Category: Village of Ridgewood

>Concentrated power has always been the enemy of liberty.
Ronald Reagan

Read more: https://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/r/ronald_reagan.html#ixzz1Jo8Vw6PT

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HICKORY SPRINGS NAMES RIDGEWOOD, NJ SCHOOL WINNER OF NATIONAL COMPETITION CELEBRATING ENVIRONMENTAL LEARNING

EARTHCARE CHALLENGE II GRAND PRIZE GOES TO SARA’S PRE-SCHOOL

HICKORY, N.C. – After 31 days of contest updates, photos and videos and over 1,200 fan votes on Facebook, Hickory Springs today announced Sara’s Pre-school in Ridgewood, NJ, as grand prize winner of its national social media competition, The EarthCare Challenge II.

Proving that it’s never too early to encourage a lifetime of earth-friendly learning, the contest followed five school groups from around the country as they embarked on green initiatives in their communities.

To win, the preschool developed a month-long curriculum to introduce Kindergarten Enrichment students to the concept of environmental awareness. The class carried out a wide array of projects which included identifying creative ways to repurpose materials, such as planting seeds in used yogurt cups, and holding Recycling Relay races to learn how to sort recyclable goods. In an effort to continue a tradition of eco-education, the students created books filled with their newfound knowledge, which they presented to the younger class.

“We congratulate each of our finalists who have made tremendous achievements with their students, making it very difficult to pick a winner,” said Hickory Springs Executive Vice President Dwayne Welch. “Sara Bauer, the team leader at Sara’s Preschool, really stood out for her tireless efforts combining a multi-pronged approach to her ‘March Green Up’ theme, along with updates which showed consistent creativity and progress through the page.”

In the lead-up to Earth Day on April 22, Hickory Springs will present the school with $1,000 to help fund future environmental learning initiatives, along with a sofa set manufactured

>Unfortunately, one or both of the incumbents responsible for this education crime perpetrated upon the parents and children of Ridgewood will get re-elected.

It is really too bad that they don’t fire Regina and scrap these terrible math programs. But that is never going to happen because our BOE is intellectually lazy and dishonest. They will never do the due diligence required to find out the truth themselves. Instead they rely on the information given them by Regina.

And you want to know the real kick in the ass, Singapore and Saxon math programs cost far less to use. In a time of fiscal austerity they went for the most expensive program they could find. Only in Ridgewood, only in Ridgewood kids.

> Math Wars : Pre-high school curriculum isn’t teaching about real math

People teaching middle and high school math do understand math. When I went to college, taking a math major, about half the students in my major classes were students majoring in education, with a specialization in math.

The problem here in Ridgewood is not that teachers couldn’t derive the quadratic equation (simple algebra steps) for a class – it is that the pre-high school curriculum isn’t teaching about real math, it is having students discover and think about concepts. That is all well and good if the BOE doubled the amount of math instruction time, but they didn”t.

>State signs on to help develop tomorrow’s tests

As testing drives state education policy more and more, New Jersey has formally signed on with a national group developing the next generation of standardized tests, ones that take place over the course of the school year and could have computers asking the questions. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)

https://www.njspotlight.com/stories/11/0418/2302/

>State Workers to pay more in health care plan

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has long called for state workers to pay more of their health care costs, and now proposes a phased-in plan over three years that would require employees to pay about a third of those costs by mid-2014. (DeFalco, The Associated Press)

https://www.thedailyjournal.com/article/20110419/NEWS01/104190312

>Detroit sending layoff notices to all of the district’s 5,466 unionized employees

Detroit to send layoff notices to all its public teachers

(Reuters) – The emergency manager appointed to put Detroit’s troubled public school system on a firmer financial footing said on Thursday he was sending layoff notices to all of the district’s 5,466 unionized employees.

In a statement posted on the website of Detroit Public Schools, Robert Bobb, the district’s temporary head, said notices were being sent to every member of the Detroit Federation of Teachers “in anticipation of a workforce reduction to match the district’s declining student enrollment.”

Bobb said nearly 250 administrators were receiving the notices, too.

The district is unlikely to eliminate all the teachers. Last year, it sent out 2,000 notices and only a fraction of employees were actually laid off. But the notices are required by the union’s current contract with the district. Any layoffs under this latest action won’t take effect until late July.

In the meantime, Bobb said that he planned to exercise his power as emergency manager to unilaterally modify the district’s collective bargaining agreement with the Federation of Teachers starting May 17, 2011.

https://www.reuters.com/article/2011/04/15/us-detroit-layoffs-idUSTRE73E7ID20110415

>S&P sounds alarm on US debt

By Robin Harding and James Politi in Washington and Michael Mackenzie in New York
Published: April 18 2011 15:19 | Last updated: April 18 2011 22:48

Standard & Poor’s issued a stark warning to Washington on Monday, cutting its outlook on US sovereign debt for the first time and throwing more fuel on the raging debate over America’s swollen deficits.

The agency kept America’s credit rating at triple A but for the first time since it started rating US debt 70 years ago, cut its outlook from “stable” to “negative”. A negative outlook means there is a one-third chance of a downgrade in the next two years.

https://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/d6c97342-69bd-11e0-826b-00144feab49a.html#ixzz1JvCRXEuR

>Project Pride Day May 21 – New Members Welcome

Project Pride’s purpose is to beautify the Village community with plantings and holiday decorations throughout the central business district. The committee, sponsored by Ridgewood Parks and Recreation, is seeking new members and is calling on civic groups, donors, and families to participate. Volunteer time is flexible and very rewarding.

New volunteers are asked to contact Chairman Gary Cirillo at 201-310-4208.

The annual Project Pride Day will be held on Saturday, May 21st. All volunteers are asked to meet at the clock tower (corner of Ridgewood Avenue and Oak Street) at 9 am for assignments.

>Check out the Tax Day Video

https://onesmallvoice.blogspot.com/2007/04/why-is-april-15th-tax-day.html