Ridgewood NJ, Since 1947, Ridgewood’s Jamboree has presented an original musical revue raising funds for need-based college scholarships for graduating RHS seniors.
Over 125 RHS parents and guardians participate and contribute each year by singing, dancing, acting, performing in the band, designing and making costumes, building sets, managing set changes and being back-stage heroes.
The Jamboree Scholarship Fund, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) qualified charity and all contributions are tax deductible. The entire production and all Jamboree fund-raising efforts are 100 percent voluntary. All Fund revenues are raised through program advertising, ticket sales and corporate and individual sponsorships.
JANUARY 29, 2016 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 2016, 12:31 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Board ‘committed’ to settling contract
to the editor:
At Monday’s Board of Education meeting, 20 Ridgewood teachers spoke at the podium. They spoke passionately about their love of teaching and their deep commitment to our children. With pride, they enumerated the educational opportunities that Ridgewood provides and acknowledged the exceptional quality of our district. They implored the Board to reach a “fair” settlement and expressed their frustration that the contract remained unsettled.
The Board is sympathetic to the concerns expressed by our teachers and shares the desire to complete negotiations as quickly as possible. The Board has made every effort to listen to the union’s concerns and address them.
On Jan. 20 at our last negotiation session, the Board made a new comprehensive proposal that would have increased the take-home pay of every teacher through a combination of salary increases and revisions to the health care plans offered to the REA members. The Board also offered to discuss several ideas to ameliorate the impact of the 35 percent employee health care premium contributions paid by the highest paid staff.
These proposals address the teachers’ primary concerns while staying within the district’s financial capabilities.
Some of the teachers’ comments questioned Ridgewood Public Schools’ spending on improving curriculum, professional development, technology and eBooks in our elementary school libraries. While our teachers and the work they do are key to making Ridgewood the superior district that it is, we know that their jobs would be exponentially more challenging if they did not have new and improved textbooks, revised curriculum and the technology enhancements such as Chromebooks.
As the Board of Education, we are committed to balancing these competing costs and the need to continue to deliver a well-balanced educational program to our students. With the state-imposed hard cap that restricts district property tax revenue increases to 2 percent or less of the prior year taxes, this is a very tough assignment.
We have had numerous meetings with the REA team and are willing to meet at any time to negotiate all components of the contract.
In the meantime, we will move forward to fact-finding. Next week, both sides will have the opportunity to submit their positions, arguments and exhibits to an independent, state-appointed fact-finder. We expect the fact-finder to issue his non-binding recommendations by the end of April.
This Board is committed to settling an equitable new contract that treats our teachers fairly, is respectful of the taxpayers and maintains the financial integrity of the district. Most importantly, we want to end the unrest that drains our staff’s energy so that they can focus on the important job of teaching our children, which is something that they do exceptionally well.
We are united with the teachers in the goal of continuing Ridgewood’s “Tradition of Excellence.”
JANUARY 28, 2016 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JANUARY 28, 2016, 11:41 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Ridgewood High School students in the midst of stressing over midterm exams were given a reprieve over the past couple weeks, thanks to the timely arrival of some therapy dogs.
Robert Bell, the district’s supervisor of wellness, worked in conjunction with a non-profit called Bright and Beautiful Therapy Dogs in order to bring five specially trained canines to the high school over four mornings, allowing students to relax between exams and forget about their studies for a while.
“It’s a great opportunity for the kids,” Bell said, noting that the students really seemed to be enjoying themselves, as evidenced by the laughter ringing up and down the hallway.
According to Bell, Ridgewood High School is the first public school to attempt such a de-stressing technique. The program is often used at colleges and universities.
“In all of our research, we haven’t found a public high school that has tried this,” Bell said. “We specifically went for professionally trained dogs, working with outside organizations, bringing in five dogs a day and putting them in different locations throughout the building.”
He explained that the high school’s version of the event is a litmus test, by which the district’s administrators will decide if it is worth bringing to other Ridgewood schools. He also noted that other public schools have contacted the high school about the program.
“We get a lot of phone calls about it, just how this process is working,” Bell said. “I think there’s interest out there at the public school level.”
While the program seems to be an enjoyable one, it is also economically feasible, according to Bell.
New Jersey’s new standardized tests might not be popular, but they do produce more honest results than the prior exam, according to a new study by education reform groups. Adam Clark, NJ.com Read more
JANUARY 29, 2016 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 2016, 12:31 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The Ridgewood Board of Education (BOE) and Ridgewood Education Association (REA) have failed to reach a settlement despite protracted negotiations, BOE President Sheila Brogan reported during a meeting on Monday.
The two sides met on Jan. 20, and the main sticking point continued to be healthcare contributions. A new proposal presented by the school board was rejected by the REA.
Brogan said the “comprehensive” proposal addressed issues that had been raised during previous negotiation sessions and modified the district’s “original proposal in a number of significant ways.”
“Our offer was designed to address the REA’s goal of increasing the actual take-home pay of its members without jeopardizing the district’s financial position,” Brogan said.
“The REA did not respond with a comprehensive proposal of their own,” she continued. “They chose to focus only on the amounts their members contribute towards their healthcare benefits.”
REA members, however, believe that the BOE did not make a real effort to come up with terms that would be acceptable to both parties. They also said a counteroffer was not seriously considered by the board.
BOE Meets on February 8 at 7:30 p.m.
The Ridgewood Board of Education will hold a Regular Public Meeting on Monday, February 8, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
The public is invited to attend the meeting at the Ed Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3. The meeting may also be viewed on FiOS channel 33, Optimum channel 77 or from computers via the “Live BOE Meeting” tab on the district website.FiOS channel 33, Optimum channel 77 or from computers via the “Live BOE Meeting” tab on the district website.
Click here to view the agenda for the January 25, 2016 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the minutes of the December 21, 2015 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the minutes of the January 4, 2016 Reorganization/Regular Public Meeting
Super Science Saturday 2016, the celebration of science and technology in our daily lives, returns for its twenty-seventh year on Saturday, February 27, from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. at Ridgewood High School, 627 East Ridgewood Avenue. Admission is free. Students are invited to sign up and exhibit at www.supersciencesaturday.org.
Admission is Free
The three-session presenters’ workshop begins on Thursday, February 4 and continues on February 11 and 25, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. at Benjamin Franklin Middle School. The cost is $20. Click here for workshop details and registration information.
Full details of the day, including registration forms, can be found on the Super Science Saturday website atwww.supersciencesaturday.org.
Click here for the latest Super Science Saturday flyer.
JANUARY 21, 2016 / MICHELE BROWN, PRESIDENT & CEO – CHOOSE NEW JERSEY
We tell our children to dream big and go far. We would be wise to also tell them that they can do both in New Jersey.
New Jersey is home to some of the best colleges and universities in the nation. CNBC pointed specifically to our higher education assets in its latest ranking of the Top States for Business. And the State’s elementary and secondary schools are consistently ranked amongst the country’s best, most recently by Wallet Hub.
It’s an important distinction and one that carries weight all over the world. Whether I’m talking with business leaders nearby or abroad, access to our highly educated workforce is always front and center when we discuss the merits of locating and growing a business in New Jersey.
Yet our State exports students at an alarming rate. More than 30,000 graduating seniors leave the State each year to go to college. These are students whom we’ve raised and nurtured and invested in, and that we’re proud to call our own.
Once they leave New Jersey, they are more likely to take their first job out of State and build their careers and raise their families there.
That “brain drain” has the potential to impact the State’s ability to offer employers the highly educated and diverse workforce that has become its calling card.
New Jersey can’t afford that.
Thanks to the leadership of PSE&G’s Ralph LaRossa, Audible’s Don Katz, Mayors Ras Baraka and Dana Redd and the support of business, faith, government and education leaders across New Jersey, we’ve launched a program to help keep our students here for college and beyond.
The new “Smart Students Choose New Jersey” program will reward the highest academically ranked graduating senior at every Newark and Camden high school that chooses to attend a New Jersey college or university. They will be provided both a scholarship and the offer to work three years of paid summer internships at some of the State’s top businesses and organizations, including Fortune 500 companies, labor organizations and small businesses that range across a variety of industries and sectors. A full list of program participants can be found at www.choosenj.com/smart
At our program launch, Ralph LaRossa said, “New Jersey’s highly educated workforce is one of its competitive advantages. It is a key reason why businesses choose to locate in the State and to stay and expand here. We need to do everything we can to encourage our best and brightest to stay.” That’s right.
This program has the potential to keep our most talented here, in careers and callings that have them providing their talent to the businesses that power the State. We’re piloting it in Camden and Newark and would love to make it bigger.
Help us by telling kids that they can accomplish big things here at home. Tell them about ourphenomenal schools and remind them New Jersey is a great place to be, both now AND when they grow up.
Oregon stand-off militiaman killed in shootout with the FBI: Traffic stop turns into deadly gunfight, ending with militia’s spokesman dead and leader Ammon Bundy arrested along with seven others
Traffic cops stopped the Bundy brothers and seven others on Tuesday Shots were fired; LaVoy Finicum was killed, Ryan Bundy was wounded Finicum, 55, a married father of 11 and grandfather of 19, acted as the militia’s spokesman Told an Oregon paper a day before his death that law enforcement officials ‘have become more hardened’ towards their group At the start of the occupation, Finicum said he would rather die for freedom than face arrest Ammon Bundy and four others were detained at the scene; they have been charged with ‘conspiracy to impede federal officers’ Another three were arrested elsewhere soon after, police confirmed Not clear who opened fire; the hospital and highway were on lockdown It comes more than three weeks after the Bundy brothers led an occupation of a federal building in Burns, Oregon, to protest 2 ranchers being jailed
By DAILYMAIL.COM REPORTER and ASSOCIATED PRESS and REUTERS
PUBLISHED: 21:10 EST, 26 January 2016 | UPDATED: 10:38 EST, 27 January 2016
Oregon militia spokesman LaVoy Finicum has been shot dead after a traffic stop escalated into a shoot-out that saw Ryan Bundy wounded and eight leaders of the occupation movement arrested.
The group’s leader Ammon Bundy was among the militiamen arrested during the encounter on Tuesday afternoon as they drove to attend a community meeting in the neighboring town.
It was the culmination of a tense stand-off between federal agents and the activists more than three weeks after they took over a government building in Burns, Oregon, to protest two ranchers being jailed.
According to local media, shots were fired within minutes of the traffic stop, killing Finicum and wounding 43-year-old Ryan Bundy.
It is not clear who opened fire first.
Ammon Bundy, Ryan Bundy, and three other leaders of the occupation – Ryan Payne, 32; Brian Cavalier, 44, and Shawna Cox, 59 – were charged with conspiracy to impede federal officers,Oregon Live reports.
All detained militia members were being held at Multnomah County Jail without bail Wednesday
Ridgewood NJ, The National Federation of High School Athletics recently announced that it has selected Ridgewood High School’s own Brian Quirk as the 2015 New Jersey Girls Golf Coach of the Year. Under Quirk’s direction, the RHS girls golf team has been ranked among the top team in New Jersey over the past six years. Last year the team won several major tournaments. Brian Quirk is also a physical education teacher at Ridgewood High School.
Ridgewood NJ, On Wednesday, January 6, 192 RHS students attended the NJ DECA Regional Competition at Ramapo College. The students either completed one or two impromptu role plays or presented a prepared presentation.
RHS DECA had another successful year bringing home a “truck of trophies and medals.” This includes 27 team event trophies, 33 individual event trophies, 91 medals, and 30 overall trophies (including individual and teams). All awards are presented to the top 3 in each competition. Karen Mendez and Sean Kase are extremely proud of their students’ hard work. 106 will be moving onto the state level DECA competition that will be held this year in Cherry Hill, between February 21 and February 23
Dr. Fishbein comments on multiple swatting incidents that recently occurred in Bergen County schools, and the protocols in place for future incidents.
A Letter from Dr. Fishbein Click here to read a letter from Dr. Fishbein regarding the multiple swatting incidents that recently occurred in Bergen County schools, and the protocols in place for future incidents.
JANUARY 22, 2016 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JANUARY 22, 2016, 12:31 AM
BY MATTHEW BIRCHENOUGH
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
RIDGEWOOD — Several years of hard work manifested itself in just 6 minutes and 10 seconds on the wrestling mat last Saturday for Ridgewood High School star Kyle Inlander.
On the cusp of securing his 100th career victory, the senior 182-pounder needed to win all three of his matches in the Maroons’ quad against Wayne Hills, Toms River North and Toms River South. Inlander didn’t waste much time, recording pins in all three of his matches, the last coming against Toms River South in 1:48 to reach the milestone victory.
“I sacrifice a lot of my time to get where I am today,” he said. “I’m just happy it worked out and I just want to keep the ball rolling.”
Inlander, who improved to 17-1 this season, became the fifth Ridgewood wrestler to reach the century mark, joining Nick Saglimbeni (Class of 2015), Joe Oliva (2014), Brandon Giovanetti (2012) and Mark Romeo (2002).
“I never thought I’d make it as far as I did coming into high school, but as time passes, you kind of see how far you go,” Inlander said.
Ridgewood head coach Torre Watson, on the other hand, knew a special wrestler had joined the program back in the 2012-13 season.
“One of Kyle’s goals as a freshman was getting into the varsity lineup,” Watson recalled. “That was the reason that Kyle came in at 170 pounds and wrestled at 182 and didn’t think twice about it.
REGISTRATION FOR 2016 KINDERGARTEN ENTRANCE IS FEBRUARY 2, 4
Registration for Fall 2016 Kindergarten Entrance is February 2, 4
Registration takes place at the elementary schools from 3:30-4:30 on Tuesday, February 2 and Thursday, February 4
Click here for the letter and list of registration information. Click here for required registration forms.
Check your test center, and learn about makeup tests.
RegisterNext Tests:1/23 , 3/5
SAT Test Center Closings
Information about SAT test center closings for the January SAT administration date will be posted to this page as it becomes available. If a makeup date or alternate test center information has been confirmed, that information will also be included.
SAT Test Center Supervisors are instructed to notify local media outlets when their centers are unable to open due to inclement weather, natural disaster, power failure, or other problems. Please check your local media for test center closings in your area.
If your center is listed as closed:
A new center may appear in the listing. In this case, access your online account and print a new, updated ticket with the new center information noted on it. You must bring your updated ticket with you on test day to the reassigned center.
If no new center appears, please be patient while we work to arrange a makeup date — you will be contacted as soon as a makeup is scheduled. Remember: don’t try to test elsewhere on test day — supervisors cannot admit standbys or walk-ins.
Please note: If you had a Waitlist Ticket for a closed center, your original Waitlist request was canceled, and you are not eligible for makeup testing. Please register for the next available date as soon as possible.
