PARSIPPANY — Assemblyman Jay Webber announced he will introduce legislation that would require local school districts to implement best practices and expand the authority of the state auditor to ensure safeguards against fraud and abuse in New Jersey’s education system.

The results of recent state auditor assessments of school districts in Pemberton and Ridgefield Park highlight the importance of the legislation.

“Our school children, parents, taxpayers, and educators all have great stakes in the best and most efficient use of  our educational resources,” said Webber (R-Morris). “The state auditor consistently finds, however, that through carelessness or worse, school districts all too often waste that money. Laptop computers disappear. Health insurance bought for the wrong people. Failures to perform basic criminal background checks. New Jersey needs to beef up its ability to review and monitor our schools, and we need to do it now.”

The investigation of Pemberton schools revealed that administrators purchased 703 extra Chromebooks beyond the total teacher and student population, costing taxpayers $313,000. In addition, district administrators could not account for where they went. In Ridgefield Park, the auditor uncovered $3.6 million in unnecessary health insurance liabilities and multiple conflicts of interest on the part of school board members.

The New Jersey state auditor, an independent agency within the non-partisan Office of Legislative Services, conducts random, in-depth performance audits of school districts. A performance audit targets and analyzes how well a government institution is allocating resources and then prescribes corrective action for identified failures.

“A performance audit may be the only current vehicle that evaluates the actual performance of government institutions, and we should be looking to expand it for that very reason,” continued Webber. “It is a more powerful tool to identify waste and fraud than routine fiscal audits. Students and taxpayers are the ultimate beneficiaries of the corrective actions from these audits.”

Assemblyman Webber’s legislation will direct the state auditor’s office to release a compendium report based on past audits. The report will include a collection of past problems identified in school districts, as well as the best practices to avoid problems encountered in other districts. Each school district will have to affirmatively certify that they are in compliance with those best practices, and the state auditor’s office will have the authority to conduct further audits on school districts to ensure all are in compliance.

PARSIPPANY — Sons of Italy Lodge 2561 is once again proud to announce that their own great Italian American chefs will be on-hand preparing a great Pasta Dinner in support of Parsippany Wrestling. The guys really do enjoy volunteering their time and culinary skills by participating in this fun and lively event every year, as well as to offer our continuing support for another valuable cause supporting the youth in our community.

The Pasta Dinner Fundraiser is the biggest fundraiser of the season. It will be held at the Parsippany PAL, 33 Baldwin Road on Saturday, February 29 from 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. All families are encouraged to bring as many guests as possible to make the evening a huge success.

Every year wrestler’s families and friends get together for an informal night where they enjoy games, win great prizes and have a delicious dinner prepared by the Sons of Italy of pasta, meatballs, meatless/vegetarian pasta sauce…Salad and desserts are also available.

MOUNTAIN LAKES — This Saturday, February 15 the Y is sponsoring a trip to the Community Food Bank in Hillside to help sort and package food for the homeless.

Bus transportation is being provided and we will depart from the Y at 10:30 a.m. sharp. They will be working from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

This is the perfect opportunity for adults, seniors and teens (12-17 years old along with their parent) to share quality time helping others. The event is free but please register by clicking here.

Lakeland Hills Family YMCA is located at 100 Fanny Road, Mountain Lakes.

PARSIPPANY — The funeral of Cecile (née Storch) Mosberg was held on Tuesday, February 11 at Bernheim-Apter-Kreitzman Suburban Funeral Chapel, 68 Old Short Hills Road, Livingston. Mrs. Mosberg was born on July 2, 1927 in Krakow, Lesser Poland and passed away on February 9, 2020 in Morristown. She was 92.

PARSIPPANY — Rep. Mikie Sherrill, D-11th, has endorsed Democratic presidential candidate Mike Bloomberg for president, praising his commitment to reducing gun violence, protecting the environment and rebuilding the nation’s infrastructure.

PARSIPPANY — The Assembly Human Services Committee cleared Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce’s bill (A1443) requiring suicide prevention training as a condition of licensure for mental health professionals.

“Forty percent of people who committed suicide in this state had a diagnosed mental health problem,” said DeCroce (R-Morris). “It makes sense that those treating people for mental health conditions be trained in suicide prevention strategies. We need to do all we can to stop these tragedies from occurring, especially among most the vulnerable like veterans and young people.”

According to the CDC, suicide remains one of the top 10 causes of death in the U.S. and is on the rise. In New Jersey, it’s the fourteenth leading cause of death overall and the second among those aged 15 to 24. Between 2010 and 2014, 478 veterans and members of the military in New Jersey killed themselves – a rate of 23 percent.

The bill requires clinical social workers, therapists, counselors, psychologists and psychoanalysts to complete a minimum of four hours of suicide prevention training every six years. The director of the Division of Consumer Affairs will create a list of approved training programs.

The New Jersey violent death reporting system found that 30 percent of people who died by suicide in 2015 were in either mental health or substance abuse treatment at the time of their death.

PARSIPPANY —The Evergreen Ping Pong Club, Tai Chi groups, and Grand Dancing all sponsored a Chinese New Year Party at the Noodle Dim Sum Restaurant on Friday, January 31. Parsippany-Troy Hills Mayor as well as many of the seniors attended the event.