>
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.
Tag: Ridgewood NJ
>Portion of North Walnut Street Now Designated as: “In Need of Redevelopment” – Will School System Lose Some Property Tax Revenue?
>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.
>Our school board has turned Ridgewood’s once great school system into"high-performing" mediocrity. This letter in today’s Record explains
>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
>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.
Parking Garage Will Cost $6+ Million to Build
>
The Fly has just learned that it will cost at least $6 million to construct the proposed 300-space municipal parking garage on North Walnut Street. This estimate excludes related property acquisition costs (add at least another $1.245 million) and site remediation costs (unknown at this time).
The projected costs are based on the currently accepted industry standard construction rate of $20K per parking space. However, since there are already 100+ surface parking spaces on North Walnut Street, construction costs will substantially exceed $20K per parking space when viewed on a “net spaces gained” basis.
Furthermore, an Executive Vice President of one of the most prominent commercial real estate development firms in North Jersey recently advised The Fly that estimated annual carrying charges for such a facility could approach $1 million (includes salaries, utilities, debt service, insurance, etc.).
The Fly continues to question the wisdom of constructing a multi-million dollar parking facility, several blocks from Ridgewood’s train station, on a “Field of Dreams” basis. Are Village Council members absolutely certain that when they build it, people will come?
The Fly thinks that this project has all the potential of becoming “Ridgewood Village Hall, The Sequel.” That is, a fully taxpayer funded money pit.
Columbus Day
>Today we take for granted that the world is round. In the fifteenth century, however, most people believed the world was flat. They thought that monsters or a trip over the edge of the earth waited for anybody who sailed outside the limits of known territory. People laughed at or jailed others who dared think that the world was in the shape of a globe.
There were educated persons, however, who reasoned that the world must be round. An Italian named Christopher Columbus was bold enough to push this notion, and ask for money to explore the seas, and find what he thought would be the other hemisphere of the earth. Portugal, Italy and England refused to support such a venture.
At that time, spice merchants were looking for an easier route to Asia. They traveled south past Africa, around the Cape of Good Hope, and continued eastward. Christopher Columbus convinced Queen Isabella of Spain that it would be easier to sail directly west and find the rich treasures of India and Asia. A new route would be found, he said, and possible new lands for Spain.
Columbus first asked Queen Isabella for help in 1486, but it was years before she agreed… provided that he conquer some of the islands and mainland for Spain. Columbus would also be given the title of “Admiral of All the Ocean Seas,” and receive one-tenth of the riches that came from any of his discoveries.
Finally, on August 3, 1492, he and ninety men set sail on the flagship Santa Maria. Two other ships, the Nina and the Pinta, came with him. They sailed west. Two long months went by. His men became tired and sick, and threatened to turn the ships back. Columbus encouraged them, certain that they would find the spice trail to the East. On October 11th, ten o’clock at night, Columbus saw a light. The Pinta kept sailing, and reported that the light was, in fact, land. The next morning at dawn they landed.
Christopher Columbus and his crew had expected to see people native to India, or be taken to see the great leader Khan. They called the first people they saw “Indians.” They had gone ashore in their best clothes, knelt and praised God for arriving safely. From the “Indians” they learned that the island was called Guanahani. Columbus christened it San Salvador and claimed it immediately for Spain. When they landed on the island that is now Cuba, they thought they were in Japan. After three subsequent voyages, Columbus was still unenlightened. He died a rich and famous man, but he never knew that he discovered lands that few people had imagined were there.
Columbus had stopped at what are now the Caribbean Islands, either Watling Island, Grand Turk Island, or Samana Cay. In 1926, Watling Island was renamed San Salvador and acknowledged as the first land in the New World. Recently, however, some people have begun to dispute the claim. Three men from Miami, Florida have started a movement to recognize Conception Island as the one that Columbus and his men first sighted and landed on. The controversy has not yet been resolve.
Few celebrations marked the discovery until hundreds of years later. The continent was not even named after Columbus, but an Italian explorer named Amerigo Vespucci. In 1792, a ceremony was held in New York honoring Columbus, and a monument was dedicated to him. Soon after that, the city of Washington was officially named the District of Columbia and became the capital of the United States. In 1892, a statue of Columbus was raised at the beginning of Columbus Avenue in New York City. At the Columbian Exposition held in Chicago that year, replicas of Columbus’s three ships were displayed.
Americans might not have a Columbus Day if Christopher Columbus had not been born in Italy. Out of pride for their native son, the Italian population of New York City organized the first celebration of the discovery of America on October 12, 1866. The next year, more Italian Organizations in other cities held banquets, parades and dances on that date. In 1869, when Italians of San Francisco celebrated October 12, they called it Columbus Day.
In 1905, Colorado became the first state to observe a Columbus Day. Over the next few decades other states followed. In 1937, then- President Franklin Roosevelt proclaimed every October 12 as Columbus Day. Since 1971, it has been celebrated on the second Monday in October.
Although it is generally accepted that Christopher Columbus was the first European to have discovered the New World of the Americas, there is still some controversy over this claim. Some researchers and proponents of other explorers attribute the first sightings to the early Scandinavian Vikings or the voyages of Irish missionaries which predate the Columbus visit in 1492. The controversy may never be fully resolved to everyone’s satisfaction, but 1992 marked the 500th anniversary of the Columbus discovery.
>One Juvenile from Ridgewood involved in Sexual Abuse of Children Case
>
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
>The Valley Hospital “Renewal” – The Buck Stops Where?
>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 ……..
>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”
>BOMBSHELL REVELATION: Valley to Pay for Capital Improvements at Route 17 Park & Ride
>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?”
>Master Plan – Parks, Fields, Facilities & Recreation – Presentation 10/15
>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.
>Traveling, check out our new sponsor!
>
Tripology has an interesting concept on their hands. If you’re looking to travel and you need someone who knows the terrain really well, this site connects you with 3 specialized travel agents https://www.tripology.com .The service is completely free and it matches your trip characteristics to travel pros that can save you time, money, and ensure you really enjoy your vacation. Sometimes a trip is more than just the cheapest flight and you just need to deal with a professional. Even a very experienced traveler knows that some times even the best laid plans go awry and its nice to have some one in your corner. If trying to plan your trip using online travel agencies, leaves you a bit uneasy this site is worth checking out.
>Readers update the list now that school is in session…
>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)
>Yard Sale Garage Sale In Ridgewood
>
Yard Sale SATURDAY 10/6
(Rain date is 10/13)
636 DELAWARE AVE.
Hours: 9-3. No early birds please.
Household items, electronics, sports equipment.
Finally: Permanent Restrooms Planned for Vets Field
>Parks and Recreation Director Timothy J. Cronin and Village Engineer Christopher J. Rutishauser recently presented Village Council members with conceptual plans for the construction of permanent restroom facility at Vets Field.
As envisioned by Cronin and Rutishauser, the proposed facility would be constructed as an appendage to The Kasschau Memorial Shell; on the Shell’s west side, facing the Ridgewood Public Library.
Council members were presented with two possible design configurations; no projected price tag was provided for either, nor was there discussion regarding estimated construction start and end dates. It was originally believed that restrooms would be incorporated into a planned concession stand, but the price tag for that project far exceeded budgeted funds.
Further discussions regarding the restroom project, and a mobile/portable concession stand, will be held during one of the Council’s October Work Sessions.
