E-NEWS: The Spring 2009 edition of Bridgewater News, the Township’s newsletter, may be the last one that you will receive in paper format through the mail. The current edition of the newsletter advises residents who wish to continue receiving it, that it will be delivered electronically, as soon as about “2000 households sign up.”
However, you must take the initiative and subscribe by sending your email address to newsletter@bridgewaternj.gov.
I checked Bridgewater’s website at http://www.bridgewaternj.gov/, but the yellow “Click here to register for E-News” bar on the home page simply directs you to send an email with your electronic handle.
The Township newsletter further states that a limited number of the paper version will continue to be made available “at the municipal building, senior center and library.”
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Baseball fans, did you see the Yankees/Red Sox game at Fenway Park today? It was a wild marathon – a real cliff-hanger. When I tuned in during the top of the fourth inning, the Yankees were leading 6-0.
In a 4:00 PM day game that lasted until around 8:30 in the evening, the BoSox took it 16-11. The pitching staffs were depleted, and the lead changed hands several times with batters well in control.
It was a heartbreaker for the Yankees. This is definitely the best rivalry in baseball.
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Thanks for checking in, and take care of yourself. It can be a funky world out there.
Saturday, April 25, 2009
Wednesday, April 22, 2009
B-R Schools' Chief Post-Election Acknowledgment
The following e-mail was sent to Bridgewater-Raritan “Key Communicators” including myself this morning, by the Superintendent of the Bridgewater-Raritan School District. Since it is noteworthy information for the entire Bridgewater-Raritan community as well, I’ve included a copy of it in this blog post without additional comment.
“Dick Bergeron:
April 22, 2009
Dear Key Communicators,
As you now know, the 2009-2010 School Budget passed with 3,609 YES votes and 2,314 NO votes. I’d like to thank you for supporting public education in Bridgewater-Raritan and always spreading the good news about the district as key communicators. This election has proven to be historic with the largest voter turnout since 1962 and with one of the widest passage margins in recent memory. Communities across the district, in every polling area, have chosen to invest in education, in spite of the difficult economic times we are all experiencing. We are excited about this opportunity to maintain and improve the educational programs in Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District.
I would like to congratulate the three individuals who won Board seats: Cindy Cullen, Patrick Breslin, and Christine Schneider. I’d also like to thank Richard Guss for his three years of outstanding service to the community in his role as Board member.
Thank you,
Michael Schilder, Superintendent”
“Dick Bergeron:
April 22, 2009
Dear Key Communicators,
As you now know, the 2009-2010 School Budget passed with 3,609 YES votes and 2,314 NO votes. I’d like to thank you for supporting public education in Bridgewater-Raritan and always spreading the good news about the district as key communicators. This election has proven to be historic with the largest voter turnout since 1962 and with one of the widest passage margins in recent memory. Communities across the district, in every polling area, have chosen to invest in education, in spite of the difficult economic times we are all experiencing. We are excited about this opportunity to maintain and improve the educational programs in Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District.
I would like to congratulate the three individuals who won Board seats: Cindy Cullen, Patrick Breslin, and Christine Schneider. I’d also like to thank Richard Guss for his three years of outstanding service to the community in his role as Board member.
Thank you,
Michael Schilder, Superintendent”
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Still Time to Vote Today; Polls Close at 9:00 pm
The polls for the local school elections have been open since 7:00 am this morning and will remain so until 9:00 pm this evening. If you haven’t been able to cast your vote yet, please get out there and do so despite the damp, rainy weather. The community needs your participation.
If recent voter turnout remains true to results of the last decade, the Bridgewater-Raritan School District will be lucky to see around 4200 registered voters cast their ballots. That is approximately half of some of the turnouts of the 90’s, when there was greater and more diverse community involvement in the education process.
Ongoing efforts to increase voter input by moving the New Jersey school candidate and budget elections to the fall have been consistently unsuccessful, despite the best efforts of the legislature. One proposal would have done so, but at the expense of taking school budget approval away from the citizenry.
I still think that involving Bridgewater Township and Raritan Borough representatives with a review of the Bridgewater-Raritan school budget is not only a positive check, but results in a more thorough representation of the will of the entire Bridgewater-Raritan community.
The only thing standing between you and that review is the nature of your vote on the budget today.
If recent voter turnout remains true to results of the last decade, the Bridgewater-Raritan School District will be lucky to see around 4200 registered voters cast their ballots. That is approximately half of some of the turnouts of the 90’s, when there was greater and more diverse community involvement in the education process.
Ongoing efforts to increase voter input by moving the New Jersey school candidate and budget elections to the fall have been consistently unsuccessful, despite the best efforts of the legislature. One proposal would have done so, but at the expense of taking school budget approval away from the citizenry.
I still think that involving Bridgewater Township and Raritan Borough representatives with a review of the Bridgewater-Raritan school budget is not only a positive check, but results in a more thorough representation of the will of the entire Bridgewater-Raritan community.
The only thing standing between you and that review is the nature of your vote on the budget today.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
Obama Disses Symbol of Jesus at Georgetown
Take a careful look at the picture below and concentrate on the triangular section of the photo which shows the Christogram 'IHS' with a Christian cross at the center of the letter 'H'. This is not a gag; nor is it a Dan Brown religious puzzle like the ones which appear in the book, The da Vinci Code.
Next, look at the other pictures below. They are photos of the same but altered background in front of which President Barack Obama delivered an address on Tuesday April 14th , in Gaston Hall at Georgetown, a Jesuit university.
Next, look at the other pictures below. They are photos of the same but altered background in front of which President Barack Obama delivered an address on Tuesday April 14th , in Gaston Hall at Georgetown, a Jesuit university.
There is a black shroud completely covering up the triangular pediment depicting the name, Jesus -- that's what the letters 'IHS' represent in Greek. It's an ancient symbol, predating the founding of the Catholic Order of Jesuits.
Quoting from an article by Mark Silva of the Chicago Tribune: "According to the Catholic Encyclopedia: 'St. Ignatius of Loyola adopted the monogram in his seal as general of the Society of Jesus (1541) and thus it became the emblem of his institute.'"
I don't particularly care what President Barack Obama's religious persuasion is. What I do care about is how he chooses to honor or to disrespect his hosts when he visits a Catholic institution that represents a 2000 year-old tradition, one which will be around long after his Washington tenure is over.
The insistence by President Obama and his staff to conceal a religious symbol while on the grounds of a private Catholic institution shows formal disrespect and a lack of situational statesmanship. Georgetown officials should never have acquiesced to this demand.
The President could learn from a former First Lady, Mrs. Laura Bush who, in a White House photo, was also pictured appearing in Gaston Hall addressing a Georgetown audience on December 4, 2006. She stood before a lectern and delivered her speech in the same spot in which Obama stood. The pediment bearing the Christogram was directly behind her, unaltered, in full view of the audience.
That's the kind of respect and stately demeanor that should have been exhibited by President Barack Obama at Georgetown on April 14th.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Catch 22: The Bridgewater-Raritan School Budget
Next Tuesday, April 21st, when the polls open in the morning, you will be asked to vote yes or no on the proposed $133.2 million school budget. If you have gone to administration presentations, especially if you are a parent, you’ve been told, among other claims, that there isn’t much that can be pared back.
The biggest portion of that $133.2 million tab consists of personnel costs which are now running at 81.3%. We are consistently advised that personnel costs are fixed. The assumption is that that they simply cannot be controlled. Try telling that to the millions of other Americans who are on the ever-expanding unemployment lines.
The fact is that the recent Bridgewater-Raritan Boards of Education and their administrations have done a completely insufficient job of managing people costs. Less than two years ago, this board negotiated a three-year wage hike just a shade under 13%, a number completely out-of-line with inflation and with personnel performance criteria. Today, inflation is running near zero.
If that wage hike had been just 50% of what it is, the budgets during the current three-year wage increase period would be less by millions of dollars.
This school tax eats up 64% of Bridgewater’s real estate tax levy. And things won’t get better in Bridgewater or Raritan, until the Board of Education realizes what’s going on in the real world and acknowledges that the education establishment is part of that world.
The biggest portion of that $133.2 million tab consists of personnel costs which are now running at 81.3%. We are consistently advised that personnel costs are fixed. The assumption is that that they simply cannot be controlled. Try telling that to the millions of other Americans who are on the ever-expanding unemployment lines.
The fact is that the recent Bridgewater-Raritan Boards of Education and their administrations have done a completely insufficient job of managing people costs. Less than two years ago, this board negotiated a three-year wage hike just a shade under 13%, a number completely out-of-line with inflation and with personnel performance criteria. Today, inflation is running near zero.
If that wage hike had been just 50% of what it is, the budgets during the current three-year wage increase period would be less by millions of dollars.
This school tax eats up 64% of Bridgewater’s real estate tax levy. And things won’t get better in Bridgewater or Raritan, until the Board of Education realizes what’s going on in the real world and acknowledges that the education establishment is part of that world.
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