Good afternoon, Ridgewood families! I’m the staff supervisor for the RHS Junior New Players summer program. If your child is interested in theater — or just wants an inclusive place to call home this summer — please consider signing them up for Junior New Players! We are open to district students who have completed grades 4 and up! No previous stage experience is required!
This three week workshop is facilitated by advanced RHS students (under the direction and supervision of adult staff) and culminates in performances on the RHS Little Theater stage. Junior Co. (approaching its 25th year) is special and unique to our district. As a Junior Co. alum, I can attest to some very happy memories and close friendships being made here. The performances are great fun but, more importantly, our J-Co. kids learn life skills like public speaking, teamwork, time management, and self-confidence; our high school students make for positive role-models and mentors.
For additional information and registration, see the attached file, or visit our website at rhsnewplayers.com
Feel free to send me a personal message, or email me at [email protected] with any questions about our program!
The RHS New Players Company is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization; donations are tax deductible.
Completely tone deaf and out of touch with reality – Loncto and Fishbein wouldn’t even respond to a resident’s honest concern about these windows and their cost, just saying “We need them now”. Well maybe these out of touch redecorated aren’t up to the jobs they have, time to resign because we don’t need them now.
The SAT definitely has been dumbed down on the verbal side over the years (e.g., 1. hard vocabulary words have been eliminated, 2. analogy questions have been eliminated, 3. more context is now being given in the text of the text itself to allow the test-takers to figure out on the fly what hard or unfamiliar words mean, etc.). As a result, many students can score much higher on the verbal SAT than in years past without having worked hard over the years (or even in the months prior to the SAT test administration) to attain and maintain an excellent vocabulary. So those students with top vocabularies are finding this is not as much an advantage to them as it was for SAT test-takers two or three decades ago (i.e., less proficient students are readily getting the same or close to the same scores as they are getting). It doesn’t appear, however, that this is the case on the math SAT sections. The math SAT is still very challenging. Perhaps many of the Ridgewood High School students benefiting the most from SAT tutoring are making up for not working as hard as they should have in math from grade 6 or 7 onward, or for having had teachers or lower level classes during those grades that didn’t challenge them or that didn’t prepare them adequately to score very well on the math sections of the SAT.
Years ago at Back to School night we were greeted by a teacher who was only concerned that the parents hand over money for a workbook the students needed. When someone questioned what she was teaching, her answer floored me. “I don’t have to worry about my teaching and I could not teach at all and it would be legal. I have tenure and I’m really not interested in bonus money so I’m just going to sit and do nothing until I retire.” And she did. Daily assignments to that workbook to be done in class was just about all she accomplished. This, incidentally, was the required second year of a language class in which they learned nearly nothing. The most horrible thing about this story from years ago is that some teachers in the system still feel that way and nothing has been done about it.
Our rankings might improve if we fired a bunch of these entitled thugs and replaced them with educators interested in working with our kids. But we can’t because the teachers’ union protects incompetence with tenure. All they’re doing is trying to get more wages & benefits for their members. They have no interest in preparing our children for the workplace of tomorrow. Let’s try and get some younger teachers willing to raise their “give a crap” level than the current bunch of lazy thugs we’ve got.
US NEWS STATE of NJ RANK:
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Eleven (not even the TOP 11 BTW) of the top 25 on the list are magnet or Vocational schools (which is not “more than half the top 25” but I guess math is hard for you)
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Also these PUBLIC (non-magnet) Schools are ranked AHEAD of Ridgewood:
#5 – Elizabeth High School
#6 – Princeton High School
#7 – Chatham High School
#10 West Windsor-Plainsboro High School North
#11 – Livingston High School
#12 – Summit Senior High School
#13 – Millburn High School
#14 – Glen Ridge High School
#15 – Ridge High School, Basking Ridge
#18 – West Windsor-Plainsboro High School South
#19 – Mountain Lakes High School
#20 – Tenafly High School
#23 – Northern Highlands Regional High School
#25 – Montgomery High School #26 – Ridgewood High School
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. US NEWS NATIONAL RANK:
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RIDGEWOOD IS RANKED #583 (almost below 600) in NATIONAL Rank
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. US NEWS COLLEGE READINESS (arguably the most important ranking)
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RIDGEWOOD HAS A 53.6% COLLEGE READINESS rating (barely half of the students graduate as ready for college).
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——————————— STATE OF NJ’s OWN SCHOOL RANKINGS
. You are also ignoring that THE STATE OF NJ ranked Ridgewood High School as 83 out of the 385 NJ high schools.
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Neighboring Glen Rock was ranked #13
(the top twelve on the NJ State list are specialized “academies” and vocational schools which have academic standards for acceptance)
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Here’s some other (local) schools that are ranked higher than Ridgewood:
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#20 – Pascack Hills (Pascack Valley)
#25 – Northern Valley – Demarest
#28 – Tenafly
#29 – Mahwah
#45 – Northern Valley – Old Tappan
#46 – Pascack Valley
#48 – River Dell
#52 – Indian Hills
#55 – Emerson
#56 – Fair Lawn
#60 – Northern Highlands
#61 – Fort Lee
#72 – Waldwick
#73 – New Milford
#76 – Bergenfield
#82 – Ramapo
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Then Ridgewood at #83
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But at least we beat out Dumont (ranked #84)
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. No Matter how you look at the data, it IS NOT good news for Ridgewood.
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Ridgewood NJ, Tonight during the Budget presentation, Dr. Fishbien spoke about the stellar SAT scores among Ridgewood High School students. When asked how many families pay for private SAT tutoring, he replied that about 40% of parents responded to a survey, and of those about 40% self-reported that they paid for private SAT prep for their children. I think that number is likely quite a lot higher. It seemed like everyone I knew (in the late 1990’s) was paying for Kaplan or Huntington or some private individual to help improve SAT scores. Depending on how high the numbers actually are, this could mean that the stellar SAT scores are more a reflection of wealth (or the decision to allocate funds toward this effort) than it is a reflection of the Ridgewood High School preparation of students for this standardized exam. Just wondering whether my thoughts on this are off base.
At this time, many of our teachers and other public workers are paid more than many of the residents who pay them. The long term teachers are in the high middle class and lower upper class, and are above the pay grade of many of the residents that pay them. When you add in the benefits and pension, the majority are well above the average Ridgewood residents. We all know that a certain percentage of our residents are “rolling in it” and receive some of the highest pay in the nation. We also know that the teachers, when striking, seem to be demanding to be in the pay range of these really highly paid individuals. We also know that the benefits and pensions that our teachers receive put them at such a high total income level that many of our residents only dream of obtaining. Many of our residents are also business owners or in business for themselves. These people have to pay even more for their employees insurance and the employees pay between 20-25% of that while having high co-pays and deductibles. A $10.00 co-pay is a joke in the real world. To top it off, Ridgewood’s quality is declining by a huge amount while the teachers who are apparently not teaching get higher annual raises. Many residents have not seen a raise or bonus in years. We really can’t cry for the “poor teachers”.
Ridgewood NJ, Drugs and alcohol continue to be a pervasive problem in New Jersey’s cities as well as suburban areas. The New Jersey Department of Education released its most recent data of substance abuse cases reported by each school district . In the current list of the school districts cases in 2016-17, Ridgewood Schools broke the top 50 coming in 3rd in Bergen county and 49th over all with 17 reported cases , trailing only Englewood with 19 and tying Ridgewood field park with 17.
The state Department of Education has cautioned that these numbers are reported by each district, each jurisdiction is self reporting and is responsible and required by law for reporting its results fairly and accurately.
Ridgewood NJ, The Board of Education has approved the preliminary 2018-2019 school budget. Public presentations will be given at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, April 3 at George Washington Middle School Auditorium and on Monday, April 16 at Benjamin Franklin Middle School Auditorium.
This budget is out of control and the unions are to blame. Time for new teachers to be put into 401Ks – the pension system is broken beyond repair. Time to do away with tenure. Time for union employees to pay the same for insurance coverage as those of us that pay their salaries. The time for change is now as the status quo is not sustainable.
Why do they get platinum health insurance when most private sector plans are bronze level coverage? If you want it, pay much higher premiums. Why should Villagers be subsidizing better health care coverage for Village and BOE employees than our own family coverage? Makes no sense.
Reader says ,“We must attend the budget meetings at schools and speak up. Last night I watched budget meeting on TV and a gentleman protested that it was insanity to spend close to 800 thousand dollars alone on new windows for Ridgewood School Board of Ed . He said he and other residents were having a hard time making ends meet because of new tax laws on property taxes. Loncte and Fishbein were completely unsympathetic and rigid about spending all that money. Loncte said they had to spend that money in order to keep house sales high , because people chose Ridgewood for there good schools. Thanks to James we known that Ridgewood ranks less than other less expensive towns in Bergen County.”
The preliminary 2018-2019 Ridgewood School budget exceeds the 2% annual property tax increase cap for the first time since the current cap was enacted.
The draft budget was accepted by three of the five board members. Two abstentions were noted by members who believe more can be done to reduce the overall expenditures.
Options to ameliorate budgetary pressures have been discussed, however, input from residents is critical in determining if those options will be used. It is imperative that members of the community participate in the process, attend the budget presentations and voice their opinions.
Four years ago, a majority of the BOE voted to move the school elections to November. Associated with that change was the removal of a vote on the annual school budget, provided property tax increases remained within the 2% cap required by law. This does not mean that voters cannot have an impact on the annual budget.
For the next five weeks, the Board is discussing the budget in a series of public budget meetings, the first of which is on April 3 at 7:00 at George Washington MS and another on April 16 at 7:00 at Benjamin Franklin MS. The Board also has regularly scheduled meetings on April 2 and April 23 at 7:30 in the Ed Center. These meetings are an opportunity for everyone in the Village to voice their thoughts directly to the Board and Superintendent.
After these presentations conclude, the Board will have a formal budget hearing and vote on the final budget on May 7.
We urge all concerned citizens to attend and engage.
Christina Krauss, BOE Member Jim Morgan, BOE Vice President
“Emperor Superintendent Deems a Dog’s Tail a Leg”
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The following column appeared in The Ridgewood News on March 30, 2018.
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The other day a request came in to include information on the League of Women Voters’ upcoming Candidates Night in our district enews. Now, since the League is non-partisan, non-profit and local, the flyer easily passed our requirements for publishing. But the notice got me thinking in general about the important mandate that public school districts be strictly non-partisan while still encouraging our students’ intellectual curiosity and passions. It can be a delicate balance on occasion.
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A great example of successfully walking this line occurred at Ridgewood High School on March 14, when we permitted our students to organize a 17-minute walkout in conjunction with the national anti-gun violence event commemorating victims of the Parkland school shooting and raising awareness for violence-free schools. Simultaneous to this event another group of our students staged a sit-in in our Campus Center to highlight Second Amendment rights. [So is this how it goes? Two political wrongs make an apolitical right?]
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Intellectual and emotional passion energized a large body of our students that day. Of varying political views, those who either walked out or sat in paid respectful tribute to the Parkland shooting victims while raising their voices for change. RHS Principal Tom Gorman and staff helped guide our students’ planning to assure that in addition to a feel-good moment they would be enriched by a living civics lesson on the process of peaceable assembly and its value and power to effect non-violent change in a democratic society. At Ridgewood High School that day, our students lived out their textbook lessons on the meaning of freedom of speech. They also learned, as Dr. Gorman summarized aptly in a letter to the RHS community, that change is not a 17-minute event but takes a lifetime of work. In his words, Your strength and purpose happens in what you do in the 18th minute and beyond. I commend Tom’s letter to you, found in the Communications section of the RHS web pages at https://www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us.
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March 14 was a historic day for the Ridgewood Public Schools. We had never done anything like it in recent history, and while other districts chose to disallow their students’ request to participate in the national walkout, I am pleased and proud of our decision to endorse this event and also proud of and thankful for all who were involved on many levels to ensure its success as a meaningful day of memorial, awareness raising and civics in action, while remaining strictly non-partisan.
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In particular, I am proud of our students for their interest and passion to make a difference, and their desire to grapple intellectually and respectfully with contemporary societal issues. [What’s next, Dan? Dueling Pro-Life/Pro-Abortion protests? An excellent case can be made for a convenient “tie-in” that pro-life students are protesting the gravest kind of violence done to the youngest of children, whom had they not been killed, would have become their fellow RHS students. Or, are you, by this self-congratulatory letter, simply trying to head such an eventuality off at the pass? You are not the judge of your own case, Dan. Superintendent or not, if you, in fact, stepped in it by personally fomenting one or more political protests by students during the school day and on school property, no amount of after-the-fact whitewashing on your part will transform wrongdoing into inspired charity.]
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I am equally proud of, and thankful, too, for our very professional staff and for their expertise and attention, not just to the curricular matters but also for their personal commitment, and for their ability to focus on the common ground we all share on the importance of safe schools that are free of violence.
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I am further proud to be living and working in a community that supports [Not so fast, Dan!] the efforts of its public school administrators in navigating the sometimes tricky terrain [Much as all this tickles your fancy, Dan, you and your administrator friends are not paid to help students explore a career in Obama-inspired community organizing. Please get back to doing your real job.]. These past few weeks have seen a more than a flurry of snow and the tight grip of winter; there’ve been many spirited conversations and a number of district communications* about safety, security and students’ rights to assemble on school property without repercussions. [Without repercussions! Ah yes, there’s where you went wrong. The real world is not so forgiving, Dan. You’ve deprived your charges of the best lesson you might have taught them! No letter from a Birmingham jail is possible in the scenario you’ve created…] These are real issues, real concerns. [Ooh..that’s a pithy little gem. We can tell you’re just dying to get your first entry into Bartlett’s Quotations. Keep trying.]
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It’s a community’s desire to put politics aside on occasion and walk the line with us that makes a difference in achieving our mission of excellence in a safe, non-violent school setting. I am so very appreciative of that willingness to engage. [Quite a slippery slope you’ve erected here, Dan. Enthusiasm may be your strong suit. But foresight? Not so much.]
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As always, please feel free to get in touch with any questions or concerns. [Who are you kidding…]
Daniel Fishbein, Ed.D.
District Superintendent
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* Please see my March 1, 2018 letter on school safety, found on the Superintendent’s page of the district website at https://www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us.
Daniel Fishbein, Ed.D., is Superintendent of the Ridgewood Public Schools. Dr. Fishbein can be reached at 201-670-2700, ext. 10530, or via e-mail at [email protected]. For more information on the Ridgewood Public Schools visit the district website at https://www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us, the district Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RidgewoodPublicSchools, or follow us on Twitter @RwdPubSchools.
Ridgewood NJ, The Ridgewood Board of Education will hold a Regular Public Meeting tonight, Monday, April 2, 2018. The Board meets at the Education Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3 at 7:30 p.m.
The public is welcome to attend the meeting, or to watch from home on Fios channel 33 or Optimum channel 77. Meetings are also streamed via the “BOE Webcast” tab on the district website at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us.
Meeting webcasts are immediately available on the district website.
