Emerson • Hillsdale • Montvale • Park Ridge • River Vale • Township of Washington • Westwood • Woodcliff Lake
PA S C AC K VA L L E Y ’ S H O M E TO W N N E W S PA P E R
VOLUME 26 ISSUE 25
Selfiestarter
SEPTEMBER 5, 2022
GIVING GIRLS CODE TO SOAR Hillsdale Library offering aims to broaden STEM smarts
WESTWOOD REGIONAL
5-4 VOTE
BY MICHAEL OLOHAN OF PASCACK PRESS
Following an hour-plus debate, the Westwood Regional school board voted, 5-4, on Aug. 25 to implement lesson plans that teach the state-mandated health and physical education standards, including controversial sex education topics for middle school students in grades 6–8. Voting for were Westwood trustees Roberta Hanlon and Andrea Peck; and Township of Washington trustees Maureen
See VOTE on page 144
MIGHT GET 127 SUMMIT FOR LESS THAN $4.6M
BY MICHAEL OLOHAN OF PASCACK PRESS
SEE PAGE 33
ʻWe canʼt … pretend kids are not being exposed to these thingsʼoutside class, says one trustee. Another decries ʻgroomingʼ
BOROUGH Council approves bond; Ghassali says 28 acres under negotiation
Washington Township Volunteer Ambulance Corps. veteran Justin Tsai is making famous friends.
ADOPTS STATE’S SEX ED., HEALTH UPDATES
MONTVALE
Annie Lee, a teenager from the greater Pascack Valley Area, works to increase skills and opportunities for young women interested in STEM fields. Here she teaches girls coding at Hillsdale Public Library. HFPL photo
T
BY JOHN SNYDER OF PASCACK PRESS
ANNIE LI is determined to bring balance to STEM classes — by leading them herself at the Hillsdale Library. Thatʼs via a library update forwarded us by adult programming coordinator Adam Keeble, who EENAGER
notes that although Li saw “a fairly even split between boys and girls in my computer science class at the STEM school I attend (STEM is an acronym for science, technology, engineering, and math) my research showed only 28% of the workforce in STEM is made up of women.” Thatʼs in contrast, she said, to the population of the United States,
4FLOODING ON BROADWAY, SUMMER 2022, VIA RAY ARROYO
which is more than half female. “At my town high school” — sheʼs a Bergen County Academies junior studying computer science — “I have been informed that there are only two girls in the entire class,” Li said. “Women in STEM, or the lack of them, was an issue that hit home,”
Continued on page 39
The Borough Council unanimously approved a bond ordinance Aug. 30 to purchase a 28acre tract at 127 Summit Ave. for approximately $4.6 million, following a closed session meeting where they agreed to make revisions in their letter of intent to purchase the property. Mayor Michael Ghassali and borough attorney Joseph Voytus declined to provide any details on what concerns motivated the revisions to their intent to purchase the tract, citing ongoing confidential negotiations. Before the vote, the governing body met privately for some 20 minutes with Planning Board chair John DePinto and engineer Andrew Hipolit. Although three residents attended the 6 p.m. special meeting, no public comment was received. Neither the mayor nor council members offered public comment on the ordinances. Ghassali also said it was unclear what property tax impacts would be to an average homeown-
See 127 SUMMIT on page 274
FLOOD RELIEF
B ck in time...
The 10-member Pascack Valley Mayors’ Association anticipates a key endorsement toward flood-relief legislation that it says would help the Pascack Valley and New Jersey. SEE PAGE 39
I F YOU THINK small-town politics is bad today, you should have seen Park Ridge of the late 19th century. Kristin Beuscher has the story.
SEE PAGE 4