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Posted on June 12, 2014April 9, 2020 by James — Leave a comment

Post-CA Tenure Decision, Kyrillos Seeks Repeat in New Jersey

file photo by Maura McMahon DeNicola in Ridgewood PJ Blogger with Joe Kyrillos

Post-CA Tenure Decision, Kyrillos Seeks Repeat in New Jersey
Jun. 11 Education, Joe Kyrillos, National, Uncategorized 1 comment

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

Joe Kyrillos at 2012 RNC in Tampa, Florida

Following an earth-shattering decision by the California state court striking down that state’s tenure law, state Senator Joe Kyrillos (R-Monmouth) says he’s reaching out to an advocacy group involved in the West Coast case to help accomplish the same result in New Jersey.

He’ll start by re-introducing S-2171, “The School Children First Act.”

“This legislature should seize this opportunity and momentum to pass full tenure reform to improve education and lower property taxes in New Jersey,” Sen. Kyrillos said in a statement released by the Senate GOP office. “This overhaul bill allows public school districts to best serve their students and communities by ensuring only the best teachers, administrators and staff members are the ones educating and nurturing our next generation.”

Past efforts have been examples of tokenism at best and a waste of time for the more cynical among you.

Kyrillos says his legislation would accomplish the following:

· Eliminate last-in, first-out (LIFO) seniority protections that force schools to ignore educator effectiveness and layoff high-performing younger teachers, instead of more expensive, ineffective ones;

· Require school districts to adopt merit-based compensation schedules, whereby public school employees are paid and retained based on their performances, contributions and growth;

· Allow school principals to assign teachers to classrooms where they will be effective; and

· Alleviate tenure-law obstacles for school districts seeking to become more efficient by consolidating or merging services.

It’s a tough issue, Save Jerseyans.

Why? Because it’s easy enough to say “let’s reward good teachers and reform/penalize the bad ones,” but how do you effectively evaluate teacher performance when the good teachers find their classrooms filled with the most challenging students on an annual basis?

There’s also an emerging consensus among everyone NOT in government that testing is close to useless.

School choice is the only solution. The free market is the only fair way to judge any professional’s abilities. Anything else is probably a net negative for hardworking teachers and a net neutral for the kids we’re trying to help. Just one former student’s opinion…

– See more at: https://savejersey.com/2014/06/kyrillos-california-tenure-new-jersey/#sthash.3GPFmDS8.dpuf

Posted on June 11, 2014June 11, 2014 by James — Leave a comment

Judge Rejects Teacher Tenure for California

Judge Rejects Teacher Tenure for California

By JENNIFER MEDINAJUNE 10, 2014

LOS ANGELES — A California judge ruled Tuesday that teacher tenure laws deprived students of their right to an education under the State Constitution and violated their civil rights. The decision hands teachers’ unions a major defeat in a landmark case, one that could radically alter how California teachers are hired and fired and prompt challenges to tenure laws in other states.

“Substantial evidence presented makes it clear to this court that the challenged statutes disproportionately affect poor and/or minority students,” Judge Rolf M. Treu of Los Angeles Superior Court wrote in the ruling. “The evidence is compelling. Indeed, it shocks the conscience.”

The decision, which was enthusiastically endorsed by Education Secretary Arne Duncan, brings a close to the first chapter of the case, Vergara v. California, in which a group of student plaintiffs backed by a Silicon Valley millionaire argued that state tenure laws had deprived them of a decent education by leaving bad teachers in place.

https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/11/us/california-teacher-tenure-laws-ruled-unconstitutional.html?_r=0

Posted on June 11, 2014June 11, 2014 by James — 5 Comments

Christie touts program to bring math, science teachers to New Jersey’s neediest schools

Christie touts program to bring math, science teachers to New Jersey’s neediest schools

TRENTON – Gov. Chris Christie today championed “a new pipeline” to bring qualified teachers into New Jersey’s neediest schools. (Johnson/The Star-Ledger)

https://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/06/christie_touts_fellowship_program_to_bring_teachers_to_njs_at-need_schools.html#incart_river

Posted on June 11, 2014June 11, 2014 by James — Leave a comment

Ridgewood High School Teen LEADers present findings

Ridgewood High School Teen LEADers present findings

JUNE 10, 2014 LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 2014, 3:53 PM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER

They’ve navigated the corridors of the county jail, tested the acumen of top-flight health care professionals and even grilled Bergen’s top executive with an assortment of questions.

But for the 20 students who made up the inaugural Ridgewood High School (RHS) Teen LEADS class, the most difficult assignment over the past eight months was to formulate answers to a question that has puzzled this municipality for years: How can civic participation in Ridgewood be improved?

Last Wednesday, the group of mostly RHS sophomores and juniors presented their findings of a months-long project addressing that question, which was personally issued by Mayor Paul Aronsohn last fall. Their research into local government was far from the typical “how a bill becomes a law” examination – their work included lengthy studies of a decade’s worth of election results, original surveys issued to village residents and an analysis of the raw data that was gathered.

“I’m impressed with how this turned out,” Aronsohn told the students. “This was an idea, and we didn’t know what it would look like [at the conclusion]. It took courage and vision, and you really made this happen.”

Teen LEADS is a spin-off of the original Bergen LEADS, a county-wide civic leadership program for adults. Bergen LEADS was created in 2007 by members of the Volunteer Center of Bergen County, who fashioned lessons learned from the larger Leadership New Jersey seminar into a local curriculum.

Among the many Bergen LEADS graduates is Village Manager Roberta Sonenfeld, who was one of the main driving forces that brought the LEADS program to RHS. Sonenfeld also highlighted the support of RHS Principal Tom Gorman, club coordinator and sociology teacher Jenna Wilson and Bergen LEADS co-director Lynne Algrant.

Over the past year, the students participated in on-site classes, meeting with Bergen County Prosecutor John Molinelli at the county jail in Hackensack and speaking with doctors at The Valley Hospital. In addition to meeting with Ridgewood’s mayor on Government Day, the LEADS class spent time with Bergen County Executive Kathleen Donovan.

“This is such a superb first class. This class would not let Donovan go, and they challenged her,” Sonenfeld said. “For those of us who are passionate about LEADS, this has been great, and we had a great first class.”

Ridgewood’s Teen LEADS, the only one of its kind in the county, was tested as a pilot program over this past school year and received funding from the Volunteer Center and the Ridgewood Education Foundation. Entry into the program was based on student applications, and the same methods will be used to grant entry to those wishing to participate next year.

Gorman indicated that school officials will consider introducing LEADS as a full-time class after the 2014-15 year. And once the test period at RHS is completed, Bergen LEADS volunteers hope to expand the teen program to other high schools.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/community-news/clubs-and-service-organizations/ridgewood-high-school-teen-leaders-present-findings-1.1032721#sthash.8wuK2sKa.dpuf

Posted on June 11, 2014April 9, 2020 by James — Leave a comment

Why I’m pulling my kids out of public school

Why I’m pulling my kids out of public school
By Lynne Rigby
Sunday, June 8, 2014 6:21pm

Lynne Rigby with her husband and five children. “Today’s public school atmosphere is all about accountability and not about the actual needs of the child,’’ she writes in her open letter to Gov. Rick Scott and school officials. “Not everything in education can be quantified.’’ Lynne Rigby photo

Editor’s note: More than 150,000 people have read a posting byLynne Rigby, a 40-year-old Seminole County mother of five children, on her website, lynnerigby.com. Rigby, a former teacher, addressed it to Gov, Rick Scott and Seminole school officials. The following is a condensed version.

I am a parent of five children in Seminole County schools, aged 4 to 16. My husband and I are deeply embedded in this community. We are both successful products of Lake Brantley High School. I graduated from the University of Georgia in 1995 and came back to Seminole to teach kindergarten; he is currently the pitching coach for the Lake Brantley varsity baseball team. We stayed here so our kids would be blessed with a similar educational experience.

This year has been completely disheartening for us. You see, I’ve been okay with FCAT … show what you know, I get it … some sort of accountability. That was until this year. My third-grade son, Jackson, has had mostly As, a scattering of Bs through his Bear Lake Elementary career, much like his brothers. However, he has had the Discovery Education tests added to his school year. I saw his score on DE in first grade and it was scary low, in the 20s. But his teacher said he was doing fine. Same thing in 2nd grade, though knowing that FCAT was looming, I began to panic a bit.

We read out loud together each night through the summer, talked about the books as we read, and I believed that would pay off on the first DE test of third grade because he was doing really well. I was wrong. His first DE test was similar to others, but now his teachers started panicking because their pay depends on it. He was sent to remedial LEAP and ultimately a math pullout group. All the while he has had mostly As and a few Bs.

Disconnect. That’s the word that plays over in my head. How can he do all his homework on his own, never struggling with any topic and get such a low percentile on a test? Then, an epiphany. What is the validity of this test? How does it relate to our curriculum?

https://www.tampabay.com/news/education/k12/why-im-pulling-my-kids-out-of-public-school/2183493

Posted on June 11, 2014April 9, 2020 by James — 5 Comments

Key to student success lies in the home

Key to student success lies in the home

JUNE 10, 2014, 5:17 PM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 2014, 5:17 PM
BY CHRISTOPHER DE VINCK
THE RECORD

Christopher de Vinck is the language arts supervisor at Clifton High School in New Jersey. His 13th book is “Moments of Grace” (Paulist Press).

LET’S CREATE a national program called “No Child Left behind,” and flood the schools with standardized tests. Let’s change the name and call it “Race to the Top.” Let’s put kids in uniforms. Let’s increase the school day. Let’s pay teachers less money. Let’s pay teachers more money. Let’s create charter schools. Let’s create schools just for boys. Let’s create schools just for girls. Let’s have kids pray in school. Let’s create common core standards. Let’s blame the college teacher-education programs. Let’s blame the teachers. Let’s blame the parents. Let’s give the governors and the business community the keys to the schools. Let’s flood the schools with technology. Let’s call schools boring. Let’s blame the curriculum.

Don’t you see how foolish we have been? Don’t you see that all of these initiatives are focused on the politics of education and not education? Don’t you realize that none of these attempts has made any difference in the education of children for the past 40 years?

Based on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (the nation’s report card), the average reading scores for 17-year-olds today is not significantly different from the scores in 1971.

For the past 43 years our nation has been dodging the real reasons why our system of education has been stagnant.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-key-to-student-success-lies-in-the-home-1.1032741#sthash.mqxaCdMj.dpuf

Posted on June 11, 2014June 11, 2014 by James — Leave a comment

Ridgewood man fights cancer in the ring

Ridgewood man fights cancer in the ring

JUNE 11, 2014 LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, JUNE 11, 2014, 1:21 AM
BY JOHN PETRICK
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

Temporarily spent from his daily regimen of bag work, a panting and sweaty Anthony Daniels takes off the gloves and decompresses at the lip of a boxing ring inside a Paramus gym. But the fierce opponent he has been contending with the last three years never rests.

“Most of the time, I am very sick, but I do this anyway,” said the 23-year-old Ridgewood resident, who appears in good physical shape but whose battled-hardened gaze and ashen complexion reflect those of a guy who has been through the mill. “I do it for myself. I do it for my family.”

It was bad enough when a leg injury from a car accident killed Daniels’ dreams of playing hockey in college and maybe beyond. But what could he do? He decided to start fresh, and transfer from William Paterson to Fordham University. He even toyed with the idea of eventually going to law school. Today, planning for the future isn’t quite as easy. Doctors say his life expectancy may not exceed five years.

After bouts of vertigo and intense head-to-toe itching, Daniels was diagnosed on Dec. 22, 2011, with Hodgkin’s lymphoma while he was a college sophomore. The disease is a cancer of the lymphatic system in which cells grow abnormally and eventually compromise the body’s ability to fight infection.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/health-news/ridgewood-man-fights-cancer-in-the-ring-1.1032936#sthash.C2lvoGwz.dpuf

Posted on June 11, 2014June 27, 2021 by James — Leave a comment

Readers say Public Sector Pensions Have Become Nothing more than well-organized defrauding of taxpayers

Readers say Public Sector Pensions Have Become Nothing more than well-organized defrauding of taxpayers

This is nothing more than well-organized defrauding of taxpayers. The unions have full time officials and lawyers looking for every way possible to way to increase benefits whether they are sustainable or not. It’s easy to spend other people’s money through these generous contracts; until it runs out. Then you become Detroit or Stockton.

It worked when Public Sector salaries were a fraction of Private Sector salaries and people’s life expectancy was 65 years or less and our country was growing consistently and robustly. Now that the Public Sector has enjoyed tremendous growth both in the number of people employed by all levels of governement as well as dramatically increased salaries, life expectancy continues to improve, and growth in the US is slowing and maturing it is not sustainable. Simple economics tells you that fewer people (private sector) can not support more people (public sector) indefinitely. It just can’t. If I was a public employee I would be very diligent in keeping my eye on what is already happening around the country with towns, cities, and even counties declaring bankruptcy and eliminating all previously given retirement benefits. The courts have ruled that it can be done and it has been done and will continue to be done as the benefits burden simply overwhelms town, city, county, and state budgets.

Life expectancy is now +80 years, not 65 years or less. That means a private sector employee who retires at 65 has an average retirement of 15+ years. For a public safety official retiring at 52, or a teacher retiring at 61, they collect benefits for many more years than that (20-30 years) now despite the fact that they haven’t contributed as much as they end up taking out of the system. The benefits are either too generous, or should start after 65 years so as not to incent these workers or their municipal employers to just put in extra time on the job to get their full pension.

The model is no longer practical. Can we convert them to 401k? Give them what should have been paid in to a retirement plan and let them manage it. They are the ones who should be responsible for making the money last till they are 90.

One local resident might have 45 years or pension based on 22 years of service.

Posted on June 11, 2014June 27, 2021 by James — 10 Comments

Readers begin to face prospect of declining Real Estate Values

realestate_forsale_theridgewoodblog.net_13

Readers begin to face prospect of declining Real Estate Values

If your scenario plays out take whatever money you win and put it towards moving costs since it will not be worth staying in a town that gives into a group that lies, manipulates figures, distorts, deceives, etc.

What they are asking to do defies logic, and then another group(PB) agrees that it is o.k. to insult both their intelligence, and the people that they are representing ?

Simply put, the bad press will only get worse if this gets past the PB.

Posted on June 11, 2014June 11, 2014 by James — 8 Comments

Village Officials Continue to try to put lipstick on a pig for “Aronsohn’s Folly” resurfacing project

Village Officials Continue to try to put lipstick on a pig for “Aronsohn’s Folly” resurfacing project
June 11,2014
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Yesterday commuters faced heavy delays in the area of Garber Square and all roads leading to the area due to construction.

Ridgewood PD had warned travelers to ,Avoid the area and plan an alternate route if possible.

The Village also issued a June 10 , Traffic Alert for Garber Square

Tuesday, June 10 AM -Traffic delays are being experienced at this location due to work going on around Garber Square this morning that will result in alternating one lane of traffic going each way; in other words police will close and open the one lane alternating between east and west bound traffic. This will probably cause delays throughout the morning and maybe into afternoon – this is NOT the Village’s Complete Streets Paving Project – this work is being done by Fletcher Creamer for a Verizon project. Fletcher Creamer has hired two Ridgewood police officers to address traffic flow and safety at Garber Square for this project.

Some readers claim they were stuck in bumper to bumper traffic from Monroe all the way to Whole Foods Market,When I left the parking lot I turned left to go back to Monroe. traffic was backed up past Lincoln.

The Village through Gwenn Hauck on the Ridgewood Police Facebook page were quick to play the blame game and point out “BECA– USE VERIZON is doing ROADWORK! “

Still not sure why no one though of any of this before the Village embarked the the Wilsey Square , Garber Square repaving project ,known as Aronsohn’s Folly .

I would say perhaps they relied on the same traffic engineers who continue to promise that that despite the doubling on the size of Valley Hospital ,10 years of construction, and 4 new large multi family housing developments slated for the Central Business district ,” the latest multifamily housing hearing said that their proposed use would result in less additional downtown traffic than other allowable uses” – See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/traffic-engineers-testify-on-ridgewood-housing-proposals-1.1030111#sthash.0QHzQPRn.dpuf

But apparently they never did a traffic assessment or CBD impact study on the “traffic easing” .

Posted on June 11, 2014June 27, 2021 by James — 5 Comments

Ridgewood Police Report Motorcycle thief raced off with elderly woman’s groceries, purse

Ridgewood Police Report Motorcycle thief raced off with elderly woman’s groceries, purse

June 10,2014

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, The Ridgewood Police are reporting an elderly woman had both her groceries and purse stolen this weekend right outside her apartment building along South Maple Avenue, in Ridgewood .

Ridgewood police sources say the purse thief was a man in his 20s or 30s and fled on a black motorcycle.The incident happened just after 2 p.m. on Saturday, as the 83-year-old woman was returning home from food shopping.

The woman told police that when she arrived home, she noticed the man was in the driveway, working on his bike. As she reached the door, the man allegedly ran up and ripped the shopping bags and the purse from her hands, then fled.

Residents reported seeing a suspicious person on Woodside Avenue, rifling through the bags he was carrying while police were investigating .

Anyone with information about this crime or who may have witnessed the incident can contact the Ridgewood Detective Bureau at (201) 251-4537.

Posted on June 11, 2014June 11, 2014 by James — 5 Comments

How a Dad’s Involvement Can Change His Children’s Future

How a Dad’s Involvement Can Change His Children’s Future

Rachel Sheffield June 06, 2014

Rachel Sheffield focuses on welfare, marriage and family, and education as policy analyst in the DeVos Center for Religion & Civil Society at The Heritage Foundation.

Children with involved fathers are more likely to graduate from college—particularly among middle- and upper-income families but also among those from lower-income backgrounds, a recent study found.

According to this new research by Brad Wilcox at the University of Virginia, the family structure that best promotes this involvement is a married, intact family. This is the case for youth from lower-educated homes as well as those from more highly educated homes.

Wilcox also found fathers are more involved with their children today than they have been in the past. The amount of time fathers spend with their children each week has increased from 4.2 hours on average in 1995 to 7.3 hours on average in 2011. The down side is that fewer teens live in intact families, particularly teens from working-class and lower-income homes.

On the other hand, their peers from college-educated homes are “triply advantaged,” according to Wilcox: “They typically enjoy more economic resources, an intact family, and an involved father.”

The question then is, how to keep youth connected with their fathers, or, as Wilcox puts it, how to “bridge the fatherhood divide between children from college-educated and less-educated families.”

Increasing the odds that more children are raised in homes with their married mother and father is a crucial factor in the equation.

https://dailysignal.com/2014/06/06/dads-involvement-can-change-childrens-future/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social

Posted on June 11, 2014June 11, 2014 by James — Leave a comment

Cantor out in Tea Party Landslide shocker

Cantor out in Tea Party Landslide shocker
June 10, 2014, 08:05 pm
By Russell Berman

Brat defeated Cantor, a six-term incumbent, despite having no experience in elected office and being outspent by nearly 20-to-1. The Associated Press called the race for Brat shortly after 8 p.m., an hour after polls closed in Virginia’s 7th District. Brat was leading Cantor, 56 percent to 44 percent, with 98 percent of precincts reporting.

For Cantor, the loss guillotines his fast rise through the House leadership, which many had expected would make him the first Jewish Speaker in history.

It is perhaps the most significant jolt to the Republican establishment since the emergence of the Tea Party in 2009. While conservative activists have ousted veteran Republicans such as Sens. Bob Bennett (Utah) and Richard Lugar (Ind.), a sitting majority leader has never been defeated in a primary election.

As recently as Friday, Cantor and his team projected confidence.

“I’m just not worried,” Cantor’s Richmond-based political adviser, Ray Allen, told The Hill. Cantor’s own polling showed him with a comfortable lead.

Read more: https://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/house-races/208922-cantor-goes-down-to-tea-party-upset#ixzz34JqOhChZ

Posted on June 10, 2014June 10, 2014 by James — Leave a comment

Obamacare Taxes: Next Filing Season Could Be “one of the most chaotic in years.”

Obamacare Taxes: Next Filing Season Could Be “one of the most chaotic in years.”
Posted by John Kartch on Tuesday, June 10th, 2014, 10:25 AM

Problems with a key component of Obamacare will lead to unpleasant surprises for Americans during the 2015 tax filing season, according to testimony from a top tax expert before the House Ways and Means subcommittees on Health and Oversight today.

“I am here today to tell you that the upcoming tax filing season has the potential to be one of the most chaotic in years,” said Ryan Ellis, an IRS Enrolled Agent and Tax Policy Director at Americans for Tax Reform.

According to the testimony:

“One of the key elements of the Affordable Care Act, popularly known as “Obamacare,” is the creation of advanceable tax credits for the purchase of exchange health insurance plans.

Taxpayers applying for credit assistance must be evaluated by government entities ranging from the SSA to CMS to the IRS. The goal is to have an educated estimate, based on the most immediately-available government documents (e.g. prior year tax returns, etc.), of the taxpayer’s probable income for the year–which in turn determines the size of the tax credit.

In an effort to get this tax benefit out quickly, the estimated credit is advanced to the insurance company by the IRS, which applies it to customer premiums.

This is an important point—the money has left the IRS’ hands up to over a year before the taxpayer actually calculates his final credit amount. The insurance companies have collected it, and they are not required to pay it back.

Press reports this month indicated that the government was having a hard time doing all this, with 1.2 million of the 6 million federal exchange applicants having to be asked for additional income verification information from CMS. That is not surprising. Applicants are asked to complete a detailed, confusing twelve-page application which asks for income, family size, etc. It is rather like trying to fill out a 1040 on the fly. Added to this is the lack of employer reporting requirements and the failure to complete the back-end of the web site.

Inconsistencies–some of which are the result of failures of the healthcare.gov system, some of which are poor records from the government, and some of which are mistakes from the individual–are not surprising. But they are a problem. It is the middle of June, and many people have now been receiving inaccurate subsidies for six months. To the public’s knowledge, not a single advanced tax credit has been adjusted this year.

So what happens if the flawed, confusing process results in a tax credit larger than what the law calls for?

A hypothetical example might help illustrate: a health exchange customer selects an Obamacare exchange plan. The government estimates that this taxpayer will earn $30,000 this year, which makes her eligible for a $2000 tax credit. This $2000 is paid to the taxpayer’s insurance company to help with premiums.

The next spring, our customer/taxpayer is filling out her tax return. Unfortunately, the government estimated the taxpayer earned too little and paid too large a credit. She actually earned $40,000, and so only had a $1500 credit coming to her.

Depending on the taxpayer’s income level and availability of verified affordable workplace insurance, she will have to pay back much or all of the $500 overage to the IRS. This means skinnier refunds and maybe even liabilities, and it won’t be the taxpayer’s fault—it will be the government’s fault.

It is also inevitable that many people are receiving tax credits for which they are completely ineligible. The firewall of the offer of employer sponsored insurance is a new concept — tax preparers will have difficulty figuring out how it works in operation. There is virtually no way to catch it on the front end — but come tax filing season, many people will end up owing thousands of dollars, and it will be a complete surprise.”

Read more: https://www.atr.org/obamacare-taxes-next-filing-season-could-be-one-most-chaotic-years#ixzz34GoCXtfu

Posted on June 10, 2014June 10, 2014 by James — 14 Comments

Ridgewood Planning Board holds contentious meeting about Valley Hospital

Ridgewood Planning Board holds contentious meeting about Valley Hospital

JUNE 10, 2014, 6:40 AM LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JUNE 10, 2014, 2:25 PM
BY BARBARA WILLIAMS
STAFF WRITER
THE RECORD

The Valley Hospital has been aggressively seeking approval from the Planning Board to double in size and on Monday night it took its most vigorous stand yet, presenting information that some board members said they found selective, confusing and disingenuous.

Valley Hospital in Ridgewood and the surrounding neighborhood homes.

The board will vote next week on whether Valley should be given the master plan amendment it is seeking to undertake an expansion project that will nearly double the size of the hospital.

Monday’s meeting was to be a time for the board to hear summations from the attorneys representing Valley and residents opposing the project. But first Valley’s planner, Joseph Burgis, made a 45-minute presentation he characterized as clarifications that the village planner had requested. Instead, Burgis addressed some of the complaints and questions raised by residents over the last 15 months of hearings.

Burgis acknowledged that the construction is a detriment, but added that air monitoring will be done during the duration. He said that the school board issued a statement saying it is not concerned about the construction affecting students attending Benjamin Franklin Middle School, which is located next to the hospital.

“As far as construction, there’s no getting around the timetable,” Burgis said. “I don’t mean to minimize the 6-year time frame, it’s a long period of time but it’s necessary to make this happen.”

He said that traffic will decrease by 430 trips per day because Valley will be moving outpatient services off-site. It wasn’t until the end of his presentation, however, that it became clear that the predicted decrease was not based on current traffic but instead was a comparison between this plan and previous expansion plan Valley had before the board in 2010.

– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/ridgewood-planning-board-holds-contentious-meeting-about-valley-hospital-1.1032397#sthash.6nOuaWi6.dpuf

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