgewood Board of Education President Michele Lenhard and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Daniel Fishbein issued the following statement Friday:
“In keeping with the Board and superintendent’s responsibility to ensure the safety, health and education of the district’s students, we respect the concerns of the community members who signed the petition and we appreciate their request for more information via an environmental health impact study prior to the Planning Board’s vote.
“We agree that an independent environmental study is important. Such a study is typically completed as part of a full site review, once the Planning Board has examined detailed engineering and architectural plans and approved construction. Whether that timetable should be altered and an environmental impact study conducted prior to the vote to amend the Master Plan cannot be determined by the Ridgewood Board of Education. We trust the Village Planning Board, as the body responsible to ensuring our community’s interests and protecting the health of all residents, to make such determinations as they see necessary.
“Safeguarding the health and safety of our students is the number one priority of the Ridgewood Board of Education and school administration. In testimony submitted to the Planning Board on June 17, 2009, we voiced specific health, safety, and educational concerns that may arise should the Master Plan be amended and the Valley Hospital expansion go forward. If an amendment is approved, it will be important to clarify how acceptable levels of air quality can be maintained for the duration of the Valley Hospital Renewal Project. Should the Valley Renewal project proceed to construction, we will work closely with the Village Engineer and Valley Hospital administration to make sure that the Ridgewood Public Schools students and staff are fully safeguarded.”
Although nearly 700 people signed the petition in four days, the Planning Board could not officially accept it into the record since its attorney, Gail Price, said the signatures could not be verified. She did, however, accept the petition as part of an unofficial file on the proceedings.
“Petitions are not admissible in evidence in proceedings such as the Planning Board area unless everyone who signed the petition is present,” Price said. “It certainly can be accepted into the file that’s being kept on behalf of this matter, and I recommend that that happen.”
THE CO-OP’S STUDENTS BOARD THE TRAIN IN SEARCH OF COMMUNITY HELPERS
To wrap up their lesson plans about community helpers, the students from The Cooperative Nursery School of Ridgewood’s 2s classes recently boarded the train in Ridgewood and headed to Ramsey in search of community helpers. After a stop for bagels and juice, the students visited the Ramsey fire and police stations to meet their real life heros in person.
A nonsectarian school ending its 42nd year, The Co-op offers morning and afternoon classes for 2, 3 and 4-year-olds, as well as Mommy & Me classes and a new Kindergarten Enrichment class. The school’s seasoned professional teaching staff members guide students toward social, emotional and physical well-being. Children learn and play in an environment ideally suited to their needs as developing individuals. The program encourages independence, self-discipline and a love for school.
Setting the school apart from other nursery schools, The Co-op is organized and run by the parents, which enables the parents to actively participate in their child’s early learning experience. Music, physical education, field trips, indoor and outdoor play time and an in-house library are just a few of the experiences to which the children are exposed as supplements to the daily education plans.
There are still openings in many of the classes. Please call the school at (201) 447-6232 for more information or to schedule a visit to the school. The school is located at 100 Dayton Street in the center of Ridgewood.
Ridgewood parents fearful of The Valley Hospital’s plan to double in size have collected hundreds of signatures in a petition requesting an environmental and health impact study before the Planning Board votes on changes to the master plan that would permit the $750 million project.
Canvassing at schools and sports fields, parents are making a last-minute push in advance of tonight’s Planning Board meeting, the final public hearing before what many say will be the board’s most consequential vote.
The petitions, circulated at all six elementary schools, will be presented to Superintendent Daniel Fishbein today, resident Lorraine Reynolds said. The superintendent, principals and the school board are being asked to request the study.
“The main part of their job besides education is to protect the kids,” said Reynolds, a mother of three who has a child at Benjamin Franklin Middle School, which borders the hospital.
As more parents have come to understand the scope of the project, they have become more concerned, parents who were circulating the petitions said. Reynolds said some parents were so happy to sign her petition when she approached them after school and at her son’s lacrosse game that they gave her hugs and kisses.
With construction expected to last more than six years for Phase One of the project, parents are concerned about the impact on Benjamin Franklin, which nearly half of the village’s students attend at some point. One building, which could reach 94 feet high with the rooftop mechanicals, would be constructed 40 feet from the middle school property. The parents worry that years of construction, increased traffic, dust and noise will affect their children’s learning as well as their health.
Despite increasing pressure from the community, neither the superintendent nor the Board of Education has taken a position on the proposed project. “It’s not our call to make,” Fishbein said. “It’s the Planning Board’s call to make.”
>WHO wrote this article? Had to be either the Public Information Officer wrote this article or one of her friends. WHO could possibly make the argument that making cuts to textbooks and classroom materials, educators and programs that are REALLY a part of education, should be cut before a $40,000 (package) part time PR position? The information provided by the PR person is redundantly redundant. Years ago when taxpayers/parents wanted better information it revolved around a more comprehensive website with regular updates. That seems to have been achieved but not refined!
The mere fact that the Public Information Officer has the time to copy and paste those ridiculous inspirational quotes that clutter the beginning of every email is enough to “delete” the position.
AND the arrogance of the writer who makes the statement “not to blindly follow voters who are mad about their property taxes and who haven’t a clue what is required to educate 5700 students of all levels”.
Fire the PR person. Set up a Taxpayer/parent/non-parent task force to audit the excesses in each of the schools. The collaborative model alone has become a membership bonanza for the REA while totally unproductive. AND why are elementary school principals (k-5) earning $150,000? The BOE was forced to finally cut. But they are not cutting to bare bone. They are cutting the FAT from the hiring frenzy and excesses that have been going on for years.
For example: BFMS had (until this budget): 1 Principal, 2 Vice-principals, 2 (now 3) guidance counselors, 4 secretaries and GOD knows what else because that is not even getting to crisis counselors, social workers, psychologists, etc! It cost the Ridgewood taxpayers $1 million+ dollars for those first ten people before even getting to a teacher in the 680 student building. Secretaries earning $50,000 plus benefits for doing WHAT? With all that staffing how could anyone miss the bullying going on in the building? In fact, it might be too many people shifting work and responibility around! That school needs 1 principal, 1 Vice-principal and 1 guidance counselor(maybe). RUN a tight ship with zero-tolerance and see how things change for the better!
THERE is so much more waste in the district. The biggest waste and the first job to go should have been the Public Information Officer who even got a trip/travel out of the Ridgewood taxpayers last year. Enough is Enough! Delete.
>i do not agree one bit. i have three young children and i do care very much about the schools. but to say there is no fat is laughable.
first of all, teachers are still getting raises this year that probably cost $1m. i know they have contracts but contracts are meant to be reopened when they needed. Other towns did it. Ridgewood can too.
second, the empire building being done right now with the bond issuance is insane. we can’t maintain our current physical plant on the regular operating budget (hence the deferred maintenance in the bond) but we are ADDING MORE TO THE PLANT with the bond. give me a break. turf, bleachers, dozen classrooms, etc. It’s fat.
I’ve had this argument a dozen times on this blog. People have said, things are different now, we need more space, etc. I think that is b.s. The people that say we need all of this shit are probably adding on to their mcmansion-wannabe and trying to get 100% lot coverage past the zoning board. kids do not need all of this stuff.
this is going to bankrupt the town and its residents.
so, in my opinion, there is more to cut. reopen teacher contracts. reopen administrator packages (i.e. fishbein), cut back on the proposed expenditures from the bond referendum.
that would be a start.
when i said there is fat, there is more than just the basic salaries. the benefits need to be cut asap. no normal orgnization would stand for 20+% benefit cost growth. cut back on the bennys and/or make the teachers pay more (if they pay anything at all).
btw i pay over $5k for my share of my medical from work. teachers have to suck it up.
the real answer to the negotiations with the union is coming:
state negotiators appointed to the towns to negotiate the teacher contracts.
this will level the playing field.
no more amateurs at the BOE taking on professional negotiators.
this is what i hear is coming down the road from a reliable source in trenton.
>Board Budget Meeting with Village Council 5/10/2010 (5:30 PM) Ridgewood Public Schools Discussion on the 2010-11 Budget This meeting will be held at Village Hall.
>The question is: Are these papers being truly objective or are the articles an attempt to placate the Village Council and bring an end to the antagonism between it and the President of the Chamber of Commerce, who happens to be the son in law of the owner of the North Jersey Media Group? If the answer is the latter, then we can only look to the Blogs for any kind of truth about what goes on in the Village!
Ridgewood’s downtown voted Bergen’s best
Friday, January 29, 2010
BY DOLORES ALFIERI
The Ridgewood News
STAFF WRITER
Bergen County residents voted a host of village establishments as “The Best of Bergen.”
The annual poll, conducted by (201) magazine, asks readers to vote on a range of categories, from best florist to best steak, best museum to best tailor.
>OH MY GOD! I can not believe what I am hearing (or reading)! Did someone just say that if they bid it out then there will be more noisy garbage trucks driving through the town??? I think the NJ Transit buses make more noise but I guess because a good number of us have or still rely on them that’s not an issue huh? Besides, a noisy truck is not a valid reason for the BOE to be held hostage to the VC or vice-versa.
The bottom line is this: The Village Counsel AND the Board of Ed are BOTH FULL OF CRAP. The BOE should have NO dependence on the Village’s budget and nor should the Village be dependent on the BOE (to provide work for Village employees). Let the BOE bid it out. And let the Village do what they have to. Furthermore, since when has the idea of cutting back on employees in the worst economy since the Great Depression become such taboo? And can someone tell me when did running this town become a God Damn popularity contest? If it means saving money for the taxpayers than it should be done with no remorse.
Running this town is serious business, and it should be planned out and executed as such. And as much as it may effect one’s life, the truth is that this is nothing personal to those who may be let go, this is business. It was business to the millions of American’s who have been let go from their jobs since Sept of 2008 and it’s no different now. As soon as emotions intertwine with business is the very instant dumb comments and even dumber decisions are made. Tough times call for tough measures!
Now is a better time than ever that someone in Village Taj maHall needs to grow some damn balls and do something that will insulate the taxpayers and it’s retail establishments from any additional increases! And again, if it means loud garbage trucks on the road so be it because if that is someone’s biggest fear than I will show you someone who thinks elitism in the new black! When in reality, elitism is a sure sign of complete and total ignorance!
I can understand and respect the efforts and I know I don’t want to see anyone lose their job, but if that’s what it takes to slow the death spiral of this town’s debts THAN DO IT ALREADY. We don’t need to be Nostradamus to know that with a new Governor calling the shots who has already told us to be ready “to feel the pain” it is NOT going to get any better before it get’s worse.
So to Village Hall and the B.O.E. I say to you: EITHER STEP UP OR STEP THE HELL DOWN because the voters in this Village are sick of these cunning stunts that result in nothing but us tax payers getting screwed yet again! As Thomas Paine wrote in “The Crisis” (how fitting huh?) “The cunning of the fox is just as murderous as the violence of the wolf.”
> Tickets for the Jamboree 2010 production “And the Winner Is” are now on sale and available to you from the Jamboree website www.rhsjamboree.com
The shows are February 4th and 5th at 8:00 p.m. and February 6th at 7:00 p.m.
Celebrating its 64th year, Jamboree is a tremendous collaboration of Ridgewood H.S. parents,all volunteering to put together this wonderful production of “And the Winner Is”.
All proceeds from Jamboree go to the Jamboree Scholarship program. The scholarships are distributed in the spring to deserving RHS students who would not otherwise be able to realize their dreams of attending college.
For additional support, go to our web site and under “Kings Scholarship Card” click to download the card and proceeds from your purchases at King’s on Maple Ave. will go towards the fund.
>NJ Voters Reject Majority Of School Bond Referenda
The results from yesterday’s school bond referenda are encouraging for New Jersey taxpayers. Under consideration were 14 measures across 9 districts totaling approximately $293M. Among these, only two were approved by the voters.
Referenda Passed
•Cumberland, NJ approved $9,960,123 in bonding to replace roof and install solar panels at high school. •Montague Township approved $395,125 in new bonding for partial roof replacement and repairs at elementary school. Referenda Rejected
The following are a few of the bond measures with the highest price tags that were rejected:
•Edison Township: $137,068,139 in bonding for renovations to 13 schools; $29,775,888 in bonding to build a new elementary school. •Pennsauken Township: $34,665,986 in bonding to demolish an elementary school and construct a new school •Wood Ridge: $14,922,540 in bonding for additions and renovations, including new classrooms and science labs, boilers, solar panels, and roof repairs; $10,388,543 in bonding for additions and renovations, including new classrooms, window replacement, electrical upgrades These results are a strong sign that New Jersey voters are no longer willing to tolerate more borrowing, debt and higher property taxes.
In contrast, in 2009 there were 81 school bond referenda and only 33 were voted down.
>A routine audit performed by management of the Village’s sanitation department revealed that the Village has provided refuse removal services – dumpster pick ups – free of charge to all Ridgewood schools, and the BOE offices on Cottage Place, for an as yet undetermined period of time (years, not days, weeks, or months though).
Village Council members, seeking to close monumental gaps in the municipal budget, have directed the BOE be charged for garbage pick ups beginning on or about July 1, 2010. Costs for these services are rumored to be in the neighborhood of $24K per month.
During Wednesday evening’s Village Council Work Session, Village Manager Kenneth A. Gabbert, PhD. publicly advised Council Members that Ridgewood Schools Superintendent Daniel Fishbein, Ed.D. has formally requested the Council consider providing refuse removal services to BOE facilities on an on-going “no charge” basis.
Dr. Fishbein informed Dr. Gabbert that if Village Council members insisted on implementing a “charge for services rendered” policy, the BOE would be forced go out to bid for garbage collection services.
Additionally, it is rumored Fishbein suggested to Gabbert that if the BOE was forced to bear the costs associated with refuse removal, it could result in the layoff of two (2) teachers, and the Village Council would surely “take heat” for such an occurrence.
During Wednesday’s Village Council Work Session, Council members publicly directed Gabbert to proceed with plans to bill the BOE for any refuse removal services provided by Village sanitation employees. The Council members present were unanimous in their belief that despite Ridgewood taxpayers footing the expense for garbage removal regardless of who does it, services should be budgeted and paid for by the using organization.
Privately, some Council members were reportedly incensed by Fishbein’s suggestion that the BOE would try to pin blame for any teacher layoffs on the Village’s insistence that gratis dumpster pick ups must end. One Council member is rumored to have said that if the Council was forced to continue picking up BOE garbage for free, two (2) police officers would be laid off and the Council would blame the BOE.
>The roads were a sheet of ice this morning! Cars were sliding & fishtailing all over the place. At 9:00 there were cars stuck trying to go up the hill at Spring Ave near Van Dien. This was almost 2 hours after the first flakes and more than 1 hour after the first fenderbender. A little salt would have helped.
Maple Ave was a slow moving line of cars heading into Glen Rock. Cars doing 10 mphs were having problems stopping on small inclines. Didn’t anyone at Village Hall notice what was happening?
>N.J. Gov. Chris Christie nominates health commissioner, school construction chief Gov. Chris Christie continued to expand the management team for his 8-day-old administration today by nominating an insurance company’s medical director to lead the state Health Department and a federal prosecutor to run the controversial Schools Development Authority.
As he introduced Marc Larkins as the schools authority’s chief executive officer, Christie also declared he’s ended the agency’s free-spending days. The governor said that on Tuesday he stopped the authority from making a $1.2 million payment for a $28.7 million high school in Burlington City that already was nearly $17 million over budget. He nullified the authority’s approval by vetoing the minutes of the Jan. 6 meeting when the change order was approved. “You could practically build another school for what they are over budget,’’ Christie said incredulously yesterday. “This is exactly why the Schools Development Authority has continued to run through billions of dollars of taxpayer money — because of this kind of irresponsibility.’’ Christie said he intended to maintain the authority that members of his transition team said in a report last week will be insolvent by March. “The question is how it operates going forward,’’ he said. Christie, who was Larkins’ boss at the U.S. attorney’s office, said he hired the 35-year-old Irvington resident again for his “compassion and accountability. … He will bring extraordinary focus and personal experience to this position.’’
The governor said he picked Poonam Alaigh, 45, of Warren Township, to lead the state Department of Health and Senior Services because of her versatile experience as a physician and as manager in the health care and pharmaceutical industries. Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, the largest health insurer in the state, hired Alaigh 10 months ago as its executive medical director for Quality and Care Management. She previously had been the medical director for the pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline. She is also a practicing physician, specializing in vascular diseases. Alaigh told reporters at a Statehouse press conference yesterday her first priority is to help the governor “balance the budget,” which Christie has said is hobbled by a $1.3 billion deficit. But the economic pressure on the Health Department is always intense, particularly from the troubled hospital industry, hobbled in recent years by bankruptcies and closures and dependent on government subsidies to treat uninsured, elderly and poor people. (Livio, Star Ledger)
