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The Maroon Vol. 2… No. 33 April 28, 2022
“Bringing us all to a place we don't want to lose."
Observer: Dazed & Confused Village Leaders
Macky’s New York: The Girl In The Flower Shop
William Peay: Tales From The Wood…
RHS Athletic Hall Of Fame: Save The Date: Nov. 5th 2022
Did You Know…. Exemplary Leadership
RHS Tired Teens: Later School Start Times
M + A NYC: Mighty Are We As One
James Stroker: Hope Coach
Jim Schoneman: Rock Hound
Siobhan Crann Winograd: Around The Village
Ali Stroker: Free Shakespeare in the Park
Observer
Dazed & Confused Village Leaders
You wouldn’t know it by the level of activity and oversight being given to the project by the Village Council (VC), but the Village of Ridgewood owns a property with a house and land for a park called Zabriskie-Schedler House. It’s located at 460 West Saddle River Road.
According to public records:
Its an Exempt Public property with 2120 sq/ft of space. Taxes are $0 annually. This property was built in 1800 and is owned by VILLAGE OF RIDGEWOOD who lives at 131 N MAPLE AVE. This property was last sold on 2009-12-29 for $2,700,000.
Yes, the purchase was made over 12 years ago.
This bit of civic negligence makes the $24,000 authorized for sound proofing the Pickle Ball courts on Glen Avenue look like sheer brilliance.
Clearly, the Village has a failure of leadership in many of its institutions. The Board of Education (BOE) stalling on the issue of starting the school day at RHS at 8:30AM, and the Ridgewood High School Alumni Association’s (RHSAA) failure to remedy their own hacked website spring to mind. Though this $2.7 million for the Zabriskie-Schedler House is the most egregious boondoggle of all.
Time for the VC, BOE, and RHSAA to do some brutal self-reckoning. Village residents are well within their rights to demand statements from their wayward public officials:
Why The Schedler Project is not moving forward after 12 years of village ownership?
Why the BOE thinks they need more evidence of on the benefits to teenagers of more sleep when they have been studying the topic for over 10 years?
Why the RHSAA doesn’t fix their website which was hacked in September, 2018 and replace their unpatched web server? They have been alerted in writing on numerous occasions but they to date only ignored the professional who noticed the hack and provided the expertise at no charge.
Macky’s New York
Matthew Cortellesi Photography
April 22, 2022 - Williamsburg
The Girl In The Flower Shop
I don't know her name...but she and I have smiled many times at eachother - you see...she has a little flower shop outside a bodega on Bedford Avenue and today...as I stood there she smiled and as I was taking pictures of flowers to her right...she got on a step and started arranging some flowers against the wall and as I stood on the outside with the thick plastic lining between us...I shot this of my friend with the reflection of the brick building over my right shoulder.
Shot on Bedford Avenue at North 9th street looking south with north looking reflection in tarp.
Time 515pm.
#ny1pic
William Peay
Tales From The Wood…
RHS Athletic Hall Of Fame
Save The Date: November 5, 2022
Visit The RHS Athletic Hall Of Fame
Did You Know…
Exemplary Leadership
Did you know that this September, Chatham High School will join the ranks of high-performing NJ schools that have moved to a later school start time? In his presentation to the BOE, Superintendent, Michael La Susa detailed the facts about the benefits of LSST with a conviction that left no doubt about his commitment to this change. Chatham BOE presentation (8:00-19:45) In fact, he has become an ambassador for LSST, opening his doors to any school contemplating the change. In short, he has shown exemplary leadership. In his own words:
"I believe the greatest achievement of my career would be to push back the start time of our high school day, to reflect the physiology and biology of teenage kids, and what's in their best interest."
He will continue the process of educating his school community on the importance of LSST parallel to rolling up his sleeves and doing the work to ensure that every detail is addressed before September. And if everything isn't perfect by then, he said, that's OK too. They will make adjustments as they go.
By shaving 2 minutes off of each class period, Chatham High School will start the day at 8:20 and end at 3:00.RHS Principal, Jeff Nyhuis, has been proposing a similar schedule for years. His schedule has the high school day starting at 8:30 and ending at 3:05. He has held numerous round-table discussions with stakeholders including our AD, coaches, teachers, administrators, parents, and students. He knows he has plenty of support. He has made it clear that he is committed to getting this done because it's what's best for students. He too has shown exemplary leadership.
However, the Ridgewood community and the students at RHS are still waiting to hear from our superintendent that a later school start time at the high school will be in place for September. As one caller said at this week's BOE meeting, we've been talking about LSST since her child was in Kindergarten. He is now a senior at RHS. The Smart Balance team has been laying the groundwork for over a decade and handed that work to our district on a silver platter. Smart Balance Timeline
We don't need more time; we need leadership.
—Dr. Anne Robinson, RHS 1977
RHS Tired Teens
Later School Start Times
M + A NYC
Mighty Are We As One
Inspired by art, designed in New York, and made by hand with love by artisans all over the world. Shop home décor and wearable accessories at www.mplusanyc.com
James Stroker
Sometimes feeling proud of someone you love does not have words.
Jim Schoneman
Rock Hound
Last year's cattails, blue sky, and a birch tree reflecting on a peeper pond.
Siobhan Crann Winograd
Around The Village
In late 2021, the Village Council committed to providing a long overdue statement of clarity regarding the Schedler Project. Sadly despite repeated polite requests nothing has been provided and the project tab on the website is confusing and Inaccurate.
Tonight I went to ask about this again but it was crickets. Seriously it was like I wasn’t even there.
At this point I am unsure of what to do to get the Village to provide the public with a real update. Any ideas?