{"id":224,"date":"2014-04-15T00:36:19","date_gmt":"2014-04-15T00:36:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/?p=224"},"modified":"2016-08-11T04:03:47","modified_gmt":"2016-08-11T04:03:47","slug":"modular-classrooms-trailers-proposed-in-fort-lee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/?p=224","title":{"rendered":"Modular Classrooms\/ Trailers Proposed in Fort Lee"},"content":{"rendered":"

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 \u201ctrailers\u201d by School #2 for the upcoming school year. \u00a0While 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.\u00a0 I assume that she believes that the Board members have neither explored nor considered other alternatives.\u00a0\u00a0 No individual in this town has been more critical of the BOE than I. But it is a bit na\u00efve to believe that the BOE would not have considered all viable alternatives before proposing these trailers. And there is one simple reason to believe that!\u00a0 The BOE members had to be aware that they were going to take a ton of flak upon making such a controversial decision.<\/p>\n

Several years ago, the Board of Education proposed a $ 100 million bond issue to upgrade the schools and to provide new classrooms. By a paltry few votes, the referendum failed.\u00a0\u00a0 All those citizens of Fort Lee who voted down the referendum had to be prepared for the ramifications which are now descending upon us.\u00a0\u00a0 I\u2019m uncertain if those naysayers believed that the problems with overcrowding in our schools would just magically disappear or they were praying for divine intervention. \u00a0But obviously, the crisis has arrived and there are few viable options available.<\/p>\n

In all fairness, there were some valid reasons that community members may have had for voting against the referendum:<\/p>\n

(1) The referendum itself may not have been presented in a manner where members of the community thoroughly understood all the details of the proposal.\u00a0 However, no community member stepped forward to offer a better counterproposal.<\/p>\n

(2) There were parts of the referendum that would have affected the demographics, e.g. increased traffic, in certain areas of the community.<\/p>\n

(3) There were members of the community that believed Dr. Raymond Bandlow, School Superintendent, was remote, perhaps arrogant, and did not exude a trusting persona.<\/p>\n

There were also many reasons that the referendum was defeated that were offensive and controversial:<\/b><\/p>\n

(1) The members of our Borough Council were mute on the referendum<\/b>.\u00a0 Not wanting to alienate either side of the debate, fearful of losing votes, there was little or no support from our local politicians.<\/p>\n

(2) Joan Voss, a State Assemblywoman at that time, currently a County Freeholder, came out against the referendum for undetermined personal reasons. It is difficult to conceive how a one-time educator in Fort Lee could have opposed this project.<\/p>\n

(3) Some senior citizens in the community were far more concerned with an increase in taxes than in the future education of Fort Lee children.\u00a0 Note: One understands that many senior citizens live off of \u00a0fixed income and that they have a limited amount of disposable income.\u00a0 However, there were many seniors who could have afforded a modest tax increase and simply chose not to care about the welfare of our youth.\u00a0\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

(5) The Korean Community, following the lead of the local politico, Andrew Kim, were swayed by his rhetoric and his cohorts to vote down the referendum.<\/p>\n

(6) The Home Owners Association, being misguided by Nina Levinson, President (now retired), were convinced that the referendum was not beneficial to the community.\u00a0 It appeared that Nina was passing out flyers with misinformation to convince members of the community to vote down the referendum.<\/p>\n

(7) There were members of the Home Owners Associations that were so focused on their eternal battle with the coops regarding tax rates that they were going to vote against anything that would increase their taxes.<\/p>\n

(8) There were Fort Lee citizens that wanted a smaller referendum, failing to see the need for a $ 100 million dollars in improvements. They wanted to split the referendum into two or three smaller ones. Their abject failure to recognize that it was going to be difficult enough to pass one referendum blinded them to the realities of the situation. It was clear that the primary objective of the referendum was to build new classrooms<\/b>, essential to the influx of children into our school system.\u00a0 A smaller referendum would have\u00a0only addressed building repairs, not upgrades or expansion.<\/p>\n

(9)\u00a0 Since the 1980\u2019s, no referendum has ever been passed in Fort Lee to upgrade our buildings or to provide new classrooms. During the entire tenure of Dr. Sugarman, who so many people are quick to praise for his efforts, no referendum was ever passed.\u00a0 Yet, in BOE minutes in the early \u201890s, there were clear allusions to the fact that the school buildings were deteriorating and repairs and upgrades would be essential to the future of Fort Lee schools.\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

(10) Individuals who ship their children off to private and parochial schools often are reluctant to support community schools and vote against school budgets. \u00a0What they fail to realize is that failing schools in a community and \u201ctrailers\u201d will lower property values in the long run and discourage upscale families from moving into the neighborhood.<\/p>\n

(11) There were homeowners and condo owners who were skeptical of the $ 140 estimated tax increase per $ 400,000 property that was projected in the proposal, believing that it would be far greater.\u00a0\u00a0 Of course, those are the same individuals who have no problem spending $ 5.00 every morning at Starbucks on a latte.<\/p>\n

==========================================<\/p>\n

Fort Lee residents created their own crisis by failing to see the writing on the wall.<\/b>\u00a0 Our school population is increasing annually and with the influx of students from the Redevelopment Area 5 project<\/b>, the classrooms will be overflowing in every school.\u00a0 Fort Lee schools have reached the saturation point! Currently there are almost 30 students in most required classes.\u00a0 Note: the recommended numbers for educational facilities is 19 to 23 students \u00a0per classroom for efficiency and maximum student performance.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n


\n<\/i>Within the next two years, the Board of Education will be mandated to put forth a referendum to build new classrooms.\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0 The use of modular classrooms, i.e. trailers, is a temporary solution.\u00a0 The citizens of Fort Lee will either rise to the occasion and do what is best for our children, or they will continue to pursue the path of armageddon.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Hopefully, this time our Mayor and Local Borough Council members will step up to the plate and put their full support behind the new referendum.\u00a0 \u00a0Under new leadership, possibly the Home Owners\u2019 Association will recognize that their property values will decline as rapidly as our school system.\u00a0 Finally, perhaps Andrew Kim will be exiled to his home in Upper Saddle River, allowing the Korean community to realize that they need a quality school system for their children, i.e. that they must support an expansion proposal.<\/p>\n

To quote Abraham Lincoln: \u201cA house divided against itself cannot stand.\u201d \u00a0To extrapolate to Fort Lee, \u201ca community divided against itself is doomed to fail\u201d.\u00a0<\/b>\u00a0 Let\u2019s hope that Fort Lee residents awaken to the necessity for positive action, that they provide quality schools for our children, and that they guarantee the future of this community for the next generation.\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\"16245cc586d5115bcace7b1c8ccb17a9\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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 \u201ctrailers\u201d by School #2 for the upcoming school year. \u00a0While my sympathies lie with her, as it is a tragic circumstance that has resulted in modular classrooms usurping […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=224"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226,"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224\/revisions\/226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pearlsofwisdom.guru\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}