Tag: Ridgewood Moms and dads

>My friends you may not know this, but you are witnessing the first shot of the revolution. I begin the revolt of the parents for our children in our schools against all forms of reform math.

I will refuse to allow my children to be taught in this ridiculous way. I will not be intimidated by your PhDs in Education, I represent the thousands of parents who have achieved great success with traditional math education and are the generation of proof that it works. We will begin to send back your silly TERC books, filled with nonsense. We will instruct our children to refuse to draw pictures, not to write math stories and to call it an “equation” with symbols rather than the silly “math sentence.” If you have the audacity to chide them for using REAL math, we will come down to the school en masse and picket with large signs that say NO MORE BAD MATH or JUST SAY NO TO TERC, MATH IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE.

You can decide to allow reform math to continue, but you will find us, your customers and clients, no longer willing to comply. We will throw out the TERC2 and CMP2 workbooks and send our children in with traditional texts. Our children will become math literate despite the poor programs implemented.

Declare a boycott of Pearson Publishing and its subsidiaries until its salespeople stop pushing reform math programs on our schools based on weak and laughable research.

Welcome to history, welcome to the beginning of the parental revolution, welcome to the beginning of the day when the public was put back in public education. Let this be our declaration of independence and the start of our revolutionary war.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all children are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that primary among our children’s rights is the right to an adequate and true education. Within that right, there shall be included a strong mathematical education.

A math education defined by mathematicians rather than educators and includes the following tenets. 1) Our schools should focus on math programs on the basis of their content and from hereon pedagogy will be driven by clear, detailed, and well documented mathematical content. 2) A math program should include a logical sequencing of topics, honoring the scholarly subject entitled mathematics. 3) A quality math program will not include for any grade other than Kindergarten the use of scissors, glue, paperclips, M&M’s or any other object that is now defined as a manipulative and acceptable for exceeding assessment benchmarks. No, our children will have the high and honorable goal of a math program desiring them to use the abstract symbols and language of mathematics. 4) A quality math program will emphasize the learning of necessary math facts & standard algorithms. 5) The math program should use the proper language of mathematics and not invent new unnecessary or watered down terms.

We the parents of the children in the public education system are not happy. These are our children whose educational fate you decide. Shame on those of you for not including the educated parents of this country in this debate and shame on those of you for ignoring parents concerns; for it is OUR children who will be known as the LOST Mathematical Generation, OUR children who will not be able to make change without a calculator, OUR CHILDREN who in their elementary years are being limited in their future by reform math’s limitation of its teachings. It is our children you doom and it is done without even giving a PARENT THE CHOICE FOR THE CHILD.

Thomas Jefferson’s vision of public education would NOT have included drawing circles to add and subtract. Jefferson would be angered when he saw mathematics taught with scissors and glue. Jefferson would be irate when he saw that educators dismiss the outcries of parents. Jefferson would weep at the thought that his dear United States of America would lose an entire generation of its educated society because a British publisher wanted to make more money selling manipulatives with programs like TERC and CMP than selling real textbooks. Just as patriots broke open tea chests and heaved them into Boston harbor, with other patriots at other seaports following that example and staging similar acts of resistance, so too should parents be throwing TERC2 and CMP2 workbooks into a harbor or river or recycling bin – our very own Boston tea party.

We, the parents, will ultimately triumph because it is Our children, not children of the state or education system. And for OUR children, their education is more important and held more dearly than any social, political, economical, or ideological agenda.

It is on the shoulders of parents across this nation, that a generation of children will not be lost in their math education. And those that recognize this and stand in recognition will provide to the future of this great nation, mathematically capable citizens to lead us throughout the 21st century. And that success will be none for reform math.

>An Open Letter To Incoming Officers Of The Ridgewood Federated HSA.

Dear Ines, Linda, Kathy, Tara, Morgan and Sheila. This year will test the relevancy of the HSA more than ever. The situation over the TERC math has left a great deal of ill feeling in the Village and the ongoing situation over the proposed Hospital “renewal” continues to be divisive.

With almost a complete changeover of personnel, the 2007-2008 HSA has the opportunity to be a positive force for healing the school community and being seen as body that leads the way in advocating for our children’s welfare.

Last year the HSA decided not to take a public stand for or against the Hospital proposal. However, the neutral position was seen as support by the Hospital in it’s meeting with the Planning Board on May 1st 2007, when Audrey Meyers stated, “we have met with the Federated HSA…we have the support of the community.”

In addition, the outgoing Federated HSA Secretary did make a very public stand in a letter to the Editor in support of Valley Hospital and condemned those who are opposed to the Hospital’s proposal. Given her position on the HSA, it was imprudent for her to make her personal views public.

As the Federated HSA did sponsor a presentation from Valley Hospital at which the Concerned Residents group was not asked to attend, it would restore balance if the Concerned Residents were asked to present to the Federated HSA, without Valley Hospital.

Due to the fact that the Ridgewood parents are divided over the issue of the Hospital’s plans, the neutral position is still the correct course to take. However, a neutral position does not preclude the Federated HSA from taking a strong position as a watchdog over our children’s safety.

Engagement in this issue should not amount to hearing a talk by Valley Hospital staff; deciding “these seem like nice people and I think we can trust them”, then moving into the next agenda item. This does not constitute a thorough examination of the issue!

Because our children’s education and personal safety is at stake, the HSA now needs to become fully engaged. This means reviewing and questioning all of the tiny details with a healthy skepticism, believing nothing until the facts are fully confirmed with actions.

The parents of students at Ridgewood schools have a right to demand and receive answers to the health and safety issues that surround the Hospital proposal. It is the duty of the Federated HSA to apply pressure on the BOE to demand that the Hospital provides answers.

Please use the 2007 / 2008 to reshape the Ridgewood Federated HSA into an inclusive body that becomes known as a strong advocate for our children’s educational and person health, demanding answers and shaping the Village agenda.

>

10. Our Board of Education is bored of traditional education, so they leave it to the administrators to screw up.
9. The Village still has its reputation to live off.
8. With so many restaurants here, you’ll never go hungry for a nice meal–you can bank on that.
7. Our town swimming pool allows us to enjoy nature and, incidentally, nature’s droppings.
6. In the Village of Ridgewood, the Village Idiots get courtesy parking at Village Hall, courtesy of the Village Council.
5. Taxpayers have a luxury building in which to pay their taxes (but don’t enter if all you need is to use the bathroom).
4. The New York Times will still do stories on Ridgewood as a bell weather community even if people laugh AT us not WITH us.
3. We are working on making pay to play respectable again.
2. We think reform math is the next new great leap forward in education.
1. It’s a Village of large houses so your children will always have a quiet place to meet with their tutors.

>Village Council members this evening unanimously approved Ordinance #3085, which designates a portion of the North Walnut Street area as “In Need of Redevelopment.” The Council envisions that a 350 space parking garage, with ground floor retail units, could be constructed within the affected zone. Bid specifications for the proposed mixed use facility, intended to generate interest among commercial real estate developers, are expected to be advertised shortly.

Under the NJ State redevelopment statute, Village officials are allowed to cordon off a portion of taxes from properties within the “In Need of Redevelopment” district, and use them solely for municipal purposes. This can be accomplished legally by establishing a “Payment In Lieu of Taxes” plan, which would be linked to the value of land improvements made by the developer. Only 5% of the collected “Payment In Lieu of Taxes” would be payable to the County of Bergen, none to the Ridgewood Public School system. However, portions of property taxes collected on the land value itself would still be distributed appropriately to the School District and to the County.

So for those of you who thought the possible need to use eminent domain was the only reason Village Council members were establishing a redevelopment zone think again. More money for their pet projects, less revenue directed to School District and County bank accounts. Slick move Dave, slick move.

>Turning mediocrity into high standard

Board of education members claim they are obligated to meet state standards. School districts then purchase material based upon their alignment to those state standards. Tests are then developed and are given based upon those state standards.

In 2005, the Thomas B. Fordham Institute in Washington gave New Jersey core-content math standards a C, two Ds and a big fat F — an overall grade of D. Then, in 2007, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce found New Jersey math standards to be poor.

So it comes as no surprise to read New Jersey ranked 17th out of 26 for difficulty in elementary school mathematics tests (“N.J. tests are far from toughest,” Page A-3, Oct. 4).

When our standards have set the bar so low, when education leaders purchase illiterate mathematics programs such as Ridgewood’s TERC (Investigations in Number, Data and Space) because they meet those low state standards (“Trying to solve problem in math,” Page L-1, June 25), all that is left to follow is the state tests to measure that low standard.

Even in high-performing districts, all education seems to be aiming for these days is mediocrity.

Elizabeth Gnall
Ridgewood

>New Film Exposes Apparent Lack of Academic Freedom in US
By Kevin Mooney
CNSNews.com Staff Writer
October 08, 2007

(CNSNews.com) – Critics who question the need for race-based affirmative action programs, among other politically controversial issues, are prominently featured in a new documentary that looks at academia’s treatment of dissenting views.

Although most of America’s institutions of higher learning were designed to foster debate and mold students into critical thinkers, a two-and-a-half-year investigation shows that a repressive political climate has taken hold in recent years – a climate where dissent is silenced and free speech is jeopardized, according to Evan Coyne Maloney, who made the documentary “Indoctrinate U.”

The film was screened last week at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and audience members, many of them students, expressed empathy for the people in the film who were often on the receiving end of politically correct harassment.

“The very people who invoke the name of tolerance are shown to be quite intolerant themselves,” Josiah Ryan, a graduate of Hillsdale College, told Cybercast News Service. “Free speech is about a rich exchange of ideas. It’s not about having everyone in agreement. The very notion of tolerance has been turned upside down.”

While the documentary focuses on individuals who successfully pushed back against harassment and censorship, it is important to note that there are many students and professors who have had their academic careers damaged and even ruined, Maloney told the audience after the screening.

The film also touches on the dramatic ideological imbalance that currently exists among college professors and administrators.

Studies show conservative-minded academics to be vastly outnumbered in comparison to their liberal counterparts. But Maloney cautions against assuming that people on the right would not succumb to some of the same practices highlighted in the film, if the situation were reversed.

“I think it’s a well-documented trait of human nature that when people tend to be in ideologically uniform groups they act differently than they would as individuals,” he told Cybercast News Service. “I think it’s true that no point on the ideological spectrum has a monopoly on the desire to suppress the views of people they don’t agree with on campus or in other environments.”

One main objective of the documentary is to focus attention on the “group-think” that takes hold when people operate in a closed community that has little interaction with outside views and alternative opinions, Maloney said.

This closed mentality, reflexively hostile to viewpoints not widely held on college campuses, is front and center as the documentary opens with an appearance by a civil rights activist at the University of Michigan.

Ward Connerly, a former University of California regent, who has been spearheading statewide initiatives aimed at eliminating racial preferences in college admissions and government hiring, brought his message to campus.

While the ballot initiatives have resonated with voters in several states, the film demonstrates that Connerly’s pursuit of colorblind polices are decidedly less popular in academic settings.

“Throughout his speech, Connery is repeatedly shouted down,” Maloney declares in his voiceover.

Apparently, some members of the campus community continue to believe blacks do not have the right to question conventional attitudes and beliefs, he said. This point is not lost on Carol Swain, a Vanderbilt University professor who is interviewed in the film.

“If you question the traditional way of doing things, then almost immediately you are characterized as the enemy of your group, you are seen as an inauthentic black, you’re an Oreo,” she argued.

So-called “affirmative-action bake sales” that offer identical pastries at different prices are in many respects an outgrowth of the politically correct environment that holds sway in classrooms, Swain said. Students who are not free to express their views in class are finding alternative methods, she added.

The documentary includes footage from some of the bake sales and the student reaction in places such as Columbia University in New York, where liberal opinion is dominant.

Over the long-term, Maloney hopes his film plays some role in readjusting attitudes and bringing civility back into the debate. Instead of shouting down the opponents of certain affirmative-action polices, for example, the custodians of prevailing campus opinion should allow sufficient latitude for a reasoned debate, he said.

The “sunlight of public exposure” that the film conveys should raise awareness among parents, students, trustees, alumni and other concerned citizens who have a stake in the health of America’s colleges, Thor Halvorssen, founder of the Moving Picture Institute (MPI), said while fielding questions from audience members.

The film should not be viewed as being ideologically tilted toward either a conservative or liberal view, he said, but should instead be seen as an important vehicle for raising awareness about academia’s often repressive political environment.

“We hope this mainstreams the discussion about the assault on the First Amendment on college campuses,” Halvorssen told Cybercast News Service. “The tragedy here is that the American university, the one place that should be open to all sorts of ideas, and tolerant of all sorts of perspectives, has become very narrow-minded.”

Unfortunately, many trustees and alumni place a greater premium on safeguarding the reputations of schools than they do on calling out administrators for their unsavory treatment of free speech, he said.

“If they really wanted to express allegiance and loyalty, they would work to rescue these universities from their current state of intolerance,” said Halvorssen. “Universities have become a hostile environment for anyone interested in open discussions and critical thinking.”

The documentary was produced by On the Fence Films with support from MPI. Halvorssen founded MPI in 2005. The organization seeks to promote the principles of American liberty through film. Its stated goal is to “guarantee that film’s unique capacity to give shape to abstract principles – to make them move and breathe – is used to support liberty.”

Halvorssen, who served as the first executive director and CEO of the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE), has been praised for his contributions to civil rights by people from across the political spectrum, including former Attorney General Edwin Meese and Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz.

>

Authorities in New Jersey have arrested at least 41 people in a huge investigation into the sexual abuse of children, some as young as four. Police and prosecutors say they tracked down the suspects based on shocking and sickening images of child molestation and rape on the Internet. Some of the suspects allegedly used social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace.

See second link with list of names and town locations.

https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2007/10/state_police_arrest_dozens_for.html https://blog.nj.com/ledgerupdates_impact/2007/10/TRPORN05.pdf

>Although The Valley Hospital is currently petitioning Ridgewood’s Planning Board for “favorable” modifications to the Village Master Plan, as applicable to the existing Hospital Zone, The Valley’s Renewal project can’t take place as planned unless Village Council members vote to approve any recommendation presented to them by appointed Planning Board members. Thus, The Valley’s ability to move forward with its Renewal project is ultimately dependent upon five elected officials (barring court intervention, of course).

Paradoxically, two of the five Village Council members sit on the Planning Board (Mayor David T. Pfund and Councilwoman Kim Ringler-Shagin). Hence, two “yes” votes on ANY recommendation presented by Planning Board members are relatively assured. If a majority vote of the Council is legal and binding, only one more Council member “yes” vote would be required.

The Fly asks: “is this arrangement of having two members of the Council voting on their own Planning Board recommendations ethical and/or legal?” The Fly would be less concerned if we had a seven member governing body, but of course we have only five.

>Yes, the math moms already knew this, but does Botsford, Bombace and our Board of Ed, which is busy preparing our kids to be ranked 17th in reading and 20th in math out of a mere 26 states tested? It’s tough to be beaten by South Carolina, much less New Mexico, Kansas and Nevada! Here are some excerpts from the story by reporter Kathleen Carroll:

“When you hear your third-grader passed this year’s statewide reading test, is it a gold-star moment? Maybe not, according to a new report. New Jersey’s tests for elementary school students are pretty easy compared with the exams in other states, according to the report released today by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute in Washington. Researchers ranked tests for Grades 3-8 in 26 states by difficulty. States with the hardest tests:

Reading

1. South Carolina
2. California
3. Maine
4. Massachusetts
5. Vermont
6. Rhode Island
7. New Hampshire
8. Nevada
9. Minnesota
10. Idaho
11. Washington
12. New Mexico
13. Kansas
14. North Dakota
15. Illinois
16. Indiana
17. Montana
18. Arizona
19. Delaware
20. New Jersey

Math

1. South Carolina
2. Massachusetts
3. California
4. New Mexico
5. Washington
6. Maine
7. Montana
8. Minnesota
9. Vermont
10. Rhode Island
11. New Hampshire
12. Nevada
13. Idaho
14. Kansas
15. Arizona
16. Texas
17. New Jersey
18. Ohio
19. Indiana
20. North Dakota
Source: Thomas B. Fordham Foundation”

https://www.bergenrecord.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3MTYmZmdiZWw3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTcyMDMyODkmeXJpcnk3ZjcxN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk0

>Village Manager James M. Ten Hoeve revealed during this evening’s Village Council Work Session that The Valley Hospital has agreed in principal to fund construction of a 200-300 space, single story parking deck at the Village operated Park & Ride facility on Route 17. Excess parking capacity at the facility would be utilized by Hospital employees.

Coincident with construction of the parking deck, a Franklin Turnpike accessible entrance and exit would be added to the facility. Also, The Valley was asked by Mr. Ten Hoeve to consider funding construction of a salt shed on the property as well. The Village’s current salt shed, located at the Municipal Garage on Chestnut Street, is in need of major repair.

No price tag for the project was mentioned during this evening’s discussion, nor were any representatives from The Valley present to provide public comment. However Mayor David T. Pfund cautioned members of the audience, and television viewers, not to make any connection between The Valley’s current application before Ridgewood’s Planning Board and their willingness to fund this project.

The Fly has this question for our Mayor: “Do you think we’re all stupid or what Dave?”

>The Village of Ridgewood and Board of Education, having retained the service of Schoor DePalma of Manalapan, NJ, invite public participation as the official presentation of the Master Plan is made on October 15, 2007.

The development of such a plan is to evaluate all parks, fields, and facilities and attain a ten year projection on their needs. Also included, but not limited to, is the evaluation of recreational programs, and staffing levels.

A series of meetings led by Eric Mattes, Project Manager, included select target groups for their input and assistance in gathering necessary information. They included the Board of Education and its professional staff (Athletic Director, principals, Director of Health and Wellness, BOE Facilities Committee), Village Mayor and Council, Village Manager, Village Engineer, Police Chief, Police Youth Officer, and the Department of Parks and Recreation. Groups also targeted included the Village Planning Board, Village Parks, Recreation, and Conservation Board, Village Open Space, and representatives of Youth Sport Associations, Sports Council, Fields Committee, Community School, and YM-YWCA. In addition, a special public meeting was held November 29, 2006 for resident input.

As public participation is vital to the project, please make every effort to attend this most important meeting; Monday, October 15th, 2007, 7:30 p.m. in the 4th floor courtroom of Village Hall, 131 North Maple Avenue.

>

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>18. New interim principal is hired and she has to clean up the mess. But instead decides a blind eye to the mess is the best approach – on ward TERC ho!

19. New Interim Superintendent realizes (KNOWS) TERC is a scam but is beholden to his board – and its defacto leader, as she leads him around espousing the tale that it is not the materials. Look at Orchard, they score so well.

20. Since it’s not yet at the high school, reform math is dead on arrival there but instead the school fancies itself with Authentic Assessment.

20. Look for reform math to slowly fade out of Travell and Orchard – not at all. Look for it to fade in your childs backpack so as to further obfuscate the issue while in her ivory tower, Botsford can search for glory on the reform math trail – citing Ridgewood NJ as proof in the pudding – reform math works. And if thats not the case, it will be more of it across the board – further damaging kids. Only when the scores TANK will the school ever acknowledge it. Ridgewood has an inner city adminstrative mentality to public education but the affluent budget – a sham on all levels.

21. Don’t look for the BOE to ever admit that it made a mistake. The board could never begin to pay the price for those children it messed up with their ignorance. Watch the political two step come election time.

22. Look for parents to watch as bright kids do not compete with their peers. But forever marked on the internet let it be known – it wasnt the kids – it was the teaching and the materials and the superintendents and principals were to blame – not the children and not the teachers (serfs in this medevial system of public education)