Community Corner

Acting Superintendent Hearing, Local Candidates' Debate Top Fort Lee News

"The week in review," a weekly roundup of some of the top local stories on Fort Lee Patch, also includes a press conference on the Garden State Digital Media and Film Tax Credit, the dismantling of Skateboard Park and a Fort Lee appearance on "Dr. Drew"

The Fort Lee Board of Education took public comment for about 45 minutes Tuesday on the role of “Acting” or “Interim” Superintendent at a special meeting at .

The meeting was called after the board tabled a resolution that would have appointed Assistant Superintendent Steven Engravalle “Acting” Superintendent when Raymond Bandlow leaves the post on Oct. 31 at its last regular business meeting on Sept. 26 because of public outcry questioning Engravalle’s suitability for the role.

“I know there were a lot of concerns that the board was making decisions without listening to the community, and it is for this reason that I asked the president to set up a meeting where we could be listening to the community,” said board member John Bang. “The purpose of this meeting may be for us to find out what your opinion is and not say what our opinion is yet because, to be really fair, we shouldn’t form our opinion before we find out what your opinion is … The board members need to take notes and then deliberate upon them before we make any decisions on our own.” (Full Story)

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The United Homeowners of Fort Lee’s debate-style “candidates night” at Tuesday evening provided a first chance for local voters to learn where the six candidates for municipal office—two running for mayor and four running for the two open seats on the Borough Council—stand on the major issues facing the borough.

Find out what's happening in Fort Leewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Incumbent Mayor Mark Sokolich and fellow Democrats, incumbent Council members Armand Pohan and Michael J. Sargenti, squared off against Republican challengers Judith Fisher, who’s running against Sokolich in November, and Council candidates Martha Cohen and Alfred V. Norton.

The Democratic incumbents made it clear from the outset that they’re running on their record, emphasizing successes during their terms in office, and chided their opponents for being short on specifics when it comes to solving the borough’s problems and dealing with its various challenges. The Republicans hammered home a message of change, fiscal responsibility, reduced spending and bond debt and the need to move away from what Norton referred to as a “legacy administration” and what Cohen called an “entrenched machine.” (Full Story)

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State Senators Loretta Weinberg (D-37) and Paul Sarlo (D-36) joined Fort Lee Assemblywoman and Freeholder candidate Joan Voss (D-38), film advocates and industry professionals at Fort Lee High School Wednesday to urge Gov. Chris Christie and Republicans in the state Legislature to support “a healthy and robust film tax credit to preserve New Jersey’s motion picture legacy.”

The news conference had been scheduled to take place on the sidewalk in front of the at 2160 Lemoine Avenue in Fort Lee—the location of an historic marker indicating where the Solax Company, one of the largest pre-Hollywood film studios established by pioneering French filmmaker Alice Guy Blache and her husband, once stood. But weather forced the event indoors to the auditorium just next door. (Full Story)

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Fort Lee’s Skateboard Park at between Anderson Ave. and Inwood Terrace is no more—at least at the location it has occupied since 2008. The skate park was dismantled last week because neighboring residents were complaining about noise.

But that doesn’t mean the now vacant area at Whitey Lang Park won’t be used for other purposes, nor that Skateboard Park itself is gone for good, said Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich.

“[The skate park] was dismantled, we’re going to relocate it and it’s going to be converted into either a tennis court or a basketball court,” Sokolich said. “I made the decision. I made the call, and we’ll deal with it. But it’s going to go somewhere else, and it’s going to be less of a burden on the neighbors.” (Full Story)

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Fort Lee’s Assistant Superintendent of Schools and several Fort Lee High School students appeared before a national TV audience Monday as guests on HLN’s Dr. Drew show with Dr. Drew Pinsky. The subject of the special report was bullying; the Fort Lee contingent was there to discuss New Jersey’s new anti-bullying law and the effect it's having in their school.

A Dr. Drew producer and camera crew visited a week ago Friday to interview a panel of seven students chosen by their teachers and school administrators and to pre-interview Steven Engravalle, who is also the school district’s anti-bullying coordinator. (Full Story)

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And for last week's "Fort Lee Schools One-On-One" column, Patch interviewed Stacie Zafiris, a Kindergarten teacher at , who's also the head coach of the Fort Lee Lady Bridgemen varsity basketball team and an assistant coach with the varsity softball team. (Full Story)

The week in review appears every Sunday on Fort Lee Patch.


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