Sunday, March 24, 2013
Jean Donato died in a bizarre accident a year ago during the township-promoted exercise event. A year later, her death is still ignored by officials- but the shakefest has been renamed and toned down.
A year after a freakish accident claimed the life of a longtime Woodbridge Board of Education employee, the township-sponsored exercise event that cost the woman her life has quietly disappeared. Instead, it's been revamped into a presumably safer 12-week dieting and exercise event, called the "Mayor's Spring into Shape Weight Loss Challenge." Residents who pay a $30 fee will get a t-shirt with Mayor John McCormac's fat fighting slogan, "Shape Up Woodbridge!" on it. They'll also receive a pedometer, nutrition education classes, and workout sessions at the Woodbridge Community Center. Big losers will win cash prizes, said McCormac in a statement on the event. In 2012, the exercise event was known as "Moves Like Woodbridge." The idea was …
40.544655
-74.301774
Woodbridge Community Center
600 Main St, Woodbridge, NJ
/articles/a-year-after-a-freak-fall-claimed-a-life-moves-like-woodbridge-is-repackaged
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Thursday, February 21, 2013
Remember the $32.5 million bond referendum on school solar panels? As the last are being installed, it's unclear whether the panels will pay for themselves as they were promised to do.
More than two years ago, Woodbridge voters approved a $32.5 million bond referendum to install new roofs on 21 township schools, to be followed by solar panels that promised to cut electricity bills by a huge margin. If you look now, the last of the solar panels are being installed - right now, at Woodbridge High School. A field of little yellow flags on the school roof marks off where the panels are to be placed as workmen scurry to and fro, finishing up the job. Like other schools that received the solar panels, Woodbridge High School has an enormous sign proclaiming the installation of the "Solar Photovoltaic System" erected on the grounds. A slogan on the sign, "Saving Money and Bringing Clean Energy to Our Community," harkens back to…
40.56626
-74.284769
Woodbridge High School
1 Samuel Lupo Pl, Woodbridge, NJ
/articles/with-srec-woodbridge-high-school-gets-the-last-of-the-solar-panels
751252
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Thursday, January 31, 2013
The Woodbridge BOE appointed Robert Zega, who has been working as an assistant superintendent since August.
In a special board meeting Wednesday night, the Woodbridge Board of Education approved the appointment of Dr. Robert Zega as the district's new superintendent. Zega, who has been serving as the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction since August, is replacing Dr. John Crowe, who resigned from his position as of December 1, amid the standardized test cheating scandals in the district. In his assistant superintendent job, Zega replaced Lois Rotella, who abruptly resigned last August just as news of the state Department of Education investigation into cheating at various Woodbridge schools was coming to light. Zega's assistant superintendent contract was to run through June 30, 2013. His promotion to head of the school …
Friday, January 11, 2013
Dara Kurlander, the suspended Avenel Street School principal, has filed suit against OFAC and the anonymous sources who fingered her in a cheating scandal.
Dara Kurlander, the Avenel Street School principal who was suspended on charges of helping children cheat on standardized tests, has filed a lawsuit against the NJ's Department of Education's investigative unit and two of the anonymous sources who testified against her. In the lawsuit, filed in Middlesex County, Kurlander's attorneys charge that the Office of Fiscal Accountability and Compliance (OFAC) "falsely taint[ed] her reputation as an educator," according to a report in the Star-Ledger. In addition to OFAC, Kurlander's attorney Lisa Krenkel is suing the Director of Investigations Thomas Martin and Director Robert Cicchino, and two anonymous sources who reported to OFAC Kurlander's alleged desk-tapping trick that alerted students to…
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Fill out the three-question survey online. Deadline for submission is December 19.
What do you want in a new schools superintendent? The Woodbridge Board of Education wants your opinion. The Board of Ed has put up a three-question survey to get community input into what is most important in a new superintendent. They have been conducting a superintendent search since former Superintendent Jonathan Crowe resigned over the school cheating scandal that rocked the district earlier this year. Angela Korodan, a retired assistant superintendent, came back to fill in until a permanent replacement for Crowe is selected. His resignation in the district's top spot was effective December 1. The survey, which consists of three multiple-choice questions, can be filled out and submitted online. The questions include what kind of …
Monday, November 19, 2012
Angela Korodan, a retired assistant superintendent, will be the temporary head of the district until a permanent replacement is found.
With the impending reassignment of John Crowe to an elementary school principal's position on December 1, that leaves an empty space at the top of the Woodbridge School District while the board engages in its superintendent search. The Board announced last week that they will be bringing a former assistant school superintendent, Angela Korodan, out of retirement to fill Crowe's superintendent spot until a permanent replacement can be found. "She'll be the interim superintendent," said Board attorney Jonathan Busch. "She was a pleasure to work with, a true professional." Korodan had once served as the district's temporary superintendent, when Crowe's predecessor, Vincent S. Smith, had left, and before Crowe was took on the superintendent …
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Attorneys for former Avenel Street School Principal Dara Kurlander are petitioning to get the confidential state files into a school cheating scandal.
Three months after the Woodbridge School District suspended five educators based on the results of a state investigation into standardized test cheating, one of the suspended principals wants to clear her name. Attorneys for Dara Kurlander, who was principal at Avenel Street Schools #4 & #5, want to see the confidential files upon which the NJ Office of Accountability and Compliance (OFAC) based their report on the cheating scandal that rocked the township in August. Kurlander's attorneys announced they have filed a petition with the Superior Court of New Jersey to gain access to OFAC's investigatory files, which includes interviews with subjects who say they observed the cheating and Kurlander's role in it. The interviews have so far …
Thursday, October 18, 2012
Not many people attended the Woodbridge Board of Education debate that was lightly publicized.
The biggest thing about Monday's Board of Education debate was how few people showed up for it. In a year that has seen the school district ripped apart with resignations, suspensions, and an omnipresent cheating scandal, the debate hosted by the Presidents' Council of Woodbridge Township had almost as few fireworks as it had audience members. Three incumbents - Judy Leidner, Lawrence Miloscia, and Board Vice President Ezio Tamburello - are running for the three open seats, as are two newcomers, former district physical education teacher Peter Capitano, Sr. and political aide Daniel Harris. The selection of a new school superintendent was as hot of an issue as it got. Woodbridge School Superintendent John Crowe will be leaving his post …
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-74.285471
Avenel Middle School
85 Woodbine Ave, Avenel, NJ
/articles/sparsely-attended-boe-debate-a-polite-affair
2006085
/locations/8029644
The Woodbridge Board of Ed meeting is tonight at Avenel Middle School.
The search is on for a superintendent in the Woodbridge School District, and setting a date for a town-hall style forum will be on the agenda at tonight's Board of Education meeting. The BOE will be holding their regular meeting tonight at 7 pm at Avenel Middle School. They will discuss when they will hold an open meeting for the public where the details of the superintendent search committee will be reviewed. Current School Superintendent John Crowe will be leaving his job on December 1, the latest result in the school cheating scandal that has run rampant through the school district. Several teachers and principals have been suspended because of the standardized test cheating row which still isn't over. The NJ Department of Education …
Monday, October 1, 2012
Would you welcome him as a prinicipal to your child's school? Or would you say 'no way'?
One of the latest incidents in the Woodbridge school cheating scandal is the school board's announcement that they want to replace Dr. John Crowe as schools superintendent. Dr. Crowe will leave his superintendent job December 1, but he's not leaving the district. He'll be installed as a principal of a Woodbridge elementary school. What do you think? Would you welcome Dr. Crowe as your child's school principal? Or would you oppose him being in charge? Take our poll and post a comment. What do you think about the issue? Follow Woodbridge Patch on Facebook, Twitter and sign up for the daily newsletter.
Janelle
9:40 am on Friday, March 29, 2013
Deborah Bell - So you indicate above that you screwed up the article, but you want me to apologize??? I did nothing but comment on how disgraceful the article was in the first place.....I don't owe anyone an apology. See -- that's what it means to have an opinion. more ›