Category: Tenafly NJ

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Ridgewood High School ranks 25th in the state of New Jersey

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April 21,2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood High School ranks #25 in the state, according to the U.S. News and World Report. The rankings were published on April 19. Click here to go to the RHS write-up.

Ridgewood High School is ranked 25th within New Jersey. Students have the opportunity to take Advanced Placement® coursework and exams. The AP® participation rate at Ridgewood High School is 64 percent. The student body makeup is 49 percent male and 51 percent female, and the total minority enrollment is 29 percent. Ridgewood High School is the only high school in the Ridgewood Public Schools.

U.S. News & World Report enlisted the help of social science research firm RTI International to compile its rankings. They measured schools using four key metrics:

Math and reading proficiency for all students
Testing proficiency for disadvantaged students
Graduation rates
College readiness via Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate test data.

Ridgewood boasts a 13:1 student-to-teacher ratio and has 64 percent of its students participate in AP Exams.

Neighbors Tenafly placed 13th and Glen Rock 14th.

 

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Paramus Police Discover 67 Puppies Packed in a Van on Route 17

paramus police
April 5,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Paramus NJ, Paramus police overnight Monday found 67 puppies packed into small metal crates in a van parked behind the Route 17 Paramus pet store, Just Pups .

Paramus Police officers on a routine patrol of Route 17 noticed a van parked behind the shopping complex where Just Pups Store in Paramus NJ is located. As the Police approached the vehicle, they heard crying and whining from the puppies that were crammed inside.

Last month, the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals filed 267 animal cruelty charges against the owner of the van , Emerson native Vincent LoSacco, 50 after three dead dogs were recovered from a freezer of his East Brunswick store.

63 aditional puppies were taken in by a Tenafly pet rescuer and sources say authorities in East Brunswick revoked his license last Monday.

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Former Ridgewood Deputy Mayor confessed that he sold phony massage therapy training certificates to women who worked as prostitutes in New Jersey , Police arrest 12 women

risky business

Police arrest 12 women on prostitution charges in sweep of Bergen County massage parlors

https://theridgewoodblog.net/former-ridgewood-deputy-mayor-confessing-that-he-sold-phony-massage-therapy-training-certificates-to-women-who-worked-as-prostitutes-at-more-than-two-dozen-massage-parlors-in-new-jersey/

BY ABBOTT KOLOFF
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Police have charged 12 women they say work at 11 area massage parlors with prostitution offenses, Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir S. Grewal said Friday in a release.

The arrests followed a week-long undercover investigation and were made at massage parlors in seven municipalities on three separate days, Grewal said. He said that each person arrested worked as a masseuse and is accused of engaging in sex with customers.

Nine of the women are from Queens, N.Y., one is from Maryland and two are from Little Ferry, the acting prosecutor said. The arrests were made at four massage parlors in Edgewater, two in Fairview and one apiece in Wyckoff, Tenafly, River Edge, Little Ferry and South Hackensack.

The two women who reside in Little Ferry are Shunyu Pio Piao, 48, who worked at a spa in Little Ferry, and Mihwa Jang, 41, who worked at one of the Edgewater massage parlors targeted in the investigation, Grewal said, and the Maryland woman, Yougin Cho, 36, was arrested at a spa in South Hackensack.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/police-arrest-12-women-on-prostitution-charges-in-sweep-of-bergen-county-massage-parlors-1.1518851

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The Ridgewood Board of Education and the Ridgewood Police conduct school security checks after 9 school districts throughout Bergen and Passaic Counties received threats

ridgewood_police_theridgewoodblog
file photo by Boyd Loving
January 20th 2016

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

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.

Chief John M. Ward

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RHS Hockey team returns to Bergen tournament

hi-ice-hockey

JANUARY 15, 2016    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JANUARY 15, 2016, 12:31 AM
BY GREG TARTAGLIA
SPORTS EDITOR |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Ridgewood High School gets much better odds playing the numbers 1-13-16 on the ice than in Powerball.

Those digits represent the date of the Maroons’ latest Bergen County hockey tournament victory, a 5-1 decision over Paramus/Lyndhurst/Hackensack Wednesday at the Ice Vault in Wayne.

The date of Ridgewood’s last prior county win? Jan. 16, 2013 (1-16-13) over Mahwah in the opening round. The team dropped its 2014 opener to Tenafly and did not qualify in 2015 following a slow start to the season.

This year’s first-round triumph gives the No. 8-seed Maroons a quarterfinal match-up with No. 2 St. Joseph tonight at the Ice Vault. RHS defeated the Green Knights to reach the 2012 semifinals, its furthest advancement in the tourney’s five-season history.

Senior Cooper Telesco led the offense against No. 9 Paramus/Lyndhurst/Hackensack (7-4-1) with two goals and one assist. He was one of four different Maroons to light the lamp in the third period, along with Ryan Carius, Liam Seston and Justin Klatsky.

Klatsky, Matt Cafarella, J.P. Kelly and Tim Anzano added an assist apiece, and goalie David Woodford made 26 saves as RHS moved to 9-3-1.

The win was welcomed after the Maroons sustained their first loss of the calendar year last Saturday, 6-2 against Big North Patriot foe River Dell/Westwood.

Ridgewood began 2016 by topping Clifton, 10-3 on Jan. 2, and RD/Westwood, 8-2 on Jan. 3. After splitting the season series with the latter, the team was 5-1 in the division, good for first place over the Golden Hawks (3-1-1).

https://www.northjersey.com/sports/high-school-sports/boys-ice-hockey/maroons-back-in-bergen-tourney-1.1492244

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Threats made against at least 9 school districts in North Jersey

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file photo by Boyd Loving

By Myles Ma | NJ Advance Media for NJ.com
on January 19, 2016 at 10:10 AM, updated January 19, 2016 at 10:47 AM

Multiple Bergen and Passaic county schools received bomb threats, Jan. 19, 2016. (File Photo)

High schools in at least nine school districts in Bergen County and Passaic County received threats Tuesday morning.

Schools in Leonia, Tenafly, Teaneck, Garfield, Fair Lawn, Hackensack, Englewood  and Bergenfield received threats, Anthony Cureton, a spokesman for Bergen County Sheriff Michael Saudino, said.

Police are investigating whether the threats are related, Cureton said. It’s also possible all the calls were automated, he said.

Fair Lawn Police Sgt. Brian Metzler said Fair Lawn High School received a threat over the phone at about 9 a.m. All the students have been moved to Memorial Middle School.

https://www.nj.com/bergen/index.ssf/2016/01/several_bergen_passaic_county_school_receive_bomb.html

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HOLD ONTO YOUR WALLETS: PROPERTY TAXES IN NEW JERSEY INCREASED BY THEIR FASTEST RATE IN FOUR YEARS IN 2015.

for sale Ridgewood_Real_Estate_theRodgewopodblog

Average Property taxes paid

Alpine $20,880.00
Tenafly $18,787.00
Demarest $17,937.00
Upper Saddle River $17,112.00
Haworth $16,940.00
Ridgewood $16,798.00
Saddle River $16,670.00
Franklin Lks $16,635.00
Old Tappan $15,765.00
Glen Rock $15,157.00
Woodcliff lake $15,139.00
HoHoKus $15,045.00
Allendale $14,551.00
Oradell $13,796.00
Wyckoff  $13,280.00
Midland Park $11,020.00
Waldwick $10,396.00
Washington Twp 10,157.00
Fair Lawn $10,012.00
Mahwah $8,154.00

file photo by Boyd Loving

EXCLUSIVE: Property taxes up $537 million

HOLD ONTO YOUR WALLETS: PROPERTY TAXES IN NEW JERSEY INCREASED BY THEIR FASTEST RATE IN FOUR YEARS IN 2015.

Michael Symons,

Hold onto your wallets: Property taxes in New Jersey increased by their fastest rate in four years in 2015, with landowners shelling out an extra $537 million.

The hike pushed the average local tax bill to $8,354 for homeowners, up $193 from the prior year, according to data compiled exclusively by the Asbury Park Press. That’s an increase of 2.4 percent, despite a supposed 2 percent cap enacted in 2010.

The jump marks the second straight year New Jersey’s property tax hike has gotten bigger, after three years of slowing growth in Gov. Chris Christie’s first term. Monmouth and Ocean counties fared worse most of the state with tax boosts of 2.6 percent and 3.3 percent, respectively.

The trend undercuts one of Christie’s selling points as he touts his gubernatorial record on the GOP presidential campaign trail. On his campaign website, Christie says property taxes are rising at their slowest pace “in more than two decades.” Growth has grown since dipping to 1.3 percent in 2013.

The new accounting tells a costly different story — in a state where homeowners already pay the highest-in-the-nation property taxes. That burden helped drive nearly 14,000 to sign an Asbury Park Press petition urging elected officials to cut property taxes. The petition came in tandem with Asbury Park Press’s investigation of the tax crisis last fall.

Stay or leave?

Adrienne DiPietro’s property taxes have tripled in the 20 years she has lived in Eatontown. She remains optimistic elected officials will do something about the problem but says “I’m not holding my breath.” She is considering whether she and her husband, Paul, will stay in New Jersey. Both are retirees.

“All of our retirement income, we have to start thinking about this in the next five years or so: Do we want to stay here and keep coughing up that much taxes?” DiPietro said. “Do we want to stay here, because the taxes are only going up and up?”

https://www.app.com/story/insider/2016/01/08/nj-property-tax-increases/78504096/

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A look at the methods used when it comes to new contracts for teachers in parts of Bergen County

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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.

 

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/taking-the-message-to-the-public-1.1483315

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The five books local booksellers recommend for the holidays

Bookends_bike_theridgewoodblog

DECEMBER 21, 2015    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, DECEMBER 21, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY SOPHIA F. GOTTFRIED
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Giving the gift of a book can expand the mind, transport the reader to a new place or another time, and won’t break the bank. How many other gifts can do that?

But how to choose just one book when there are more than 300,000 published every year? “That’s why independent bookstores exist,” says Walter Boyer, co-owner of Bookends in Ridgewood.

Bob Kutik, owner of Womrath’s Bookstore in Tenafly, agrees, saying that shopping for books online “just isn’t the same as discussing a book with somebody knowledgeable.”.

The Record asked local bookstore owners to offer their picks for holiday gifts this season.

https://www.northjersey.com/arts-and-entertainment/books/pick-of-the-crop-local-booksellers-gift-choices-1.1477442

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Mass Transit : Back to the Future ,old plans are new again

menednez_ridgewood trainstation_theridgewoodblog

file photo by Boyd Loving

A train delay for the ages; increasing service in Bergen County among several stalled plans

NOVEMBER 29, 2015    LAST UPDATED: SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2015, 12:27 AM
BY CHRISTOPHER MAAG
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

In May 1928, a group of forward thinkers in New York City drew a map of North Jersey that envisioned passenger trains running from Englewood to Jersey City on an existing set of railroad tracks, part of a network they confidently named the “Ultimate Suburban Rapid Transit Plan.”

At 1 p.m. on a Thursday this month, 86 years later, three powerful New Jersey senators gathered in a conference room overlooking the same tracks to demand a return of passenger trains to the line.

“This is a project that should have happened years ago,” state Sen. Paul Sarlo, D-Wood-Ridge, said of the project, known as the “Northern Branch.”

Bringing more rail service to Bergen County may be North Jersey’s most stubborn transportation dream. Even now, depending on how one counts, there are between six and 11 efforts to return passenger service to historic train lines. And although passenger trains, bus lines and highways have spread across the region in the post-World War II era, people here have pushed, planned, schemed and begged for even more commuter rail, either to reduce traffic congestion or to connect places that are difficult to reach by mass transit. And the problem grows more acute the closer one gets to New York City. For densely populated towns in eastern Bergen County, like Englewood, Fort Lee and Tenafly, trains simply are not an option, as state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, D-Teaneck, often points out.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/a-train-delay-for-the-ages-increasing-service-in-bergen-county-among-several-stalled-plans-1.1464237

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Labor attorney negotiating new PBA contract, not Village of Ridgewood Manager

Ridgewood-_Police_cars_theridgewoodblog

file photo by Boyd Loving
November 27,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

The Ridgewood Blog just received this information –

Ridgewood NJ, In a departure of past practice, Village Council members have hired Mark Ruderman, Esq. and the firm of Ruderman and Glickman to negotiate a contract between the Village of Ridgewood and members of Ridgewood Policeman’s Benevolent Assocation (PBA) Local 20.  Village Council members authorized the hiring of Mr. Ruderman and his firm under a no-bid contract, expiring on June 30, 2016, for an amount not to exceed $75,000; this was done via Resolution 15-182, passed on June 24, 2015.

For as many years as those who have been around for many years can remember, the PBA contract was always negotiated by the Village Manager, with labor attorney review only after the contract terms were accepted by both parties.  The staff of The Ridgewood Blog wondered why the sudden change, and why Mr. Ruderman.  Then we ran across this article:

https://www.northjersey.com/news/after-years-long-battle-tenafly-signs-police-contract-with-no-raises-for-three-years-1.1427309

So in a nutshell, Mr. Ruderman was successful in forcing the Tenafly PBA into arbitration, which resulted in a 3-year no raise contract, and a scaled back pay system that forces their members to work longer before reaching maximum pay.  What the news article didn’t say was that Mr. Ruderman charged Tenafly $225,000 for his legal/negotiation services.  Although the Ridgewood contract has a cap of $75,000, the cap expires on June 30, 2016.  If terms are not reached by then, an opportunity may exist for Mr. Ruderman to either achieve or exceed his Tenafly payout.

The hiring of Mr. Ruderman begs the staff of The Ridgewood Blog to ask what role, if any, Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld and Director of Human Resources Sharyn Matthews are playing in the PBA negotiations, particularly since each of their roles include labor negotiations as a responsibility.

Bottom line – Why are taxpayers shelling out $92,000 a year in salary plus benefits for an HR Director who can’t negotiate?  And then another $75,000 for someone who can?  Good grief Charlie Brown!

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Ridgewood High School Ranked 28th best in the State

Ridgewood_High_School1_theridgewoodblog

2016 Best Public High Schools Ranking

November 24,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Niche put out its 2016 Best Public High Schools ranking providing a comprehensive assessment of the overall experience of a public high school. This grade takes into account key factors such as the strength of academics, quality of teachers, school resources, the quality of student life, as well as student and parent reviews, in an attempt to measure the overall excellence of the school.

Factors considered were, Academics Grade, Health & Safety Grade, Parent/Student Surveys on Overall Experience , Student Culture & Diversity Grade, Teachers Grade, Resources & Facilities Grade , Extracurriculars & Activities Grade, Sports & Fitness Grade.

Ridgewood Placed 28th in the state of New Jersey and some of our neighbors ; Tenafly High School came in 33rd, Pascack Valley High School 36th, Cresskill High School 42nd,Glen Rock High School 43, Ramapo High School 54 and River Dell Regional High School 67th .

the List : https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-high-schools/best-overall/s/new-jersey/

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Advanced Placement courses surge, but so does debate about worth and stress

RHS_theridgewoodblog

NOVEMBER 16, 2015    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY DEENA YELLIN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Advanced Placement courses are all the rage in New Jersey this school year, with many high schools having added more of the college-level courses to meet surging demand.

Students and advocates of the courses cite their value as college preparation, and parents hope to save on the cost of college credits earned for free in high school.

But critical observers also are pointing to the amplified stress that AP courses put on already high-achieving students with packed schedules.

The courses, which lend cachet to a student’s résumé, have long been a staple across the nation. But now, many North Jersey schools, including those in Northern Valley Regional High School District and in Lodi, Bergenfield, Tenafly, Wayne, Emerson and Glen Rock, have launched additional AP courses.

The most popular have traditionally been AP English Literature and AP U.S. History, said staff of the College Board, which administers the AP tests and trains teachers. But school administrators cite a dramatic increase in the number of AP STEM courses added over the past few years, including at Northern Valley High School, which has launched AP physics, science, and computer science; Emerson, which added AP Physics I and II; and Glen Rock, which is adding AP computer science.

New Jersey students have done particularly well on the AP exams, with more than 72.8 percent scoring a 3 or higher — out of 5 — on AP exams in 2015, compared with the average of 60.5 percent internationally.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/students-load-up-on-tougher-courses-1.1456207

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‘Kitchen Cousins’ bankruptcy case pushed back

Kitchen-Cousins-7-490x368

SEPTEMBER 5, 2015    LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2015, 1:21 AM
BY RICHARD NEWMAN
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

Creditors’ hearings for the “Kitchen Cousins” personal bankruptcy cases have been pushed back to Sept. 30, and a new court filing in Newark shows that the legal wrangling may soon get more complicated.

John Colaneri of Ramsey, who appears on several HGTV home-improvement shows with his cousin Anthony Carrino of Jersey City, has asked for court approval to retain Joseph B. Fiorenzo of the Newark law firm Sills Cummis & Gross PC to lead his challenge to a large debt they allegedly owe to a Tenafly couple.

The couple, Robert and Peng Avery, had sued Colaneri and Carrino for allegedly botching the renovation of their Engle Street home.

Fiorenzo, who did not respond Friday to requests for comment, leads the law firm’s complex business litigation group.

Both entertainers list in their court filings $857,894 in unsecured debt owed to the Averys, resulting from an arbitration award that included the tripling of certain damages, which involved state consumer-fraud law violations. The award amount was what prompted the HGTV stars to file separate personal Chapter 11 filings on July 27, according to Wayne bankruptcy lawyer David L. Stevens, who is representing the cousins.

The renovation of the Averys’ home was not featured on any of the cousins’ cable TV shows, which include “Kitchen Cousins,” “Cousins Undercover” and “America’s Most Desperate Kitchens.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/business/kitchen-cousins-creditors-case-reset-1.1404297

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Pilot in Cresskill crash bypassed fields with kids to find safe spot to land

cresskill plane crash

SEPTEMBER 4, 2015, 10:07 AM    LAST UPDATED: SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 5, 2015, 12:26 AM
BY STEFANIE DAZIO
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

The pilot who crash-landed a small plane into a Cresskill recreational field desperately searched for a safe place to land, passing by two other fields because they were filled with people before he finally made a dead-engine touchdown behind a local swim club, authorities said.

The pilot, Jack Rosenberg of Spring Valley, N.Y., and Erik Pearson were on a routine patrol for the Coast Guard Auxiliary over the Hudson River when the engine faltered.

When Rosenberg couldn’t make it to Teterboro Airport with his sputtering engine, he tried to make an emergency landing in Tenafly but decided against that because the field was full of people, Cresskill Police Chief Ed Wrixon said.

After finding a Cresskill baseball field occupied, the pilot crashed near Regan Field behind the Cresskill Swim Club late Thursday afternoon just hours before youth sports teams were due to practice.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/ntsb-preliminary-investigation-blames-cresskill-plane-crash-on-mechanical-problems-1.1404010