Top 10: Cliff Tragedies, Attack on Principal, Teacher Non-Renewals

Area rescue crews were called to Palisades Interstate Park late on the night of Friday, June 8. School officials confirmed the next day that the 16-year-old victim was "one of our kids."

Police charged the ex-husband of an employee at Fort Lee School No. 3 with aggravated assault for allegedly punching the principal at the school in the head during Field Day activities, before following him inside the school and continuing the attack, police said.

Students turned up in full force again on Monday, June 18 to urge the school board to overturn the interim superintendent’s decision not renew two of their teachers’ contracts. But the board took no action, putting an end to more than a month of lobbying efforts.

With Interim Superintendent of Schools Steven Engravalle’s “interim” status set to expire at the end of June, the Fort Lee Board of Education was faced with the task of making a decision soon. Their choices were to appoint a permanent superintendent—whether Engravalle or someone else—or extend Engravalle’s interim status.

A period of a few days in Fort Lee that started with a tragic incident involving the death of a high school student turned a little brighter just days later as one family learned that their 15-year-old son would receive the heart transplant he so desperately needed.

For the second time in slightly more than six months, Fort Lee High School was forced into crisis response mode, after a 16-year-old junior at the school died in a fall from a cliff in Fort Lee’s section of the Palisades Interstate Park near the George Washington Bridge.

The three-year appointment, which was not a unanimous decision on the part of the school board, is pending county approval. The Fort Lee Board of Education also voted to appoint Dr. Sharon Amato Assistant Superintendent of Schools through June 2013.

Tuesday, June 19 was graduation day for the Fort Lee High School class of 2012, the members of which received their diplomas at a ceremony at the Lewis F. Cole Middle School athletic field.

A 45-year-old Spring Lake man was killed Sunday, June 24 in a 225-fall from the cliffs along the Hudson River at the Rockefeller Lookout on the Palisades Interstate Parkway in Englewood Cliffs, according to police.

June 5 was the deadline to file to run in the November election, and Fort Lee has a crowded field, according to information released by the Bergen County Clerk. But two current board members will not seek reelection.