The “Black Widow” Strikes a Blow for Democracy

Scarlett Johannson is dazzling as “Black Widow” in”Iron Man 2”and “The Avengers”.  She is intriguing in “Lost in Translation” and enigmatic in “Girl with a Pearl Earring”.  Woody Allen appears enamored of her, as he has cast her in three of his films, including Vicki Cristina Barcelona, one of his most successful films. Scarlett began her film career at the age of 9, and has established herself over the last twenty years as a force to be reckoned with!  She has graced the cover of numerou...
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Modular Classrooms/ Trailers Proposed in Fort Lee

At recent BOE meetings, Evelyn Tsugranis, the School #2 PTA president, has requested that the Board members search for a more suitable alternative to the placing of “trailers” by School #2 for the upcoming school year.  While my sympathies lie with her, as it is a tragic circumstance that has resulted in modular classrooms usurping playground areas at School #2, it is a fait accompli.  I assume that she believes that the Board members have neither explored nor considered other alternatives.   No...
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Severe Winter = Snow = School on Saturday in Fort Lee

At Monday’s BOE meeting on February 10, 2013, the Board members brought attention to the current crisis in our schools.   CBS News and other media outlets attended, not just because of “Bridgegate”, but because the same crisis facing Fort Lee is affecting schools across the nation.  For lack of a better title, let’s call this the National School Snow Crisis of 2014. To be clear, the NSSC is an artificial crisis created by inflexible regulations regarding school days and state funding.   P...
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Common Core Curriculum: Does it benefit our students?!!

CORE Curriculum, where a possible acronym for CORE could be “Concepts of Robotic Education”, is the newest institution to invade our school systems.  If there was ever a program to stifle creativity and innovative teaching, CORE may be the ultimate development.   The whole theory behind it is “rotten to the Core”.  It is based on a false premise, i.e. if every teacher instructs in the same way, with exactly the same material, the students will benefit. From ask.com, the definition of “cor...
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Fort Lee is Finally Famous

Fort Lee is finally on the map. We are officially famous, having been in the “national news” all week.     To loosely quote Alan Keller, upstanding local citizen, “prior to this episode, the only individual in Fort Lee who believed we were famous was Tom Meyers”.  Of course, we all understand that Tom receives a nice salary as Director of the Fort Lee Film Commission and is thus obligated to believe that Fort Lee is important.  None of us every doubted that Chris Christie had an ego. So why s...
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What value does Fort Lee put on its teachers?

What value does Fort Lee put on its teachers? In April 2013, the collective bargaining agreement between the teachers’ union (FLEA) and the Fort Lee Board of Education expired.   To the best of my knowledge, no negotiations were held prior to the expiration date of the contract, although the union had requested that negotiations begin prior to that date. Since that time, there have been approximately five formal meetings with the representatives of the teachers’ union and at least two mee...
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The “Evolution” of Education

The world of education today might be considered in direct conflict with Charles Darwin.  He brought us “evolution”.  Modern teaching theory in some areas of the United States could be better classified as “devolution”.  As our society ”devolves” into barbarism, so our educational system follows. Case in Point!  The Texas Board of Education on Friday, November 22, 2013 (or was it the year 1513) refused to approve a “biology textbook” widely accepted throughout the United States because on...
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Fort Lee High School’s New $100,000 Scoreboard

How many scoreboards would $ 110,000 buy?  Would $110,000 buy us a new gym for the middle school or get our high school gym completed on time?  Exactly how far does $ 110,000 go in 2013 in the Fort Lee School system? It is difficult to gauge what $ 110,000 can buy. But in my opinion, based on the following facts, it is relatively simple to calculate what it does buy:INCOMPETENCE!  Please judge for yourselves. In 2010, the Fort Lee Community finally passed a $ 30 million referendum to u...
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Girl on Fire

President Obama may have to declare Jennifer Lawrence a “national treasure” in order to preserve his legacy.  (Clearly Obamacare is not going to work, and his new negotiation to halt the Irani plan to develop nuclear capabilities is clearly doomed to failure.) Our Thanksgiving gift this year may very well be “Hunger Games, Catching Fire”.  It is a pleasure to view from start to finish, with stellar performances by several fine actors, including Donald Sutherland, Philip Seymour Hoffman an...
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BOE Election 2013

Next Tuesday, November 5, 2013, is Election Day.  While Chris Christie smothers his competition and Cory Booker feeds his oversized ego by having won a Senate seat, we have our own Fort Lee BOE election, four candidates for three positions on a nine person board.   Jeffrey Weinberg, the only non-incumbent is highly likely to prevail.    I’ve never met Mr. Weinberg or heard him speak.  But he has one major attribute, “HE IS NOT ON THE CURRENT BOARD”.  Considering what has occurred over the...
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