Call your State Assembley reps and urge them to vote this bill down and keep our public land from being handed over to developers. The bill wants the taxpayers to pay a quarter-billion dollars for the privilege of having large swaths our free public park turned into a for-profit operation.

The Hudson County reps are:
Rep. Angela V. McKnight - 201-360-2502
Rep. Pedro Mejia - 201-770-1303
Rep. Annette Chaparro - 201-683-7917
Rep. William B. Sampson IV - 609-847-3500
Rep. Angelica M. Jimenez - 201-223-4247
Rep. Raj Mukherji - 2012-626-4000

But this isn't just a Hudson County issue! I encourage everyone to keep calling assembly members from around the state (listed here: https://www.njleg.state.nj.us/legislative-roster). LSP is a state park that belongs to all of us, not just a handful of greedy developers! Some points to make when you call:

— This is public land that belongs to us; the bill would turn large sections of the park into for-profit spaces someone else will profit from, and the taxpayers will pay a quarter of a billion dollars for that to happen.

— The Senate pointedly struck down an amendment to protect Caven Point, a beautiful, open-to-all nature preserve and crucial wildlife habitat. Billionaire Paul Fireman has been trying for years to bulldoze this fragile ecosystem to expand his millionaires-only country club, and this bill will allow him to do just that.

— This vote isn't just a vote over what our park looks like. The core issue is who's more important to the Assemblyman/woman — all of your constituents and everyone in this state? Or a handful of greedy developers?

And be nice to the person on the phone! They didn't write this bill! And we're calling hopeful that the Assembly member will be on our side and protect our public spaces from being paved over for the sake of a greedy few.

Sorry you didn't have a good experience with the school. It's not for everyone ? the school has a low-homework policy, which I happen to like but not everyone does; the district doesn't pay for busing, so it's not easy for every family to get to; if anyone out there is aware of a school that's completely issue-free and 100% of the parents are happy with, I'd love to hear about it.

But to say they've been shedding kids since you left is just a flat-out lie. The school was at full enrollment last year. There are a fair number of students leaving and new students joining between 5th and 6th, but that's the case with most K-8 schools, given that we're lucky enough to live someplace where there are a lot of options.

"Social norms are not observed"? What does that even mean?

My older son graduated from TECCS and my younger one is there now. We've had a wonderful experience with the school. Warm environment, lots of individual attention, I always felt like the teachers understood where my kids needed help and where they didn't. The school's also handled remote learning really well ? we get an automated email every day listing upcoming assignments and anything our kid might have missed or fallen behind on (which insures he doesn't fall behind for long).

And it's a good school academically, without being hyper-focused on test-taking. Lots of good extra-curriculars, but they turn out high-achieving kids. My son's in private school on a full ride; he has classmates at McNair, High Tech, and County Prep, plus a few more scholarship kids.

The "going downhill" and "people pulling their kids" people are making sidelong references to was an issue this summer. A few members of the board of trustees that runs the school fired the longtime principal in secret. There was widespread outcry from the parents, the board members were removed, a new principal was hired who has a good reputation and seems very professional (I don't have too strong an impression, given it's mostly been email and the occasional Zoom town hall, but so far so good).