NEW CHS OPTIONS DISCUSSED, INCLUDING COSTLY POOL IMPROVEMENTS

The News-Record this week has a good round-up of the options for Columbia High School and its pool that were recently discussed:

MAPLEWOOD / SOUTH ORANGE - With an aging pool facility and an expected surge in students predicted for the coming years, Maplewood and South Orange leaders met Monday night, June 17, with the local Board of Education to discuss options for readying Columbia High School for its future, with a focus mainly on the school’s pool.

“As you know, there’s limited life (for) the existing swimming pool,” Cheryl Schneider, business administrator and secretary for the Board of Education, told those in attendance. “When we had unanticipated costs last fall, we actually had closed the swimming pool and were able to have an incremental cost of just about $30,000 to get another two years out of the swimming pool.”

Schneider emphasized the need for a plan to be in place — one that will keep the high school modern and able to meet the towns’ needs through the 2024-2025 school year. According to Schneider, this plan needs to take into account the expected student enrollment, which, at its peak, could theoretically be approximately 2,100 to 2,200 students — an increase of more than 700 students.

See the entire story HERE.

GIRLS NIGHT OUT IS TONIGHT...FINALLY

GAY WRITERS EVENT TONIGHT

7:00pm

Homogenius  In celebration of Pride, the Maplewood Library will present an evening of work by local LGBT writers, featuring short plays by award-winning playwright Robert Shaffron and selections from Dad is Dead, Please Call Me, a work-in-progress by Peaches and Coconuts blogger Deborah Goldstein, who is also managing director for LesbianFamily.com. One night only!  Thursday, June 20th  7pm at Maplewood Library  51 Baker Street, Maplewood

GUM WALL REMOVAL NOTICE IS A FAKE

A notice declaring that the infamous "gum wall" under the NJ Transit overpass on Baker Street will be removed is a fake, according to NJ Transit officials.

The notice, seen below, was first posted on MOL after it was put near the famed wall this week.




NJ Transit spokeswoman Nancy Snyder told Maplewoodian.com that the notice is not the work of the transit line and is to be removed.

“It didn’t come from us, it looks pretty fake to me," she said in an interview. "In this case, I don’t know what it is. It doesn’t look real. We will have people look into it.”

She said any notice from the state would have an official letterhead or logo. "We are going to immediately look into it and remove it.”

DON'T MESS WITH US SMALL TOWN NEWS SITES

I have been lucky that the Township of Maplewood has been mostly supportive of my web site, answering requests for information and records fairly well.

But, if they did try to shut me down for some stupid reason, I would want this lawyer to handle it:

This is from a letter sent to the Township of West Orange by the lawyer of a website called www.westorange.info, after the town claimed he was hurting them somehow

See the story HERE.

The letter below:

POST OFFICE MEETING BRINGS OUT CONCERNS

PATCH offers a good round-up of this week's meeting:

An indoor winter garden.  Windows that don’t look “cheap.” Input by local architects into the design process. 

And – no surprise -- more parking. 

These are just some ideas residents and merchants have for the redevelopment of Maplewood’s “crown jewel” property, the Post Office site. The comments came at a public forum on Tuesday night at Town Hall, where roughly 40 people came to hear Mayor Vic DeLuca, members of the Township Committee (TC) and planner Paul Grygiel describe the current status of the Post Office Plan. 

Read the rest HERE.

TUSCAN SCHOOL CHOSEN TO PROMOTE FIRST LADY'S HEALTH PROGRAM

Great news from the Tuscan principal today:

TUSCAN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

Office of the Principal

25 Harvard Avenue ¨ Maplewood ¨ New Jersey 07040

Malikah Tamar Majeed, Principal                                                                          973-378-5221

June 19, 2013

Dear Tuscan Family~

I’m pleased to announce that Tuscan School was selected to represent a model active school for a national promotion for First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! Active Schools initiative.

An active school is one that values, recognizes and promotes the enormous benefits of physical activity before, during and afterschool.

Tuscan School will become the face of the national Let’s Move! Active Schools campaign!

This Friday, June 21, 2013, professional photographers will spend the day at Tuscan to photograph our students and staff actively involved in physical activities in our gym, classrooms and on the playground.

Large group and small group photographs will be taken throughout the day. In the Let’s Move! Active Schools promotion Tuscan School will serve to represent any school, in any town, anywhere in the nation. Therefore, this Friday, June 21, 2013 we will dress for a regular school day and save our Tuscan t-shirts for Monday, June 24^th, 2013.

The attached Authorization to Use Image form will be required. Please rest assured that your child’s image will only be used for the Let’s Move! Active Schools promotion and not by NIKE, their affiliates or any other entity.

We'd like to receive as many of these signed Authorization to Use Image forms before Friday, June 21^st.

Please know that all students will be participating on Friday as they normally would on a regular school day. When the select photos are chosen, we may need to follow-up with parents/guardians to secure signed releases from those who have not done so.

Please visit http://www.letsmove.gov/active-schools to learn more about the Let’s Move! Active Schools initiative.

It is such an honor to have been chosen from among all other elementary schools in our nation.

With sincere appreciation,

Ms. Malikah Majeed                                            Ms. Judy LoBianco

Principal                                                                Supervisor of Health, Physical Education & Nursing

BIG MUSIC TONIGHT AT HIGHLAND PLACE