Fort Lee Elementary School Celebrates Opening of New Wing

The Fort Lee School No. 1 annex comprises four new classrooms and was one of the referendum-approved projects started over the summer. After lengthy construction delays, the wing officially opened Wednesday.

Fort Lee school officials, teachers and parents gathered at the new wing of Fort Lee School No. 1 Wednesday for a grand opening celebration. The school gained four new classrooms thanks to Fort Lee voters, who approved a roughly $30 million referendum in January. The bright and colorful wing that once housed the school district’s central offices was one of several referendum projects started over the summer of 2012. Fort Lee Board of Education president Yusang Park and Interim Superintendent Sharon Amato agreed that the new educational space was a long time in coming, but that finally seeing it completed was exciting. “We had some issues, definitely, when we first started; we had a lot of delays,” Park said. “But everything came together, …

•  5 Comments
• Photos (8)

Minimum Wage Increase Could Go to Voters

The state Senate approved a 2013 referendum on raising the minimum wage and tying it to yearly increases

A proposal to raise the state's minimum wage could bypass Governor Christie and go directly to voters. During Monday's Senate hearings, Senate President Steve Sweeney of Gloucester County received preliminary support for a resolution calling for a Constitutional Amendment to allow for an increased minimum wage and tie future yearly increases to national economic data. The initiative would be placed on the 2013 ballot for voter approval. Sweeney's proposal, which was approved by committee 7-6, would effectively remove Christie from the approval process. Christie had previously indicated he would not sign a bill that included automatic indexed adjustments, according to a report on nj.com. “For years, New Jersey has assigned a dollar amount …

•  81 Comments
• Photos (1)

School Construction Snag Won’t Affect Opening of School

Fort Lee school district business administrator says all of the projects approved by referendum and taking place this summer remain “on track” except for air conditioning at Fort Lee High School.

Construction and repair work at the borough’s public schools approved by Fort Lee voters in January remains on track for the opening of school on Sept. 10—with just one exception. “The high school HVAC is our first SNAFU in the projects,” said school district business administrator Cheryl Balletto at Monday’s Fort Lee Board of Education regular business meeting. “All of the coils will be put in; all of the duct work will be put it. But the rooftop unit will not be delivered until October. There is a backlog for getting that unit.” Balletto provided the second school-by-school update of the month on the construction projects taking place over the summer after the school board in January saw its third referendum since September 2010—a scaled…

•  2 Comments
• Photos (1)

Howard L. Pearl

11:36 am on Wednesday, August 1, 2012

It appears on the surface that there is some negligence here. The unit should have been ordered on a timely basis by whomever was responsible, possibly the construction company. It is understandable if there are delays due to unforeseen circumstances on a project. Not ordering an essential piece of equipment on a timely basis, claiming there is a backlog on the unit, appears to be an unnecessary …   more ›

Two Freeholders Plan ‘Public Listening Tour’ on Police Merger

Less than a week after calling for a referendum on merging the county police and Sheriff’s departments, the two Democrats, Joan Voss and David Ganz, say they want to hear what police and members of the public think.

Bergen County Freeholders David Ganz (D- Fair Lawn) and Joan Voss (D- Fort Lee) Monday announced plans for what they called a “public listening tour” in Bergen County intended to “take the pulse of the people” on a potential referendum on the question of merging the Bergen County Police and Sheriff’s Departments. “Picking up on a suggestion from Sheriff Michael Saudino, I think we need to also seek the opinion of all sworn police officers as to merging the County Police with the Sheriff’s Department,” Ganz said in a statement. Voss said the two freeholders “also want to know what the people think,” noting that the she and Ganz have been unsuccessful in their attempts to “persuade” their Republican counterparts on the Bergen County Board of…

• Photos (2)

Voss, Ganz Call For Action On County Police, Sheriff Merger

The two Democratic Freeholders have both said they’re undecided on whether to merge the two law enforcement departments, but they both say they want voters to be able to decide.

With an Aug. 17 filing deadline for ballot questions looming, Bergen County Board of Chosen Freeholders members David L. Ganz of Fair Lawn and Joan Voss of Fort Lee renewed their call Wednesday for a public referendum on police consolidation. The two Democrats urged board chairman John Mitchell, a Cliffside Park Republican, to place a resolution on the freeholder calendar that if approved would put the question of whether the County Police and Sheriff’s departments should merge before voters in November. “We want to give the people the right to participate in this important decision about the future of law enforcement in Bergen County,” Ganz said in a statement, while Voss said she hasn’t yet decided whether a merger is called for, a …

• Photos (2)

School Construction Projects ‘On Target’ For September

School officials say eight out of a total 16 voter-approved “referendum projects” are slated for completion this summer. But the overall work will still take three summers finish.

If you’re driving around Fort Lee over the next couple of months and happen to pass one of the borough’s public schools, it’s likely you’ll see a lot of activity you wouldn’t normally see during the summer. That’s because construction and repair work approved by Fort Lee voters in January, when the Fort Lee Board of Education held its third referendum since September 2010—a scaled-back, roughly $30 million version of what was initially proposed—has begun. In fact, it got started in earnest at all but one of Fort Lee’s public schools—School No. 2, which was not included in the referendum—as soon as school got out for the summer. And according to the school district’s business administrator, this summer’s work, which will knock off about …

•  3 Comments
• Photos (2)

Question of the Week

POLL: Are You Planning to Take a Walking Tour of Fort Lee Schools?

Question of the Week: How about attending one of the BOE's community forums on the $30.2 million referendum?

The Fort Lee Board of Education is offering the first of five walking tours of the district's schools Wednesday. The board is also planning to hold three “community forum meetings” at the Jack Alter Fort Lee Community Center starting Dec. 12. The walking tours were planned to provide residents, taxpayers and other stakeholders a firsthand look at how roughly $30.2 million will if the school bond referendum passes in January. Now we want to know what you think. Are you going to take the school board up on the offer to show you what they mean when they say Fort Lee's schools are overcrowded and in dire need of infrastructure and facilities upgrades? Or have you already made up your mind, one way or the other, how you're going to vote on Jan…

•  2 Comments
• Photos (1)

Board Approves 'School in Need of Improvement' Plan for Lewis F. Cole

Principal Rosemary Giacomelli spelled out the plan in great detail at the Fort Lee Board of Education's regular business meeting Monday; walking tour dates and community forums for 2012 referendum also announced

The Fort Lee Board of Education Monday approved a “school in need of improvement (SINI) plan” for Lewis F. Cole Middle School, after principal Rosemary Giacomelli detailed the plan before the board. The SINI plan is a Department of Education requirement under the No Child Left Behind Act for schools that fail to meet Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP), explained Fort Lee’s Acting Superintendent Steven Engravalle. “When your school is in the circumstance that Lewis F. Cole is that they’re showing repeated shortfalls in achievement for students in their building, they must come up with an improvement plan that must then be approved by the board,” Engravalle said. “Then we have to submit it to the Department of Education, who must then accept …

•  9 Comments
• Photos (1)

BOE Officials: Don't Expect ‘Major Paradigm Changes’ In Superintendent Replacement

BOE president and vice president reiterate their commitment to finding the “best-qualified and most capable” Superintendent in letter to parents

Fort Lee Board of Education officials Tuesday issued a letter to parents of children in the school district assuring them that the BOE is “committed to actively seeking the best-qualified and most capable candidate for the position of Superintendent” in the wake of current Superintendent Raymond Bandlow’s recent resignation. Bandlow will leave the Fort Lee School District on Oct. 31 to assume the duties of Superintendent in Beacon, N.Y. “Please be assured that as a Board, we take this responsibility with utmost seriousness,” the letter, which is signed by board president Arthur Levine and vice president Linda McCue, states. “We are all aware of the challenges our district faces, as well as the opportunities we could be maximizing. We will …

•  3 Comments
• Photos (1)

Tracy Mattei

8:31 pm on Wednesday, September 21, 2011

YES!!! @ Paul and Billy! We want the BOE to represent the people of Fort Lee better, which I truly believe they hear us and are moving in a great direction! We need the people at the BOE meetings so they have a presence, and be part of their schools' decisions--- no blame game, be part of it! A better contract is necessary, we have a new way of 'doing business' and need to maintain it!   more ›