Monday, December 17, 2012
The Week Ahead: a look at some of what’s going on in Fort Lee this week.
The Fort Lee Board of Education late last week cancelled its regular business meeting originally scheduled for Monday evening, but those who were planning to attend may want to consider heading over to Monument Park instead. There, organizers say, a candlelight vigil is planned for the victims, families and community members of Newtown, Conn., where the second deadliest school shooting in U.S. history occurred Friday, resulting in the deaths of 20 children and six adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School. The Fort Lee vigil is planned as a “gathering to give and receive comfort in light of the Newtown shooting,” providing residents of all faiths—or none, organizers emphasize—an opportunity to “share with neighbors,” pray or simply be silent…
Monday, December 3, 2012
The Week Ahead: a look at just some of what’s going on in Fort Lee this week.
By the end of the week, there will be no doubt, as you travel around Fort Lee that the holiday season is here. Fort Lee’s annual holiday tree lighting event at the Fort Lee Community Center will take place on Thursday, Dec. 6 at 7 p.m. Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich has promised that this year’s festivities kicking off the holiday season locally will be “extra-special” for children in the borough who have had their last two Halloweens disrupted—or as was the case in 2012, outright cancelled—because of unexpectedly severe weather events like Sandy and a very early snowstorm. Then on Saturday, Dec. 8 at 6 p.m. the first night of Hanukkah, Congregation Gesher Shalom will host Fort Lee’s annual community Menorah lighting at the “triangle”—…
Monday, November 12, 2012
The Week Ahead: a look at just some of what’s going on in Fort Lee this week.
After two cancelled meetings in the aftermath of Sandy, the Fort Lee Board of Education gets back to business Monday with a meeting at Fort Lee High School. The posted agenda for the meeting, which can be downloaded here or from the Fort Lee Public School District’s website, includes an annual test score presentation and public hearings on “Observance Week of Respect and School Violence Awareness” and “Violence and Vandalism/HIB Report” for 2011-2012, along with the usual list of resolutions the school board is expected to vote on and barring any walk-ins. The Fort Lee BOE’s regular business meeting takes place Monday at 8 p.m. in the Fort Lee High School library/media center. On Thursday, the Fort Lee Mayor and Council will hold its …
Monday, September 3, 2012
The Week Ahead: a look at just some of what’s going on in Fort Lee this week.
The Fort Lee Public School District gets back to business this week, with convocation scheduled for Thursday and Friday. An agenda for the two-day opening is posted on the district’s website. Also on the website, school community members can find a letter released Friday further breaking down the reasons behind Fort Lee High School’s drop in NJ Monthly’s recent school rankings report. The district released the detailed letter several days after Assistant Superintendent Sharon Amato detailed some of those reasons at the Fort Lee Board of Education’s meeting last Monday. “NJ Monthly Magazine has made significant changes in the analysis, weighting and calibration of data from previous years,” according to the letter. “After careful analysis …
Monday, August 27, 2012
The Week Ahead: a look at just some of what’s going on in Fort Lee this week.
A public hearing on Fort Lee Public School District Business Administrator and Board Secretary Cheryl Balletto’s employment contract will lead the Fort Lee Board of Education’s regular business meeting Monday. If the school board approves the contract, which has already been reviewed and approved by the Executive County Superintendent of Schools, Balletto will remain in the position through June 2013 and earn an annual base salary of $145,706. The BOE will also vote on whether to put a question on the November ballot regarding the “purchase or lease-purchase” for no more than $2 million of property “for school use” using capital reserves. If the school board approves the resolution, the ballot question on Nov. 6 would read as follows: …
Monday, August 20, 2012
The Week Ahead: a look at just some of what’s going on in Fort Lee this week.
The United Republican Club of Fort Lee (URCFL) is hosting New Jersey State Sen. Michael Doherty (R-23) Tuesday for an event the local GOP group is calling, “Red Light Cameras—The Real Story.” The group touts Doherty as “the leading opponent of this form of ticketing.” “Senator Doherty is leading the charge against red light cameras in New Jersey,” said URCFL president David Cohen. “He's going to speak and do some Q&A with us.” Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich recently said that although it might prove to be an unpopular move with many Fort Lee residents, the idea of a red light came enforcement program for the borough is something he plans to “revisit,” and that the governing body is likely to move forward on it. “I’m not going to deviate from…
Monday, August 6, 2012
The Week Ahead: a look at just some of what’s going on in Fort Lee this week.
The long-awaited 2012 Ironman U.S. Championship takes place on Saturday, promising to put Fort Lee in the national spotlight for a day, but also posing challenges for local police and motorists. The southbound lanes of the Palisades Interstate Parkway (PIP) will be shut down from exit 18 in Bear Mountain State Park to the George Washington Bridge between 2 a.m. and 8 p.m. on race day, authorities announced recently, and Hudson Terrace from the Edgewater border to the Englewood Cliffs border will also be closed from 12:01 a.m. until about 10 p.m. Saturday, Fort Lee police said last week. The Fort Lee Regional Chamber of Commerce and the many volunteers who signed on to help out will man an aid station and event site near the corner of …
Monday, June 25, 2012
The Week Ahead: a look at just some of what’s coming up this week in Fort Lee.
The Fort Lee Board of Education will hold a special public business meeting Tuesday at which appointment of a superintendent and an assistant superintendent are expected, bringing to an end months of speculation as to who would be in charge of the district once Interim Superintendent Steven Engravalle’s interim status expires at the end of June. The board’s choices are to appoint a permanent superintendent—whether Engravalle or the one other finalist—or extend Engravalle’s interim status. At a meeting on June 11, the board announced that the search for a permanent superintendent was down to two finalists for the position. School board member and chair of the personnel committee Peter Suh said the board had interviewed one of the finalists …
David C. Couper
11:15 am on Saturday, December 22, 2012
What is “good policing?” What should you look for in a police leader? How is your city going to evaluate that leader? Perhaps one or more of the four major obstacles arresting police development is in existence? For more, follow my blog at http://improvingpolice.wordpress.com. Those police officers who serve in a democracy are men and women who are highly-educated, well-trained, controlled in … more ›