Voters Approve Referendum, BOE Hires Search Firm in Week's Top Local News

Fort Lee voters Tuesday approved the ’s third school bond referendum since September 2010 by a margin of more than 500 votes.

In unofficial results, the tally was 1,383 votes in favor of the $30.2 million referendum, and just 865 opposing the measure, with just five provisional ballots outstanding, three in favor and two opposed. The county still has to certify the election results.

That positive outcome—after two failed attempts at getting larger referendums passed in 2010—authorizes the school district to raise funds through the sale of bonds to finance boiler replacements, roof replacements, science lab renovations at and , masonry repairs and other infrastructure renovations across the district that school officials have called “critical.”

It will also alleviate to a lesser extent some of the overcrowding plaguing the school system, at least at the middle school, where classroom space will be added. (Full Story)

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Fort Lee resident and former District 37 Republican candidate for State Assembly Keith Jensen said this week that he kept quiet on the issue of "Fair School Funding" during the run up to the Fort Lee Board of Education’s school bond referendum out of respect for the borough’s school children and at the behest of borough and school officials and other community leaders.

But he says now that the referendum has passed, “It’s time for me to get loud about [Fair School Funding] again.”

He also said he’s considering a run for Bergen County Freeholder. (Full Story)

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The Monday approved a resolution to hire the search firm Leadership Advantage to conduct a search for a permanent superintendent at a fee of $9,500, but several board members openly expressed their support for Interim Superintendent Steven Engravalle, with two of them voting against the measure. (Full Story)

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A Fort Lee woman faces up to 20 years in jail after a federal grand jury returned an indictment Friday, charging the woman and one other person with conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud, federal authorities said.

Rita Kim, 48, of Fort Lee, and Hyon-Suk Chung, 49, of North Bergen, were previously arrested and charged, along with dozens of others, including Sang-Hyun “Jimmy” Park, 45, of Palisades Park, in connection with “widespread, sophisticated identity theft and fraud,” according to authorities. (Full Story)

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The borough announced Wednesday two special meetings of the planning board in February on Fort Lee Redevelopment Associates (FLRA)’s preliminary and final major site plan and subdivision for Redevelopment Area 5.

The meetings will take place on the first two Mondays of February—the 6th and the 13th—and will be held at the because, as Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich has said, “we [want to] attract as many residents as possible; to make sure that everybody comes and participates in the process.” (Full Story)

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The Monday approved a two-year software license agreement with a provider of offline, interactive venue maps for smartphones in order to create detailed, mobile maps of all six public schools. Local police, fire units, other first responders and school administrators will be able to use the maps as a reference tool during emergencies, school officials say.

The agreement with MapEverywhere, a division of FastMall, LLC, comes at a cost to the school district of $495 a month and was born out of a recent security audit, according to Interim Superintendent of Schools Steven Engravalle. (Full Story)

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And after 50 years, the location and name of —132 Linwood Plaza in Fort Lee—remains the same.

But current owners Thomas and Marlena Stolarek, who immigrated from Poland in 1984, told Patch their landlord increased the rent for 2012 a substantial amount over what they paid last year, and that they might be forced to move out of Fort Lee as a result. (Full Story)

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