>Online database posts budgets
Residents wondering if their towns should regionalize or share services can click through a new online tool to help find answers. (Jordan, New Jersey Press Media)
https://www.courierpostonline.com/article/20110302/NEWS01/103020351/Online-database-posts-budgets
>BOE Announces New School Budget and No Layoffs
the Staff of the Ridgewood blog
The BOE announced that it is not planning to eliminate any staff positions for the 2011-2012 school year and at its Monday meeting it unanimously approved an $86,775,809 budget. which will now be sent to the county Executive Schools Superintendent for review.
The district also received word that the state would be returning a small but significant portion of its state aid.The $850,000 in state aid has been allocated to cover budget shortfall of a reported $650,000 that could have resulted in staff cuts. The finalized version of the School budget must be approved by the voters .
The Board of Education had previously announced there will be no raises for teachers and secretaries represented by the Ridgewood Education Association, according to a report on NorthJersey.com.
Last years budget was defeated by voters , as residents expressed frustration at what they saw as teachers unwilling to make sacrifices like everyone else in a tough economy. The district had proposed an $84.9 million budget.
The Ridgewood Education Association ,the local teachers’ union is currently in the second year of a three year contract. The current contract ends at the close of the 2010-2011 school year, on June 30, 2011.
The BOE will have two vacancies in the April 27 Annual School Election. A full term on the school board runs for three years. Candidate kits are still available in the Board Secretary’s office at the Education Center, 49 Cottage Place, or online from the New Jersey School Boards Association. The deadline for filing candidate petitions is Tuesday, March 8, at 4 p.m. Wednesday, April 6, is the deadline for registering to vote in the Annual School Election.
>Report: Immigrants living in N.J. healthier than their native counterparts
Seth Augenstein/The Star-Ledger
TRENTON — Chicken, beans and rice is a simple, traditional dish Catherine Rousseau Saintilien was cooking up Monday night for her family. But as the 50-year-old Elizabeth mother of three began whipping up the meal from a recipe she learned in Haiti as a girl, her American-born children complained — they wanted something quick, and something fried.
“They wanted to eat McDonald’s,” Saintilien said.
Such a simple dinner conflict might explain some far-reaching new health statistics. Foreign-born residents living in New Jersey are generally healthier than their native-born counterparts, and they also have healthier lifestyle habits, according to a report released today by the New Jersey Department of Health and Senior Services.
https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/03/report_immigrants_living_in_nj.html
>Math Wars : BOE once again puts Politics over Education
The “text book” does not have any examples, just more questions. Most of the problems are language based. If you don’t know what you are doing there is no where to turn. That is why it takes so long to do the homework – and no two problems are the same. There is no mastery of a topic, they just keep moving around.
It is wrong for the BOE to ignore the problem with the math program. But I forgot – they are busy working on lighting the ball fields for the late night sports. Their priorities are all in the wrong places. EDUCATION FIRST!!!
>Annual St. Patrick’s Dinner Dance
Saturday, March 19th, 7:00 p.m. Mount Carmel gymnasium,52 Passaic Street.The Village Caterer will be providing traditional Irish fare of corned beef and cabbage. Renowned New York City musicians Bob and Norm will be playing Irish classics and great dance music. There will also be a special appearance by the Irish Step Dancers. “This is one of our biggest fundraisers of the year, and it is a great opportunity for friends and neighbors to get together for a night of fun”, said Doug Findlay, organizer of the event. Tickets are $45 each.Payment can be mailed to:Doug Findlay 211 Circle Ave.Ridgewood, NJ 07450,(201) 670-9514
>This just in….The middle school math program is a failing our children.
Ridgewood NJ – The concerns over Connected Math continue to be justified as we fully integrate the program into the middle schools. This is NOT confined to one class, grade or school; BF or GW. It’s the whole program, top to bottom. Ridgewood’s once successful middle school math program has been destroyed and replace with one which fails to prepare the children for advanced level high school math. There is little support for the program from teachers, parents, and students. It’s such a shame. How can this continue?
If you are not aware of the situation; students are lost, teachers are finding it difficult to explain, review and complete the ‘Investigations’ (cute huh; we used to call them lessons), and parents are expressing their concerns in droves only to be told to have the kids come for extra help that is only more of the same.
At least this is some recognition of problems and an attempt to address them, but the children will only benefit from Connected Math when it is gone. Let’s hope they do not try and put blame on the teachers. After all, they are the same teachers who oversaw the successful program that was replaced.
And now a message from the BF Principal…….
———————————–
Dear BF Parents and Guardians,
We have asked our math teachers to utilize the following practice beginning next Monday.
Since we now have Skyward open full time our Math teachers have the assignments posted daily. In addition, they will put in the comment section the amount of time the homework assignment SHOULD take the students to complete.
I would like our students to really only spend the amount of time on the homework that the teacher believes it should take to complete. If a student works for the assigned amount of time but has not completed the assignment, the student should stop and have their parent or guardian initial where they left off. Students will receive full credit for any homework that is not completed but has a parents initials.
It is important for us to follow this procedure because it gives our teachers valuable information that can directly inform their teaching. If 20 students in the class cannot complete an assignment, the teachers knows that he or she must either cut down the amount of work, or re-teach a concept that the students as a whole are not getting. If an individual is not able to complete an assignment, the teacher knows specifically what that individual student was not able to grasp and can target individual instruction or procedures to help that child.
We believe this will help us target instruction for individual students, provide feedback for our teachers as they plan lessons, and reduce stress and angst over the inconsistent struggle to complete homework.
I hope everyone is diligent about helping our math teachers (and our
students) by following this simple step.
Sincerely,
Tony Orsini
Principal, BFMS
>New Jersey public workers in eye of benefit-cut storm
Within 15 minutes, Gov. Christie had a crowd of about 400 applauding as he talked about a “dumb” pension hike and “Cadillac” health care for public workers. (Burton, The Philadelphia Inquirer)
https://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/117132383.html
>Outlook for N.J. pension is bleak – even with Christie’s reforms
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s proposed public pension reforms are a good start, Moody’s Investors Service said in a note Monday. But the ratings agency warned that even if the proposals are enacted, the pension system–already the 7th-lowest funded in the U.S.–will continue to deteriorate. (Varghese, The Wall Street Journal)
>The FCC is trying to fix something that isn’t broken. The only real problem it seems to address is how to bring the Internet more directly under government’s thumb. Seriously, its not as if the public has been clamoring about their favorite web services being blocked.
The Federal Communications Commission’s controversial Net neutrality regulations may soon vanish.
A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee is planning a vote Wednesday morning on whether to rescind the agency’s Internet regulations that it adopted by a 3-2 vote in December.
Energy and Commerce’s Subcommittee on Communications and Technology announced today that the vote will be on a so-called resolution of disapproval (PDF), which says the FCC’s regulations “shall have no force or effect.”
Read more: https://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-20037498-281.html#ixzz1FLQPQUlu
>58% Favor Government Shutdown Until Spending Cuts Are Agreed Upon
A new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 33% of Likely U.S. Voters would rather have Congress avoid a government shutdown by authorizing spending at the same levels as last year. Fifty-eight percent (58%) says it’s better to have a partial shutdown until Democrats and Republicans can agree on what spending to cut.
>Christie administration threatens to withhold approval of Parsippany schools budget
The Christie administration delivered an ultimatum today to the Parsippany-Troy Hills Board of Education: rescind Superintendent LeRoy Seitz’s contract or the state will not approve the school district’s budget. (Friedman and Calefati, The Star-Ledger)
https://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/02/christie_to_parsippany_school.html
>Christie on Face the Nation: Unions make it impossible to fire bad teachers
During his interview Sunday morning with Face the Nation’s Bob Schieffer, Gov.
Chris Christie said his stance on reigning in school spending has not demonized
teachers. (Gladden, Asbury Park Press)
>Christie supports ‘adversarial’ talks
Chris Christie said Sunday that he believes in “fair, adversarial” collective bargaining for New Jersey, but that he’s confident Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is doing what’s best for his state. (Staff, Politico)
https://www.politico.com/news/stories/0211/50271.html#ixzz1FFbzFTT0
>Temperatures still rising over N.J. health costs
New Jersey pays 21/2 times more for current and former public workers’ health benefits than it did a decade ago.
And the $2.5 billion-plus cost, about 9 percent of the state budget, is expected to keep growing. (Rao, The Philadelphia Inquirer)
>N.J. public workers are in a hurry to retire
By Jarrett Renshaw/Statehouse Bureau
TRENTON — More than 20,000 police officers, firefighters, teachers and other public employees put in their retirement papers last year as momentum was building for sweeping health and pension reform in Trenton, state figures show.
That is a 60 percent jump from 2009 retirements and the highest in at least a decade, according to the Division of Pension and Benefits.
Teachers whose contracts were criticized all year long by Gov. Chris Christie headed for the exits at the quickest pace, nearly doubling the number who retired in 2009.
