Residents living on and near Valley View Avenue came out in force to last night’s Village Council meeting, objecting loudly to Ridgewood Water’s plans for removing several mature trees and other foliage to facilitate construction of a 100 foot wide water tank near their homes. The proposed new tank would replace two smaller tanks which, according to Ridgewood Water representatives, are in danger of collapsing due to their age.
Mayor David T. Pfund advised gathered residents that neither he nor his fellow Council members had been provided with any details on the proposed project by Ridgewood Water Director Frank Moritz. It was agreed that such a project review would be scheduled for Wednesday evening, January 23. Further dialog between Council members and the public will take place following the scheduled executive briefing by Moritz.
During Wednesday’s Village Council Public Meeting Mary Green and John Papietro, both members of local volunteer ambulance corps, objected passionately to the introduction of Ordinance #3098, which, if approved, will establish fees for Emergency Medical Service third party billing.
Under the proposed plan, patients’ insurance carriers would be billed $550 plus $0.10 per mile for transport services, and $125 for Emergency Medical response without transport.
Green and Papietro both cautioned Council members that implementing such a plan could make it even harder to recruit willing volunteer workers, and also create difficulty establishing mutual aid agreements with adjacent volunteer ambulance corps.
In addition to hearing comments on the issue from Green and Papietro, Council members were also chastised by a local officer of the New Jersey First Aid Council, who read off a list of approximately 25 reasons “not to transition from volunteer to paid” emergency medical service.
A public hearing on Ordinance #3098 will be held on Wednesday, February 13 during the Village Council’s regularly scheduled Public Meeting.
M.J. McDermott, the meterologist from Seattle who explained Everyday Math so beautifully, has brought us a new video. This time it is about Saxon Math.
>This email from our superintendent was sent to subscribers of Travell enews but should be available to everyone in the community.
Toward the end, Dr. Brennan makes it clear he intends for the whole district to move toward the horrid Everyday Math curriculum.January 10, 2008
What are we going to do about math?
You are cordially invited to sit in on a discussion of this topic, to be held this coming Monday, January 14, at 7:30 p.m in the third-floor Board Room of the Ed Center. We will be televising on Cablevision Channel 77. The program will then be video cast and podcast from our website, so you can download and play at your convenience. We will be following up with visits to each faculty and Home and School Association meeting in either January or February as their schedules allow. We will then report the information from the faculties and school HSA’s back to the Board to help them form a decision on our proposed action plan.
At the meeting this Monday, the Board, central office administrators and all of the district principals will discuss moving Ridgewood forward in k-5 math curriculum, instruction and assessment, as a part of a coordinated k-12 program. Right now we are in good shape, but, as one of my colleagues likes to say, “Ridgewood did not get to be Ridgewood by standing pat.”
Our SAT scores have improved almost every year for the past five years and are now higher than the average of New Jersey private school college-bound seniors. The SAT math scores at RHS are actually higher than the verbal, which are also high. State testing also shows good results. Aggregated performance remains at 90-95% passing in all areas. Elementary schools meet or exceed comparable school districts in 12 of 12 math tests administered since 2002. Our middle schools did the same for 7 of the 10 tests, while the high school met or exceeded the top districts on 5 out of 6 math tests administered at grade 11 since 2002.
Noting an opportunity for improvement at the middle school, last year we introduced Connected Mathematics II at Grade six. This year the second level of CMPII was introduced at Grade seven. Next year, for the first time in the history of the school district, Algebra will be offered to all eighth grade students. The American Academy for the Advancement of Sciences has ranked Connected Mathematics (1998) number one in a study of middle school math textbooks (https://www.project2061.org/publications/textbook/mgmth/report/).
Here’s a preview of what the elementary principals will be advancing for the Board’s consideration. Using the Ridgewood model that has been so successful in our literacy programs, we offer the idea of teaming with a university to share expertise and information. For the remainder of the current school year, that would mean appointing a group to evaluate local research and instruction faculties, including both mathematicians and math educators. Over the course of the 2008-2009 school year we would work with that university, using sophisticated assessment to help answer key questions relative to the needs of our students. By September of 2009, Ridgewood students would be using new curriculum, procedures and materials, to the extent that they are needed.
Our proposed timetable coincides with a good deal of information that should be coming our way. The President’s Panel, a group of math experts called together in Washington, should be presenting their report this April. The Department of Education has awarded a fifty million dollar grant to do a national study of different math programs. Across the nation, other federal dollars will be propelling four regional laboratories, one at Rutgers, to evaluate current math programs for effectiveness. This should stimulate the publishing companies to get busy preparing materials to match the national findings.
Here’s what we won’t be recommending to the Board. The states who knee- jerked against reform math, California in particular, have once again endured the empty experience of running headlong toward the mirage called “back to basics.” Last month, Education Week reported that the California Department of Education admitted its legislatively mandated traditional math programs have not generated the results they wanted. They are switching statewide to Everyday Math, a reform program currently used in Somerville and Ridge Schools here in Ridgewood.
In Pittsburgh, where some schools use traditional texts and some use Everyday Math, a study commissioned by the Board of Education with Mathematica Inc. concluded that the results achieved by students in the two programs are indistinguishable. Cost of the study: $60,000. One conclusion noted in the study: It’s actually the teachers, not the materials, that make the difference. We could have told them that.
I hope that you find a way to be a part of our discussion over the next several months. Please give me a call (201)270-2700, or drop me an email, [email protected], if you have questions or ideas.
>As i stated in another section of this blog years ago the street dept had just north of 20 employees now their are half that amount. you cant get the same work done with half the crew.also the leaves came down very late this year.maybe its time to look at managment to see whats wrong the street dept. is so short handed they borrow workers from other depts.to get it done. if things are this bad money wise in the village someone on top should be held accountable.
>Board of Education MeetingBOE Meeting The Ridgewood Board of Education will hold regular public meetings on Jan. 7, 2008, and Jan. 28, 2008, 7:30 p.m., the Board room, 3rd floor, Ed Center, 49 Cottage Place.
Special BOE MeetingThe Ridgewood Board of Education will hold a special public meeting on Monday, Jan. 14, 2008, 7:30 p.m., in the Board room, floor 3, Ed Center, 49 Cottage Place. The purpose of the meeting is to hold a workshop with the district’s school principals on math instruction.
The Fly wants to know why some residents and business owners refuse to comply with the Village’s law concerning ice & snow removal from sidewalks. Should the Village hire part-time employees to issue summonses post every major snowfall? What do you think? And what about those pesky contractors who plow driveway snow into the street? Shouldn’t they be issued summonses?
§ 249-1. Snow and ice removal. [Amended 7-8-1975 by Ord. No. 1582; 3-10-1987 by Ord. No. 2084; 11-9-1993 by Ord. No. 2435]
A. The owner of any land abutting upon the streets or public highways in the Village, if such land is owner-occupied or vacant, otherwise the tenant or occupant of such land situate in all zones of the Village of Ridgewood as shown on the 1990 Zoning Map, with the exception of the B-1, B-2, P and P-2 Zones of the Village, shall remove all snow and ice from the abutting sidewalks of such streets or highways within 24 hours after the same shall fall or be formed thereon. No snow or ice so removed, however, shall be deposited or placed in the street or highway in such a manner or location so as to impede the flow of traffic. For purposes of this section, such land shall be deemed owner-occupied if occupied by either the owner or owners of record or any agent, servant or employee thereof.
B. Owners, tenants and occupants of any land abutting the streets or highways of the Village situate in the B-1, B-2, P and P-2 Zones of the Village are subject to the following snow removal regulations. Special regulations are adopted for the business and office zones in order to maintain an attractive and safe environment in the business and professional office zones of the Village by assuring that the snow will be removed from the sidewalks in and around the central business district on a timely basis.
C. Snow is required to be removed in the B-1, B-2, P and P-2 Zone Districts from the sidewalks concurrently with its fall. To assure compliance with this section, more than one clearing may be required to keep the sidewalks as free of snow as is practical. The following specific regulations are hereby adopted. Snowfalls commencing during the evening, that is, after 6:00 p.m., will be cleared by no later than 9:00 a.m. the following morning, Sundays and holidays included. During weekday storms, Monday through Saturday, occurring during business hours, sidewalks shall be cleared to a five-foot minimum width to provide access from the storefront to the curb, between meters, if meters are installed. After 6:00 p.m. and on Sundays and holidays, sidewalks will be completely cleared into the street.
D. A court appearance will be required to answer any summons issued for a violation of this section occurring in the B-1, B-2, P and P-2 zones of the Village. A court appearance will be required to answer any summons issued for a second or subsequent violation of this section in all zones of the Village. [Amended 7-11-1995 by Ord. No. 2533]
> Texas Football Succumbs to Virulent Staph Infection From Turf
By Victor Epstein
Dec. 21 (Bloomberg) — Missy Baker recalls the moment when she realized that her football-playing son, Boone, didn’t just have the flu.
“He told me he was paralyzed,” Baker said. “I said, `What do you mean? I just saw you walk to the bathroom two hours ago.’ And he said, `Mom, I can’t move my arms or legs.”’
Sixteen-year-old Boone, a wide receiver for Texas’s Austin High School, was suffering from a recurrence of methicillin- resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, which his doctor said he got through an abrasion from playing on artificial turf, Baker said.
Texas has artificial turf at 18 percent of its high school football stadiums, according to Web site Texasbob.com. It also has an MRSA infection rate among players that is 16 times higher than the estimated national average, according to three studies by the Texas Department of State Health Services.
“This is a disease that can kill you,” said Carolina Espinoza, a graduate epidemiology student at the University of Texas in Houston, who helped conduct one of the studies. “If I were a football player, I would be alarmed.”
MRSA is a virulent strain of drug-resistant staph bacteria that plagued hospitals for decades and migrated into the general population in recent years, said Edward Septimus, an infectious disease specialist at Methodist Hospital System in Houston. Without proper treatment, it can spread to internal organs and bones after reaching the bloodstream, causing organ failure, he said.
In October, the deaths of a Brooklyn boy and a Virginia youth were blamed on MRSA infections.
Infection Rate
At least 276 football players were infected with MRSA from 2003 through 2005, a rate of 517 for each 100,000, according to the Texas studies. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta reports a rate for the general population of 32 in 100,000.
Football players often become infected at the site of a turf burn and are misdiagnosed, said David Smith, co-author of a study showing that MRSA-related hospitalizations in the U.S. more than doubled from 1999 to 2005.
“The turf burns themselves are just the kind of minor skin injury that MRSA can exploit,” said Elliot Pellman, medical liaison for the National Football League, which also has had infections among its players.
Football dominates high school sports in Texas, which has more participants than any other state. Seventy-four schools have stadiums seating more than 10,000. The sport provides 22,041 full-time jobs and generates $2.88 billion in annual spending, said Ray Perryman, president of Perryman Group, a Waco economic and financial analysis firm.
Football Risk
Football also produces more MRSA infections than any other sport, said Marilyn Felkner, the epidemiologist who led the Texas studies. The department wasn’t able to obtain enough data to establish a statistical link between artificial turf and MRSA infections, she said.
“So many schools had at least one case,” Felkner said of a 2005 report showing 76 high school athletic departments with MRSA infections. “It was more schools than we would have thought.”
In Collin County, which includes parts of Dallas and Plano, six high schools had more than two infected athletes this fall, said Janet Glowicz, county epidemiologist.
MRSA causes more deaths than any of the 51 infectious diseases tracked by the CDC, including AIDS, according to CDC data. The agency doesn’t require medical professionals to report MRSA cases.
Texas plans a pilot program next year making MRSA a reportable illness in three regions, said Bryan Alsip, assistant health director for San Antonio.
Epidemic Proportions
Researchers including Septimus blame MRSA’s spread on overuse of antibiotics. A CDC report in the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that MRSA caused three times more infections than previously thought.
“This is an epidemic,” Smith said. His report was published by the CDC in the December edition of Emerging Infectious Diseases. “It’s a big problem, and it’s likely to get bigger.”
Smith said the public needs to hear more about MRSA. There is no benefit in alarming people, but they have a right to know that it is a serious situation, he said.
Spreading MRSA can be prevented by frequent hand washing, covering scratches and turf burns, disinfecting whirlpools between uses, and not sharing towels or razors, the Texas health department advises.
Mike Carroll, head athletic trainer at Stephenville High School near Fort Worth, said he tells coaches to avoid saying “staph” when they see a possible infection.
“You want people to be educated, but you don’t want to create a sky-is-falling mentality,” Carroll said.
Lasting Fear
Baker said she was shocked to learn how pervasive MRSA is. It’s also persistent: Boone was originally diagnosed in October 2006, and the infection returned last January. He had three surgeries to remove infected tissue and spent three weeks in the hospital.
While Boone resumed playing football this season, fear of another relapse haunts the family. Some survivors continue to carry the bacteria, according to doctors and the CDC.
Baker said she and her husband spent a sleepless night when Boone developed a skin infection that looked like a spider bite.
“We were both wide awake and shaking with fear,” she said. The wound cleared up the next day.
To contact the reporter on this story: Victor Epstein in Houston at [email protected] .
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Please ignore Mrs. Brogan’s tacky form letter admonishing you for proposing a funding formula that does not deliver more money to Ridgewood.
Since in her mind (she is one of our 5 board members) Ridgewood is the only district in the State that is important, you can understand why she takes this proposed funding formula so personally as a slap in the face to Ridgewood.
Our Board uses money like a dripping faucet. We do not even have textbooks in our elementary schools, but we have lots of consultants to help our hapless administrators administrate.
We’ve recently instituted reform math, the worse possible form of math at great cost and absent any due diligence or input from parents. The board of ed just spent $9,000 on a consultant who left us a report that told us what we knew when she started: THAT MANY PARENTS WANT TRADITIONAL MATH IN THEIR SCHOOLS.
Our Board recently spent an entire year attempting to hire a superintendent. They chose to hire someone who wanted to commute from Long Island (at our expense!), who was a reform math constructivist in the face of intense parental opposition, and someone who had thrice bailed from the hiring process at other school districts.
I am but one parent, but I’ve seen enough of public school administration to determine the extent of wastefullness and single-mindedness that prevails. All one-party systems eventually fall to corruption.
The Ridgewood public school system, as currently run is but a one-party system for which corruption is systemic.
We do not need more money to be wasted in the public school system. I do not want to pay higher state taxes so that a little bit more comes back to Ridgewood.
