JANUARY 20, 2016, 1:33 PM LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 20, 2016, 7:12 PM
BY STEFANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
A phone number used to make bomb threats that led to school evacuations across North Jersey on Tuesday has been used in other, similar hoaxes, law enforcement authorities said on Wednesday.
Teaneck Police Detective Capt. John Faggello said calls were routed through a California number that “has been used before.” He did not disclose the number but said that he believes that “it’s a number commonly used in swatting incidents.” He said he did not know specifics about how the number had been used before.
Bergen County Acting Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal said on Wednesday that all of the calls made to Bergen County schools came from a phone number with a Bakersfield, Calif. exchange. He declined to say whether that number was linked to bomb threats made in other states on Tuesday, or whether the number has been linked to other hoaxes.
JANUARY 19, 2016 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JANUARY 19, 2016, 3:41 PM
BY MARK KRULISH
STAFF WRITER |
TOWN JOURNAL
A Cappella groups from around Bergen County and the greater Tri-State Area are gearing up for the quarterfinal round of the International Championship of High School a Cappella (ICHSA) taking place at Northern Highlands Regional High School on Jan. 23.
Locally, groups representing Cresskill, Ridgewood, Paramus and host Northern Highlands will put their voices to the test against a number of schools from both New Jersey and New York.
The ICHSA Mid-Atlantic Regional competition will feature two rounds this year due to a boost in the number of high schools participating in the competition. The top three finishing groups on Saturday will compete in the semifinal round on March 19.
“It’s kind of exploding,” said Tom Paster, the director of the Northern Highlands group Highlands Voices, which has won the regional competition for the past five years in a row.
One of those newcomers is a group known as The Octaves, a collection of vocalists from Paramus High School.
The Octaves stand in contrast with many of the groups competing as it is completely run by its students. Junior Victoria Marchlewski handles the musical arrangements and vocal parts while Blu Frankel, a senior, runs the meetings and rehearsals.
“They’re pretty much in charge,” said Amanda Faley, the original advisor to the group. “They run the meetings, send out messages, practice at houses on weekends and meet in my room or the auditorium during the week to rehearse and put stuff together.”
The Octaves are still a relatively young group, only about nine months old. They were formed during the spring in the last school year and were able to enter the A Cappella Festival at Northern Highlands last April. Right away, the nascent group was sharing the stage with high school groups from northern and central New Jersey as well as Casual Harmony from Rutgers University.
Since then, The Octaves have performed at other small functions around Paramus, such as the Relay for Life event at Bergen Community College, the Christmas tree lighting ceremony and a senior citizen breakfast at Paramus High School, but the big focus for the students has been the ICHSA competition.
“[The students] are so mature and so responsible,” said Faley. “A lot of teams, they have these big musical coaches who went to places like Julliard. They have professionals hired doing these things with these groups. I’m not making any arrangements or choreographing for them, which is really cool.”
Over at Ridgewood High School, both men’s and women’s groups are feverishly preparing sets of their own. Ridgewood will be sending both the Maroon Men and the Acabellas to the competition.
“The kids are doing well,” said Steven Bourque, the director of both groups. “They’re working hard and I have for the first time some student arrangements. Kids within the group arranged music for the competition.”
Bourque said the students are in the midst of working out an optimal visual component to go along with the songs. Bourque said the Maroon Men tend to favor rock and roll songs while the Acabellas gravitate more toward slower, more powerful songs.
“It’s figuring out how to create formations that are interesting, that don’t involve a lot of movement and getting it to be represent each song that we are singing,” said Bourque.
Would today’s students be better off if we provided and encouraged more hands-on training program options?
Annie Holmquist | January 19, 2016
In Forbes today, columnist Erik Sherman addresses a common mistake that politicians and the public make about education. All too often, writes Sherman, “we move from ‘education is good’ to ‘education will fix income inequality’ or otherwise charge the economy.”
Because the public has believed such taglines, the push to send every student to college to get a degree has seen a dramatic increase in recent years. And as the push to college has increased, so has student debt. In fact, as a recent Gallup poll noted, 35% of students who graduated in the last 10 years have racked up more than $25,000 in debt.
Ridgewood NJ , Ridgewood Police and the Ridgewood Board of Ed took proactive measures Tuesday after Police in nine North Jersey towns received bomb threats on Monday evening and on Tuesday morning, disrupting the school day for thousands of local students . Schools in Bergenfield, Clifton, Englewood, Fair Lawn, Garfield, Hackensack, Leonia, Teaneck, and Tenafly received the threats. Some school systems instituted lockdowns while others evacuated. While threats turned out to be a false alarm Ridgewood Police and BOE rightfully took no chances .
We have received several inquiries today concerning threats to area schools today. Approximately 9 schools throughout Bergen and Passaic Counties received threats and have taken appropriate measures to address their specific needs. Although our schools have not received any threats, the Ridgewood Board of Education and the Ridgewood Police upon hearing of the regional issues, took proactive measures, conducting school security checks of all schools. This proactive approach is part of our ongoing efforts with Dr. Fishbein and the Board of Education towards enhancing the safety of our schools and community.
Three education tips to grow a young mind.
Annie Holmquist | January 15, 2016
It’s no secret that American students are sadly falling behind. One look at the Nation’s Report Card tells us that not even half of students at the 4th, 8th, or 12th grade levels are able to achieve proficiency in math, reading, history, or any number of other subjects.
To an outsider, such scores would lead to the conclusion that American students are dumb.
But American children are not dumb; instead, they are the victims of education methods which fail to inspire true learning.
In 1923, British educator Charlotte Mason penned a work entitled Towards A Philosophy of Education. In it, she posited that children have far greater intellectual ability than adults give them credit for:
“Our schools turn out a good many clever young persons, wanting in nothing but initiative, the power of reflection and the sort of moral imagination that enables you to ‘put yourself in his place.’ These qualities flourish upon a proper diet; and this is not afforded by the ordinary school book, or, in sufficient quantity by the ordinary lesson.”
So how do we give this “proper educational diet” to our children? Ms. Mason suggests three ways:
1. Avoid Regurgitating Facts
“But the children ask for bread and we give them a stone; we give information about objects and events which mind does not attempt to digest but casts out bodily (upon an examination paper?). But let information hang upon a principle, be inspired by an idea, and it is taken with avidity and used in making whatsoever in the spiritual nature stands for tissue in the physical.”
2. Read books
“[A]s soon as a young child begins his education he does so as a student. Our business is to give him mind-stuff, and both quality and quantity are essential. Naturally, each of us possesses this mind-stuff only in limited measure, but we know where to procure it; for the best thought the world possesses is stored in books; we must open books to children, the best books; our own concern is abundant provision and orderly serving.”
3. Avoid Excessive Explanation
“I believe that all children bring with them much capacity which is not recognized by their teachers, chiefly intellectual capacity, (always in advance of motor power), which we are apt to drown in deluges of explanation or dissipate in futile labours in which there is no advance.”
Is it time we cultivate the intellectual abilities of American children and give them an education which actually encourages their minds to grow?
Community Outreach Series Focuses on Well-being: Program on Adolescent Boys is January 19
January 14,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Schools present the next up in the Well-being series is “He’s Not Just Lazy:Helping Under-challenged and Unmotivated Boys” by Dr. Adam Price. This program will take place on Tuesday, January 19, 2016 from 7-9 p.m. at Benjamin Franklin Middle School Auditorium, 335. N. Van Dien Avenue.
The 2015-2016 parent/peers series consists of eight engaging presentations throughout the school year. Co-sponsored by The Valley Hospital, with support from The Foundation, adults are invited to attend these programs on creating balance in children’s lives.
Ridgewood Public Schools will drive emptynesters out of the village. The cycle is moving faster. Soon the town will be unable to afford all the kids in the district with special needs and the red-shirted “gifted”. Our reputation for quality schools is not based on out full/half day K program.
Full day K will definitely raise my taxes, it will not increase the quality of a Ridgewood Education.
I am saying this as someone who moved to the town before I had children . I paid taxes before, during and after I had children in the district. No one moves to Ridgewood for full day K. There are many great enrichment programs, some with transportation for working parents. Be grateful for what you have.
This survey is more likely to be filled out by people with preschool children. How are they reaching residents of all ages? They made it easy to be filled out by one part of the population Click here to take the survey.
It is not hard to take this survey more than once. I hope that the board does not think that this is a representative sample of taxpayers
Textbook sales leader says national Common Core education standards are ‘all about the money’ as teacher insists bureaucrats created a ‘new f**king system that f**king sucks to sell more books’
Conservative muckraker group Project Veritas caught a textbook sales executive and a New York teacher talking about Common Core standards ‘I hate kids,’ confessed the textbook sales leader. ‘I’m in it to sell books. Don’t even kid yourself for a heartbeat’ Hidden camera video shows teacher hammering the program as a ‘bulls**t’ system designed ‘to sell more books’ ‘Oh my god, it’s all a money game. It’s all a money game,’ she said Houghton Mifflin Harcourt fired the sales executive Tuesday morning after DailyMail.com told the company about the video
The guerrilla video crew that exposed Obamaphone cheaters and shut down the left-wing advocacy group ACORN is at it again, this time hammering the ‘Common Core’ education standards as a scheme for publishers to sell more textbooks.
The West Coast sales manager from one of the nation’s biggest school book sellers, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, told an undercover muckraker with Project Veritas that ‘I hate kids.’
‘I’m in it to sell books,’ Dianne Barrow said of her advocacy for Common Core. ‘Don’t even kid yourself for a heartbeat.’
She added that ‘it’s all about the money. What are you, crazy? It’s all about the money.’
‘You don’t think that the educational publishing companies are in it for education, do you? No, they’re in it for the money.’
JANUARY 11, 2016 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, JANUARY 11, 2016, 2:27 PM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Sheila Brogan was reelected as president and Vincent Loncto as vice president during last week’s Ridgewood Board of Education reorganization meeting.
“I just want to thank the board for your support, and I’m so pleased to continue to work with Vincent and all of you,” Brogan said. “It is a real honor to serve this community in this capacity and to be on the board, so I thank you for that and I look forward to the challenges that we have.”
Loncto, who ran unopposed in the November election, also thanked the board for its confidence in him.
“I’d like to echo Sheila’s comments and express my gratitude for the opportunity to serve in this capacity,” Loncto said, adding that he is “honored by the opportunity.”
Loncto was sworn in Monday night to a three-year term.
Schools audited
Mike Andriola, an auditor for accounting and consulting firm Wiss & Company, presented the results of a recent district audit at Monday’s meeting.
Andriola noted that a few mistakes had been made, such as purchasing small amounts of supplies and asking for approval afterward. He said the district also racked up travel expenditures that exceeded the approved maximum.
“They weren’t big dollar amounts; there really weren’t many of them,” he said. “I don’t think it’s anything to be overly concerned with.”
Based on his findings, Andriola suggested that the district “strengthen its internal controls,” in order to ensure that nothing is purchased without consent and that over-expenditures are not made.
He also suggested that the district ensure that monetary transfers are made on a monthly basis, so that “any budgetary account lines that are in a deficit balance” are covered.
“I am confident that (the school district is) going to address these and fix them going forward,” he said.
Ridgewood NJ, Nineteen members of the RHS Math Team competed in the thirtieth Joseph W. Andrushkiw Mathematics Competition at Seton Hall University. The team placed fourth out of 23 schools and one RHS senior placed fourth overall out of more than 200 students.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) says real education reform is impossible as long as teachers unions remain a powerful force for the status quo.
“The single most destructive force for public education in this country is the teachers union,” Christie said at a Jack Kemp Foundation panel discussion in Columbia, S.C., on Saturday. “It is the single most destructive force.”
The Republican presidential candidate called the labor groups an “absolute subsidiary of the Democratic Party.”
“In New Jersey alone, the teachers union has 200,000 members, and they collect mandatory dues of $730 per person per year,” he said. “That’s $140 million that the teachers union just in New Jersey collects a year, and they pay nothing toward teacher salary, teacher pension or teachers healthcare.
“It’s a $140 million political slush fund to be able to reward their friends and punish their enemies,” he added. “Now imagine that kind of force and it’s replicated in state after state after state in this country.”
Christie said Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton is “bought and paid for” by the unions. Clinton has been endorsed by the National Education Association, the largest labor union in the nation.
The governor also called the current mode of education “obsolete” and said schools need to incorporate innovative technologies into the classroom.
JANUARY 8, 2016 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JANUARY 8, 2016, 12:31 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The school district is currently surveying residents for their opinions on the possibility of implementing full-day kindergarten.
The survey, which runs through Jan. 21, is available at surveymonkey.com/r/Full-DayK. The data will be presented to the school board in February.
Those without computers can take the survey from 4-6 p.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 12 at Benjamin Franklin Middle School, 335 North Van Dien Ave., Room 102; or Wednesday, Jan. 13 at George Washington Middle School, 155 Washington Place, Room 248.
“The community survey will be used to gather information on the perceptions about our current kindergarten program and to assist us with determining the feasibility of transforming it to a full-day program,” said Cheryl Best, the district’s assistant superintendent for curriculum, instruction and support. “We hope that everyone will participate.”
The district hired a demographer, Ross Haber, to determine the feasibility of switching from half-day to full-day kindergarten. That report was presented to the Board of Education this past fall.
Aaaand Another Study Says Preschool Hurts, Not Helps
Annie Holmquist | October 1, 2015
All of the good arguments for Pre-K education seem to be dropping like flies.
One of principal arguments of Pre-K advocates is that it will ensure future academic success for students. But a recent study from the Peabody Research Institute at Vanderbilt University shows that any benefits of Pre-K soon disappear.
Peabody studied Tennessee’s state-funded Voluntary Prekindergarten program, which began in 2009 and particularly caters to children from low-income families. The study discovered the following:
In both the behavioral and academic arenas, preschool attendees were better prepared to enter kindergarten than their non-preschool classmates.
By the end of kindergarten, the non-preschool students caught up to their preschool attending peers, leaving no differencebetween the two groups in terms of academic achievement.
By the end of 1st grade, preschool attendees were found to be behind their peers in a number of non-cognitive/behavioral measurements.
During 2nd and 3rd grade, students who had not attended preschool were actually performing better academically than preschool attendees, particularly in math.
Universal preschool has long been touted as the silver bullet which will close achievement gaps and set children on the path to success. But studies are increasingly beginning to show that preschool has minimal, if any, benefits for children. Is it time to hit the pause button before more states charge ahead to fund preschool for all?
DECEMBER 31, 2015 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 2015, 10:51 AM
BY CAITLYN BAHRENBURG AND ROBERT CHRISTIE
STAFF WRITER |
NORTHERN VALLEY SUBURBANITE
Teachers were tired of being insulted, Old Tappan Education Association President Matt Capilli said.
So, residents, students and faculty members gathered up their signs and congregated outside of the Charles De Wolf Middle School to picket in act of solidarity with the union.
The Old Tappan teachers’ union, like many others across the state, entered the new academic year without a contract.
According to statistics provided by the New Jersey School Boards Association, which “provides training, advocacy and support to advance public education and the achievement of all students through effective governance” according to its website, almost one-third of the 579 public school districts in New Jersey started the year in the same position as Old Tappan. In Bergen County, 12 district started the year without a contract.
“Negotiations are difficult everywhere right now, so I think it’s really important to show support for our brother and sister school districts,” said Jim McGuire, president of the Northern Valley Education Association, the union that represents the educators at the regional high schools in Demarest and Old Tappan.
McGuire was one of many supporters at an Old Tappan Rally Nov. 17 to show support for the teachers and urge the local board of education to reach a deal with its unionized staff.
But, McGuire’s comment was visible in several districts in the region that did not have contracts for its unionized teachers.
Before reaching an agreement in November, the Tenafly Education Association boycotted the district’s annual Back to School Nights in September.
The nights give parents a chance to meet wit their children’s teachers.
Tenafly Education Association president, Jackie Wellman, said the boycott was meant to send a message to the district.
“A program is rendered useless when quality staff is missing,” said Wellman, who is a teacher at the Stillman Elementary School in Tenafly, in a previous interview with the Northern Valley Suburbanite explaining the reasons behind the boycotts.
Unions took other steps to highlight its memberships’ displeasure with not having a contract.
These job action tactics, said Ridgewood Education Association President Michael Yannone, are the result of a change in options teachers or districts have to reach a new deal when working under an expired contract.
“Back in the day, the threat of a strike for both sides was a good thing,” Yannone said.
Strikes by public employees, including teachers, have been illegal in New Jersey since the 1960s, though, private employees can strike, with the understanding that their actions remain legal.
JANUARY 5, 2016 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JANUARY 5, 2016, 7:41 AM
BY KARA YORIO
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD
The teenager’s green Nikes bounce up and down on a big rubber band attached to the desk as teacher Kaitlyn Brock talks about continents and hemispheres. Nearby another student swings his legs on the bands. Their upper bodies remain still, they are taking notes and appear focused.
It had been two weeks since Brock had brought the Bouncy Bands to her Paterson classroom where she teaches about 120 seventh- and eighth-graders social studies each day at Alexander Hamilton Academy. She had already noticed a difference.
“They seem to be more focused when they can move their feet at the same time and they’re not completely confined to their seats,” said Brock, who is part of a movement among teachers to allow more movement.
The days of teachers yelling “Sit still” to kids in elementary through high school seem to be ending. Educators around North Jersey are realizing the value of a little freedom and physical activity while teaching.
It’s kinesthetic learning, according to Barry Bachenheimer, director of curriculum, instruction and assessment for the Pascack Valley Regional High School District.
“[It’s] the idea that when your body is in motion, you’re firing up endorphins, things are moving and instead of [you] sitting in a singular place the entire time,” said Bachenheimer. “If you’re sitting still for a long time, your brain doesn’t work.”
As more adults are coming around to the idea that “sitting is the next smoking” and working movement into their work routine, the idea of physical activity and education is moving more and more toward implementation instead of simply discussion. It is still not enough, according to Aleta Margolis, executive director of Washington, D.C.-based non-profit Center for Inspired Teaching.
