JANUARY 29, 2016 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 2016, 12:31 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The Ridgewood Board of Education (BOE) and Ridgewood Education Association (REA) have failed to reach a settlement despite protracted negotiations, BOE President Sheila Brogan reported during a meeting on Monday.
The two sides met on Jan. 20, and the main sticking point continued to be healthcare contributions. A new proposal presented by the school board was rejected by the REA.
Brogan said the “comprehensive” proposal addressed issues that had been raised during previous negotiation sessions and modified the district’s “original proposal in a number of significant ways.”
“Our offer was designed to address the REA’s goal of increasing the actual take-home pay of its members without jeopardizing the district’s financial position,” Brogan said.
“The REA did not respond with a comprehensive proposal of their own,” she continued. “They chose to focus only on the amounts their members contribute towards their healthcare benefits.”
REA members, however, believe that the BOE did not make a real effort to come up with terms that would be acceptable to both parties. They also said a counteroffer was not seriously considered by the board.
BOE Meets on February 8 at 7:30 p.m.
The Ridgewood Board of Education will hold a Regular Public Meeting on Monday, February 8, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
The public is invited to attend the meeting at the Ed Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3. The meeting may also be viewed on FiOS channel 33, Optimum channel 77 or from computers via the “Live BOE Meeting” tab on the district website.FiOS channel 33, Optimum channel 77 or from computers via the “Live BOE Meeting” tab on the district website.
Click here to view the agenda for the January 25, 2016 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the minutes of the December 21, 2015 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the minutes of the January 4, 2016 Reorganization/Regular Public Meeting
Super Science Saturday 2016, the celebration of science and technology in our daily lives, returns for its twenty-seventh year on Saturday, February 27, from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Ridgewood High School, 627 East Ridgewood Avenue. Admission is free. Students are invited to sign up and exhibit at www.supersciencesaturday.org.
Admission is Free
The three-session presenters’ workshop begins on Thursday, February 4 and continues on February 11 and 25, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. at Benjamin Franklin Middle School. The cost is $20. Click here for workshop details and registration information.
Full details of the day, including registration forms, can be found on the Super Science Saturday website atwww.supersciencesaturday.org.
Click here for the latest Super Science Saturday flyer.
JANUARY 21, 2016 / MICHELE BROWN, PRESIDENT & CEO – CHOOSE NEW JERSEY
We tell our children to dream big and go far. We would be wise to also tell them that they can do both in New Jersey.
New Jersey is home to some of the best colleges and universities in the nation. CNBC pointed specifically to our higher education assets in its latest ranking of the Top States for Business. And the State’s elementary and secondary schools are consistently ranked amongst the country’s best, most recently by Wallet Hub.
It’s an important distinction and one that carries weight all over the world. Whether I’m talking with business leaders nearby or abroad, access to our highly educated workforce is always front and center when we discuss the merits of locating and growing a business in New Jersey.
Yet our State exports students at an alarming rate. More than 30,000 graduating seniors leave the State each year to go to college. These are students whom we’ve raised and nurtured and invested in, and that we’re proud to call our own.
Once they leave New Jersey, they are more likely to take their first job out of State and build their careers and raise their families there.
That “brain drain” has the potential to impact the State’s ability to offer employers the highly educated and diverse workforce that has become its calling card.
New Jersey can’t afford that.
Thanks to the leadership of PSE&G’s Ralph LaRossa, Audible’s Don Katz, Mayors Ras Baraka and Dana Redd and the support of business, faith, government and education leaders across New Jersey, we’ve launched a program to help keep our students here for college and beyond.
The new “Smart Students Choose New Jersey” program will reward the highest academically ranked graduating senior at every Newark and Camden high school that chooses to attend a New Jersey college or university. They will be provided both a scholarship and the offer to work three years of paid summer internships at some of the State’s top businesses and organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, labor organizations and small businesses that range across a variety of industries and sectors. A full list of program participants can be found at www.choosenj.com/smart
At our program launch, Ralph LaRossa said, “New Jersey’s highly educated workforce is one of its competitive advantages. It is a key reason why businesses choose to locate in the State and to stay and expand here. We need to do everything we can to encourage our best and brightest to stay.” That’s right.
This program has the potential to keep our most talented here, in careers and callings that have them providing their talent to the businesses that power the State. We’re piloting it in Camden and Newark and would love to make it bigger.
Help us by telling kids that they can accomplish big things here at home. Tell them about ourphenomenal schools and remind them New Jersey is a great place to be, both now AND when they grow up.
Oregon stand-off militiaman killed in shootout with the FBI: Traffic stop turns into deadly gunfight, ending with militia’s spokesman dead and leader Ammon Bundy arrested along with seven others
Traffic cops stopped the Bundy brothers and seven others on Tuesday Shots were fired; LaVoy Finicum was killed, Ryan Bundy was wounded Finicum, 55, a married father of 11 and grandfather of 19, acted as the militia’s spokesman Told an Oregon paper a day before his death that law enforcement officials ‘have become more hardened’ towards their group At the start of the occupation, Finicum said he would rather die for freedom than face arrest Ammon Bundy and four others were detained at the scene; they have been charged with ‘conspiracy to impede federal officers’ Another three were arrested elsewhere soon after, police confirmed Not clear who opened fire; the hospital and highway were on lockdown It comes more than three weeks after the Bundy brothers led an occupation of a federal building in Burns, Oregon, to protest 2 ranchers being jailed
By DAILYMAIL.COM REPORTER and ASSOCIATED PRESS and REUTERS
PUBLISHED: 21:10 EST, 26 January 2016 | UPDATED: 10:38 EST, 27 January 2016
Oregon militia spokesman LaVoy Finicum has been shot dead after a traffic stop escalated into a shoot-out that saw Ryan Bundy wounded and eight leaders of the occupation movement arrested.
The group’s leader Ammon Bundy was among the militiamen arrested during the encounter on Tuesday afternoon as they drove to attend a community meeting in the neighboring town.
It was the culmination of a tense stand-off between federal agents and the activists more than three weeks after they took over a government building in Burns, Oregon, to protest two ranchers being jailed.
According to local media, shots were fired within minutes of the traffic stop, killing Finicum and wounding 43-year-old Ryan Bundy.
It is not clear who opened fire first.
Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, and three other leaders of the occupation – Ryan Payne, 32; Brian Cavalier, 44, and Shawna Cox, 59 – were charged with conspiracy to impede federal officers,Oregon Live reports.
All detained militia members were being held at Multnomah County Jail without bail Wednesday
Ridgewood NJ, The National Federation of High School Athletics recently announced that it has selected Ridgewood High School’s own Brian Quirk as the 2015 New Jersey Girls Golf Coach of the Year. Under Quirk’s direction, the RHS girls golf team has been ranked among the top team in New Jersey over the past six years. Last year the team won several major tournaments. Brian Quirk is also a physical education teacher at Ridgewood High School.
Ridgewood NJ, On Wednesday, January 6, 192 RHS students attended the NJ DECA Regional Competition at Ramapo College. The students either completed one or two impromptu role plays or presented a prepared presentation.
RHS DECA had another successful year bringing home a “truck of trophies and medals.” This includes 27 team event trophies, 33 individual event trophies, 91 medals, and 30 overall trophies (including individual and teams). All awards are presented to the top 3 in each competition. Karen Mendez and Sean Kase are extremely proud of their students’ hard work. 106 will be moving onto the state level DECA competition that will be held this year in Cherry Hill, between February 21 and February 23
Dr. Fishbein comments on multiple swatting incidents that recently occurred in Bergen County schools, and the protocols in place for future incidents.
A Letter from Dr. Fishbein Click here to read a letter from Dr. Fishbein regarding the multiple swatting incidents that recently occurred in Bergen County schools, and the protocols in place for future incidents.
JANUARY 22, 2016 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016, 12:31 AM
BY MATTHEW BIRCHENOUGH
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
RIDGEWOOD — Several years of hard work manifested itself in just 6 minutes and 10 seconds on the wrestling mat last Saturday for Ridgewood High School star Kyle Inlander.
On the cusp of securing his 100th career victory, the senior 182-pounder needed to win all three of his matches in the Maroons’ quad against Wayne Hills, Toms River North and Toms River South. Inlander didn’t waste much time, recording pins in all three of his matches, the last coming against Toms River South in 1:48 to reach the milestone victory.
“I sacrifice a lot of my time to get where I am today,” he said. “I’m just happy it worked out and I just want to keep the ball rolling.”
Inlander, who improved to 17-1 this season, became the fifth Ridgewood wrestler to reach the century mark, joining Nick Saglimbeni (Class of 2015), Joe Oliva (2014), Brandon Giovanetti (2012) and Mark Romeo (2002).
“I never thought I’d make it as far as I did coming into high school, but as time passes, you kind of see how far you go,” Inlander said.
Ridgewood head coach Torre Watson, on the other hand, knew a special wrestler had joined the program back in the 2012-13 season.
“One of Kyle’s goals as a freshman was getting into the varsity lineup,” Watson recalled. “That was the reason that Kyle came in at 170 pounds and wrestled at 182 and didn’t think twice about it.
REGISTRATION FOR 2016 KINDERGARTEN ENTRANCE IS FEBRUARY 2, 4
Registration for Fall 2016 Kindergarten Entrance is February 2, 4
Registration takes place at the elementary schools from 3:30-4:30 on Tuesday, February 2 and Thursday, February 4
Click here for the letter and list of registration information. Click here for required registration forms.
Check your test center, and learn about makeup tests.
RegisterNext Tests:1/23 , 3/5
SAT Test Center Closings
Information about SAT test center closings for the January SAT administration date will be posted to this page as it becomes available. If a makeup date or alternate test center information has been confirmed, that information will also be included.
SAT Test Center Supervisors are instructed to notify local media outlets when their centers are unable to open due to inclement weather, natural disaster, power failure, or other problems. Please check your local media for test center closings in your area.
If your center is listed as closed:
A new center may appear in the listing. In this case, access your online account and print a new, updated ticket with the new center information noted on it. You must bring your updated ticket with you on test day to the reassigned center.
If no new center appears, please be patient while we work to arrange a makeup date — you will be contacted as soon as a makeup is scheduled. Remember: don’t try to test elsewhere on test day — supervisors cannot admit standbys or walk-ins.
Please note: If you had a Waitlist Ticket for a closed center, your original Waitlist request was canceled, and you are not eligible for makeup testing. Please register for the next available date as soon as possible.
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.
