BOE Approves Middle School Improvement Plan, More in Fort Lee News

Thanksgiving week was a short work week for most people, as businesses and government agencies closed Thursday. Then the holiday shopping season began in earnest with Black Friday and Small Business Saturday before people settled in for the weekend to digest it all and begin dealing with their Thanksgiving leftovers.

Before any of that was to happen, however, there was plenty going on in Fort Lee, starting with last weekend's "Retreat to Victory Reenactment," the annual procession from to marked the anniversary of Washington’s retreat from the British. (Full Story)

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The Fort Lee Board of Education Monday approved a “school in need of improvement (SINI) plan” for , after principal Rosemary Giacomelli detailed the plan before the board. (Full Story)

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The SADD organization sponsored a Thanksgiving food drive at in November, which, according to organizers, proved to be a successful one.

On Tuesday afternoon, SADD Advisor Stefanie Yundi of Lewis F. Cole and Community Service Coordinator Barbara Pastore filled up the trunks and backseats of their cars—with the help of custodians Robert Reyes, Joe Cappellini and Demba Mane—and delivered the goods to Epiphany RC Church in Cliffside Park. (Full Story)

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Students across the Fort Lee School District enjoyed an early dismissal Wednesday, as Thanksgiving recess began, but not before many of them got a chance to celebrate the holiday with their friends and classmates.

At , for example, an estimated 100 people filled the “all purpose room” for the annual Kindergarten Thanksgiving Feast, a Fort Lee tradition dating back many years—longer than most in attendance could remember. (Full Story)

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Bob Ciccone has decided now is the time to leave his role as the head coach of the Fort Lee Bridgemen soccer team, and he went out on a very high note, becoming the winningest soccer coach in Fort Lee school history. (Full Story)

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47, 74, 45, 25, 30, 67, 73, 89, 83, 61, 22, 55, 42, 34, 6, 53, 88, 17, 35, 79.

This was no quarterback calling out plays. Those were the numbers worn on the orange and black jerseys of the Bridgemen football players who came home to Fort Lee to spend Thanksgiving morning with their former teammates. (Full Story)

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Just under 1,000 years of service to the was represented last Sunday at the Fort Lee Recreation Center on Stillwell Ave.

About 30 former fire chiefs and current officers were honored at a brunch organized by current Fort Lee Fire Chief Jeff Silver in recognition of their years of dedication and service to the people of Fort Lee. (Full Story)

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And the leaders of a Fort Lee Brownie troop hosted an expert on teaching social skills, manners and etiquette to children and young adults last Friday to prepare the girls for a formal tea they have coming up in early December.

Co-Leaders of Brownie Troop 1017 in Fort Lee, Paige Soltano and Rachel Schulman, invited Faye Rogaski of "socialsklz:-) tools to thrive in the modern world" to their meeting at , where the Brownies learned everything from body language and eye contact, to shaking hands properly and making a good first impression, to table settings and how to dine properly while maintaining a polite conversation. (Full Story)

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