In The Woods
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Comments
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On the article New Hopatcong High Electives Added For Fall
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On the article New Schools Chief Tapped in Hopatcong
In The Woods
8:17 pm on Tuesday, May 21, 2013
ReplyGive the woman a chance to prove herself. A cursory search of her shows that she is very well versed in the Danielson model which all teachers will be required to adhere to now. If that is the case, then she should be able to help teachers improve in areas that they may be lacking. But improvements cannot end there. There is a serious lack of discipline in this town it would seem and someone needs to establish clear guidelines with reasonable (and I stress reasonable) tolerance. We can't have high school age children leaving the school with the immature attitude that they can do whatever they wish without consequences.
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On the article Hopatcong Grows Bigger Farmer's Market
In The Woods
10:18 pm on Monday, May 20, 2013
ReplyAll negative comments aside, I would like to know why the Hopatcong Council continues to support outside produce sellers but does not change the local laws to adapt with the changing economic times? We currently do not allow anyone to raise any poultry on land that is smaller than 3 acres but many, many towns and cities in New Jersey allow you to have up to 3 hens on even the tiniest property. I have less property here (.65 acres) in Hopatcong than a family member in South Jersey with .3 acres and yet they raise duck and chicken eggs for the farmer's market yearly.
The laws in Hopatcong are antiquated and trivial with regards to this issue. Please join us at Support Backyard Chickens in Hopatcong (https://www.facebook.com/ChickensInHopatcong) so we can encourage Hopatcong to amend the law to allow 3 hens (not roosters!) for every 1/10th of an acre. Then we can actually contribute something to our own farmers market!
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On the article $65 Tax Hike OK'd in Hopatcong School Budget
In The Woods
9:23 am on Friday, March 29, 2013
ReplyInstead of paying for that soil erosion out of our pockets, has anyone thought about seeking a NJ business to sponsor the stadium? Of course not, because dipping into our wallets is easier than making a few phone calls.
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On the article Superintendent Search Delays Task Force Work
In The Woods
6:29 pm on Saturday, March 30, 2013
ReplyThere is no shortage of people out there with Superintendent certification but there is certainly a shortage of GOOD people with that certification. You need to get someone in there who doesn't try to run a school as a business because if they do, it will only fail. Rather, they need to come in with a full understanding of what they face and with fresh ideas on how to fix that problem.
New Jersey teachers are now being brought under the Charlotte Danielson Model for observation which is the strictest of models in the entire country but nobody is looking toward how to approve the administration. Everything in a school command is very top-down with the teachers having little in the way of resources or assistance from the top but plenty of hoops to jump through to keep their job. How do you fix this? Have working supervisors who are in the classroom for a full 5 classes a day. Right there, you cut costs and the supervisor now knows what level the students are on for that grade. Next, make it easier for teachers to communicate with parents. Give them the training and access to make their own class websites, have more than one parent-teacher night, and seek regular feedback from parents on how they feel their child would be best served in the classroom at the elementary level so we can remedy behavioral issues before they reach middle school.
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On the article Resident Pecks at Scrambling Hopatcong Chicken Law
In The Woods
2:27 pm on Saturday, March 9, 2013
ReplyWarren, have you ever raised chickens? The only coops that smell are the ones that aren't cleaned or maintained properly. Have a cat? If you don't clean its litter box, the entire house smells like ammonia and feces. Have a dog? Don't clean up after it, and your yard is full of odorous feces. Most people raise chickens for years in their backyards without a neighbor ever knowing because they do what they are supposed to and keep it clean.
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On the article Resident Pecks at Scrambling Hopatcong Chicken Law
In The Woods
11:15 am on Saturday, March 9, 2013
A small dog barks at 70 decibels from 3 feet away. A larger dog is more like 100 decibels. A chicken only reaches 63 decibels when they are laying eggs. That is the height of their volume. The rest of the time they are around 10 to 20 decibels depending on the species. This is how some families in places like Newark keep chickens without anyone ever knowing.
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On the article Resident Pecks at Scrambling Hopatcong Chicken Law
In The Woods
1:53 pm on Friday, March 8, 2013
Replyhttp://blog.mcmurrayhatchery.com/2011/02/02/the-7-false-myths-about-urban-chickens-myths-4-7/
"Myth 4. Chickens Attract Predators, Pests & Rodents.
Fact: Predators and rodents are already living in urban areas.....Modern micro-flock coops, such as chicken tractors arks and other pens are ways of keeping, and managing, family flocks that eliminate concerns about predators, rodents and other pests.""...chickens are part of the solution to pesky problems. Chickens are voracious carnivores and will seek and eat just about anything that moves including ticks (think Lymes disease), fleas, mosquitoes, grasshoppers, stink bugs, slugs, and even mice, baby rats and small snakes."
http://www.lifetransplanet.com/backyard-hens-facts-and-faqs-myths-and-reality/
"Chickens are just like any other animal including humans, dogs, cats and others when it comes to disease. They are not any more likely to carry disease than a dog. If they are well-cared for, fed, watered and kept in a clean environment, then they are more likely to stay healthy. Diseases are much more likely to be harbored in confined animal feeding operations due to their sheer size and tight conditions than in a healthy backyard setting."
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On the article Resident Pecks at Scrambling Hopatcong Chicken Law
In The Woods
12:35 pm on Friday, March 8, 2013
ReplySelf sufficiency isn't about money, it is about growing and harvesting your own food.
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On the article Resident Pecks at Scrambling Hopatcong Chicken Law
In The Woods
2:28 pm on Thursday, May 23, 2013
We train our students for college without taking into account that 50+% of all college graduates are not able to find a job (http://www.epi.org/publication/class-of-2013-graduates-job-prospects/). Electives like home economics and print media make since since you can leave high school to use these at a trade school or even straight into the workforce. Criminal justice/law and athletics though are just precursors for college and both are career areas currently inundated with college hopefuls. Let's focus electives on where the jobs are going to be: engineers, masons, carpenters, HVAC, electricians, plumbers, healthcare, computers, and finance. FIve of the previous don't even require a college degree to get a good paying job and can be achieved at technical high school but engineering, healthcare, computer technology and finance electives would serve our childrens' futures best.