TRENTON — First Lady Tammy Murphy announced her initiative to incorporate climate change education into New Jersey’s K-12 academic standards. Over the past several months, the First Lady has met with the over 130 educators from across the state who have been charged with reviewing and revising the existing student learning standards, a process that occurs every five years. During these meetings, First Lady Murphy, in partnership with the New Jersey Department of Education, has implored these educators to incorporate climate change education into all nine content areas — 21st Century Life and Careers, Comprehensive Health and Physical Education, English Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Technology, Visual and Performing Arts, and World Languages.

“We have already begun to feel the effects of climate change here in New Jersey.” said First Lady Tammy Murphy. “Our shorelines are disappearing, rain comes in torrential downpours, and our summers are blazing hot. But, it is not enough to understand climate change from solely a scientific perspective. We have an obligation to our kids to prepare them for the reality that awaits them as adults—and that reality will include the effects of climate change across almost every aspect of their lives.”

Since Spring 2019, the First Lady has visited elementary, middle, and high schools across the state that have already implemented strong climate change education and sustainability initiatives. These schools include Mount Arlington Public School, Whitehouse Elementary School, Millbridge Elementary School, George L. Catrambone School, and Delran High School. The First Lady will continue her tour of schools this fall with stops at Valleyview Middle School, J.V.B. Wicoff Elementary School, Egg Harbor Township High School, and Alder Middle School, with more to come. All of these schools participate in the Sustainable Jersey for Schools program.

“We are already a national leader in education, but we have the opportunity to become the first state in the country to incorporate climate change into all of our core content areas,” continued First Lady Tammy Murphy. “As our students graduate and go on to become artists, economists, activists, and more, they will be prepared to report findings, write grant proposals, develop plans, advocate, communicate ideas, and innovate throughout every sector of our economy as climate literate professionals.”

Advocating for the incorporation of climate change into our student learning standards also supports Governor Murphy’s current work to put New Jersey on a path to 100 percent clean energy by 2050. As a long-time advocate for policies that combat climate change, the First Lady acknowledges that educating our youth is the next step toward securing a clean future.

“Last week’s Climate Strike and Greta Thunberg’s call to action dramatically illustrate the responsibility that current leaders have to future generations,” said New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection Commissioner Catherine R. McCabe. “We stand with students and recognize it is up to all of us to provide them with the education and tools they need to help lead New Jersey and its response to climate change in the years ahead. The First Lady has long been a climate change champion and the DEP is thrilled to join her in our shared goal of reducing and responding to climate change.”

“The Department of Education thanks the First Lady for her involvement with the standards review teams over the past year,” said Education Commissioner Lamont O. Repollet. “Our goal is to design standards that continue to ensure New Jersey students are prepared to think critically, analyze data, and work collaboratively as effective stewards of the Earth’s natural resources.”

MORRIS COUNTY — Linda Groszew took a circuitous career path to becoming senior program manager and volunteer coordinator at Vision Loss Alliance of New Jersey.

A certified dental assistant and part-time piano teacher after high school, Groszew decided in her early 20s to pursue a degree in music education. She married while attending William Paterson University, and just as she completed her degree, Groszew gave birth to a son. Four years later, in 1988, quadruplets arrived.

“They kept me busy!” said Groszew, who will be honored for 15 years of service at VLANJ’s Dining in the Dark on October 24 during Blindness Awareness Month.

While her children were young, Groszew owned and ran an independent grocery store with her husband. The couple sold the store 7½ years later, and Groszew began looking for a new opportunity. Through family friends, she learned about New Jersey Foundation for the Blind (VLANJ’s former name). In 2004, the nonprofit hired Groszew as a receptionist, and promoted her to assistant program director within a few months.

Groszew underwent intense training as part of VLANJ’s transformation to becoming the only comprehensive vision rehabilitation program for adults in New Jersey. “I was fascinated by spatial reasoning and mobility, and I found that I really loved this field,” she said. “We created some phenomenal programs.”

Groszew feels especially strong about VLANJ’s wellness programs, which enhance participants’ ability to adapt to their new circumstances. “Our wellness programs are so important for building overall well-being,” she said. “Well-being can open you up to everything you need to learn; it goes hand-in-hand with skill-building.”

Another way to support VLANJ it to purchase bottles of wine for the wine pull. Cambridge Wines in Morristown is donating 15 percent of every purchase, click here for information. Select “store pickup” and VLANJ will collect the donated wines.

MORRIS COUNTY — In advance of National School Safety Week, the Morris County Sheriff’s Office and the Morris County Police Chiefs Association on October 10 unveiled a mobile app called RSVP-3 Morris County through which students can anonymously report threats to school safety and behavior that could disrupt classroom security.

The free RSVP-3 app – which stands for Responsible School Violence Prevention, Preparation, Protection – is one component of a multi-faceted RSVP-3 program that Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon immediately began developing with the Morris County Chiefs of Police Association in response to the February 14, 2018, school shootings at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, that killed 17 people and wounded 17 others.

The creation and activation of the app was announced at a press conference hosted Thursday by Sheriff Gannon, and attended by Morris County Police Chiefs, School Superintendents, Morris County Freeholders, Morris County First Assistant Prosecutor Thomas Zelante, and other stakeholders.

The app can be downloaded as follows:

• • • • • • • Go to the Google Play Store or Apple iTunes Store on your mobile device.
            • Search for RSVP-3 Morris County, NJ.
            • Click Install.
            • Open the application.
            • Enter a unique 4-digit passcode that you will remember and use as a log-in.

              Once the user has entered the passcode, do the following:

        • Select your location
        • Select the Town
        • Select the Affected School
        • To then report an incident or threat:
        • Select the action/tip you would like to report. There is a list.
        • You can add screenshots and attach documents.
        • Fill out tip report with all available information.
        • Click submit. Tips to the app are monitored in real time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year by law enforcement professionals working cooperatively with school officials.

        The app was developed by Anderson Software’s P3 Campus, a tip reporting solution designed for the educational community. The Morris County Sheriff’s Office received $16,500 in start-up funding for the RSVP-3 application from the Sheriff’s Office CrimeStoppers program. Unlike CrimeStoppers, there are no rewards attached to making tips through RSVP-3.

        “The app is a practical tool to help prevent school violence and allow for the sharing of critical information between police, school leaders and mental health providers,” Sheriff Gannon said.

        So far, two public school districts in Morris County have committed to forming teams that will help law enforcement agencies investigate the tips. The app is available for anyone – students, parents, teachers and staff – to report a tip about school safety or a troubling school environment. All 36 municipal police departments in Morris County have signed on to the program.

        

        “Sheriff Gannon and the Chief’s Association have again successfully collaborated on the RSVP-3 program in congruence with the recommendation of the United States Secret Service “Operational Guide for Preventing Targeted Violence.” In particular, this app addresses step 3 of their 8-step platform, which recommends the creation of a central reporting mechanism,” said Butler Police Chief Ciro Chimento, president of the Morris County Police Chiefs Association.

        Morris County Deputy Freeholder Director Heather Darling expressed support for the entire RSVP-3 program.

        Darling said “As a freeholder who is committed to keeping Morris County as safe and appealing as possible, support a proactive measure like this app.”

        “We want to be ahead of any violence and we want to reach the person who is making threats, or behaving erratically, or whose grades are plummeting, and get them the help they may need,” said Freeholder Darling.

        

        The app is one element in the overall RSVP-3 initiative that brings together police, educators and mental health professionals in a multidisciplinary approach to stopping violence before it erupts in the classroom.

        The Morris County Board of Freeholders and the federal Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI) have each contributed funds used to pay for behavioral threat assessment curriculum and the costs of training school leaders and mental health professionals who work with schools.

        

        The curriculum, authored by Sigma Threat Management Associates, guides school leaders, mental health experts and police on how to evaluate and respond to threats to school safety in a scientifically reliable manner.

        “We are training people to distinguish between the child who shouts in a moment of anger that he will kill someone and the student whose grades are dropping, who is socially isolating himself or making disturbing comments. We need to be ‘left of bang.’ We want to reach that student – before the bell rings – and get him or her the professional help they may need,” Sheriff Gannon said.

        An author of the curriculum, Dr. Marisa Randazzo, in November 2018 trained 75 Morris County police, school and mental health professionals on how to develop assessment and evaluation tools.

        Dr. Randazzo is CEO of SIGMA and an international expert on threat assessment, targeted violence and violence prevention. She served for 10 years with the U.S. Secret Service and most recently was its Chief Research Psychologist.

        In May 2019, Dr. Randazzo and Dr. Melissa Reeves, the past president of the National Association of School Psychologists and former Chairman of the NASP National School Safety and Crisis Response Committee, trained another 40 teachers and school staff in May 2019 on how to scientifically assess troubling behavior to determine whether school safety is at risk.

        Additional training of educators and police on behavioral threat assessment is planned in Morris County this November.

        Former Denville Police Chief Christopher Wagner, now the Director of Public Affairs for the New Jersey State Association of Chiefs of Police, spoke at the event. Chief Wagner and Steve Forte, Denville’s Superintendent of Schools, said they are longtime proponents of the overall RSVP-3 program.

        “I don’t want to send a kid to school with a cell phone because they need to get hold of their mother because there’s been a violent encounter at school,” Chief Wagner said. “I don’t ever want a kid to have to send a note to their parents that ‘I’m scared because there’s a bad person in our school.’”

        State Assemblyman Anthony Bucco, also present at the event, noted that he continues to push in the New Jersey Legislature for support for A-5242, a bill that would fund a pilot RSVP-3 program specifically in the counties of Bergen, Essex, Hudson, Middlesex, Morris, Passaic and Union and the first class cities of Newark and Jersey City – all part of the UASI zone.

        Assemblyman Bucco said: “This is about our children. This is about our future. This is about the safety of our schools.”

MORRIS COUNTY — “A site-based assessment team from the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA®), will examine all aspects of the Morris County Sheriff’s Office policy and procedures, management, operations, and support services, starting on Monday, October 21,” stated Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon.

Verification by the team that the Morris County Sheriff’s Office meets the Commission’s state-of-the-art standards is part of a voluntary process to gain accreditation — a highly prized recognition of public safety professional excellence, Sheriff Gannon said.

As part of the assessment, agency personnel and members of the community are invited to offer comments at a public information session on Tuesday, October 22 at 3:00 p.m. The session will be conducted in the Freeholders Public Meeting Room located on the Fifth Floor of the County of Morris Administration & Records Building, 10 Court Street, Morristown.

If for any reason an individual cannot speak at the public information session but would still like to provide comments to the assessment team, he/she may do so by telephone. The public may call (973) 285-6053 on Tuesday, October 22 between the hours of 10:00 a.m. and 12:00 Noon.

Telephone comments as well as appearances at the public information session are limited to ten minutes and must address the agency’s ability to comply with CALEA Standards. A copy of the standards is available at the main Sheriff’s Office located in the Morris County Courthouse, 56 Washington Street, Morristown.

The local contact is Accreditation Manager Detective/Captain Denise Thornton at (973) 285-6675.

Persons wishing to offer written comments about the Morris County Sheriff’s Office’s ability to meet the standards for accreditation are requested to write: Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement, Inc. (CALEA®), 13575 Heathcote Boulevard, Suite 320 Gainesville, Virginia 20155.

The Morris County Sheriff’s Office has to comply with 361 standards in order to gain accredited status, Sheriff Gannon said.

“The Morris County Sheriff’s Office Bureau of Law Enforcement first achieved prestigious CALEA Accreditation in 1998 and has continued to maintain excellence and compliance with Accreditation standards that have increased in number over the past two decades.  Accreditation helps to ensure consistency in top-level service and accountability to the public,” Sheriff Gannon said.

The Morris County Sheriff’s Office was first accredited in March of 1998 when the agency was found to be in compliance with 337 standards. The agency was re-accredited in 2004, 2007, 2009, 2012 and again in 2016.

Accreditation is for four years, during which the agency must submit annual reports, and participate in annual remote web-based assessments attesting continued compliance with those standards under which it was initially accredited.

For more information regarding the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Inc. please write the Commission at 13575 Heathcote Boulevard, Suite 320 Gainesville, Virginia 20155; or call (703) 352-4225 or email calea@calea.org.

MORRIS COUNTY — On Thursday, October 10  at the Public Safety Training Academy, Morris County First Assistant Prosecutor Thomas A. Zelante, on behalf of Morris County Prosecutor Fredric M. Knapp, joined Morris County Sheriff James M. Gannon, Butler Police Chief Ciro Chimento, President of the Morris County Police Chiefs Association, and other Morris County law enforcement and school officials to announce the launch of a free mobile app called RSVP-3 Morris County, NJ. Students, school staff and parents can use the free app to anonymously report threats to school safety and behavior that could disrupt classroom security, such as bullying, harassment, substance abuse or potential violence.

RSVP-3 – which stands for Responsible School Violence Prevention, Preparation, Protection – is a component of a multi-faceted program between the Morris County Sheriff’s Office and the Morris County Police Chiefs Association, in response to recent school shootings that that occurred in our country.

The mobile app is live and can be downloaded as follows:

• Go to the Google Play store or Apple App Store on your mobile device.
• Search for RSVP-3 Morris County.
• Once installed, open the application
• Enter a unique four-digit passcode that you will remember and use as a login.

Tips to the app are monitored by law enforcement professionals working cooperatively with school officials in real-time, 24-hours a day, 365 days a year. Funding for the app was made possible by the Morris County Sheriff’s Crimestoppers program, and the behavioral threat assessment curriculum on behalf of the Morris County Board of Freeholders and the federal Urban Area Security Initiative (UASI).

“The app is a tool that students, who may not be comfortable reporting disturbing information in person, can reliably inform the police and school personnel to avert a tragedy,” Sheriff Gannon said.

First Assistant Prosecutor Thomas A. Zelante said the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office congratulates Sheriff Gannon, Chief Chimento and Morris County Sheriff’s Crimestoppers Chairman John Sette, and the other law enforcement officials involved in launching this important preventive step. First Assistant Prosecutor Zelante said “This app will save children from injury and the after-effects of injuries.”

Also speaking at the announcement were Assemblyman Anthony Bucco, Morris County Freeholder Deputy Director Heather Darling, Chairman John Sette of the Morris County Sheriff’s Crimestoppers, Sheriff’s Investigator Ashley Craig, Denville Superintendent of Schools Steve Forte, and retired Denville Police Chief Christopher Wagner.