Ridgewood BOE Open Letter

To:  sbrogan@ridgewood.k12.nj.us; viloncto@ridgewood.k12.nj.us; ckrauss@ridgewood.k12.nj.us; mlenhard@ridgewood.k12.nj.us;jmorgan@ridgewood.k12.nj.us

Board members, I write this to express my disbelief and disappointment in your betrayal of Ridgewood's BF and Travell students by refusing to acknowledge the obvious impact the Valley expansion will have on surrounding schools.  Regardless of where anyone stands in support or objection to the Hospital, it is common sense that construction, noise, pollution and traffic  will negatively affect the student experience at BF and Travell, and by refusing to stand up for your students, publicly acknowledge these concerns and demand that the concerns be addressed, you have violated our trust in your ability and willingness to carry on your responsibility to safeguard our children.  As a board member, we expect you to look out for our children's interests and the interests of the Ridgewood education system and its properties.  As it stands now, Glen Avenue and the side streets such as Van Dien are a speedway for people racing in and out of Valley Hospital.  Stand out there on any given day and you can see for yourselves.  Expanding the hospital will only increase traffic flow and impact our safety, despite what Valley's "experts" say.  And yes, this is traffic related to Valley because these are cars coming in and out of its parking lots.  In fact, I've been cut off more than once by people in medical uniforms making unsafe turns in their regular cars leaving the hospital at 515pm.  Valley has consistently lied about its plans and their impact and you had an opportunity to speak up for our schools yet failed miserably.   How could you fail to acknowledge the impact years of construction noise, traffic detours and environmental dust and debris will have on us and our children and demand that those concerns be addressed up front?   We elected you to be our voice and yet you have NO concerns???   Is Valley lining your pockets too?