Alternative testing? Not under Christie’s change for high school graduation
As the Christie administration launches new high-stakes testing for New Jersey’s high school students, acting Education Commissioner Chris Cerf said yesterday that he intends to continue an appeals process that last year was the last resort for roughly 1,000 students to graduate.
Russell Forenza : It was impossible to imagine him working peacefully with others
At both the recent debate and the one in November 2010, Russell Forenza just yelled and yelled and was truly frightening. It was impossible to imagine him working peacefully with others. Add to that a possible legal problem and do we really need that headache? Interesting concept to bring him in so he can drop out, #8, but then the fifth council member would be appointed by the other four and residents would have no say in the matter. That doesn’t sound good.
I choose Killion, Shinozuka, and Pucciarelli. The other 3 candidates are unacceptable; 3 must win. Love ‘em or hate ‘em or sort of both, pick the three you dislike or distrust most and vote for the others. Or write Mickey Mouse in column 1 and be prepared for someone else’s choice to win.
Regarding the original post before comments above, it was fascinating to hear all 6 candidates at the League of Women Voters’ Candidates’ Night on April 30 describe Ridgewood as they would hope to see it 5 years and 10 years from now.
Everyone’s description sounded idyllic–rather 1950-ish. But if any of those in favor of a giant hospital and giant apartment buildings win tomorrow’s election, they will have to reconcile the two concepts or the lovely land of their imaginings will be gone.
State’s junk food ban could take bite out of school fundraisers
By Laurel J. Sweet and Chris Cassidy
Monday, May 7, 2012 – Updated 1 minute ago
Bake sales, the calorie-laden standby cash-strapped classrooms, PTAs and booster clubs rely on, will be outlawed from public schools as of Aug. 1 as part of new no-nonsense nutrition standards, forcing fundraisers back to the blackboard to cook up alternative ways to raise money for kids.
At a minimum, the nosh clampdown targets so-called “competitive” foods — those sold or served during the school day in hallways, cafeterias, stores and vending machines outside the regular lunch program, including bake sales, holiday parties and treats dished out to reward academic achievement. But state officials are pushing schools to expand the ban 24/7 to include evening, weekend and community events such as banquets, door-to-door candy sales and football games.
Multiple Choirs Set for Annual Community Hymn Festival On Sunday, May 20, at 7:30 p.m., choirs from multiple Bergen County churches of all denominations will participate in the 23rd Annual Community Hymn Festival at Ridgewood’s West Side Presbyterian Church. The ecumenical event is open to the public.
Co-sponsored by the John R. Rodland Memorial Scholarship Fund and the Northern NJ Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, over $150,000 has been awarded in scholarships to future Church musicians. Rodland Scholarships are the largest such awards to Church Music majors in the nation, funded by a fall campaign and free-will offerings at the festival. This year’s winner of a $9,000 first prize is Christopher Gaza, a Masters of Music candidate at University of Oklahoma. Ganza will perform at the festival. “Songs, Hymns and Spiritual Songs through the Ages” is the theme of this year’s festival. Organists and choir directors from the various participating churches will direct or play for the over-80-voice choir, hand-bell choir, and brass ensemble. Great hymns of the Church, as well as anthems such as H. Parry’s I Was Glad When They Said Unto Me (sung at the Royal Wedding last fall), and V. Thompson’s My Shepherd Will Supply My Need will be featured. Singers are invited to join the chorus at the only rehearsal on Tuesday, May 15 at 7:30 p.m. Music will be provided. The church is at 6 S. Monroe St., corner of W. Ridgewood Ave.
Newcomers can only say what they WOULD do if elected. Incumbents ought to be able to say what they DID
Harshly and repeatedly criticizing one’s colleagues is not a convincing platform for reelection. Standard advice to job seekers is NOT to trash their former employers and co-workers because it would reflect badly on themselves and is hardly a strong argument for being hired. That should work here as well. Dirty politics has no place in a suburban council election.
The tax increase prematurely quoted in the press is very far from final. It was merely a first look at the budget. Many residents don’t realize that it would apply only to the small municipal government portion of the budget, which is mostly a blank check to the schools. They are mentally multiplying the number by their existing property taxes and panicking.
Raises: Aronsohn has voted for every police and fire union contract in the past 4 years. Employee contracts (not counting the current Village Manager’s) were approved by the former Council. Four reasonable council members voted for the village manager’s raise. Disagree? OK. But is their decision to give somebody a raise really a good enough reason to vote for somebody else? It was one thing, blasted out of proportion by Aronsohn when he (or White Horse Strategies) grabbed it as a key to reelection…because he has very little else to offer.
Besides the fact that a 0%-based budget is better as a soundbite than as a plan for municipal government, how can Aronsohn reduce taxes or keep them low, as he claims he will do, while fully funding the library, revitalizing downtown, and pressing for enormous so-called accessibility projects when more thought could have had the job done better and at far lower cost?
Take a look at the new sidewalk at the Stable. Who planned it–the designer of Candyland? Or maybe Chutes and Ladders. It takes you (that is, apparently everyone) up from the parking lot, turn left, turn right, turn left, go to the Maple Avenue regular sidewalk, then up to the door–it couldn’t be more circuitous, with hard 90-degree turns rather than rounded edges. The turn radius at each corner, and there are many, is sharp and not easily maneuvered.
Yes, a very gentle specific maximum slope is required for wheelchairs; on hills, that requires a twisty-turny path. But accessibility to a building is supposed to give everybody a fair shot at getting through the door, not make things harder for everybody else every day. Did a single accessibility engineer review the plans? Unless another path will be added, and it doesn’t look that way, people attending meetings at the Stable (there are many) will have to leave home 5 minutes earlier–no exaggeration–just to get from the parking lot to the main door.
That trip is entirely exposed to the elements, too. When it’s raining or snowing or windy, this will be a long, wet, cold trip for all. And it will have to be cleared routinely of ice, snow, and debris in order for ANYONE to get in.
People in wheelchairs are not the only population needing better access. Those with Parkinson’s, a cane, a walker, crutches, a small child in tow, etc.–far greater numbers–will be exhausted. It can be difficult, but it’s not impossible, to accommodate all, and that’s what it’s all about. Why didn’t Aronsohn find and consult an expert? These projects require care and expertise. But no–just having the concrete poured is good enough for Paul Aronsohn, and now, 6 figures later, we are stuck with it.
Mr. Bombace has been working directly with Paul Arohnson for the past 3 years to get a super majority of “like-minded” council persons
Mr. Bombace has been working directly with Paul Arohnson for the past 3 years to get a super majority of “like-minded” council persons elected. At first it was the “Crowd” (Cronk and Dowd); now its Albert Puccarelli and Gwen Haulk.
The problem with allowing Paul Arohnson to control a super majority (who have been telling anyone who will listen; that they intend to elect him as Mayor) is that these three will jam their agenda through over and over again and the Village will be changed forever. It should be no suprise they have been having private (read: secret) meetings with various development partners to construct new retail, garages and apartments in various locations in downtown (this is the kind of stuff that leads to jail time, just look what happened in other urban areas around us these past few years).
The current Council is composed of five individuals, none having a lock on control and all having “independent”, not “like-minded” or “lock-step” thinking.
In this Tuesday’s election there will be three non aligned candidates; they are: Keith Killion, Jane Shinazoka and Russ Forenza. Anyone who knows these three; knows they are very different people with very different ideas, all respectful of eachother and the tax payer.
Weak Economy Disappoints Again
Mike BrownfieldMay 4, 2012
Every day, America waits for a brighter future to arrive — the promise of change that President Barack Obama made in 2009 when he set a benchmark for his success on the economy, remarking, “If I don’t have this done in three years, then there’s going to be a one-term proposition.” More than three years later, very little has changed. As today’s jobs report shows, the U.S. economy only added 115,000 jobs in April — well below expectations and far, far below what is necessary to drive the economy back to full employment.
Lackluster employment results dominate today’s report. It’s been three years under the Obama policies, and 12.5 million Americans remain out of work. No demographic group except black workers saw an improvement in their unemployment rate, and 13 percent of black workers remain unemployed. What’s more, the labor force participation fell to the lowest level since 1981 at 63.6 percent. Americans are fleeing this economy when at this stage workers should be returning to the labor force.
This shouldn’t surprise anyone. While little has changed with the economy, little has changed in President Obama’s failed policies. Rampant federal spending continues unchecked; the debt continues to grow; a monstrous tax hike is set to hit Americans on January 1, 2013, infecting the economy with renewed and debilitating uncertainty, and the country’s energy policy remains in shambles.
The latest example of the president’s recycling of his Administration’s failed ideas came in a speech this week to the Building and Construction Trades Department Conference. Obama used the opportunity to pander to his Big Labor allies and called for more federal spending on infrastructure as a panacea for job creation, claiming that his proposals would put “hundreds of thousands of construction workers back to work repairing our roads, our bridges, schools, transit systems.”
People ask, why all the talk about dogs and contraceptives? The reason is: jobs.
Tomorrow the Labor Department will release its April employment report. If the rate goes down, the administration will brag a bit, but they won’t dwell on it. They know that the unemployment rate does not reflect the actual number of people who need work. Did you ever wonder how many of them are really out there?
Let’s put in a pre-recession, real numbers perspective. In July 2007, at the peak of the bling-years boom, there were 146.1 million people employed, 7.1 million unemployed, and 4.5 million working part-time “for economic reasons,” which added to the unemployed gives the number for “underemployed” (U6). There were 78.7 million people not in the labor force. The unemployment rate was 4.6%.
Last month, in March 2012, there were 142 million employed, 12.7 million unemployed, 7.7 million U6, and 87.9 million “not in the labor force. The unemployment rate is now (supposedly) 8.2%.
$3.5 million firefighter award reduced by 85% to $500,000
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
(RIDGEWOOD -NJ) Superior Court in Hackensack has just reduced the $3.5 million award to $500,000 of Ridgewood Firefighter Kevin Reilly . Reilly alleged that he reported two incidents in which firefighter safety was compromised because of violations by his superiors.
Reilly reported those violations to higher-ups, but instead of taking corrective action the supervisors sunbed him ,passed him over for promotion to lieutenant and gave him unflattering reviews without his knowledge.
From the judges findings : Judge is “shocked” by jury award of $3.5 M to Firefighter Reilly and reduces award by 85% to $500K. Fees to lawyer reduced 27%. Also noted in the Judge’s decision “Plaintiff received a disturbing anonymous mailing at his home which was later found to have been sent by Former Chief Bombace”
The initial jury had agreed with Reilly on with a 6-0 verdict in January , awarding him $3.5 million for emotional distress.
Christie says vouchers are needed to repair poor schools
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said school vouchers are needed to repair a public-education system that has left students unprepared for college and work.
Al-Qaida Praises US Television Networks ABC and CBS
Al-Qaida memo to Bin Laden warns of ‘cunning methods’ of US news networks
Al-Qaida spokesman Adam Gadahn a fan of 60 Minutes but said Fox News ‘lacks neutrality’ and CBS is ‘close to being unbiased’
Chris McGreal in Washington
Osama bin Laden pondered the merits of US television news channels as he considered how to extract the best propaganda benefit from the tenth anniversary of 9/11 last year, and concluded that CBS was “close to being unbiased”.
But an American-born media adviser for al-Qaeda warned Bin Laden to beware of the broadcasters’ “cunning methods” as he described Fox News as a channel in the “abyss” that should “die in anger”, CNN as too close to the US government and MSNBC as questionable after it fired one of its most prominent presenters, Keith Olbermann.
In a memorandum made public by the US military’s Combating Terrorism Center on Thursday, Bin Laden asked for advice on exploiting the anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.
New Jersey’s High School Graduation Rates Drop
Wednesday, May 02, 2012
By Colleen O’Dea : NJ Spotlight
The New Jersey Department of Education Tuesday released 2011 graduation rates for high schools that were largely lower, in some cases significantly lower, than prior years.
Statewide, the rate calculated using the “four-year adjusted cohort graduation rate” formula now required by the federal government was 83 percent for last spring’s high school seniors. For the Class of 2010, the graduation rate — largely self-reported by schools — was 94.7 percent for New Jersey.
Last year, nine of the state’s 392 schools had perfect graduation rates. That’s almost 90 percent fewer than the 82 schools that reported all seniors had graduated in 2010. Similarly, four schools reported that fewer than half of students graduated in 2010, while last year, that number had risen to a dozen.
The “other Blog”, who by all accounts has been the Paul Aronsohn “mouthpiece” has joined the ranks of PA defectors.
Straight from their BLOG: Others say Aronsohn threw Mayor Keith Killion under the proverbial bus in his quest to become mayor, a calculated power play to overtake Killion, Deputy Mayor Tom Riche and Councilwoman Bernadette Walsh and oust Village Manager Ken Gabbert, whom they say he’s obsessed with.
The “other BLOG” has previously refused to tell both sides of the Aronsohn story. Those in the know, understand his deceitful, calculating and self-absorbed ways. It looks like James is finally recognizing that a PA defeat is in the making and has been summarily ‘spanked” by his editor and told to hedge their bets by jumping off the PA bandwagon. Insiders, who always assumed that PA would at least get re-elected as an incumbent, now fully believe that the “DUMP PAUL” coalition has a substantial chance of defeating PA next Tuesday. Word on the street is that he should be “sent packing:” back to his political pals and their union $. PA may have called for a clean sweep and now it looks like he will get exactly what he wished for… with HIM on the end of the broom!!
…The fly has learned that Paul Aronsohn supporters are fleeing in droves after last night’s pathetic display of arrogance.
The CRR people have launched a “Dump Aronsohn” campaign behind the scenes. It seems that the mood now is to make sure Aronsohn doesn’t get reelected AT ALL!!
The Ridgewood moms feel strongly that Jane S. will round out the Council with another female voice to compliment Bernie Walsh.
Keith is earning praise left and right for staying above the political fray and really showing his leadership by not getting sucked into Aronsohn’s political ploy.
Aronsohn continues to take outside $ from State political operatives that have no affiliation with Ridgewood (check his ELEC NJ filing). He also continues to reap the benefit of free medical benefits for his entire family with a $5.00 COPAY. Wow don’t we all wish we had a $5.00 COPAY? ALL AT RIDGEWWOD TAXPAYER EXPENSE. That single benefit amounts to a 1000% raise for Paul over his $3000.00 per year Council salary.And he has the nerve to make a big deal about a 6% raise for the Village Manager. Yes that’s right 6%..not 12% as he would like you to believe. Check the records, it’s all public information…
Christie, rewriting rules for graduation, will fill in blanks later
After much talk since taking office, Gov. Chris Christie yesterday finally released his plans — some new, some old — to raise the requirements for gaining a high school diploma in New Jersey.
But it will be some time for the changes to take hold, if they get that far. The first students to face the requirements will be today’s fourth graders when they reach high school in 2016.
Christie and his top education staff yesterday used a visit to West Windsor-Plainsboro Regional High School North — one of the state’s higher performing schools — to unveil a much-anticipated list of proposed changes to what will be required to graduate from a New Jersey high school. (Mooney, NJ Spotlight)
