WOODCLIFF LAKE, N.J.—An estimated 1,500 people flocked to the annual Spring Blossom Fest at Woodcliff Avenue on the Causeway May 18, there to partake of the vendors, festival food, amusements, and live music by The Bruce Show and Woodcliff Lake’s The Larry Stevens Band.
A portion of the proceeds are for Make Our Schools Safe in memory of former resident Alyssa Alhadeff, who, at 14, was one of 17 people killed by a gunman at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in south Florida.
The festival was everything one could want from a spring celebration among family, friends, and neighbors. The weather was as good as it gets.
Among the highlights we noticed: The town Green Team and Shade Tree Committee members were thrilled to talk shop; toddlers on up enjoyed ice cream from Ice Cream Creations, Woodcliff Lake’s first food truck; fans of The Bruce Show and The Larry Stevens Band jammed to the tunes; and there was no need for anybody to go home hungry.
And the event featured speeches, hugs, and commemorations befitting the festival’s soul.
The Alhadeffs lived in Woodcliff Lake from 2010 to 2014, where Alyssa attended Dorchester Elementary School.
Alyssa’s parents, Lori and Ilan Alhadeff, founders of Make Our Schools Safe, a 501(c)(3) national non-profit organization dedicated to protecting students and teachers at school, spoke at the event, saying work is ongoing to help children thrive, not fear for their lives, in classrooms.
Also representing were Lisa Yakomin, executive director and founding member of the Keep NJ Safe Foundation; Mayor Carlos Rendo; Councilwoman Jacqueline Gadaleta; Councilman and Freeholder candidate Corrado Belgiovine; Assembly members Robert Auth, Holly Schepisi, and Ralph R. Caputo (presenting the Alhadeffs with a copy of Alyssa’s Law signed by Gov. Phil Murphy); Rep. Josh Gottheimer; Bergen County Clerk John S. Hogan; Freeholder Vice Chairwoman Mary J. Amoroso (presenting a commendation from the Board of Chosen Freeholders); Bergen County Sheriff Anthony Cureton; State Sen. Gerry Cardinale.
As Lori told a wire reporter in February, Alyssa had tried to hide under a table in her English class when the school shooting started on Valentine’s Day 2018.
The gunman, armed with an AR-15 style semi-automatic rifle, sprayed bullets through a window; Alyssa was shot 10 times.
After her soccer-player-daughter’s funeral, Lori, a 44-year-old former teacher, became a fierce national advocate for school safety and gun control.
She was elected to her local school board and started Make Our Schools Safe determined to harden schools against intruders and to train students and teachers so they know how to respond.
This Feb. 6, with Rendo in attendance, Murphy signed Alyssa’s Law, which requires all New Jersey public schools install silent panic alarms that will alert law enforcement during emergencies such as an active shooter, or to employ an alternative emergency mechanism approved by the Department of Education.
Murphy gave Rendo the pen he used to sign the bill into law; this was donated to the borough archives.
And this March, Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Dennis Calo (Mark Musella was sworn in as Bergen County Prosecutor on May 20) announced the findings of the first annual report of the Bergen County Safe Schools Task Force (SSTF) at Harrington Park School in Harrington Park.
The task force, charged with improving security at Bergen County schools, recommended sweeping changes to how local districts identify and protect against possible threats.
The group, led mostly by members of the BCPO, urged schools to create teams to recognize and identify students with mental health issues; train personnel on security plans; and encourage students, teachers and administrators to download a cellphone app that would let them anonymously report suspicious behavior and communicate during a lockdown.
Calo said at the time his office can’t compel school districts to follow the recommendations nor help them pay most of the costs.
“A lot of this is persuasion … this is going to be a process. We’re in this for the long haul,” Calo said.
For more information, visit https://makeourschoolssafe.org.
