Ridgewod NJ, its seems members of the “Ridgewood for Black Liberation” group is now attempting to recruit teens to their cause . On Wednesday July 29th the group held a ZOOM meeting “just for teens”, no teachers or facility invited. The 20 something leaders were looking for RHS students interested in “social justice” code for Marxism . The Ridgewood blog is curious about how parents feel about having their teen recruited buy grown adults ?
“Bureaucrats, administrators…they definitely get paid by the word. No parent will suffer through this mess of information relating only to process. Moreover, the state is asleep at the switch. The districts and the NJEA know this and are confident that any scrutiny they receive for this mumbo-jumbo will end up being untimely and will only be partial. Nothing more than a post-game wrap-up. Therefore, they do as they please, everyone gets paid, nobody gets laid off or rendered superfluous, and the quantity of information absorbed by the students in the form of “learning” will continue to wither and shrink.”
Ridgewood NJ, at the Ridgewood Board of Education meeting on Monday , Ms. Poelstra the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum first shared the proposed Return to School Plan at a Special Public Meeting on Thursday, July 23. She repeated the presented at the July 17 Regular Public Meeting, as originally scheduled. At the start of the presentation, Ms. Poelstra shared data about the severity of the pandemic in New Jersey and how the actions we have taken have helped to mitigate the spread of the virus. She then reviewed the timeline from the mandatory emergency school closing on March 13 through July 31 when the district reopening plan is due to the County for review and approval. In May and June, administrative subcommittees were created to begin to think about what the district would need to do to transition back to school. The New Jersey Department of Education released The Road Back: Restart and Recovery Plan for Education on June 26. Since that time, the district started to develop its plans based on the guidance. This process involved administering staff and parent surveys, holding subcommittee meetings, attending NJDOE/Legal One webinars, collaborating with neighboring districts, and organizing comprehensive professional development for teachers over the summer. Last Friday, Governor Murphy announced that families will be allowed to choose an all-remote option, which is another challenge facing school districts. A few days ago, the deadline for the submission of the reopening plan was changed from July 27 to July 31. We still not have a checklist or template from the NJDOE about what needs to be included in the plan, yet districts are required to share our schedules with all stakeholders four weeks before the opening of school. This timeline reflects the rapidly changing situation, and we must be flexible and adaptable. Our goal is to have an education plan in place that allows our students to continue to learn while meeting the required health and safety standards.
Ridgewood NJ, Director of Special Programs. Dr. Michelle Fenwick presented an overview of 28-21 STEPSS: School Transition and Employment Program for Student Success. This program is an in-district transition to adulthood program for students ages 18-21, who have met state graduation requirements but continue to need more time and skill development before entering independent or interdependent adulthood. Dr. Fenwick explained that this program has been in the works since before the 2017 Special Education Review when this was identified as an area for growth for the Special Programs Office. The development of the program has included tours of other transitional programs, professional development on transition, meetings with other transition coordinators who were already engaged in 18-21 year-old programs, focus groups, surveys, and tours of potential sites. The philosophy of STEPSS that is shared with Ridgewood Public Schools and the Department of Special Programs is to provide specialized instruction and support services for meaningful readiness for employment and independence. Dr. Fenwick explained that the STEPSS team includes members of the IEP team that have worked with a student from the age of 14. The daily schedule of the program will consist of an instructional component and a community-based component. The benefits of the STEPSS Program include continuity of learning from our in-district special education programs, training and practice within our community, and cost-effectiveness of offering our own program as opposed to sending students to out-of-district programs. Recent events suggest Dr. Fenwick has his work cut out for him .
Ridgewood NJ, Due to the Governor’s Executive Order 104 citing the CDC’s recommendation for cancellation or postponement of gatherings of fifty or more people, the Regular meeting will be held utilizing videoconferencing.
Ridgewood NJ, As the US moves toward the scheduled start of the 2020-21 school year, the US CDC published several updated guidance documents to support schools in preparing for classes in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. A number of prominent US government officials, including President Trump, have publicly called for schools to resume in-person classes, but many state governments, school officials and teachers, and health experts warn that might not be feasible or safe in some circumstances. The updated guidance includes information for schools regarding the current understanding of COVID-19 risk to children and their role in driving transmission in the community and at home as well as recommendations for implementing appropriate social and physical distancing (including mask use), enhanced hygiene and sanitation, and disease surveillance and monitoring systems. The guidance also includes considerations based on the current level of community transmission, including the possible need to close schools due to uncontrolled community spread. In addition to schools, the CDC offers tools and information aimed at parents to help evaluate risk.
Ridgewood NJ, The New Jersey Department of Education today issued clarifying guidance to allow parents to select fulltime remote learning for their children in the 2020-2021 school year.
Released last month, the Department’s guidance document, “The Road Back: Restart and Recovery Plan for Education,” emphasized that schools should prepared plans to open in some capacity for in-person instruction for the 2020-2021 school year. Since its release, the Department received feedback from many parents who wanted a greater voice in the decision-making process of whether their child should return to in-person learning. In addition, officials in some school districts called on the Department to release guidance to specifically allow for all-remote learning for those students.
Ridgewo0d NJ, Dr. Fishbein began by explaining that the primary concern when developing the reopening plan was the health and safety of our students and staff. Since districts are getting information from the Governor’s office and the Department of Education daily, everything is subject to change, and we need to be prepared to pivot at any time. The presentation, along with a link to a survey, will be embedded in a letter to parents which is being emailed on Tuesday, July 28. Transition to September was presented by Ms. Poelstra, who began by thanking the many stakeholders for their input and contributions to the development of the plan.
“The conditions the NJEA are on the verge of forcing the state to impose on life in the public schools are so draconian as to cause normal parents to recoil in horror. This is intentional. The NJEA has been working overtime to make sure the state offers all parents the option of keeping their children at home indefinitely from the start of the school year based on generalized COVID-19 fears and anxiety. The one-two punch routine is completed by the NJEA pushing school re-opening guidelines that are so drastic as to cause parents to conclude that the schools will end up becoming glorified detention centers or penitentiaries. The NJEA figures most parents love their children too much to force them to endure the degrading and dehumanizing treatment the public schools are certain to have in store for them.”
“The NJEA and the political puppet string-pullers that control it and every other state teacher’s union in this country must have determined that collective coordinated student walkouts and protests in favor of all things BLM and AntiFa would be too hard to instigate and organize in time to effect the November national election. So the decision is being taken in each individual state to convert the student population into a ready supply to fuel flash mobs. The school districts will be forced to keep the little shock troops at home with mommy and daddy who will be able to drive them to wherever they are needed at the drop of a tweet.”
“the costs to bring our school buildings to an adequate level of safety for students and staff are astronomical.”
There’s no need to do any of that.
New Jersey’s top high school graduates, as a group, outstrip the academic achievements, performance, and potential of those of every other state. This is borne out by the fact that the cutoff for National Merit Semifinalist status, which in every state consists of the top half of the top one percent of PSAT test scores among Junior Year PSAT test takers in that particular state (the Junior year being the only year that counts for purposes if National Merit competition), is higher in New Jersey than it is for every other state, year in, year out. In fact, in recent years, the PSAT cutoff in New Jersey for achieving National Merit Semifinalist status has typically been only one point away from a perfect score. Mind you, every Junior in every U.S. state who elects to take the PSAT to get involved in the National Merit competition takes the exact same version of the PSAT test on the exact same day. So there is no funny business involved, and it becomes possible to do a perfect apples-to-apples comparison data between states to see which states are producing the greatest number of top-shelf college-ready students as a proportionate to the total number of high school graduates they certify in a given year.
Ridgewood NJ, with the discussion on back to school heating up many concerned parents are looking for alternatives. On of those options are home schooling, which some parents are investigating after positive experiences with remote classes this spring after most schools closed. While these options may appear similar on the surface, remote classes and home schooling are very different. Home school options vary widely, including utilizing existing curricula or developing personalized course work, and the standards and requirements vary from state to state.
While online classes and home school may be effective, they may not be viable options for everyone. These options may require computers, tablets, or smartphones and reliable high-speed internet service to fully participate, particularly for live-streamed classes or video sessions. Availability for both computers and internet services may not be feasible for lower-income families or those living in remote areas, and many parents may not be able to continue to work remotely or remain at home in order to supervise their children during the day.
Ridgewood NJ, Steve Beatty Secretary-Treasurer of the NJEA said in a Facebook post ,”At our meeting with the acting commissioner of the Department of Education and his staff last week (and our on-going meetings), we engaged in a discussion, albeit mostly one-sided, on the issues and concerns surrounding the re-opening of schools in September.
Our clear message was that there is no way the state can push to re-open schools in a way that would account for the health, safety, and educational integrity of our schools and all that enter them.
We have been consistent in our guidance and growing insistence along with our education stakeholder partners and an ever growing chorus of our members.
Keep the pressure up. On the local level by joining and/or communicating with your re-opening committee. On the state level by calling and emailing your elected representatives and the governors office as well as the commissioner and state board. We know the power of sustained and organized collective action. Our voice is being heard and must be heeded! New Jersey Education Association New Jersey Department of Education Governor Phil Murphy”
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood BOE member Mike Lembo said in a Facebook post ,”The Ridgewood School Board has called for a Special Meeting this coming Thursday July 23rd at 5pm. The topic will be the school reopening plan for the district. We know that parents, teachers, and students have many concerns, questions, and comments on the issue. Please let your voice be heard, as we called this meeting for all of you.
The meeting is going to be held remotely, you can find the BOE Webcast link to the meeting on our website homepage. Members of the public can call in comments during the public comment period of the meeting or write-in comments online prior to, and during, the Board Meeting. These comments will be heard, but any offensive, lewd, or obscene language will not be tolerated. There will be two public comment portions, one at the beginning of the meeting and one at the end. Do not forget to mute your broadcast when speaking to minimize sound feedback and do not forget to identify yourself before speaking!This is a special meeting concerning the school reopening plan only, the regular Board of Education meeting will be held on Monday July 27th. Comments, questions, and concerns related to other issues besides the reopening will be more appropriate then.”
