the staff of The Ridgewood Blog
Ridgewood NJ, Much to the dismay of elected Ridgewood Board of Education members, during their Monday night public meeting, it was revealed that the much discussed and long awaited “World Language Curriculum” for elementary school students would include instruction in only Chinese, French, and German (that’s right; there were no plans developed to provide instruction in Spanish).
And, if members of the Ridgewood Blog’s staff heard correctly, the languages selected were chosen solely based upon the availability of new teachers; that is, teachers proficient in Chinese, French, and German were the only ones available for the upcoming school year.
Wisely, Board members asked for the rather bizarre proposal to be tabled until further discussion among staffers and selected members of the Board could take place.
Chinese, French, and German? Really? We love Paris in the spring time but it makes no sense to our staff; what do you think?
And I suppose there will be some who say Board members should have just rubber stamped this crazy proposal.
Will taxpayers now be faced with an expensive lawsuit because jobs were promised to those 3 new teachers?
How’d this one sneak by the Superintendent’s office? Asleep at the switch Dr. Fitts?
He has been asleep since day 1!
just ridiculous and incompetent
Thank God Kwak and Dani stopped this idiocy.
Three votes are required for everything, so Dani and Kwak alone cannot have done this.
Sheila and Mike are rubber stamps for administration. So, the third vote must have come from MM? I haven’t watched the meeting but if I have to guess, that’s what I would guess.
For SB and ML, In my opinion they just need to keep the unions happy by saying yes to everything they propose.. and In my opinion ML is busy taking favors from administrators and teachers.
Have Sheila or Mike EVER voted no on ANYTHING that comes from the administration?
This is hilarious. Dani and Kwak have been attempting to destroy our schools. 3 Supers in 2 years. 3 BA in 2 years, we lost our director of curriculum and our hr manager. Those two do not care about our students, our town, or anyone. They are rude and are dangerous. They need to go.
These two are ruining the town. They need to go.
Presentations for two years at the board meeting were for Spanish program improvements and then at the last minute outgoing assistant superintendent appointed Garman, French and Chinese teachers. She only included a Chinese teacher so she can call it DEI in her proposals.
How’s French and German promoting DEI efforts?
Also there was no curriculum or books proposed and it was suggested that the new teachers will develop the curriculum and books after they are hired.
Over 120 classes in Elementary school and one teacher for each language. That’s about 30 minutes per month of instruction in the name of DEI.
The elementary school parents who had advocated for this effort were also surprised by this last minute agenda item to hire these three teachers. They were expecting Spanish teachers too.
Defund public schools, they are a destructive anachronism now taken over by Marxists.
Smart comment!
Not true. It has been very clear that spanish is the most popular language so it would make sense but it was directed to see what other languages were found. Dani had made it his mission to destroy all world languages so all of a sudden wanting Spanish is a joke. He went on public record saying we do not need world language at all. Do not be fooled
What a great way to promote diversity. Let’s teach French and German.
Let me guess, the hiring authorities knew the French and German teachers in advance?
Some board members are compromised with their relatives being hired, so they cannot oppose other hiring decisions. Sad state of affairs!!!
The french teacher already works for the district
Unless we are conceding the economic fight with China, I would think Spanish would be more relevant and practical as a second language. The saving grace is that if we do lose the economic fight with China, they will teach it to all of us faster and cheaper than can our school district. So no reason to ignore the language that a majority of American will be speaking by 2035.
Spanish is a must. Pretty soon we will be seeing busloads of illegals at our doors and that stream will never stop again so better have our kids know how to speak with half their future class. It is also part of DEI.
Chinese is critical being that they are the superpower today and our kids likely will be working for them someday.
Also, Lgbtqrtxyz language should be taught so that our kids can be fluent with dealing with all the fluid genders of the future. Can’t find a better reason for DEI.
german, french, italian are white civilizations that belong to the past. We have to be forward looking
The Board président approved the hiring of his girlfriend. Yep. True.
Girlfriend and girlfriend’s sister!
Fact Check False: The President was not even at the meeting and did not vote. I’m sure he would have recused himself as he always does. I also do not think a substitute teacher is really a cushy deal.
This is a joke right? The sister was an employee before he got elected. These are just ridiculous claims by haters
These are just false rumors to attack the only true leader of our board. You all remember the DISASTER last year with Kwak right?
Lets be practical here.
Supposed you are in a dark parking lot at night walking to your car.
You are being followed by a few suspicious individuals speaking another language.
Do you think they are speaking German, French or Chinese?
Think about it
Public school hiring is corrupt. 90% of hiring staff hiring in Ridgewood is ‘someone’s relative’ (true for both municipal and school hiring)