“Such excellent commentary from fair minded people calling out Fishbien and the REA for what they truly are… have never been”doing it for the children” as they tell you every other second but just concerned for their over the top pay and how to continue getting paid for half an effort..the teacher as hero myth had truly been debunked forever now…”Sorry Billy, Mrs Jones doesn’t really care if she ever sees you again” the children will quickly learn this and remember for their lives..no memories of nice empathetic classroom leaders just a money grabbing union worker…disgraceful.
How NOT ONE teacher feels it in their soul that this set up is unfair to the parents and taxpayers of Ridgewood belies their collective greed and union fueled expectations of more more more…NOT ONE voice calling for some sort of give back to the generous community during these highly stressful family conditions is unconscionable and sad.”
“In a normal society, this virus would be handled by having the sick or vulnerable stay home for as long as necessary, while encouraging the young and healthy to go about normally with life. Teachers that are sickly could stay home and go on unemployment like everyone else in the country. Young college grads with education degrees can temporarily Take their place. Very simple. How are parents that are not teachers or other government employees supposed to work and feed their families if they have to stay home and care for their children who are doing remote learning? This point is rarely brought up. How have day care centers and summer camps in NJ been open since June, but schools cannot reopen? Why are day Care workers and summer camp workers lives valued less than teachers lives? I drove by the Ridgewood YMCA parking lot last week and witnessed large numbers of children, of various ages, over the age of two years old, standing very close together and not wearing masks. Why is this permitted when masks are required in NJ outdoors when not social distancing?
Locking down everyone is actually making everyone more sickly in mind, body and soul. Why is it that the government and their followers only care about people sick or dying from covid19, but not from any other cause, like the annual flu, being killed in riots, or from not being able to receive necessary medical treatment? Yes there is a pandemic, however, like it or not, the fact is that less than 0.5 percent of all people will die from it. It is obvious that the pandemic has become a convenient, catch all excuse, which is being massively abused. This is to the detriment of all humanity, the effects of which will be ever lasting. Wake up people! Please please start thinking for yourselves and you will realize what is actually going on here. Only when teachers and all government employees are treated the same and feel the same pain as small business owners have, during this pandemic, will people actually see the truth, be on the same team and be able, willing and ready to work together.”
Ridgewood NJ, as previously reported by the Ridgewood blog, the Ridgewood School district has undertaken 3 major Summer Facilities Projects ; Orchard School Soil Remediation, RHS Gym 3 Floor Remediation and Replacement and Stevens Field Turf Replacement . All three appear to be making good progress .
“The Department of Health in collaboration with the Department of Education, has developed guidance to help local health departments assist schools in providing a safe environment for students and staff,” said Health Commissioner Judith Persichilli. “Understanding that COVID-19 may impact certain areas of the state differently, the Department will provide data by 6 regions of the state to inform local decisions.”
“I’ve seen some of those kids in the village and the park. Having been a misbehaving kid myself (and grown up ok), I’m less troubled by the above story. Kids of all stripes do silly stuff. They need their asses kicked to remind them who’s in charge. I do wholeheartedly agree on 2 points:
1. schools, even good ones like RDWD, need to tone down the preaching. Marxist BS doesn’t work and has no place in school. Focus on academics.
2. Schools need to open full time come fall. The union’s actions are disgraceful, targeting kids on a pretext of “safety.” What a joke. Who do they think they are? I don’t see grocery store cashiers protesting for “safety” even though they are way more exposed. Ditto for truck drivers who bring our food, amazon delivery, etc etc. I’ve lost any respect for the Union after this. The BOE need to start taking action on behalf of taxpayers. This is ridiculous. I’ve just received the fall schedule promo presentation from the school. A silly schedule that follows no logic and a ton of marketing material, inc video interviews. Our educators fancy themselves college professors or Fortune 500 salespeople, with all that pomp. They are not. They are paid a ton of money to deliver basic education to young kids. This entails being with kids! Not sitting at home on zoom. The parents need to wake up to the fact that they are being had.”
“I’m torn about these statistics. On the one hand, kids are bound to associate closely, and so have high risk of infection.
On the other hand, not sending them to school for what will be seven months in September, is clearly harmful to their development.”
Trenton NJ, in a change of policy Governor Phil Murphy has decided School Districts that cannot meet state Department of Education standards will have the option of going completely remote. The governor’s decision largely leaves the issue in the hands of local districts as New Jersey continues to grapple with the COVID-19 crisis.
Ridgewood NJ, With reopening schools being a hotly debated topic and in-person learning essential for letting parents go to work this fall, WalletHub today released a nationally representative School Reopening Survey, which found that 55 percent of parents want their children to learn in person. Below are highlights of the survey, along with a WalletHub Q&A (audio available).
Ridgewood NJ, resident Steve Kim posted the following comment on Facebook, “Many of you remember how painful it was when Ahronson, Hauck and Pucciarelli gave away the soul of Ridgewood to the developers. If you need a reminder, just drive around downtown. Soon enough school enrollment will exhibit the net effect. That all started with what seemed innocuous at first. One Vote is a second coming attempt to get the better of the residents, and to realize the vision the original group pined for. You don’t have to believe me. I do urge you to do a careful inspection of what is happening before permanently signing away your rights. There is more to this than meets the eye.”
Ridgewood NJ, During Wednesday night’s Village Council Work Session, Ridgewood Village Clerk/Manager Heather Mailander refused to certify the controversial “One Village One Vote” petition, which was submitted by a group of five (5) petitioners who are seeking to consolidate all Ridgewood local elections into the month of November.
“These kids are an embarrassment to themselves, our town and their parents.
So tired of these whiney teenage brats. Relatives of mine in Israel have always told me that terrible leftist politics and values as well and the lack of compulsory military service would lead to the inevitable rot and deterioration of American youths. Alas, they have a point.”
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood teachers joined several other groups of teachers protesting the opening of schools this fall. According to North Jersey Media , “Ridgewood teachers gathered atop a Route 4 overpass to oppose a return to classrooms, saying in-person learning is not yet safe. NJ Education Association and other neighboring teachers oppose as well.
“It’s literally crisis-teaching in order to pretend that there’s some semblance of normalcy.” -Becky Catanzaro, a teacher from Ridgewood.”
Ridgewood NJ, The rash of protests in Ridgewood have left a lot of residents scratching their heads trying to figure out where have we all gone wrong. A reader summed it up after every protests residents are asking themselves”Yes we paid $115 million in a school budget and this is what we get?”
Washington DC, on Friday President Trump’s announcement that he plans to ban Chinese-owned TikTok has halted a potential acquisition of the popular app by Microsoft, with both companies waiting for more information for the U.S. government, according to several people involved in the talks.
The two companies were in advance stages of negotiating a deal that could have been announced as soon as Monday. Under the deal, TikTok’s owner Bytedance would sell the U.S. operation of TikTok to Microsoft, while continuing to operate the rest of the global video app out of a European headquarters. It’s unclear if the companies would share technology, such as through a licensing arrangement, or whether Microsoft would rebuild and operate the company. One option under consideration would have had Bytedance eventually separate its China business by listing it as a public company.
