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Board of Education

Schools
Bergen County District Suddenly Terminates Super, Hires New One With Double Doctorates Bergen County District Suddenly Terminates Super, Hires New One With Double Doctorates
Bergen County District Suddenly Terminates Super, Hires New One With Double Doctorates Ramapo-lndian Hills Regional High School has hired a new superintendent. In a unanimous vote on Tuesday, May 28, the RIH Board of Education voted 9-0 in favor of approving Dr. Ronnie Tarchichi's contract, which goes into effect July 1. The board also voted 7-0 with two abstentions to terminate the contract of interim superintendent Dr. James Baker. When asked about the sudden termination of Baker's contract, the BOE declined to comment on personnel matters. The board also voted 5-4 in favor of appointing Dr. Melissa Quackenbush, the district's director of curriculum, to acting su…

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by Cecilia Levine
Obituaries
Keith Olkewicz, Jersey City Paraprofessional, Dies At 37: 'Blessing Of Decency' Keith Olkewicz, Jersey City Paraprofessional, Dies At 37: 'Blessing Of Decency'
Keith Olkewicz, Jersey City Paraprofessional, Dies At 37: 'Blessing Of Decency' Keith Olkewicz, a Jersey City native who returned to work at the district he graduated from, recently died at the age of 37, the district announced is a statement. "The early death of Keith Olkewicz, an employee and colleague, is a shocking loss," Superintendent Dr. Norman Fernandez said.  "Our thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones during this immensely difficult time. We extend our deepest condolences to his family, friends, and loved ones." My heart is broken……. Keith I can’t believe you’re gone. We were just talking about going back to Medieval Times. How’s... Posted by…

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by Sam Barron
Obituaries
Death Of Councilman's Son, World Salsa Champ Devastates Union County Town Death Of Councilman's Son, World Salsa Champ Devastates Union County Town
Death Of Councilman's Son, World Salsa Champ Devastates Union County Town The sudden death of a 10-year-old world Salsa dancing champion whose father is an elected official and mother is a Board of Education member has devastated the Linden community. Ariel Rivas Rosado died in what local officials are calling a "tragic accident" on Friday, Feb. 10.  His mother is BOE member Dayanara Rosado Quezada, and his father is 5th Ward Councilman Carlos Rivas. Funeral Arrangements For 10 year old, Ariel Rivas - Visitation will be this Friday, February 17, 2023, 5:00-9:00pm, at... Posted by Derek Armstead Mayor of Linden on Tuesday, February 14, 2023 A fifth grader a…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Sheriff's Officer, Marine, School Board Trustee Timothy O'Hare Always Wanted Best For Others Sheriff's Officer, Marine, School Board Trustee Timothy O'Hare Always Wanted Best For Others
Sheriff's Officer, Marine, School Board Trustee Timothy O'Hare Always Wanted Best For Others If someone tells you that Tim O'Hare was one of a rare breed, believe them. Because they're right. Timothy M. O'Hare -- father, husband, Marine, school board member, Bergen County sheriff's officer and much more -- died the morning of Sunday, Nov. 20. He was 50 years old. O'Hare loved his wife and kids fiercely. He served his country proudly. And he moved through the world with a joy and enthusiasm that nothing -- not even a lengthy, valiant battle against cancer -- could quench. O'Hare, of Waldwick, returned home a week ago Sunday to spend his final days with Lisa, their children, Connor…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Hateful Images, Messages Sent To Westwood Regional Students Probed By Cyber Crime Detectives Hateful Images, Messages Sent To Westwood Regional Students Probed By Cyber Crime Detectives
Hateful Images, Messages Sent To Westwood Regional Students Probed By Cyber Crime Detectives An underage saboteur used the online account of a Westwood Regional High School student to email hateful messages to most of the victim’s classmates – among them, an image of a Ku Klux Klansman accompanied by an anti-Semitic caption, authorities said. The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Cyber Crimes Unit and Washington Township police are investigating the bias incident, which district officials traced to a “non-district minor’s” IP address, Schools Supt. Jill Mortimer wrote in a message to parents and staff members. “Please know this was not a breach of our network or system,” Mortimer emphasiz…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Bergen School District Ends Contract With Pentagon Official Who Mocked 'White Folx' Bergen School District Ends Contract With Pentagon Official Who Mocked 'White Folx'
Bergen School District Ends Contract With Pentagon Official Who Mocked 'White Folx' A Bergen County school district is ending its consulting contract with a self-described "woke" federal agency chief who has made publicly disparaging comments about whites. The comments made by Kelisa Wing -- including her being "exhausted at these white folx" -- ignited calls for her ouster last week as the chief officer for diversity, equity and inclusion in the U.S. Department of Defense's education branch. The controversy is also being felt on the local level in Cresskill, where Wing has provided "diversity and inclusion training" for its Board of Education employees for the past 18 mo…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Elementary School Fire In Passaic County Quickly Doused Elementary School Fire In Passaic County Quickly Doused
Elementary School Fire In Passaic County Quickly Doused No injuries were reported in a pre-dawn classroom fire Tuesday at the Haskell Elementary School. No children were in the building when the blaze broke out in a classroom at the Ringwood Avenue school shortly before 7 a.m. and was quickly extinguished, responders said. It caused a significant amount of smoke damage in the building, they said. A cause wasn't immediately disclosed. Mutual aid responders included firefighters from Ringwood, Pompton Lakes, Bloomingdale and Oakland, as well as local police and EMS. Both the Haskell and Wanaque elementary schools were closed as a result. Before …

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Lost Black Burial Ground Located On Property Of New Milford Grammar School Lost Black Burial Ground Located On Property Of New Milford Grammar School
Lost Black Burial Ground Located On Property Of New Milford Grammar School A tireless two-year search ended with the discovery of a Black cemetery on the grounds of a New Milford grammar school, a borough councilwoman announced. “The old burying ground is at the north end of the B. F. Gibbs Elementary School,” said Councilwoman Hedy Grant, who’d been searching for the site. “More specifically, it's on the field just east of the parking lot." The remains likely were undisturbed when landfill was laid during construction of the K-5 Bertrand F. Gibbs Elementary School on Sutton Place near Main and New Milford avenues, she said. It’s cause for celebration, indeed, b…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
NJ Teacher Accused Of Making 'Terrorists' Remark To Student Suspended, Police Notified NJ Teacher Accused Of Making 'Terrorists' Remark To Student Suspended, Police Notified
NJ Teacher Accused Of Making 'Terrorists' Remark To Student Suspended, Police Notified UPDATE: A high school teacher accused of telling an Arab-American student "we don't negotiate with terrorists" when he sought a homework extension has been suspended, officials with the Ridgefield School District in Bergen County confirmed. Another Ridgefield Memorial High School teacher and classmates witnessed the teacher's comment to Mohammed Zubi, a 17-year-old Muslim senior who's captain of the varsity soccer team, according to the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NJ). "I didn't mean it like that," the teacher reportedly told the boy afterward, the…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Teacher, Principal Suspended Amid Investigation Of School Project On Hitler’s ‘Accomplishments' Teacher, Principal Suspended Amid Investigation Of School Project On Hitler’s ‘Accomplishments'
Teacher, Principal Suspended Amid Investigation Of School Project On Hitler’s ‘Accomplishments' A Tenafly school teacher and principal are both suspended while their district superintendent investigates why a student’s presentation of the “accomplishments” of Adolph Hitler was assigned, as well as why concerns about it were ignored. A preliminary review of the 5th-grade Maugham Elementary School assignment “indicates that the curriculum and learning standards were not appropriately implemented,” said Tenafly Schools Supt. Shauna C. DeMarco (photo above). “An attempt to individualize the project resulted in the student receiving misguided instruction from the teacher,” DeMarco noted in…

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by Jerry DeMarco
News
Tenafly 5th Grader Dresses As Hitler For Class Project: ‘Pretty Great Wasn’t I?' Tenafly 5th Grader Dresses As Hitler For Class Project: ‘Pretty Great Wasn’t I?'
Tenafly 5th Grader Dresses As Hitler For Class Project: ‘Pretty Great Wasn’t I?' As Memorial Day approached, a fifth-grade student at a Tenafly school dressed as Adolph Hitler and handwrote a list of “accomplishments” in an essay that was hung in a hallway among those about historical figures, outraged parents said Monday. Tenafly Schools Supt. Shauna DeMarco told them that she’s investigating the incident at the Ralph S. Maugham School. "We are on top of this at multiple levels and will determine proper actions once due process has been afforded to all involved parties and a full investigation has been completed," the superintendent wrote in an email to parents. ****…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Schools
Paterson Schools Extend Remote Learning To March Paterson Schools Extend Remote Learning To March
Paterson Schools Extend Remote Learning To March Paterson Public Schools will be holding classes virtually until March. Superintendent Shafer made the recommendation to the Board of Education based on "science and data," district officials said. “As I have said before about the decision to reopen school buildings, data will be our guide and safety will be our priority,” Shafer said. “Nearly ten months after COVID-19 first emerged in New Jersey, community spread of new infections has reached an all-time high.” Almost thirty New Jersey school districts will be remote learning until after the New Year.  Of the 70 school-related outbr…

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by Cecilia Levine
Schools
COVID-19 Closes Paterson Schools Until January COVID-19 Closes Paterson Schools Until January
Covid-19 Closes Paterson Schools Until January Paterson schools will remain closed for in-person learning until January. The district's Board of Education on Wednesday passed a resolution to extend in-person learning until Jan. 19. “Given the predominant local pandemic conditions, we cannot in good conscience, allow school buildings to reopen at this time,” Board of Education President Kenneth Simmons said.  “I thank the district administration for their due diligence in gathering the data to enable the Board Commissioners to make an informed, scientifically-based decision that is in the best interests of Paterson Public Schools s…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
Report: NJ Students Pictured In Monkey Mask, MAGA Hat Mocking George Floyd's Death Report: NJ Students Pictured In Monkey Mask, MAGA Hat Mocking George Floyd's Death
Report: NJ Students Pictured In Monkey Mask, Maga Hat Mocking George Floyd's Death A New Jersey high school is under intense scrutiny for a photo posted to social media apparently depicting two students mocking George Floyd's death, according to a recent news reports. In the photo, one person is wearing a police badge and a red “Make American Great Again” hat and another is wearing an ape mask and getting a knee to the back of the neck. According to LehighValleyLive, both are students at Hunterdon Central Regional High School in Raritan Township, and one is reportedly a minor. Township police are investigating a number of racially-charged social media activities but…

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by Valerie Musson
Police & Fire
Not So Fast: NJ Police Chief Corrects School Board Member’s Claims About COVID Response Not So Fast: NJ Police Chief Corrects School Board Member’s Claims About COVID Response
Not So Fast: NJ Police Chief Corrects School Board Member’s Claims About COVID Response A local Board of Education trustee got more than she bargained for when she blasted her township police department's response to the coronavirus pandemic. Dawn Kumar, saying that she was speaking as a private citizen, said during an online Wayne Township Council meeting earlier this month that she’d seen a police officer not wearing a face mask in Costco, as well as high school students ignoring social distancing by gathering on a local field. Kumar, 33, a self-described “teacher turned homemaker" who became a BOE member six months ago, said these were examples of Mayor Chris Vergano and t…

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by Jerry DeMarco
Schools
Racial Tension Divides Hackensack BOE, Black Teacher Resigns Citing Years Of Racism Racial Tension Divides Hackensack BOE, Black Teacher Resigns Citing Years Of Racism
Racial Tension Divides Hackensack BOE, Black Teacher Resigns Citing Years Of Racism Longtime Hackensack Middle School teacher Raquel James-Goodman tendered her resignation Tuesday, following a Board of Education vote that she says was just another example of systemic racism in Hackensack. James-Goodman, who had been with the Hackensack School District for 13 years, was saddened and disappointed by the fact that BOE Trustee Frances Cogelja refused to vote on a resolution to promote diversity and abolish racism in the district. The referendum was otherwise passed unanimously by the board’s eight other members. To James-Goodman -- who is black -- the problem is not just Coge…

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by Cecilia Levine
News
W. Orange Middle School Student's 'Lesbians' Shirt Draws Punishment, Praise W. Orange Middle School Student's 'Lesbians' Shirt Draws Punishment, Praise
W. Orange Middle School Student's 'Lesbians' Shirt Draws Punishment, Praise An eighth-grader from West Orange caused a stir when she wore a shirt proclaiming "We're All Lesbians" to class at Liberty Middle School -- but the school district is now praising the girl's gesture for prompting a healthy dialogue about tolerance.  Justice Cillo-Smith, who identifies as lesbian, was told by a guidance counselor that the shirt violates school district policy prohibiting clothing containing sexual innuendo or inappropriate language, her mother, Gwen Wu, wrote on Facebook.  Wu added that the school's principal said officials were trying to prevent the girl from becoming a tar…

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by Paul Milo
Police & Fire
Cliffside Park School Bus Driver, Aide Hospitalized After Falling Into Same Pothole Cliffside Park School Bus Driver, Aide Hospitalized After Falling Into Same Pothole
Cliffside Park School Bus Driver, Aide Hospitalized After Falling Into Same Pothole Both a Cliffside Park school bus driver and an aide injured themselves falling into the same pothole Thursday morning, authorities said. The aide had fallen, injuring her foot and leg, after getting off the bus at a stop on Commercial Avenue around 8:30 a.m. Thursday, Detective Capt. Vincent Capano said. The driver got off to help her and sustained similar injuries, Capano said. Fairview EMS took both to Holy Name Medical Center in Teaneck for treatment, the captain said. Another Board of Education driver was dispatched to take over. Meanwhile, a DPW crew was dispatched to patc…

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by Jerry DeMarco