Welcome!

Welcome to Laurie Goodman's blog. I use this space to share news and opinions about education and schools in Ridgewood, the state of New Jersey and the nation, in addition to other issues I'm personally interested in. I invite you to share your thoughts, feelings, questions or opinions, too, by posting comments on any blog entry. Please observe basic courtesy -- keep your comments focused on issues, no personal attacks or bullying, please. Contact me directly at: lauriegood@mac.com

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

Transitions

Wow, is it possible that I haven't written a new blog post since January? That's surprising. I've meant to write many times, but somehow never got around to it. I blame Twitter. And Facebook. And LinkedIn. And... For me, personally, I've always said that I feel a need to communicate and share and write for others. Blogging was (and still is) great for that. And when I was on the Board of Education in Ridgewood, I felt compelled to do it on a regular basis. Once that obligation to communicate with the community and with voters was lifted (aka I was defeated in my re-election attempt), I found that microblogging via Twitter (I'm @lauriegood1) and posting on Facebook seemed to fulfill my need to reach out. (I'm pretty active in those forums, if you want to follow me!) Also, during this same time period, much of my freelance copywriting work switched to blogging and social media sharing on behalf of various clients. Truth is, at the end of a long day of writing for others, it can be hard to get energized to write some more, when there isn't a deadline or curious voter or marketing plan involved.

Lots of changes are in the air now, so I'm not sure where this blog will go. I'd like to think I'll find the energy and desire to write more often. There are certainly things to write about -- whether it be personal experiences, comments on the goings-on of Ridgewood, thoughts on education and public schools...I certainly have plenty of opinions and thoughts about all those things. I'm constantly reading about them, that's for sure.

Over the past few month, my lens has shifted slightly due to the following:

My son leaves for college next week at Penn State University. I am so excited for him and also terrified by all the scary things that can happen when a fearless 18-year-old boy is cut loose from daily parental controls (as loose as they are). He is an amazing kid, very smart, good head on his shoulders...I'm sure things will be fine, but I'm still going to find it very hard to sleep for awhile.

My daughter began her teaching career this week. She is teaching at an elementary charter school in New York City, in Harlem. It's exciting to realize that she has actually realized one of her childhood dreams, to be a teacher. I know this year is going to be hard, awesome, challenging, eye-opening and, ultimately, fulfilling. I am thrilled to get an inside look at the life of a new teacher as well as life inside an NYC charter.

My husband recently started a new job in Chicago. This is a huge, positive career move for him, a great position at an impressive & successful company, so when the offer came through, he had to take it. The plan is for me to join him in Chicago in the spring/early summer next year. Until then, he will commute home when he can, I'll fly out there when I can. It's going to be a challenge, but we'll figure it out.

All of this, of course, will end with us leaving Ridgewood in approx. May/June (by our best estimate). That's truly sad and unfortunate on many levels. I'll write more about that transition in the future (the near future, I promise!). And I'll have plenty to say in the meantime about Ridgewood politics, and Ridgewood schools, with my view from the "outside."

For now, maybe my next post will talk about teaching, based on my daughter's experience with her long job search and starting her new job.

Thursday, January 26, 2012

We need to amend Ridgewood's underage drinking ordinance

I was not a supporter of Ridgewood's underage drinking ordinance when it was adopted in 2007. I'm still not a fan. Not because I advocate underage drinking, but because I felt the ordinance was not really going to have an effect on the ways kids do what they do and the way the police do what they do. I felt it would give the grown-ups in town a false sense of having "handled" the problem, while driving the teens to get more secretive and hurried (which is dangerous when it comes to drinking). But the point is moot now because the ordinance has been in place for 5 years.

What I'm advocating now is an amendment to the ordinance that makes teens and parents aware of a state law designed to save lives and prevent injury.

Here are the comments I made to the Ridgewood Village Council at their work session last night:
In October 2009, the State of New Jersey signed into law 911: Lifeline legislation – also known as the “Amnesty Law” – which says that if a minor calls for medical assistance for an intoxicated person, they can not be prosecuted for underage drinking themselves, nor will the intoxicated person be prosecuted if they are underage.

This is an important law – its intention is to avoid a situation where a teen doesn’t call for help because he’s afraid he’s going to get in trouble.

It’s not a “get out of jail free” card, there are very specific rules to be followed, and it doesn’t protect teens from punishment from mom & dad, but it can keep kids safe when they find themselves in a dangerous situation and have to make a decision.

Amnesty is already the law in Ridgewood, because it’s the law in the entire state of New Jersey. And yet – this potentially-lifesaving law is only effective if kids know about it. In order for it to work, to potentially save a life or prevent injury, kids must know, in advance, that they can call 911 to get help, without fear.

I’ve talked to many Ridgewood teens since the state law was enacted, and I can say that none of them knew about this law.

One way to get the word out is to amend Ridgewood’s underage drinking ordinance to include the language of the state amnesty law, and I know you have such an amendment on the agenda tonight.

Several other towns and municipalities in New Jersey have revised their municipal codes in this way, and I urge our Council to take this step.

As you review the amendment tonight, I hope parents will be paying attention, and will take this opportunity to discuss the law and inform their children.

I hope teens will hear about this amendment, will talk about the law with each other, will know that it’s for real, and will remember it should they be faced with a dangerous situation – a friend that needs help – on any Friday or Saturday (or any other) night in Ridgewood.

All of us want Ridgewood teens to be safe. We all hope they make smart choices. But when they make a mistake, and it turns dangerous, this law can help ensure that mistake doesn’t turn into a tragedy.

Following my comments and those of Municipal Alliance chair Sheila Brogan last night, a few Council members had questions. Some of the questions and comments focused on perceived problems with the proposed ordinance's wording. As Village Attorney Matt Rogers explained, the wording is taken verbatim from the state law. If anyone has a problem with wording of the state law, they should take that up with Trenton. All we are trying to do is highlight the state law for Ridgewood teens.

The Municipal Alliance (of which I'm a member) will be putting together some materials and hopefully distributing to our high school students soon.

I've heard too many stories of close calls -- kids who dropped off a drunk friend on their doorstep, or invited a friend to stay and "sleep it off," or left a friend passed out on the curb or the right-of-way -- that luckily turned out OK. Kids make mistakes. We know that. It's normal for their development. It's also normal for them to fear getting in trouble and, in their immature brains, this fear can trump good decisions. I'm proud that our state had the good sense to enact the Amnesty Law and I hope Ridgewood's ordinance amendment will help get the word out in our town.