Posted on 37 Comments

>You can’t follow The Valley Hospital action unless you know the players . . .

>And you can’t tell the players without a program.

Here are the Planning Board players:
Members:Morgan Hurley – Chairman (Ethelbert Place)David Nicholson – Vice-Chairman (Liberty Street)David Pfund – Mayor (Hillcrest Road)Kim Ringler Shagin – Councilwoman (Walthery Avenue)James Bombace (Midwood Road)Richard Fricke (Woodland Avenue)Anne Ward (Melrose Place)Albert Pucciarelli (Cottage Place)Nick Tsapatsaris (North Murray Avenue)Charles Nalbantian – Alternate 1 (Bellair Road)Richard Barclay – Alternate 2 (Brookside Avenue)

Staff:Gail L. Price, Esq., Board AttorneyBlais L. Brancheau, PP, PlannerChristopher J. Rutishauser, PE, Village EngineerBarbara K. Carlton, Board Secretary

And also for the record, Valley Hospital President, Ms. Audrey D. Meyers, lives on Highland Avenue. The Valley’s attorney, Charles (Chuck) Collins, owns property on Bellair Road and on Prospect Street.

Posted on 8 Comments

>TERC – WHEN IT FAILS, IT’S BECA– USE OF THE TEACHERS, not our Mishugona* curriculum

>TERC – WHEN IT FAILS, IT’S BECA– USE OF THE TEACHERS, not our Mishugona* curriculum

An excerpt from “Changing the Elementary Mathematics Curriculum: Obstacles and Challenges”, Susan Jo Russell

TERC , 2067 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02140

Curriculum as teacher development

We see our curriculum as a vehicle for teacher development. The actual curriculum is not what we envision and write down, but what happens between students and teachers in the moment of teaching and learning. So while part of our responsibility is to provide the material, the actual investigations, in which students will participate-and this in itself is no easy matter-the other, equally critical part of our responsibility is to open up that material to teachers, to invite them in both to the mathematics and to children’s mathematical thinking.

The audience, therefore, for our materials, is teachers, not students. Our units are written to the teachers with many digressions about mathematics and about children’s learning of mathematics. The responsibility is absolutely on the teachers to make this material work. If they fail, the material fails. On the other hand, by not making teachers partners in the past, we have made a grievous error. By not inviting teachers in to mathematics, by attempting to make materials “teacher proof” because educators or mathematicians believed that classroom teachers were not smart enough about mathematics to teach it, not only have we denied the students a good mathematical education, but we have denied generations of elementary teachers-largely women-access to mathematics.

It could be me, but if I were a teacher, I’d be insulted.

*”Mishugona” is Yiddish for crazy, the fly is trying to appeal to a more ethnic audience

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Posted on 28 Comments

>Pro BOE Reader resonds to call for apology

>”Bombace posted in that “obscure blog” at the request of one of the math moms. She evidently felt that posting on your blog was not cool.You did not have to dig too far, the comment is also posted on the VOR math website.So your feelings are hurt that your blog did not get the scoop, it looks like Grandpa Nizzo outdone you! No apology needed, the comments by the Board were true and validated by facts. Many of the parents involved in this controversy have chosen to distance themselves from those who chose those tactics.I can only hope they chose to distance themselves from this blog. Choosing to post on another blog looks like a start. “

*BUT this blogger wants to know ,what are these “tactics” everyone is taking about ?

Posted on 2 Comments

>Man About Town

>The Office, 32 Chestnut Street Ridgewood, NJ 07450, a great place to unwind and catch a game with much improved service coupled with great drink specials, and decent pub food at reasonable prices make the office a local favorite, not a place for a romantic interlude more a beer with the boy’s kind of place.

*And as a special note I hope everything is ok at Smith Brothers

Posted on 4 Comments

>BOE Meeting Tonight!

>7:30 p.m. – Meeting

AGENDA
* * * * *
MEETING REGULATIONS

At all regular meetings, two opportunities are provided for citizens to make comments.� The public comment periods will be scheduled at approximately 7:30 p.m. and approximately 9:00 p.m. or just prior to the end of the meeting, whichever occurs first. The first opportunity may be limited by the presiding officer to conclude at about 8:00 p.m. in order for the Board to continue with its scheduled agenda.� The second opportunity will occur at about 9:00 p.m. at the discretion of the presiding officer taking into consideration a break point in the agenda.

At every opportunity for public comment, citizens are invited to comment on subjects on the agenda or general topics.

At the discretion of the presiding officer, public comments may be permitted at other times.

Persons wishing to speak must, upon being recognized, rise and state their name and address.� Each speaker shall be limited to four minutes.� The Board Recorder will note the time.� A speaker who has not finished in the allotted time will be directed by the Presiding Officer to summarize quickly and relinquish the floor within 30 seconds.

Comments shall be limited to issues.� If personal remarks or discourteous statements are made, the presiding officer shall require the speaker to stop.� No person will be recognized for a second time until all others asking to speak have been heard.

Posted on 15 Comments

>General Alarm Fire Closes Smith Brothers Dining Saloon

>smithbrothers

A general alarm fire raced through the Smith Brothers Dining Saloon at 51 Broad Street this morning.

All career and volunteer Ridgewood Fire Department personnel were called to the scene. Volunteer firefighters from the Glen Rock, Ho-Ho-Kus, Midland Park, and Wyckoff fire departments assisted in bringing the fire under control.
The dining saloon is closed indefinitely.

photos by artchickphotos.com
Posted on Leave a comment

>Events Around the Village

>flagpole

Graydon Pool
Hours of Operation
Pool Hours – June 2 – 24 Weekends 10am to 7:30pm, Weekdays Noon – 7:30pm; June 25 – August 12 Daily 10am – 7:30pm; July 4th Holiday – 10am to 4pm; august 13 – Sept 3 – Weekends – Noon to 7:30pm, Weekdays 10am to 7:30pm Graydon Pool Phones – Badge Office 201/670-5566 or Manager Office 201/670-3376.

Greg Calarone – Popular & Italian Standards 6/19
Sponsors:AM Rotary & Boiling Springs Savings Bank
On Veteran’s Field at 8:30pm this free concert will be performed. Bring a blanket or chair to enjoy the music under the stars! Information: 201/444-1776

Kasschau Shell Performance 6/21
Sponsored by Commerce Bank
Bobby Byrne will sing Broadway Show tunes at the Kasschau Shell on Veternan’s Field at 8:30pm. Bring a blanket or chair and enjoy this free entertainment under the stars!

Farmer’s Market 6/24-10/28
Jersey Fresh Produce
Every Sunday from 9am to 3pm find the freshest produce at the Ridgewood Train Station. In addition, there are local vendors with fresh mozzarella, bread, pickles, olives, and baked goods. Sponsored by the Ridgewood Chamber of Commerce.

Pro Arte Choral 6/26
Sponsored by Valley Hospital
Concert begins at 8:30pm at the Kasschau Shell located on Veternan’s Field behind the Library. Bring a blanket or chair and enjoy this free concert under the stars!

Ridgewood 4th of July Celebration
Fireworks Tickets Available 6/4
“Parade of Heros”, Ridgewood’s 97th Annual Celebration, will start with a Flag Raising at 9am at Wilsey Square. Parade begins at 10am. Fireworks Tickets fund this All-Volunteer Committee’s work. Tickets are $5 in advance or $10 at the gate (children 5 and under are free). Tickets are avialable at Alice, Alice, Alice; Town & Country Appothecary; Backyard Living; Artventure Gallery; Citizens Community Bank; Daily Treat Restaurant; Goffle Brook Farm; Hillmann Electric; Hoskins Propane; Irish Eyes Imports; Ridgewood Cycle Shop; Wine Seller.

Posted on 10 Comments

2007 – The year of embattled Superintendents

>It’s only June and four public school superintendents in our area have already gone down for the count. What’s the rest of 2007 likely to bring?

Here’s the scorecard thus far:

Brooks, Marty – Ridgewood; parental dissatisfaction with TERC – declined to accept position

Calabro, Joanne – Fort Lee; plagiarized speech to National Honor Society students – contract not renewed

Dime, Janis – Paramus; tainted soil cover up – out on paid administrative leave

Nuccetelli, Maria – Wayne; clash over management style with BOE – contract not renewed

Posted on 14 Comments

>Manhunt in Ridgewood

>Burglars beat, tie up man in his apartment
Friday, June 15, 2007

Manhunt in Ridgewood

RIDGEWOOD — Police were searching Thursday for two men who beat and bound a 60-year-old man after he found them rifling through his village apartment.

The tenant told police he was punched in the face after he found the men burglarizing his first-floor Oak Street apartment around 3 p.m.

“They then used a computer mouse cord to tie him up and ran out,” Police Chief William Corcoran said.

The robbers fled with an undetermined amount of cash, he said.

The man soon freed himself and called 911, Corcoran said. He declined medical treatment for minor facial injuries, the chief said.

Nearby NJ Transit rail service was stopped for about 30 minutes as the Bergen County K-9 unit searched for the robbers.

Both are described as short, white, in their 30s and wearing dark clothing.

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call village police at 201-652-3900.

— Jason Tsai

Posted on 10 Comments

>Court Ruling May Thwart Construction of Planned Parking Garage

>The Village Council will have a harder time seizing 120 Franklin Avenue for redevelopment after the New Jersey State Supreme Court ruled Wednesday that targeted property must be blighted and not merely underused.

The 42-page unanimous decision said that town officials cannot seize homes and businesses simply because they believe those properties can be put to better use.

The court wrestled with what constitutes blight in deciding a case from Gloucester County, where the town of Paulsboro sought to condemn a 63-acre tract made up mostly of wetlands.
Chief Justice James Zazzali wrote that Paulsboro considered blight to be property that is “stagnant or not fully productive” but could be rehabilitated.

“Under that approach, any property that is operated in a less than optimal manner is arguably ‘blighted,’ ” he wrote. “If such an all-encompassing definition of ‘blight’ were adopted, most property in the State would be eligible for redevelopment.”

Zazzali wrote that blight includes deterioration or stagnation that has a debilitating effect on surrounding property as outlined in the state constitution.

Ridgewood’s Village Council recently passed a resolution designating portions of North Walnut Street, Oak Street, and Franklin Avenue as “in need of rehabilitation.” The question now is whether that targeted area indeed has a “debilitating effect on surrounding property as outlined in the State Constitution” as per the Chief Justice’s interpretation.

Get ready for an expensive legal battle if the Village Council should decide to proceed with their redevelopment plan.

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