SAFETY AND COMMUNICATIONS
June 13, 2022
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TEANECK VOICES CELEBRATES JUNETEENTH
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PUBLISHED BY TEANECK VOICES
Managing Editor, Bernard Rous
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Official Communications Concerning Public Safety
Dr. Pruitt's Open Letter to Elie Katz and Teaneck Council
Public School Safety June Update
Notable Women of Teaneck
Events at the Library
Voter Registration Information
One Town One Vote Resident Survey
COVID Updates
- Rapid Home COVID tests from the Post Office
- Rodda Center
- New Library Covid Policy
Announcements
- The Ardie Walser Quartet
- Juneteenth Silent Walk
- Juneteenth Conversation at Overpeck
- New Jersey State Updates
- Prayers and Support for Ukrainian People
- Support Teaneck Voices
Masthead
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OFFICIAL COMMUNICATIONS CONCERNING PUBLIC SAFETY
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Summary
Several members of Council have their own personal email lists, newsletters, and online sites. They use these to disseminate municipal information to their constituents, to put forth their political opinions, and to campaign for themselves. In them, the distinction between the private person and the public official can be blurred.
At the Council meeting on May 31st, the appropriateness of these vehicles as the source for official town communications, and especially for vital information about resident safety, was called into sharp question. They do not reach all residents; they are generally directed to particular communities; and they lack the trust of others.
A sensible, statesmanlike request was made: Teaneck should establish a single trusted official channel for initial communications, particularly for information regarding the safety of residents.
A disturbing solution to the problem was discussed in all seriousness: give all the Town's contact data to the individual members of Council so they can be sure their coverage of the population is universal and comprehensive. The claim was made that the problem of inclusiveness would then disappear.
In the words of Louis XIV: "L'etat c'est moi." (I am the State.)
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Given the horrendous events in Buffalo and Uvalde, concern about public safety rippled through the entire Council meeting on May 31, 2022. What is the Town doing to enhance protection and to assure adequate distribution of public safety announcements?
Every official and resident who spoke agreed safety is the first priority. Mayor Dunleavy reported that he had emailed the mayors of Uvalde and Buffalo on behalf of Teaneck to express our sadness at the loss of life and desire to give any type of support that we could.
But there was an important twist to the issue when Councilwoman Rice asked why new information from the county prosecutor’s office regarding house-of-worship safety had first been distributed by some council members only to their own email recipients.
Councilwoman Rice appealed to Council several times for a single, trusted official Town source, for the dissemination of vital information about safety, and for that source to communicate it first. She emphasized that every Council member had freedom of speech and the right to replicate and duplicate that information to their individual, unofficial, personal lists "once it becomes public."
She pointed out that individual Council members mix important information about town affairs with their own political opinions when they communicate via their personal email lists or web pages. She noted that "People get conflicting information. They get information that they feel is politically motivated." So, even if they are on a particular list, they might not read it, and "miss very important safety communications."
This makes the vehicles of individual Council members very bad options for official public information.
Among houses of worship in the United States, Black churches are the most frequent targets of these shootings. So it was particularly disturbing that Councilwoman reported that leaders of many of the churches she contacted had not received the County Prosecutor's urgent alert about safety precautions. She noted that new churches frequently spring up and there is therefore a need to regularly update official lists.
Mayor Dunleavy's initial response was to reassure everyone that the information the public gets about public safety is very robust "whether it be through the Manager, whether it be through the Chief of Police or through any other sources."
He referred to a list of some 20,000 residents who signed up for email alerts from the town.
Councilman Kaplan said that he took a lot of those alerts himself and put them up himself on his own pages and asked with seeming innocence if that was OK?
The Mayor assured him it was once the message was out there and as long as it was consistent. "Anyone can take what we put out as a township and give to whoever they feel is appropriate to have it. They may be getting it for the third or fourth time, but nonetheless that's appropriate."
Council woman Rice insisted "I am not referring to the fact that once the Township sends out information, we all can reiterate it." She had to repeat once again that there was important safety information from the County Prosecutor for houses of worship that was not sent out by the Town Manager and not sent out through the town alerts.
"It was sent by our Deputy Mayor and it was sent to a select few...it should be coming from the Township Manager or the Police Department. And that was not the case."
Councilman Kaplan suggested a solution to the problem: simply give the full list of all houses of worship to each Councilman so they can make sure everyone is included in their own communications! Deputy Mayor Katz gave him a thumbs up.
Councilwoman Rice responded to Kaplan "That totally obliterates my point. The point is that it should go from the Town Manager. It shouldn't be contingent on my list, or Elie's list, or yours. It should be information from a trusted source. People should not have to rely on me for life and death information. They should not have to rely on any of us as Council members. We should be able to make sure it comes from the Police Department directly or from the Township Manager directly."
Councilman Pagan offered to help by getting updated lists of houses of worship to local news outlets.
Councilman Kaplan attempted to reframe the issue Councilwoman Rice raised: "I don't like the idea of suppressing information...I think more is better."
Deputy Mayor Katz rehearsed a list of all the shootings that had occurred in mosques, synagogues, churches, public and private schools and all the safety information he had sent in each and every case. "And I'm going to continue to send out messages as I get 'em. And I'm sorry Councilmember Rice, if you feel you need to politicize the safety of our residents. You're sitting here saying who got and who didn't get."
He urged her to pass along the information so he could add to his Tidbits list to make sure everyone got the information. "I think that's the responsibility of all of us. I have a newsletter and other council members have a newsletter and that is what we're supposed to be doing...So I am willing to take any more names that you want to send me...and we will never have this situation again where a resident calls you and says 'I didn't get the information.'"
Councilwoman Rice retorted to this by urging Elie to give his list to the Town Manager so that all residents hear from a single official trusted source, rather than garner kudos from his constituents for being the first to scoop civic news.
At this point, Mayor Dunleavy ended the latest skirmish and concluded the discussion by saying, "The issue here becomes who's got what list and who's on it. OK?" He stated that the Township has a list of all Houses of Worship and promised to make sure that the list is updated and copies are sent to the County Prosecutor's office "to make sure those things don't fall through the cracks."
Readers wishing to witness first-hand this heated discussion, should Click the video Here (upper left corner) and move the cursor forward to approximately minute 46:30 of the Town Council video.
Note: The quotes in the article above are from a transcription made by Teaneck Voices in lieu of an official transcript by the Town.
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Dr. Henry Pruitt's Letter to Council
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Open letter to my longtime friend, Ellie Katz
Subject: Tidbits
For a long time now you have published TidBits to inform your constituents about issues that you believe that they should be interested in relative to the Township of Teaneck. Bravo, in my judgement you have done a fine job in communicating with your constituents. However, portions of the entire township are not informed relative to all of these issues.
America has become a hazardous place for everyone to live in and as community leaders we must inform the entire town relative to issues of public safety. This information should come from the township manager or the mayor and should be shared with the entire community not just the readers of Tidbits.
Teaneck is not immune from these dangers. We have churches, synagogues, mosques, schools, shopping centers, athletic events and gatherings of all kinds all the time and everyone is frightened and looking for ways to protect themselves. Any available information that will help people in these troubled times should be shared with the entire community.
This letter is sent out to everyone to get them to look out for this entire community in every way that we can all of the time when it comes to public safety.
Henry Pruitt
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PUBLIC SCHOOL SAFETY - DISTRICT UPDATE
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The safety and security of the students and staff of Teaneck Public Schools is a primary concern for our Board, our district leadership, and our school communities.
Recent grant funding has enabled our school district to continue to make physical building and procedural improvements, while implementing additional procedures and practices to ensure the security of all school and district facilities. Each building principal has been briefed regarding the planned security improvements for their respective school. Every school in our district is regularly assessed to ensure protocols are being followed.
A vital aspect of security for our children is an excellent relationship with our local police and fire departments. Over the last few weeks, the Teaneck Fire Department inspected our buildings, and we are in constant contact with the Teaneck Police Department to ensure they have the most up-to-date information needed to help keep our schools safe. In addition, we conduct regular safety and security reviews with these departments.
Next week, we have several moving up and graduation ceremonies taking place. We want to assure you that we have deployed additional security resources for these high attendance events.
As we move forward, our school and district security team will continue to be diligent in our efforts - while striking a balance that is not overly restrictive - to enable our students to enjoy a healthy, productive environment in which they can learn.
Sincerely,
Paul L. Morgan, Teaneck Public Schools’ Coordinator of Public Safety and Truancy Services
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Estimados padres/tutores,
La seguridad de los estudiantes y el personal de las Escuelas Públicas de Teaneck es una preocupación principal para nuestra Consejo Escolar de Educación, el liderazgo de nuestro distrito y nuestras comunidades escolares.
Los recientes fondos de subvenciones han permitido que nuestro distrito escolar continúe realizando mejoras físicas y de procedimiento, al tiempo que implementa procedimientos y prácticas adicionales para garantizar la seguridad de todas las escuelas y las instalaciones del distrito. Cada director de edificio ha sido informado sobre las mejoras de seguridad planificadas para su escuela respectiva. Cada escuela en nuestro distrito se evalúa regularmente para garantizar que se sigan los protocolos.
Un aspecto vital de la seguridad de nuestros niños es una excelente relación con nuestros departamentos locales de policía y bomberos. Durante las últimas semanas, el Departamento de Bomberos de Teaneck inspeccionó nuestros edificios y estamos en contacto constante con el Departamento de Policía de Teaneck para garantizar que tengan la información más actualizada necesaria para ayudar a mantener seguras nuestras escuelas. Además, llevamos a cabo revisiones periódicas de seguridad y protección con estos departamentos.
La próxima semana, tendremos varias ceremonias de ascenso y graduación. Queremos asegurarle que hemos desplegado recursos de seguridad adicionales para estos eventos de alta asistencia.
A medida que avanzamos, nuestro equipo de seguridad escolar y distrital continuará siendo diligente en nuestros esfuerzos, al tiempo que logrará un equilibrio que no sea demasiado restrictivo, para permitir que nuestros estudiantes disfruten de un entorno saludable y productivo en el que puedan aprender.
Atentamente,
Paul L. Morgan, Coordinador de Servicios de Seguridad Pública y Absentismo Escolar de las Escuelas Públicas de Teaneck
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Terry Corallo, the Director of Community Relations/Chief of Staff and liaison between the Superintendent's office, Board of Education and the community, made it clear that the Teaneck Police have given always given them them support and suggestions for student safety, and done so especially in these times of high tension.
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You have heard the expression, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” Meet Seleene Lewis Wong, the daughter of pillars of the Teaneck Community Deacon Oscar Lewis Sr. and community leader and retired educator Lillian K. Lewis.
Seleene embodies the strength, resilience, and commitment to her community of her parents and, she emphasizes, of her grandparents before them. She carries forward the pride in her Black heritage and culture.
Fiercely independent, blazingly intelligent, and steeped in knowledge of American history, and particularly Black history from her beloved books, Seleene was born in the Bronx and moved to Teaneck with her parents and two older siblings in 1983. Her love of education –and BOOKS, which are key in everything she thinks and talks about – comes from her parents and the richness of her learning at Whittier Elementary School, BF Middle School, and Teaneck High School.
An educator with 20 years of experience, Seleene currently works in the Early Childhood Education Department at Teaneck Public Schools. As an advocate for parent involvement in the schools, she serves as a PTO co-president and volunteer, at her children’s middle school.
Through her study of history, Seleene began to think more about herself as a person with a skin color that defined her. “Others look at people who look like me – and me – and they see our skin color. And they judge us. They react because of my skin color and have – since I was born.”
For Seleene, that awareness was not a cause for anger but for learning more and educating others about what she had learned. She cannot repeat enough how important books are to her. With her love of music and dancing and her natural creativity that fuel her passions, she has created several successful projects and organizations to address the impact of the inherent racism in this country.
As the founder and president of Free Reads Educational Mentoring Program Seleene’s mission is to get kids in her community to share the love of reading through community involvement and mentorship. Since the start of the non-profit in 2020, Seleene has collected hundreds of books and provided several of them for free to the community during Juneteenth celebrations and to community businesses such as barbershops for kids to read. Through the program, children from grades 3 to 5 are paired with mentors and peers. Together they read up to four to five books per year via the virtual book club.
Seleene’s inquiry into Black history has led her to focus on Black Feminism which shapes so much of her thinking and teaching.
"Black Feminism is an intellectual, artistic, philosophical, and activist practice grounded in Black Women’s lived experiences. It centers the experiences of Black Women in relation to racism, sexism, and classism."
Her two Black Feminist heroines are Anna Cooper (1858-1964) and bell hooks (lower case is how chose to spell her pen name). Anna Cooper was the 4th Black Woman in the United States to earn a Ph.D. A peer of Frederick Douglass, she challenged him to answer why all the Black leaders were men. “Aren’t we Black too? Why are Black Women not asked about the race issue?” Ms. Cooper, born into slavery, was given the title “Mother of Black Feminism.”
bell hooks (1952-2021) was a social activist and Professor in Residence at Berea College. She wrote, taught, and lectured on the inter-relationship between race, gender, and class.
The writings of these two women, contact with strong Black women leaders in Teaneck including her mother - “to me she was number one” - and considerable introspection have led Seleene to focus on Black feminism, especially in the areas of mental health and more recently, physical health.
She learned – early – that Black women culturally were supposed to be strong. She describes this as a stigma. “We are not supposed to cry; we are not supposed to need help. I can only imagine how it was in the ‘60’s when little Ruby Bridges just wanted to go to school. She walked with her head held high – I can’t imagine.” (Ruby Bridges was the 6-year-old who defied a mob and desegregated her all-white elementary school in New Orleans).
She continues, “But that doesn’t mean that we do not cry or that we do not need help.
When I read bell hooks it was such a release. You don’t always need to be strong. Everyone needs someone.”
“Reading books, I’ve learned about me. They led me to become the founder and co-host of The SistaHood Radio and owner of the podcast Daughter of the Yam. Both endeavors are focused on empowering Black women, promoting mental and physical health awareness, and discussing Black feminist issues.
Asked where the title Daughter of the Yam comes from, Seleene says it comes from bell hooks’ book, Sister of the Yam, about young Black women who are educated and financially comfortable, but who contemplate suicide. Seleene states with pride that bell hooks got the idea from a book she read, The Salt Eaters by Toni Cade Bambara – so a book informs a book informs a book and down through the ages.
Seleene Lewis Wong is mother to three beautiful children, Damian (15), Patrick-Marley (12) and Selah-Alyce (11) with whom she shares her passions and values.
“I’m the daughter of all these beautiful Black Women who wrote about their struggles, but also wrote about their achievements and how to do it.”
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If you are not registered to vote, please make it a priority to do so. To complete a registration form or for more information regarding voting in Bergen County, please click onto the this link.
If you are not sure if you are registered to vote in Teaneck, you may search here.
To check the details of your voter record, you may sign up here.
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ONE TOWN ONE VOTE RESIDENT SURVEY
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One Town One Vote (OTOV) is a grassroots, nonpartisan volunteer organization that worked with other community groups to make it easier and more convenient for Teaneck residents to vote for their local leadership by unifying Teaneck’s stand-alone town council elections, previously held in May, to take place on the same day as the General Elections in November. Tuesday, November 8, 2022 will be the first time Teaneck residents will have the opportunity to vote for town council members at the same time as we vote for other local, state, and national officials.
In anticipation of this historic event, OTOV is conducting a town-wide survey on resident issues and concerns. We need your input! Your responses will help us achieve our ongoing goal of helping to listen, educate, organize, and empower residents on local issues so your voice matters and your vote counts in the November elections. Your information will not be shared with any other organization.
Please click here to take the One Town One Vote resident survey! Your voices will be heard, your voices will count!"
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Rapid COVID-19 Test Kits Available for Free from USPS
Free at-home COVID-19 tests ordered on www.covidtests.gov and delivered by USPS. Limit of 2 orders per household. Each order contains 4 individual tests
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RODDA CENTER
In an effort to keep the senior center staff and participants safe, mask wearing
and social distancing are required.
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Masks are now optional inside the library. Those attending programs held in limited areas, such as the Auditorium, are still required to wear masks.
Contactless doorside pickup is still available.
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OUR HEARTS GO OUT TO THE VICTIMS IN UVALDE AND BUFFALO. LET US REDEDICATE OURSELVES TO CHANGING THE SYSTEM THAT TOLERATES THESE HATE CRIMES
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TEANECK VOICES OFFERS ITS PRAYERS AND SUPPORT
TO THE BRAVE UKRAINIAN PEOPLE FIGHTING FOR THEIR FREEDOM
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SUPPORT TEANECK VOICES
CONTRIBUTIONS WELCOME
It is our mission to achieve integrity, transparency, responsiveness, diversity, and social justice in Teaneck governance.
Help us continue to publish by sending a contribution to
Teaneck Voices, P. O. Box 873, Teaneck, NJ 07666-0873
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Editorial Board
Natalee Addison
Laraine Chaberski
Toniette H. Duncan
LaVerne Lightburn
Charles W. Powers
Bernard Rous
Micki Shilan
Barbara Ley Toffler
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Supporters
Denise Belcher
Juanita Brown
Margot Embree Fisher
Gail Gordon
Guy Thomas Lauture
Gloria Wilson
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Contributors
Bettina Hempel
Dennis Klein
Henry Pruitt
Howard Rose
Advisors
Theodora Smiley Lacey
Loretta Weinberg
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