The problem is not paying the teachers, the problem is that our Board of Ed treats the teacher salaries as a lower priority. We should pay talent and retain talent. That is the heart of any great business, especially educational businesses.
The start of the solution is getting rid of the 35 people in that building on Franklin Ave. We have far too many administrators each of whom just creates the need for more administration, more secretaries and keep teachers from teaching kids. If the kids in Orchard and Somerville learn a little bit different stuff in math–WHO CARES? It will work out. They will be close enough by the time they get to HS. Use a simple curriculum outline and let the teachers teach.
Also, its enough with the bells and whistles. Make a decision about whether you want new text books or lap tops. You can read on a computer so you really should pick one or the other. Use the laptop and an older text book. They will get what they need.
We dont need rock climbing walls and the insurance that goes with them. Let them play dodge ball. What about considering the real costs of having Football–insurance, equipment, staff, etc. Get rid of the fat and focus on the mission of educating kids. To me it is simple, pay the teachers and let them teach.
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Board of Education rejects state-appointed fact finder’s recommendations for a new teachers’ contract. The BOE’s rejection sends contract negotiations, at an impasse since July 2015, back to Square One.
As we have said for some time the gravely train for public employees has come to an end and proof postive is the BOE’s rejection of the compromise .The public is just not buying paying more for healthcare for teachers than for themselves and teacher union support for “Obamacare” has left many taxpayers to feel if it good enough for us its good enough for you.
However teacher advocates in town say , that the “BOE rejected third party, neutral, unbiased fact finder recommendations and refused to settle. REA was willing to compromise on several major issues and settle the contract. Teachers have been working without a contract for a full year and still performed all of their contractual duties.”
While other readers are glad the BOE is taking a stand , “God forbid you don’t agree with the teachers’ demands. I hope the BOE takes a tough position. Agree that with the schools’ ratings sliding downwards and raises should be performance based. As for the healthcare plans – why would you think you are entitled to a better plan than the taxpayers who pay for yours? The teachers obviously do not care about the children or their profession as much as they care about the almighty dollar. They need to work a little harder and bring the school ratings up before any increases and either contribute more towards their medical insurance or agree to a less expensive plan. Yes, that means $25 co-pays and higher deductibles”
While BOE members have taken the heat say one reader , “The withering and abusive “behind the scenes” attacks on our elected BOE officials should be an embarrassment to all teachers. Why should teachers get better health benefits than the taxpayers who help subsidize them? Surely some of the things these teachers and the REA have pulled are cause for dismissals? Why not bring in some younger teachers who actually want to work with our kids and would be thrilled to teach here?”
Thank you tonight BOE, for supporting Ridgewood properly. Not easy with all these teachers barking at you. The unions need to all be abolished. There was a time and place for these in the early nineteen hundreds. The kids are the real losers here. How can we have fair negotiations if every time it does not go their way. The sick outs start, the field trips are without teachers, and now after school clubs are being cancelled. So one sided and unfair. Shame on the teachers and their unions not the BOE. Some women had the nerve to say we will pay more taxes for these teachers…she is a party of one…even her husband won’t support that! Chuck talking about the bottom half of the county per student? Why weren’t you talking about your second shore home? That you are able to buy because of Cadillac healthcare and pensions we provide? Maybe it’s time for the truly aging overpaid teachers to go? Unions won’t allow it, That’s discrimination, etc. The fact is our teachers are paid fairly and must now use some of this pay to cover more healthcare. Same as everyone else. No one likes it but it has to be done. Healthcare is going to be the death of us all. Fact, I’d pay for the teachers healthcare premiums now if we could…my family now pays 20,000 per year, plus deductibles and $45 co-pays. Wake up teachers and know the facts not what the unions feed you. Enjoy your summer off, we”l be working to pay our very high taxes for you!
Wake up teachers and your rotten unions. Time to pay more and your fair share. That is the real need here. You Gimme, Gimme, Gimmes are wrong and this why the intelligent BOE is right. Thank you BOE for doing your jobs and not rubber stamping these unreasonable demands. The parents and students should wake up and know these facts. When these reasons are known by all, the educated will support the students and the BOE. The upcoming meeting at BF will have bus loads of teachers wearing RED. While the BOE, Tax Payers should be SEEING RED! Enough is enogh, stop kicking the unions can and caving in. All contracts are shoot high and hope to reach a middle ground. No, not any more. Thank you to all o0n the BOE for standing up for us and the students. The teachers have ruined this year for all our students and we can’t get that back. Shame on the unions more than the lemming teachers. Not to be mean but to bring up an old statement. Those who can’t do teach….I’d like to add those who can’t negotiate for themselves stand behind their cowardly oh so powerful Unions…ugh, makes me sick
BOE Meets on June 6 at 7:30 p.m. at BFMS Auditorium
June 5,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The Ridgewood Board of Education will hold a Regular Public Meeting on Monday, June 6, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
The Regular Public Meeting, originally scheduled to be held in the Board Room at the Education Center, will begin at 7:30 p.m., in the Auditorium at Benjamin Franklin Middle School. Action will be taken at this meeting.
The public is invited to attend the meeting at BFMS or view it live via the district website at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us using the the “Live BOE Meeting” tab on the district website.
Click here to view the agenda for the June 6, 2016 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the 2016-2017 Budget presented at the May 2, 2016 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the Full Day Kindergarten Recommendation presented to the Board at their March 7, 2016 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the backup for the Ridgewood Board of Education’s Fact-Finding Presentation with The Ridgewood Education Association.
We need to support the BOE and the Students. Everyone’s kids has suffered due to these teachers union this year. Class trips and after school programs are suffering. The private sectors healthcare is exploding also with no relief for us. Copays of $45, for each visit, teachers and all civil servants all need to pay their fare share and understand the pain and suffering that we are all paying more for. We are not getting raises to cover these increases nor should they. While we’re talking on this subject let’s move all to 401K plans. The system can’t handle all the retirees benefits. We will collapse soon, work 25 years then collect retirement for 35 years? Use them or lose them…no more taking $100,000s of dollars in unused sick time and vacation accrued, this is absurd. I support reasonable demands and expect our BOE professionals not to cave on unrealistic demands. Don’t get me wrong I do support teachers but can’t wait for those signs to go away!
Ridgewood NJ, In recent days there have been many heated arguments on social media in regards to the lack of a teacher contract. We parents have been accused of not reacting sooner to the stalled contract negotiations. We have placed our faith in the elected officials of the Board of Education (BOE). The BOE officials are educated professionals who are expected to formulate opinions and make decisions regarding contract negotiations. They have access to information which is readily available. As parents our days are filled with work, sports and other activities. We don’t have the time to research and review this information ourselves.
The teachers think we ignore their protests. We witness their protests but we choose to ignore them because their actions are offensive. With every protest our indignation grows: with every field trip the teachers have elected to miss, with the Halloween parade where the chosen costume was a red shirt, with all the school events where the teachers were absent, with the recommendation letters the teachers have either refused to write or have written the bare minimum , with all the mornings we have watched the teachers stand outside the school and march in together, with every mass exodus at the end of the day and with the countless other signs we noticed.
Now they are threatening to take our clubs away from our children. They want us to react and so we will. We will educate ourselves so that we as parents can make a decision. The following facts collected from public sources should help us parents better understand the issues behind the contract negotiations:
It is being said that by not giving the teachers what they want, we will force them to retire and we will lose good teachers. It seems that some of the teachers who are paid well are very vocal yet they are the ones pushing the median up. It also implies that the young teachers are not as good as the older ones because if the seasoned teachers leave we will be left with poor educators.
When compared to the private sector, the teachers’ salaries are competitive.
The private sector has a 40-hour work week for 48 weeks. Teachers work 37.5 hours 37.5 weeks a year.
The teachers are guaranteed some type of a raise. Private sector positions have received few to no raises over the past several years.
The argument that the raises don’t cover the increase the teachers have to contribute into health care is the same across all industries.
Private sector positions are paying the same if not more into their healthcare and get fewer benefits.
Teachers have a union that they pay $840 a year to fight for them.
https://www.njea.org/members/about-membership/njea%20membership%20categories
If the private sector employee is not in agreement with what they are receiving, they have to accept it or move on.
With all of this being said, we try to raise our children by example. There are many good teachers in this community. We want to support our teachers. We all want what is fair, but the arguments that they are not treated fairly and are overworked and underpaid are no longer valid.
Many of these teachers are our friends and neighbors. As parents we should be able to express our opinions. The reason many people are afraid to speak up is due to the fact that we are put down and made to feel that our jobs are less important than that of a teacher’s. Just because we entrust you with our children does not mean that you should be treated any better than the rest of us.
We try to teach our children by example. What example are you teaching them- that if I don’t get what I want, I will make sure I will use all my sick days; that if I don’t get paid to start work until a certain time, I will stand outside until I am required to enter the building. The fact is that we will be sending our children into the world soon. Our children will not survive in the private sector if they choose to follow the example set by their teachers.
Shame on you teachers for saying that you care about our children because if you did, you would have attended the field trips, you would have incorporated your red shirts into Halloween costumes, you would have put effort into the letters of recommendation and you would have continued to do what make you happy- teach. Your recent actions, however, say otherwise.
To the parents- please read the information provided. The teachers will get a contract, they will get their raises, they will contribute to their health care and we will all be back in the same situation in three years.
Ridgewood NJ, After a long, drawn-out negotiations process between the village’s Board of Education (BOE) and the Ridgewood Education Association (REA) Ridgewood teachers may finally have a contract.
Ridgewood teachers have been working without a contract since June of 2015.The major hang up of the often heated discussions have been the teachers’ primary demand to reduce their healthcare premium contributions and the BOE’s reluctance to do so.
Joel M. Weisblatt, the state-appointed fact-finder, released his recommendations for an agreement between the sides on the evening of May 31.
The Ridgewood news is reporting that REA President Mike Yannone has told told them that his organization has accepted the recommendations of the fact-finder for a settlement, the BOE has not responded yet.
The Fact finder found :”The amount that teachers contribute to healthcare premiums will remain the same. Weisblatt explained there is an “absence of sufficient evidence” regarding the need to change the current structure, though he did recommend that teachers and secretaries who remain at the “top step” of the contribution level receive some compensation to defray the costs.”
For it’s part the BOE will discuss the report and recommendations at their Monday, June 6 board meeting. The members will then vote on whether to accept the recommendations or not.
“In accordance with New Jersey P.L. 2003, c. 126, the Board has made the May 16th Fact-finding Report and Recommendations public and has posted it to the District’s website. At the June 6th Board of Education Public Meeting, the Board will discuss the report and the recommendations. The Board will accept or reject the Fact-finder’s recommendations at that time. Click here to read the Fact Finders Report and Recommendations dated May 16, 2016..”
BOE Meets on June 6 at 7:30 p.m. at BFMS Auditorium
The Ridgewood Board of Education will hold a Regular Public Meeting on Monday, June 6, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
The Regular Public Meeting, originally scheduled to be held in the Board Room at the Education Center, will begin at 7:30 p.m., in the Auditorium at Benjamin Franklin Middle School. Action will be taken at this meeting.
The public is invited to attend the meeting at BFMS or view it live via the district website at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us using the the “Live BOE Meeting” tab on the district website.
Click here to view the agenda and addendum for the May 16, 2016 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the minutes of the May 2, 2016 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the 2016-2017 Budget presented at the May 2, 2016 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the Full Day Kindergarten Recommendation presented to the Board at their March 7, 2016 Regular Public Meeting.
Superintendent and Board Host Coffee and Conversation on May 24
Ridgewood NJ , The Board of Education and Superintendent will host residents for Coffee and Conversation on Tuesday, May 24. The public is invited to drop in at the Education Center at 49 Cottage Place, floor 3 between 7 and 8:30 p.m. to ask questions and share suggestions and concerns.
2016-2017 School Budget Information
Click here to view the 2016-2017 User Friendly Budget.
Click here to look at a 2016-2017 budget summary sheet.
Click here to view the latest information on the budget, updated on May 2, 2016.
Dr. Fishbein Recommends Full-day Kindergarten
On March 7, Dr. Fishbein presented a recommendation to the Board on bringing full-day Kindergarten to Ridgewood. His proposal is to fund a full-day program through a tax increase approved by voters this November in a second question. The consensus of the Board is to proceed with this recommendation.
Click here to read the Ridgewood Board of Education’s Fact-Finding Presentation with The Ridgewood Education Association.
Sick and tired of hearing some the highest paid teachers in the State complain. Get a grip – the real world does not get automatic increases every year and in many case each year the contribution towards health insurance increases and coverage changes to economize. Let them strike and fire them. Lots of fresh new faces with lots of energy or teachers working in lower paying districts would love to have your jobs and be happy to work for a lot less
Teachers voted for Obamacare which is why health premiums are rising faster than wages. But now they want taxpayers to carry the extra cost so they can keep their Platinum health benefits? Give us all a break. Its great the REA can’t bully our BOE members as parents like they’ve done in the past with former BOE members. These are hard working volunteers trying to protect Ridgewood taxpayers from hostile and abusive REA/NJEA who has no interest in negotiating in good faith. They just want to keep screwing Ridgewood taxpayers as our school rankings keep declining. $102mn school budget for a town of 25,0000 and yet the REA wants more! This is abject greed.
NJEA and the REA is shameless trying to bully BOE members and their families. We can only guess the abuse the hard working volunteers have faced privately from the REA and NJEA thugs, and if they did have kids in the local schools what challenges that might present. If you don’t like your health benefit premiums, then downgrade to Bronze level coverage like the rest of us in the private sector. Remember, it was your union who supported Obamacare. So now accept that taxpayers are done subsidizing better health benefit plans for you elite teachers at everyone else’s expense. The rate of contribution is determined by your salary, simply the more money you make the more you are forced to contribute. Lower contribution levels don’t work for taxpayers, so suck it up like the rest of us and enjoy your paid summer vacation.
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood blog has posted verbatim from the Ridgewood Education Association’s Facebook page . We have also included a link to the BOE’s Fact finding Presentation .
Click here to read the Ridgewood Board of Education’s Fact-Finding Presentation with The Ridgewood Education Association.
Here is a summary of the issues surrounding the lack of contract for our association (REA).
“The REA has been working under the terms of an expired contract as of July 1, 2015, negotiations commenced in February 2015. The major issues in our negotiations remain the cost of health contributions teachers will pay, health coverage, and salary.
Employee health contributions are mandated by the state and can not be negotiated away. The law that covers contributions states that once teachers have contributed for four years, and are at the end of a contract, the rate of contribution is then negotiable. Ridgewood is one of the first districts in this position. The rate of contribution is determined by your salary, simply the more money you make the more you are forced to contribute. The average teacher pays 27% of the premium with our most senior teachers paying 35%. This is burdensome on our experienced staff as the increase in contribution is greater than any increase in salary. We are seeking to lower contribution levels.
Salary. We are seeking the county average for salary increase.
Health Coverage. We wish to retain our current options within the state health plan, which is the plan the BOE bargained last round of negotiations. Our willingness to change to the state plan saved the district over a million dollars. It is our contention that Ridgewood’s teachers deserve stability in their health coverage. In addition, the savings achieved in the last round of negotiations combined with the several million dollars contributed by teachers towards that coverage is a significant amount – enough to settle this contract and continue programming.
These issues are not insurmountable and the REA has been willing to engage the BOE in creative means to address the needs of both parties. The larger issue is that the BOE keeps changing their needs. We believe this BOE has no desire to settle a contract:
-At the Sept. 21, 2015 BOE Meeting the Board set their goals for the school year. Goal #3 states: “The Board will continue to negotiate with the REA to settle a new contract.” Their goal is to merely “continue to negotiate”, not settle a contract. When this was brought up by the REA at the meeting BOE Member Vince Loncto stated he saw no problem with the language. Also, why is this the third goal of four? Shouldn’t it be a higher priority?
At the March 23, 2015 meeting the BOE passed a unanimous resolution asking the NJ State Legislature to remove collective bargaining rights for teachers.
-BOE Member Jim Morgan, a member of the Board’s negotiating team, stated in an email sent to the REA: “We can’t impose a contract and the teachers can’t strike. We are therefore left with either just giving up and living with the status quo forever or discussing the issues again. … Like a recalcitrant child, we need to repeat the mantra that ‘the District does not have the money to meet your demands without canceling other educational programs.’” This is their tactic in their own words – act recalcitrant.
-In next year’s school budget the district has allotted $1,592,255 for technology; as well as additional moneys for three new curriculum initiatives next year.
-The BOE keeps changing their position at the table making it impossible for the REA to ever meet them. On March 21, 2016 we presented the Board with a counter proposal. Our counter proposal would cost the Board, over three years, LESS than their proposal, but they refused.
-Ridgewood Board of Education has shown disrespect for the State appointed Fact Finder. They purposely violated procedures by including discussions not entered as evidence at the hearing and misrepresenting the REA’s position in their Fact Finding brief that was submitted to the Fact Finder. Their published brief does not represent their position from the formal Fact Finding hearing. They then doubled-down by making the highly unusual decision to make their report public before the Fact Finder had finished his report in an attempt to intimidate and influence his decision.
Why has this impasse gone on so long? Could it be because this impasse doesn’t affect the Ridgewood Board of Education? Four of the five BOE members do not have children in our schools. One member elects to send her youngest child to a private high school. What do they care if teachers feel disrespected by their actions, if morale is at an all-time low? Their children already graduated and went to great schools. They have nothing at stake – but hopefully the parents and residents of this community will tell this Board of Education that they have a job to do, they need to settle this contract.”
Superintendent and Board Host Coffee and Conversation on May 24
Ridgewood NJ, The Board of Education and Superintendent will host residents for Coffee and Conversation on Tuesday, May 24. The public is invited to drop in at the Education Center at 49 Cottage Place, floor 3 between 7 and 8:30 p.m. to ask questions and share suggestions and concerns.
2016-2017 School Budget Information
Click here to view the 2016-2017 User Friendly Budget.
Click here to look at a 2016-2017 budget summary sheet.
Click here to view the latest information on the budget, updated on May 2, 2016.
BOE-REA Negotiations
Click here to read a Letter to the Editor of The Ridgewood News, published on April 8, 2016.
Click here to view the Ridgewood Board of Education’s Post Hearing Fact Finding Brief and attachments.
Click here
to view an analysis of “Unused Funds’ identified by the REA during Fact Finding Proceedings, presented at the March 7, 2016 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to read a Letter to the Editor of The Ridgewood News, which appeared in the paper on March 4, 2016.
Click here to read the Ridgewood Board of Education’s Fact-Finding Presentation with The Ridgewood Education Association.
Click here to view the backup for the Ridgewood Board of Education’s Fact-Finding Presentation with The Ridgewood Education Association.
Ridgewood NJ, Despite lingering contract talks the public does not seem to be engaged in the Board Of Ed contract dispute with the teachers union, the REA. Since so many things in Ridgewood seem dependent on the quality of education of the Ridgewood public schools ,the public’s lack of interest is to say the least surprising. In the past education issues have loomed large on the blog ,this time not so much.
“shouldn’t our schools and our teachers, one of THE biggest selling points of this town, be a top priority? that one sign says it all…’no contract = no future for ridgewood’. not feeling optimistic about any of it frankly”. Marata Maas (it takes a village Facebook page)
“May 10th is very, very important to Ridgewood, thus these topics are all particularly hot items right now. Voter turnout is always very low, so every vote becomes very important. Next, consider the environment that half of the students who will ultimately populate our high school will be subjected to if we dont get the right solution to the Valley Hospital expansion. Perhaps you are unaware of the other near misses Benjamin Franklin Middle School had with Valley which were resolved in the students’ best interests because of resident involvement. The high density housing issue could crowd up the schools and place an even heavier burden on taxpayers. And the safety and aesthetics of our downtown are certainly an important part of our village. And last, but certainly not least, we can directly influence the destiny of these issues with our votes on May 10th. We do not have that power in the case of the teachers’ contracts.” Laurie Bender (it takes a village Facebook page)
The Village is faced with what many perceive rightly or wrongly as even bigger issues that could potentially harm the quality of life and the quality of education in the Village of Ridgewood . So it looks like until May 10 the focus will be else where.
BOE-REA Negotiations
Click here to read a Letter to the Editor of The Ridgewood News, published on April 8, 2016.
Click here to view the Ridgewood Board of Education’s Post Hearing Fact Finding Brief and attachments.
Click here
to view an analysis of “Unused Funds’ identified by the REA during Fact Finding Proceedings, presented at the March 7, 2016 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to read a Letter to the Editor of The Ridgewood News, which appeared in the paper on March 4, 2016.
Click here to read the Ridgewood Board of Education’s Fact-Finding Presentation with The Ridgewood Education Association.
Click here to view the backup for the Ridgewood Board of Education’s Fact-Finding Presentation with The Ridgewood Education Association.
Click here to read a Letter to the Editor of The Ridgewood News, published on April 8, 2016.
Click here to view the Ridgewood Board of Education’s Post Hearing Fact Finding Brief and attachments.Click here
to view an analysis of “Unused Funds’ identified by the REA during Fact Finding Proceedings, presented at the March 7, 2016 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to read a Letter to the Editor of The Ridgewood News, which appeared in the paper on March 4, 2016.
Click here to read the Ridgewood Board of Education’s Fact-Finding Presentation with The Ridgewood Education Association.
Click here to view the backup for the Ridgewood Board of Education’s Fact-Finding Presentation with The Ridgewood Education Association.
BOE Meets on April 25 at 7:30 p.m.
The Ridgewood Board of Education will hold a Regular Public Meeting on Monday, April 25, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
The public is invited to attend the meeting at the Ed Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3. The meeting may also be viewed on FiOS channel 33, Optimum channel 77 or from computers via the “Live BOE Meeting” tab on the district website.FiOS channel 33, Optimum channel 77 or from computers via the “Live BOE Meeting” tab on the district website.
Click here to view the agenda for the April 4, 2016 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the 2016-2017 Preliminary Budget presented at the March 21, 2016 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the minutes of the March 21, 2016 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the Full Day Kindergarten Recommendation presented to the Board at their March 7, 2016 Regular Public Meeting.
2016-2017 School Budget Presentation is Set for April 19
April 18,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Residents are invited to hear from Board of Education members, the superintendent and the district business administrator about the proposed 2016-17 school budget. They will be at Benjamin Franklin Middle School auditorium on Tuesday, April 19, from 7:30 – 9 p.m. to review the proposed budget and answer questions.
Budget includes district staff, academic offerings, extra curricular activities, and transportation; as well as continuing to maintain and improve district facilities
2.00% Local Tax Levy Increase – Within the current state cap
1.91% Overall Levy Increase – Local Tax Levy + Debt Service Levy
Gen Fund State Aid – $2,196,000 Extraordinary State Aid – $1,376,345 $3,572,345 Debt Service State Aid – $440,918
$300,000 Revenue Budgeted – from Emergency Reserve to help offset Health Benefit Costs Click here to view the latest information on the budget, updated on April 6, 2016.
