Week in Review: School Community Mourns Death of 10th Grader

A 10th grade student at Fort Lee High School died last Saturday of complications from juvenile diabetes, and members of the school district's Crisis Response team mobilized Monday to speak with students individually or in groups as the grieving process began. (Full Story)

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Fort Lee’s Acting Superintendent of Schools provided details at Monday's Board of Education meeting of what took place inside earlier in the day in response to the death of sophomore Matthew Ramon Calderon.

“It shocked all of us, and I can tell you it’s going to be a prolonged healing period for some,” Steven Engravalle said. “And I’m proud to say that we’ve begun to head in the right direction.” (Full Story)

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A Bronx man was charged this week in connection with several car burglaries in Fort Lee over the last year, with the latest incident occurring Thursday night, police said Friday. 

Nicholas Herman, 31, was arrested Friday around midnight, after he allegedly broke into three vehicles on Hudson Terrace and assaulted a K-9 Unit search dog, Capt. Roy Bortolus said. (Full Story)

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The Fort Lee Borough Council passed a resolution Thursday and introduced an accompanying ordinance that would expand Redevelopment Area 5 by about two-thirds of an acre by integrating five parcels of land adjacent to the roughly 16-acre area. The Mayor and Council also scheduled a special meeting and public hearing on the ordinance (Ord. 2011—25) for Dec. 22. (Full Story)

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Hundreds of people gathered at the Thursday evening for the borough’s third annual holiday tree lighting celebration.

The event included a DJ, hot chocolate and other treats, fake snow, a visit from Santa and, of course, the lighting of Fort Lee’s roughly 25-foot holiday tree.

“Every time we do something like this, there’s a lot of volunteers, and there’s a lot of people that help us,” Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich said, addressing the many children and families gathered in front of the stage built to look like a sleigh. “And without volunteers, and without people helping the community, a lot of this is not possible.” (Full Story)

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Also at Monday's regular business meeting, the BOE made its $30.2 million referendum to renovate and upgrade the school system official, approving a resolution to put a “special ballot question” before Fort Lee Voters at a special school district election on Jan. 24.

The school board also voted in favor of modifying a resolution (2B&G) approving project and site engineering services by Boswell McClave at a rate of $158 an hour by putting a $5,000 cap on those services and limiting them to the referendum. (Full Story)

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Hoping to clear up questions raised at recent school board meetings regarding the Fort Lee Public School District’s cafeteria fund and the accounting procedures that go along with it, Business Administrator and Board Secretary Cheryl Balletto provided answers to some frequently asked questions. (Full Story)

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Tara Trovato is one of the newest teachers in the district, but the first-year Physical Education teacher at is certainly not new to teaching.

Trovato, who grew up in Totowa and now lives in Elmwood Park, is currently in her seventh year as an educator, having taught sixth, seventh and eighth grade Health and P.E. at Park Middle School in Scotch Plains and then seventh and eighth grade Phys. Ed. at Roosevelt Middle School in West Orange before her arrival at School 2 this year. (Full Story)

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Demba Mane loves coaching, and he plans on continuing his career in it for years to come.

Mane, a former student, has been coaching since 2002; he currently coaches girls track and girls freshman basketball and is an assistant coach for the boys soccer team. But that's just part of the story. (Full Story)

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Standing alongside an ever-changing landscape there sits a remnant of memory of what this once small town was: . And for the second year, standing in Hiram's picnic area is R&R Christmas Trees, owned and operated by two local boys--John Riedel and Dave Rosenberg. (Full Story)

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And in sports, the Fort Lee Junior Bridgemen lost to the Hillsborough Junior Raiders 32-20 last Saturday (Full Story), ending an outstanding season for Fort Lee youth football of which the entire community could be proud. (Full Story)

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