
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, parents once again spoke out at Monday evening’s Ridgewood Board of Education meeting about the increase in class sizes. Taxpayers better get used to it .While staffing shortage were cited as the primary problem, the reality is with more high density housing being targeted for the Valley Hospital property and the already built high density housing attracting more students to Ridgewood Schools ,taxpayers should prepare themselves to spend more money on classrooms and public education.
As often repeated on this blog the consequences of high density housing are the lowering of the quality of life in the Village, and more money from taxpayers for public safety, sewers , road infrastructure , water, and class rooms .
James, please don’t take anything from tapinto. That’s paid for by the democratic party and there whole goal is to make some members of the board look bad and promote Sheila Brogan.
Her articles are distorted.
Elementary classrooms have held 25 students for decades. That’s nothing new. What is new are all of the state requirements that have been jammed down into the local districts curriculum. With so many requirements the focus is no longer on the basics. Additionally, historically Ridgewood had many more one income families, Moms were home, present for the kids. Now both parents are available 24/7 for their career jobs. Kids have to wait in line for their parents attention. For the last 20 years, teachers are now dealing with the emotional issues of insecure children with the ensuing behavior problems. Many parents see teachers as another member of their “staff” and blame the schools when their kids have issues.
Interesting that Lembo is talking about the appearance of our fields vs. other towns.
Should not the BOE be more concerned with what is happening inside the classroom than with the appearance of our fields? What’s more important, how we “appear” to other towns or the education of our children?
Word to the wise: Find out how many classes at RHS run with fewer than 20 students. Add up the expenses for the RHS sports teams. Perhaps some of that money can be moved to the elementary schools…….
There is a lot of data to support “crowded” classrooms are actually better for the students. There is a synergy that develops as students interact with each other, students learn on their own therefore they have better retention, etc. Larger class sizes do not translate into less learning. Not at all.
Guess the thumbs downers don’t like data or facts……
Consider homeschooling your children. There are too many wackos involved in the administration of public education these days!