Schools asking Congress to relax expensive and wasteful ‘healthy’ lunch regulations May 6, 2014 VICTOR SKINNER
ALEXANDRIA, Va. – School officials are asking Congress to relax new regulations on school lunches.
New “healthier” lunch standards promoted by First Lady Michelle Obama have been phased in to public schools over the last two years, and the reaction from students has been not so good. Initially, hungry students complained they weren’t receiving enough food, and the USDA in 2012 removed restrictions on maximums for protein and grains, theAssociated Press reports.
School lunch officials across the country have also complained about the increased cost of preparing the new meals, and lost revenue from students who refuse to purchase them. Some schools have even decided they’re better off dropping out of the federal lunch program altogether.
Now, school nutrition directors are urging Congress and the Agriculture Department to take it a step further and repeal some of the requirements that are driving up costs and driving away customers, the AP reports.
Aid Payments Due to Schools May Bear Brunt of State Budget Crunch
With the state facing an $800 million shortfall in its fiscal 2014 budget, there are only so many places that the money can be found to close the gap — and state aid to schools is among the most obvious.
After all, state education aid makes up more than one-third of the overall budget, totaling more than $12.8 billion.
But in a sometimes testy hearing before the Assembly budget committee yesterday, acting Education Commissioner David Hespe offered few clues about whether the answer might simply be delaying school-aid payment until the next fiscal year or eliminating the aid payments outright — or something in between.
“At this point in time, I cannot say what the impact will be, although we can certainly assume given that school funding, both direct and indirect payments, makes up a third of the budget, we can certainly assume there will be some impact,” Hespe said in response to repeated questioning that opened the hearing.
“I just cannot say what that is,” he said. “The goal would be to limit impact to as little as possible. . . . At this point in time, everything is on the table, and I don’t have the ability to take anything off the table.”
State Assemblyman Gary Schaer (D-Passaic), chairman of the budget committee, prodded Hespe further, sometimes sounding like a lawyer in cross-examination.
“Forgive me, I don’t mean to put you on the spot, and I understand the governor will do what he believes what he needs to do to have the less disastrous effects,” Schaer said. (Mooney/NJSpotlight)
Reader says I moved here because it’s safe and has a great school system
ridgewood’s median income is roughly 3Xs (that’s 300% again for the mathematically challenged) the national average and we only pay 29% more on services. what’s the original poster’s argument? we should pay less for teachers? i don’t think so…i moved here because it’s safe and has a great school system…so far i have been pleased on both fronts and happy to pay for it (even if i have to pay more)
i live the same distance from the firehouse (in ridgewood) as the people whose house just burned down (in midland park). My son choked on an apple a few years ago, they were there in 2 minutes. The house burns in midland park and that firehouse doesn’t get called for 15 mins because the midland park fire chief wanted his volunteer force to run it…i’ll take our current services, thank you very much
stop complaining about paying more for better service and please keep using inaccurate data to make your argument
Reader says spending more on schools means NOTHING if the kid doesn’t want to learn.
Paying more does not mean services are better.
A teacher making less doesn’t say screw it I’m not going to do my job. Just because I have rich neighbors doesn’t mean I should pay our municipal employees more than other towns in NJ, I think you will find proof that extra spending does nothing as far as the ‘end result’.
Just look at Paterson, which thanks to the ‘Abbot ruling’ spends the same or more than any Bergen county town on their students (using NJ state funds) The students do not do well on state tests despite having money pissed away on their behalf.
I’m told by a former teacher there that the only requirement for advancement to the next grade is attendance.
So spending more means NOTHING if the kid doesn’t want to learn.
Odessa Jewish community mulls emergency evacuation
By SAM SOKOL
Odessa’s Jews are prepared to evacuate should the violence in the western Ukrainian city get significantly worse, several community leaders told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday.
Odessa’s Jewish community numbers some 30,000, down from nearly 40 percent of the city’s population before the Holocaust.
Running street battles between pro-Russian and nationalist forces claimed dozens of lives in the Black Sea port this weekend, culminating in the burning of dozens of pro-Russian protesters in the city’s trade union building on Friday evening.
The Odessa bloodshed came on the same day that Kiev launched its biggest push yet to reassert its control over separatist areas in the east, hundreds of kilometers away, where armed pro-Russian rebels have proclaimed a “People’s Republic of Donetsk.”
While Jewish community leaders are unanimous in asserting that the violence is unconnected to the Jewish community and that they do not feel specially targeted, they agreed that, should the situation deteriorate, it would be easy for the spillover to affect their constituents.
According to Rabbi Refael Kruskal – the head of the Tikva organization, which runs a network of orphanages and schools and provides social services to the city’s elderly – several of the wounded from Friday’s clashes were Jews, and the community is taking all necessary precautions.
Ridgewood pays 29.10% more for education than the national average,
Our residents do not make 29.10% more than national average wage to live here! This is what happens when teachers unions have the state in a stranglehold. Residents are leaving NJ because of high education costs Who will be left here to pay the taxes?
Ridgewood BOE to Vote on Formal Approval 2014-2015 school budget
The $99.4 million budget will result in a tax increase of 1.9% or $172 in increased school taxes for the average village homeowner.
BOE MEETS MONDAY, MAY 5, 2014
The next Regular Public Meeting of the Ridgewood Board of Education will be held on Monday, May 5, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. This meeting will include formal approval of the 2014-2015 school budget. The public is invited to attend the meeting at the Ed Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3. The meeting will be aired live on FiOS channel 33 and Optimum channel 77. Or it may be viewed live via the district website atwww.ridgewood.k12.nj.us using the “Link in Live” tab.
Click here to view the agenda for the May 5, 2014 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the webcast of the April 28, 2014 Public Hearing on the Budget and Regular Public Meeting.
2014-2015 Budget Information Taking effect this year, the Ridgewood Board of Education has opted to move the annual school board elections from April to November, thereby eliminating the public vote on the proposed general tax levy if it is at or below the statutory tax levy cap. Since next year’s proposed budget falls within the mandated cap, it will not be put to public vote. Click here to view the agenda for the May 5, 2014 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the webcast of the April 28, 2014 Public Hearing on the Budget and Regular Public Meeting.
To send a question or comment about the 2014-2015 school budget, please email the superintendent [email protected].
Ms. Knudsen and Mr. Sedon clearly do care about the Village
Fifteen years in town, with three children going through the schools, is not a newbie. Ms. Knudsen is vice chair of the Zoning Board and active on many fronts. Mr. Sedon wrote about Ridgewood for the Ridgewood News, learning more about the issues than 95% of longtime residents.
Mr. Albano has been busy “in the fields” but almost never voted in municipal elections and didn’t attend any meetings. Length of residency alone does not make a person knowledgeable.
The current mayor had lived in town for only a few years before joining the council. The difference is that he has never cared about the town or comprehended what used to make it great. He simply saw it as a steppingstone and continues to use it as such. In contrast, Ms. Knudsen and Mr. Sedon clearly do care.
“Sprinklers should be in our schools, in all of them,” Sweeney said today at James Monroe Elementary School’s temporary location on the Middlesex County College campus. “You can retrofit schools to put sprinklers in them.”
The New Jersey Schools Development Authority hasn’t done a good enough job keeping up with modern technology, Sweeney said. And with Gov. Chris Christie proposing a longer school year, there are a number of upgrades that schools need, including air conditioning on sweltering summer days, Sweeney said.
But the most important thing is safety, Sweeney said, standing in a school corridor as a class of youngsters passed. (Amaral/Star-Ledger)
RHS Senior Ziqian Xu is a National Young Arts Foundation Merit Winner April 23,2014
Ridgewood NJ, The RHS Art Department is proud to announce that senior Ziqian Xu is a National Young Arts Foundation Merit Winner. Ziqian was one of 700 students chosen from over 10,000 national applicants to participate in regional programs. She was awarded $500 and last week she attended a weeklong art program of master classes and workshops in New York City.
Photo top: Teachers Anjali Shah and Kellie Conforth joined Zi at the Young Arts Exhibition at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City, NY, which featured the artwork of the all the winners.
Ridgewood Board of Education formal approval of the 2014-2015 school budget.
BOE MEETS MONDAY, APRIL 28, 2014
The next Regular Public Meeting of the Ridgewood Board of Education will be held on Monday, April 28, 2014 at 7:30 p.m. This meeting will include formal approval of the 2014-2015 school budget.
The public is invited to attend the meeting at the Ed Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3. The meeting will be aired live on FiOS channel 33 and Optimum channel 77. Or it may be viewed live via the district website atwww.ridgewood.k12.nj.us using the “Link in Live” tab.
Click here to view the agenda for the April 7, 2014 Joint Meeting with the Village Council and Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the webcast of the April 7, 2014 Joint Meeting with the Village Council and Regular Public Meeting.
2014-2015 Budget Information
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Daniel Fishbein has announced three public presentations on the 2014-2015 school budget. The presentations will offer residents the opportunity to hear the budget details and ask questions of the superintendent, business administrator and Board of Education members.
The 2014-2015 school budget presentations will be offered as follows: Thursday, April 10 at 1 p.m. at the Education Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3; Thursday, April 10 at 7 p.m. at Benjamin Franklin Middle School Auditorium, 335 North Van Dien Avenue; and Wednesday, April 23 at 7 p.m. at George Washington Middle School Auditorium, 155 Washington Place.
Taking effect this year, the Ridgewood Board of Education has opted to move the annual school board elections from April to November, thereby eliminating the public vote on the proposed general tax levy if it is at or below the statutory tax levy cap. Since next year’s proposed budget falls within the mandated cap, it will not be put to public vote.
The Board approved the preliminary 2014-2015 budget at it March 17 meeting. It will continue to discuss the budget at upcoming regular public meetings on April 7 and April 28. Residents are welcome to attend these meetings and speak at the public comment portion of the agenda. The Board is expected to approve the final budget at its Regular Public Meeting on Monday, April 28.
Click here to view the Preliminary 2014-2015 Budget Presentation presented at the April 7, 2014 Regular Public Meeting.
To send a question or comment about the 2014-2015 school budget, please email the superintendent [email protected].
Ben Carson: ‘We’re Being Manipulated’ by Those ‘Trying to Divide Us’ Alissa Tabirian April 18, 2014 at 10:17 pm
Dr. Ben Carson slammed the culture of political correctness and partisan labels at a WPEC-TV town hall panel held Thursday at the station’s studio in West Palm Beach, Florida, arguing that it has stifled free expression in America—namely religious freedom.
“We’re being manipulated. We’re being played by those people who want to divide, conquer, and control,” Carson said, alluding to the labels attached to those who disagree with their liberal counterparts. (Carson’s comments begin at at the 19:08 mark on the second video,WPEC Town Hall Religion 2. Scroll down the page and the three videos of the event are on the right side).
“If you are pro-life, then you’re anti-woman. If you’re pro-traditional marriage, then you’re homophobic. If you’re a white person and you say something against a progressive black person, you’re a racist,” Carson explained, calling for Americans “to realize that we are not each other’s enemies. The enemies are those people who are trying to divide us up.”
The panel featured religious leaders and a representative of an atheist organization speaking about religious freedom in society, including prayer in schools and the roots of morality.
Carson noted that when it comes to religion in the public sphere, secular progressives “try to impose a code of silence upon those who believe differently than they do.”
He cited the role of the Founding Fathers in building America as “a very spiritual nation” despite the claims of those “who try to re-write history,” and spoke of his own faith throughout his life’s work in pediatric neurosurgery.
Commenting on the split between science and religion on human biological development, Carson said, “It requires an enormous amount of faith to believe that something came from nothing.”
Ridgewood school district’s program gives at-risk students an ally
APRIL 21, 2014 LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, APRIL 21, 2014, 5:28 PM BY LAURA HERZOG STAFF WRITER
Last year, it was a struggle to get one Ridgewood student into the high school. Now, this student has nearly perfect attendance.
Another student is now going to school and taking more responsibility for his work, and the effects are trickling into the home: A strained parental relationship has improved, opened to more positive, supportive and less school-centric interactions.
Other students struggling with issues at home, like divorce, are now feeling just a little bit safer away from home.
These positive stories, shared by Ridgewood High School’s (RHS) new clinical supervisor Cayte Castrillon, come thanks to the first several months of a new therapeutic program at the high school that identifies at-risk youth for in-house counseling during the school day.
This extra level of care is a particularly important addition to the district now, when educators have less time, and the at-risk population, though still very small relative to the general population, is increasing along with general anxiety.
Helmed by Castrillon, a full-time employee of the private and accredited therapeutic school Sage Day, the RHS Sage Day program was introduced this fall to help students in need avoid out-of-district placement through the in-house management of their social and emotional issues, like school phobia.
Of the 16 students currently in the program, about half are special education students and half are general education students, and areas of concern include family issues, anxiety and substance abuse. Basically, this program helps these students continue experiencing “as close to a mainstream school experience as possible” and “avoid classification,” said Kim Buxenbaum-Turner, director of special programs for the Ridgewood school district.
By keeping children in school, the district is also saving an estimated $200,000 to $300,000 in out-of-district tuition costs.
“There’s a good five or six [students in the program] that would have needed another placement,” said RHS Assistant Principal Jeff Nyhuis.
High school senior forms petition with over ONE THOUSAND signatures against Michele Obama speaking at their high school graduation ‘because it would overshadow the students’ big day’
Taylor Gifford, 18, started an online petition on Thursday with over 1,200 signatures asking that Michelle Obama not speak at Topeka High School graduation Obama’s speech is tied to the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education outlawing segregation in schools Some students feel that the speech would overshadow student accomplishments and others feel limited seating will be a problem
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
PUBLISHED: 17:26 EST, 18 April 2014 | UPDATED: 01:20 EST, 19 April 2014
If expanding the guest list to include Michelle Obama at graduation for high school students in the Kansas capital city means fewer seats for friends and family, some students and their parents would prefer the first lady not attend.
A furor over what the Topeka school district considers an honor has erupted after plans were announced for Obama to address a combined graduation ceremony for five area high schools next month an 8,000-seat arena. For some, it was the prospect of a tight limit on the number of seats allotted to each graduate.
For others, it was the notion that Obama’s speech, tied to the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Brown v. Board of Education outlawing segregation in schools, would overshadow the student’s big day.
Read more: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2607817/Kansas-speech-Michelle-Obama-draws-complaints.html#ixzz2zQakn74k Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook
7 dangerous Apps that kids are using and parents need to know about
A look into the some of the scariest Apps for your kids
Yik Yak – This App is one of the newest and one of the most dangerous. It allows users to post text-only Yaks of up to 200 characters. The messages can be viewed by the 500 Yakkers who are closest to the person who wrote the Yak, as determined by GPS tracking. Users are exposed to – and contributing -sexually explicit content, abusive language and personal attacks so severe that schools are starting to block the App on their Wi-Fi. Although the posts are anonymous, kids start revealing personal information as they get more comfortable with other users.
SnapChat – This App allows users to send photos that will disappear after 10 seconds. Once the recipient opens the picture, the timer starts. Then it’s gone. From both the sender’s phone and the recipient’s phone. However, the recipient can take a screen shot of the photo and have it to share with others. This App enables kids to feel more comfortable “sexting” with peers. KiK Messenger – This is a private messenger app and is coveted by those under 18 for a number of reasons. The App allows kids to send private messages that their parents can’t see. There is very little you can do to verify the identity of someone on Kik, which obviously poses the risk of sexual predators chatting with your child. And again, this is an easy tool for sexting. Poof –The Poof App allows users to make Apps disappear on their phone with one touch. Kids can hide every app they don’t want you to see on their phone. All they have to do is open the App and select the ones they don’t want you to see. Very scary! The good news about this App is it is no longer available, which isn’t uncommon for these types of Apps. But, if it was downloaded before it was deleted from the App store, your child may still have it. Keep in mind that Apps like this are created and then terminated pretty quickly by Android and Apple stores, but there are similar ones being created constantly. Some other names include: Hidden Apps, App Lock and Hide It Pro. Omegle – This App has been around since 2008, with video chat added in 2009. When you use Omegle you do not identify yourself through the service – chat participants are only identified as “You” and “Stranger”. You don’t have to register for the App. However, you can connect Omegle to your Facebook account to find chat partners with similar interests. When choosing this feature, an Omegle Facebook App will receive your Facebook “likes” and try to match you with a stranger with similar likes. This is not okay for children. There is a high risk of sexual predators and you don’t want your kids giving out their personal information, much less even talking to strangers. Whisper – This is a meeting App that encourages users to post secrets. You post anonymously, but it displays the area you are posting from. You can search for users posting within a mile from you. A quick look at the App and you can see that online relationships are forming constantly on this App, but you never know the person behind the computer or phone. One man in Washington was convicted of raping a 12-year-old girl he met on this App just last year. Down – This application, which used to be called “Bang with Friends,” is connected to Facebook. Users can categorize their Facebook friends in one of two ways: they can indicate whether or not a friend is someone they’d like to hang with or someone they are “down” to hook up with. The slogan for the App: “The anonymous, simple, fun way to find friends who are down for the night.” If that alone doesn’t scare you, I don’t know what will!
