>For those of you returning from vacation, perhaps you missed The Ridgewood News, February 22, 2008. A letter to the editor was submitted by our very own Board of Ed. member Bob Hutton.
FYI…
I sincerely hope all of you had the opportunity to review the School Report Cards issued in The Record last Friday, Feb. 15. After my personal review of all the data presented, I am proud of our public school system here in Ridgewood, I wish to thank all who are involved and contribute daily to the success of our student body.
Allow me to highlight some of the salient points that the School Report Cards showed for Ridgewood.
Ridgewood High School still has the largest student population in Bergen County. The high school’s mean SAT score in math of 605 was third in the county. We trailed only the Bergen Academies and Tenafly.
Our mean SAT score for verbal was second only behind the Bergen Academies. Our mean SAT score for essay was third only behind the Bergen Academies and Northern Valley Demarest.
It would be appropriate to remind everyone that students must apply and be accepted into Bergen Academies; not all comers are welcome.
In Bergen County and all schools in northern New Jersey that The Record reported on, Ridgewood High School was number one in the number of AP classes – 26.
RHS’ percentage of graduates going onto four-year colleges was 92.6 percent. We finished fourth in that category, following Bergen Academies, Tenafly and Northern Highlands. Only two other districts had four-year college rates in excess of 90 percent: Ramsey and Ramapo.
Results are one measurement. I have concluded that these results are very good. Again, this is a testament to the entire Ridgewood community and their support of public education.
At what price were these results achieved? From the same data source, Ridgewood is shown with a cost per pupil of $13,571. Bergen Academies show a cost per pupil in excess of $24,000. Tenafly has a cost per pupil of $14,857. Demarest has a per-pupil cost of $15,312. Northern Highlands has a cost per pupil of $16,039. In short, Ridgewood is optimizing every dollar.
I know some in our community will not like these results. They will spin these data facts somehow to a negative focus. From some sources, you would be lead to believe that our district does not have the ability to do anything right. That is the farthest from the truth. Some of those same folks cannot handle the truth. If any of you are movie buffs, you can probably guess where I am headed. Maybe “I’d prefer you just say thank you and went on your way.”
Year after year, due to hard work of many, our Ridgewood Public Schools produce excellent results. This year’s report card is no different.
Robert A. Hutton
Member
Ridgewood Board of Education