BY MICHAEL OLOHAN
OF NORTHERN VALLEY PRESS
A ceremonial local signing of “Alyssa’s Law” by Gov. Phil Murphy will highlight the second annual Woodcliff Lake Spring Festival on May 18 in the borough.
Last year’s festival was dedicated to Alyssa Alhadeff, a former Woodcliff Lake resident and 14-year-old high school student who was one of 17 people killed in the mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on Feb. 14, 2018.
The Alhadeffs lived in Woodcliff Lake from 2010 to 2014, where Alyssa attended Dorchester Elementary School. Her parents, Ilan and Lori, attended the inaugural spring festival.
Alyssa’s Law was signed by Murphy with Mayor Carlos Rendo in attendance. Rendo said Murphy gave him the pen he used to sign the bill into law and he donated it Feb. 11 to the borough archives.
Rendo said the pen will accompany a copy of the bill signed by Murphy.
Murphy said Feb. 6 that Alyssa’s Law is “a great legacy.”
“I hope it never comes to anything like this, but if it does, the lives that this will save will be in her name,” said Murphy on Facebook.
In addition to Rendo, both Alhadeff parents were present at the governor’s signing ceremony.
Rendo said he tried to coordinate with the governor’s office to get Alyssa’s Law signed at a local venue but it did not occur. Instead, the mayor said he was invited to Trenton Feb. 6 for the bill’s signing ceremony.
‘Do the right thing’
“That is a testament to the work that our legislators do and to show that both parties can come together and do the right thing,” said Rendo, noting the one-year anniversary of the mass shooting Feb. 14.
The new law requires approximately 2,500 public elementary and secondary schools to install silent panic alarms that alert law enforcement to life-threatening situations should they occur in schools.
School districts will have the option to equip schools with an alternative emergency mechanism capable of performing similar duties as a panic alarm as long as it is approved by the state Department of Education.
The bill’s cost is estimated up to $12.5 million, with funds likely available from a $350 million appropriation in “Securing Our Children’s Future Bond Act” which was approved by voters statewide in November.
The $500 million bond act also included funds for improving vocational technical education, water infrastructure projects and county colleges.
Last year’s Spring Festival—dedicated to Alhadeff—brought out 1,500 residents and visitors to the Centennial Causeway.
| File photo by Danielle O’Brien
A special moment occurred when 17 doves were released and one lingered.
“When we released the doves, all of the doves left except one,” said Rendo then.
Rendo said to many present, the lone dove represented Alyssa’s presence.
Following the ceremony, Lori Alhadeff told Pascack Press that school security went awry at the Parkland, Florida high school during the shooting and that her mission was to help see that that never happens again.
She said the Alhadeffs had created a foundation, Make Our Schools Safe, so that no other parent has to endure the pain they live with.
The foundation’s mission is to improve safety in schools nationwide. She said then the foundation plans to identify best school security practices, implement the improvements in model schools starting in South Florida, and then spread the practices nationwide.
Borough Council members unanimously approved a resolution Feb. 11 to help offset some festival costs by dedicating funds collected from festival sponsors into an account.
They also approved a contract with Cliffhanger Productions Inc. of Rutherford, not to exceed $10,000 to handle event management for the second annual festival.