Tag: Ridgewood Real estate

Photo By Boyd Loving

IRS: Retirement Plans Can Make Loans, Hardship Distributions to Sandy Victims
IR-2012-93, Nov. 16, 2012

WASHINGTON — As part of the administration’s efforts to bring all available resources to bear to support state and local partners impacted by Hurricane Sandy, the Internal Revenue Service today announced that 401(k)s and similar employer-sponsored retirement plans can make loans and hardship distributions to victims of Hurricane Sandy and members of their families.

401(k) plan participants, employees of public schools and tax-exempt organizations with 403(b) tax-sheltered annuities, and state and local government employees with 457(b) deferred-compensation plans may be eligible to take advantage of these streamlined loan procedures and liberalized hardship distribution rules. Though IRA participants are barred from taking out loans, they may be eligible to receive distributions under liberalized procedures.
Retirement plans can provide this relief to employees and certain members of their families who live or work in the disaster area. To qualify for this relief, hardship withdrawals must be made by Feb. 1, 2013.

The IRS is also relaxing procedural and administrative rules that normally apply to retirement plan loans and hardship distributions. As a result, eligible retirement plan participants will be able to access their money more quickly with a minimum of red tape. In addition, the six-month ban on 401(k) and 403(b) contributions that normally affects employees who take hardship distributions will not apply.

This broad-based relief means that a retirement plan can allow a Sandy victim to take a hardship distribution or borrow up to the specified statutory limits from the victim’s retirement plan. It also means that a person who lives outside the disaster area can take out a retirement plan loan or hardship distribution and use it to assist a son, daughter, parent, grandparent or other dependent who lived or worked in the disaster area.

Plans will be allowed to make loans or hardship distributions before the plan is formally amended to provide for such features. In addition, the plan can ignore the limits that normally apply to hardship distributions, thus allowing them, for example, to be used for food and shelter. If a plan requires certain documentation before a distribution is made, the plan can relax this requirement as described in the announcement.

Ordinarily, retirement plan loan proceeds are tax-free if they are repaid over a period of five years or less. Under current law, hardship distributions are generally taxable. Also, a 10 percent early-withdrawal tax usually applies.

Further details are in Announcement 2012-44.

file photo Ridgewood Train Station

School Choice: Securing a Better Future for Our Country
by Andrew Campanella

It’s time to take the fight for school choice in America to a new level. To ensure that millions of additional children have access to the best schools possible, we must — must — reach tens of millions of additional Americans and galvanize their support for educational equality.

With one American child dropping out of school every 26 seconds, we cannot wait. Our country faces an education crisis, and it’s up to us to let our friends and neighbors know — en masse — that school choice CAN provide an essential and beneficial solution for families across the country.

To help make this vision a reality, National School Choice Week will host the first-ever nationwide, whistle-stop train tour in support of school choice.
The goal of this tour — along with the record-breaking 3,000 events being independently planned for National School Choice Week 2013 — is to demonstrate overwhelming support, and demand, for school choice…while shining a positive spotlight on the hundreds of organizations, thousands of schools, and millions of Americans working every day to increase access to great schools in our country.

The National School Choice Week Special — a historic railcar — will depart Los Angeles Union Station on January 25, 2013 and arrive in New York on February 2, 2013. Parents, students, community leaders, education organizations and elected officials of both parties will host 14 very special events along the tour’s route.

The Special will link the modern-day fight for educational equality to important movements that have shaped the American way of life — from suffrage to civil rights — all of which used similar whistle-stop tours to generate overwhelming support for causes that changed our history for the better.

With bold strokes, our generation can — and will — make its mark on the tapestry of our national experience. Social change isn’t just something we read about in history books. It’s something we can make a reality, and in the process, secure for ourselves not only a place in history books yet unwritten, but secure for our country a brighter and more prosperous futurewhere no child is denied the opportunity to attend the best schools possible.

BOE GETS $500K BOOSTER SHOT FROM VALLEY FOR STUDENT HEALTH AND WELLNESS PROGRAMMING

Ridgewood NJ, The Valley Hospital has pledged to donate $500,000, payable over five years, to the Ridgewood Public Schools. The donation will support both new and existing initiatives in the areas of health education, fitness and wellness, and disease prevention programs aimed at raising awareness and promoting the benefits of a healthy lifestyle to Ridgewood students, faculty and their families. Examples to be considered include adolescent health and wellness education, diabetes education, injury prevention, and nutrition.

“We truly appreciate Valley’s generosity with this five-year grant,” said Sheila Brogan, Ridgewood Board of Education President. “The Valley Hospital has long been a good neighbor to the Ridgewood Public Schools and a valuable partner in several programs that support the district’s mission of excellence. The Ridgewood Academy for the Health Professions, ongoing classroom speaker series and funding of special projects through the Ridgewood Education Foundation are but a few examples of our ongoing and successful relationship with Valley. Their continued support through this grant will enable us to continue our mutual commitment to the health and wellness of our students.”

Willard School Principal Marianne Williams accepts the award designating the school as a National Blue Ribbon School

Willard School Principal Marianne Williams (left) traveled recently to Washington, D.C., to accept the award designating the school as a National Blue Ribbon School. She was accompanied by Willard teacher Leigh Porod (right), who helped with the Blue Ribbon application. Aba Kumi, Director of the National Blue Ribbon Schools Program, U.S. Department of Education, is pictured in the center.

RHS LEARNING COMMONS COMMITTEE SEEKS COMMUNITY SUPPORT

General Information: Volunteers are seeking community-wide support for the proposed new Learning Commons at Ridgewood High School. Click here to learn more.

Fundraiser: On Friday, January 11, 2013 from 7-11 p.m., the 07450 Schools Committee will host a fundraiser to benefit the Ridgewood High School Learning Commons project, a plan to renovate the current high school library, which is almost 50 years old, and create a modern library for generations of students to come.

The event will take place at The Woodcliff Lake Hilton in Woodcliff Lake and is open to all Ridgewood families and alumni. Due to Hurricane Sandy and the families still suffering, the event that was originally scheduled to take place at the end of November was postponed.

The fundraiser will include cocktails, dinner and dancing, with giving opportunities at all levels. Guests will enjoy live music by Matthew Friedman and Uptown Sounds. Matthew Friedman starred as “The Piano Man” in Billy Joel’s award-winning musical, Movin’ Out.

Admission for the event is $110 per person and $200 per couple, and includes an open bar. The invitation can be downloaded from the Ridgewood High School Learning Commons website: www.RHSLearningCommons.com. All donations made at the event are tax deductible.

Parents, Coaches: Know the Risks of Concussions in Youth Sports The Valley Hospital is Offering Concussion Testing This Month

November 7, 2012 — To assist parents and coaches in protecting young athletes from the serious head injuries that can result from returning to play too soon after a suffering a concussion, The Valley Hospital Sports Institute offers the ImPACT Concussion Management Test. ImPACT (Immediate Post Concussion Assessment and Cognitive Testing) is an innovative computerized evaluation system that assesses the effects and severity of a concussion and helps determine when it is safe for an athlete to return to contact sports following a concussion.

ImPACT testing is suitable for athletes ages 12 and older. It is a 20-30 minute neurocognitive test battery that has been scientifically validated to measure the effects of sports-related concussion.  Typically, in the preseason each athlete is given a baseline test.  And, when a concussion is suspected during the season, a follow-up test is administered to see if the results have changed from the baseline.  This comparison helps to diagnose and manage the concussion.  Follow-up tests can be administered over days or weeks so clinicians can continue to track the athlete’s recovery from the injury.

The Sports Institute recently enhanced its Concussion Management Program with the addition of the Biodex BioSway Balance testing unit.  The test takes about 5 minutes and provides a psycho-motor assessment of concussion injuries.  Athletes should be tested in the preseason to gather baseline information that can be used for comparison in the event of a concussion to assess the extent of the injury and the athlete’s readiness to return to activity.

Since most high schools in the area have the testing in place already, the Sports Institute is providing this service primarily for the recreation and town-sponsored youth sports teams for athletes ages 12 and older.

The next scheduled baseline testing sessions will take place on Thursday, November 15 at 5:00 p.m. and again at 6:30 p.m. at Valley’s Kraft Center, located at 15 Essex Road in Paramus.  The tests will be conducted in the 3rd Floor Computer Lab.

Pre-Registration is required, as space is limited.  The fee is $25.  Please call 201-447-8133 for more information and to register.

A concussion is a brain injury.  Concussions are most commonly caused by a bump or blow to the head, but, can also be caused by a sudden deceleration or acceleration of the head.  In either scenario, the brain, suspended inside the skull and surrounded by fluid, continues to travel with momentum until it “bangs” up against the skull – causing a brain-bruising injury – or concussion.  What may seem to be a mild bump or blow to the head can be serious.

You can’t see a concussion.  Signs and symptoms of a concussion can show up right after the injury, or may not appear or be noticed until days or weeks after the injury.  If your child reports any symptoms of concussion, or if you notice the symptoms yourself, seek medical attention right away.  Common symptoms include: headache, dizziness, feeling foggy, nausea, fatigue and confusion.  Common signs include memory loss, a loss of balance and coordination, and changes in personality.  Concussion severity varies widely, and the number of signs and symptoms vary also – serious injuries may show few symptoms.

Although less common, bleeding in the brain can occur with some head injuries.  Loss of consciousness, mental status deterioration and worsening symptoms raise the concern for a bleeding injury.  An athlete does not need to lose consciousness (black out) to suffer a concussion.  In fact, less than 10 percent of concussed athletes lose consciousness.

An athlete who suffers a concussion can be at risk for a condition known as Second Impact Syndrome if he or she returns to sports before full recovery.  Second impact syndrome is a life-threatening condition in which a second concussion occurs before a first concussion has properly healed, causing rapid and severe brain swelling.  Second impact syndrome can result from even a very mild concussion that occurs days or weeks after the initial concussion.

“Second Impact Syndrome can be prevented,” Donald Tomaszewski, Director of The Valley Hospital Sports Institute.  “Don’t allow an athlete to return to sports after a concussion until their symptoms have completely resolved and they have been cleared by a medical professional experienced in treating concussions.”