Board of Education Plans Special Meeting on Acting Superintendent in Top Local News

The Fort Lee Board of Education announced this week that a special public meeting will take place on Tuesday, Oct. 11, to discuss the issue of the Acting Superintendent of Schools.

The special meeting was precipitated by the tabling of a resolution at the BOE’s last regular business meeting on Sept. 26 that would have appointed now Assistant Superintendent Steven Engravalle to the role when current Superintendent Raymond Bandlow leaves the district at the end of October.

The board will listen to the public for one hour—from 6 to 7 p.m.—and then go into private session, said board president Arthur Levine, adding that people can speak “for three minutes once on the role of acting superintendent.” (Full Story)

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When the Fort Lee Board of Education passed a resolution on Monday, Sept. 26, supporting “fair distribution of state aid for education,” the board joined the Tenafly School District in supporting a plan District 37 Republican General Assembly candidates Keith Jensen of Fort Lee and John Aslanian of Englewood Cliffs have staunchly advocated for and made one of the major issues of their campaign for state office.

Although the Fort Lee BOE’s resolution does not mention the “Fair School Funding” plan by name, the wording of the resolution is much the same as that of legislation authored by State Sen. Michael Doherty, (R-23) that would “provide an equal amount of school aid for every student in New Jersey, regardless of where they reside,” essentially equalizing school funding across the state based on New Jersey’s current progressive tax system by distributing aid on a per student basis of about $7,400 per pupil. (Full Story)

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Fort Lee residents, visitors to the borough and Mayor Mark Sokolich New Jersey Gov. Christ Christie announcement this week that he will not seek the Republican nomination for president in 2012.

Saying that "now is not my time," Christie made the announcement Tuesday in Trenton. (Full Story)

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Fort Lee residents had the opportunity to “tour” the borough by bicycle or on foot last Sunday as the Fort Lee Education Foundation once again sponsored the annual "Tour de Fort Lee."

Photographer John Fort captured these images.

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Friday marked the end of Fort Lee High School’s first ever “Week of Respect,” a state-mandated program under New Jersey’s new anti-bullying law in which public schools statewide are teaching harassment, intimidation and bullying (HIB) awareness and prevention.

The week is part of a larger program taking place throughout the month at Fort Lee High School called “Creating an Atmosphere of Respect and Environment for Success,” or C.A.R.E.S., during which each week in October is dedicated to a different theme related to fostering a sense of community and educating “the whole student,” according to Fort Lee School Counseling Service Director Jamie Ciofalo. (Full Story)

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A Fort Lee man was sentenced to 20 Years in federal prison this week for operating a ‘cocaine pipeline’ between New York City and Schenectady, according to the Times Union of Albany, N.Y. Jamar Green, 37, is a two-time felon, according to the Albany paper. (Full Story)

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The Fort Lee Planning Board denied the owner of a new plaza on Anderson Ave. a parking variance for an additional 12 parking spaces after he failed to seek the Mayor and Council’s approval before taking his request to the board, the Fort Lee Suburbanite reported this week. (Full Story)

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The Fort Lee Common Sense Society and the Fort Lee VFW will honor Mayor Mark Sokolich with the first annual “Thomas Paine Winter Soldier Award” at a dinner fundraiser in November.

The Common Sense Society also hopes to raise a good chunk of the remaining $40,000 it needs to complete funding for a statue of Thomas Paine the group commissioned to be permanently placed in 2012 at the site Paine and the rest of the American Army encamped with General George Washington in 1776—present day in Fort Lee. (Full Story)

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And the Port Authority lit the “necklace lights” on the George Washington Bridge pink this week in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month; 2010 was the first time the agency changed the color of the lights.

Photographer John Ford captured these images this week.

The Week in Review appears every Sunday on Fort Lee Patch.