Category: Ridgewood Schools

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Lazy summer days harder to come by in North Jersey; some say schoolwork over break is too much

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AUGUST 7, 2015, 7:51 PM    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 7, 2015, 11:48 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

The freewheeling summer celebrated in countless songs and poems isn’t so carefree for many students who come home from school in June with hefty homework assignments that span grades and subjects.

Summer homework isn’t a new thing, but it is a big topic year after year, especially when it spills into family vacation and weekend activities. In one high school, students are even petitioning for homework equity, saying it should be given to all students or none at all.

Parents are conflicted, with some pushing back or grudgingly accepting it, while others say the work keeps kids sharp and competitive and makes the school year easier. Yet all parents seem to long for the summers of their youth when they read what they wanted — if they wanted — and didn’t have the stress of schoolwork hanging over their heads.

“What gets lost is the opportunity for a kid to pick up a book and say, ‘I’ve been dying to read this,’” said Randi Asher, a Glen Rock parent and a homework critic. “To have that entire summer to throw yourself into nature and to experience learning in a way that is different from an assignment. It’s not that they don’t have that opportunity. There is the whole summer, but this detracts from that.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/lazy-summer-days-harder-to-come-by-in-north-jersey-some-say-schoolwork-over-break-is-too-much-1.1389059

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Ridgewood school board member Michele Lenhard resigns

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August 6,2015

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Michele Lenhard has resigned from the Ridgewood Board of Education (BOE) effective Aug. 1, stepping down from the elected position she has held since 2007. School officials told The Ridgewood News this week that Lenhard is relocating out of the district. ( https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/ridgewood-school-board-member-resigns-1.1387946 )

The Ridgewood Board of Education is seeking a qualified candidate to fill a mid-term vacancy on the Ridgewood Board of Education. The vacancy became effective on August 1, 2015.

The Board is delegated by law to serve the children of Ridgewood as the policy-making legislative branch of the School District. Responsibilities of the Board are to: 

Monitor student achievement.  Set district policies and goals.  Provide financial oversight.  Approve Human Resources recommendations and hire and evaluate the superintendent.  Serve as the communications link between the community and the school district. 

To fill vacancies on the Board of Education. Board members are required to attend meetings approximately twice a month and serve on committees that require an additional time commitment.

This position will be effective through our Reorganization Meeting in January 2017. This position will be placed on the ballot at the annual election, scheduled in November 2016. The winner will fill a regular three-year term from January 2017 through January 2020.

Legal Requirements: To become a member of a local Board of Education in New Jersey, you must be:  A citizen of the United States of America  At least 18 years of age  Able to read and write  A resident of Ridgewood for at least one (1) year preceding the date of the appointment  Have no interest in any contract with, or claim, against the Board  Registered to vote in the district  Not disqualified as a voter pursuant to NJSA 19:4-1

To Apply: Any qualified Ridgewood resident interested in filling the vacancy on the Ridgewood Board of Education should pick up an application at the Education Center or download one from our website at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us and then submit a letter of interest, application and resume by 4 p.m. on September 15, 2015 to: Dr. Alfredo Aguilar ([email protected]) Board Secretary 49 Cottage Place Ridgewood, NJ 07451 The Board of Education will review all applications submitted and interview legally qualified candidates at the public meeting on September 21, 2015. Candidates will be advised of the interview schedule. Any questions should be directed to Dr. Aguilar at [email protected] or 201-670-2700 ext. 10503.

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N.J. freezes impact of student testing on teachers; exams still count as 10 percent of evaluations

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AUGUST 5, 2015, 11:45 PM    LAST UPDATED: WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 5, 2015, 11:49 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

New Jersey won’t increase the weight of state tests on teacher evaluations in the coming school year — to the relief of educators whose reviews are based in part on students’ scores.

Student performance on state tests will count for 10 percent of a teacher’s job review in the coming school year, the same as in the past year, state officials announced Wednesday.

The state could have made test scores account for as much as 20 percent of a teacher’s evaluation under a revised policy adopted last year. But state officials backed down amid an outcry from teachers against use of standardized state tests in their reviews.

“We don’t think this is a proper use |of test score data, but it is a step in |the right direction that they’re freezing it rather than raising it,” said Steve Baker, a spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, the state’s largest teachers union.

David Hespe, the state education commissioner, said the decision was made because data from the new tests haven’t been received and reviewed yet and because the state was still transitioning from its old tests.

“This is the right move to keep teacher evaluations strong and successful into the future,” Hespe said at a state Board of Education meeting.

 

https://www.northjersey.com/news/n-j-freezes-impact-of-student-testing-on-teachers-exams-still-count-as-10-percent-of-evaluations-1.1386884

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Ridgewood School Teacher Contract Negations Rest in the Hands of a Mediator

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August 5,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Board of Education negotiations with the REA  have moved at a methodical pace according to the BOE press release on July 23, 2015 :
The Ridgewood Board of Education and the Ridgewood Education Association (“REA”) are parties to a Collective Bargaining Agreement that began on July 1, 2012 and ended June 30, 2015. Negotiations with the REA towards a new Agreement began in February 2015.
At this initial meeting, impasse was declared over the differences in the REA’s and the Board’s proposals pertaining to health insurance premium contributions. The REA proposed a reduction in Chapter 78 contributions. The Board told the REA that it would not agree to change or reduce the formula percentages set forth by Chapter 78. In 2011, Governor Christie signed into law P.L. 2011, c. 78, better known as “Chapter 78.” Chapter 78 mandated that all public sector employees contribute to their health benefit premiums. These contributions were to be phased-in over four (4) years under a statutory formula; after which they would be subject to collective negotiations.
On June 30, 2015, teachers and secretaries of the Ridgewood Public Schools completed the mandatory four (4) year phase-in. Since our first meeting in February, the Board and the Association have met four more times in March and April and with the state appointed mediator in May and June.
Our last meeting was on June 2, 2015, when the Board and the Association met with the Mediator for several hours, without success. The Mediator advised us that she would be deferring the negotiations to the fact-finding stage. Factfinders are assigned through the NJ Public Employment Relations Commission and they, like mediators, specialize in public sector negotiations. A Fact-finder’s initial role may be very similar to the role of a Mediator, and likely attempt to mediate a settlement. The Board and the REA will continue to negotiate with each other in good faith in a respectful manner. While the parties work with the Fact-finder, all of the terms and conditions of the current Agreement continue. During this time, the teachers and secretaries will continue to receive their full salaries and benefits.
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Incumbent to run unopposed for Ridgewood Board of Ed again?

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August 5,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, School board incumbent Vince Loncto is running unopposed for another three-year term on the five-member Ridgewood Board of Education. Loncto currently serves as BOE vice president.

This is now the second time the BOE has managed to pull this off . Leading once again to questions about notification . When were the BOE packets available, when was the public notified ?
If notification has not gone out is it legal ? What are the remedies or did no one really want to run for the BOE? Clinging to power or what are they so scared of ?

In 2013, the Ridgewood school board voted to move its election from April to the general election in November. The move also eliminated the public vote on the school budget, as long as the annual school tax increase remains under 2 percent. Election Day is now Tuesday, Nov. 3.

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A punch? Maybe not. But here are 10 reasons why teachers’ unions deserve to lose.

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Posted by Matt Rooney On August 03, 2015 11 Comments

By Matt Rooney | The Save Jersey Blog

Governor Chris Christie’s CNN interview continues to elicit strong reactions, Save Jerseyans, and the problem with this controversy, as with similar incidents, is that most folks are focusing on the style points. It’s among the regrettable byproducts of our presidential politics, cultural decline, and hyper-politicization of the education industry. But those are topics for another post…

What about the substance?

Let’s revisit, briefly, what these teachers’ unions are all about and objectively decide whether they deserve to exist (I’m not pulling any punches):

10) The union establishment’s demands are as unrealistic as they’ve been fiscally ruinous. NJEA members will donate $126,000 to pension and health benefits over 30 years but stand to collect $2.4 million in return. Who thought this was a good idea??? Are all of the calculators broken in Trenton? Of course not. It’s all part of an elaborate, decades-old double-whammy of vote buying and problem avoidance. Instead of hating Chris Christie, teachers should direct their ire to the politicians on their own union’s campaign season payroll. They did it.

9)  Their chosen tactics are disgusting. Wisconsin’s recent experienceswere horrific, and the physical/verbal violence perpetrated by Big Labor’s storm troopers was 100% one-sided.

8) The system these unions ferociously protect is failing our country’s most vulnerable children, especially those students living in poorer, minority-concentrated school districts. Click here to check out my lengthy run-down of Camden High School’s plight (catalyzed by a give-and-take with my liberal friend of Inky fame Kevin Riordan) for the uncomfortable truth.

7) American Teachers’ unions = Democrat Party affiliates. After self-preservation, the teacher union establishment is primarily concerned with protecting the Democrats whose policies protect their power. A good faith union would avoid colluding with one political party or the other, pursuing and prioritizing the best interests of its membership and their children. Not the teacher’s unions; in this state and most others, and certainly nationally as Chris Christie pointed out, they function as a Democrat Super PAC. The American Federation of Teachers has already endorsed Hillary Clinton before either party held its first debate!

6) Dues tied up in waste and hypocrisy… so teachers lose, too: The NJEA collects a 9-figure annual sum in teachers’ taxpayer paycheck-derived dues; its regular and political arms spend many millions more in lobbying and both direct and indirect campaigning activity to influence public police. What do its members have to show for it???

5) Therefore, these unions have a financial incentive to protect bad dues-paying teachers at the expense of the education system. Much has been written on this topic but John Stossel did a particularly good job of illustrating how difficult it is to purge the suck; it’s a crisis that’s turned even hardened union veterans against the tenure-centric system.

https://savejersey.com/2015/08/chris-christie-teacher-union-punch-video-facts/

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Ridgewood school board hears results of self-evaluation

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AUGUST 3, 2015    LAST UPDATED: MONDAY, AUGUST 3, 2015, 11:10 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Al Annunziata, district representative from the New Jersey School Boards Association, presented his findings last month on a self-evaluation that Ridgewood Board of Education members undertook earlier this year.

The evaluation, which takes place once a year, includes categories like superintendent relations and board-staff relationships, with scores ranging from zero to a possible high of four. Any score below a 3.0 warrants extra attention, as that is an area that is clearly struggling, Annunziata said.

A look at Ridgewood’s scores showed that almost all of them were very high, exhibiting the high regard the board members have for the school system, and demonstrating their satisfaction with current arrangements, he said.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/board-hears-results-of-self-evaluation-1.1385442

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Study: Kids with ADHD taking strong drugs with major side effects

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Posted: Jul 29, 2015 4:01 PM EDTUpdated: Jul 30, 2015 7:54 PM EDT
By Beth Galvin, FOX Medical Team Reporter

ATLANTA -As Georgia students get ready to head back to class, a disturbing study.

Researchers found preteens and teens – especially boys – with behavioral issues like ADHD are being prescribed anti-psychotic medications. They’re ending up on drugs typically reserved for people with brain disorders like schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.

Dr. Taz Bhatia, who founded the Atlanta Center for Holistic and Integrative Medicine, read through the study, and found the numbers troubling.

She says, “If you look at the statistics, it’s almost like 1.5 percent of our boys between the ages of 10 and 18 are on an antipsychotic medication.”

And researchers at Columbia and Yale Universities and the New York State Psychiatric Institute warned antipsychotic medications can cause major side effects, like a blunting of emotions and severe weight gain. And, unlike stimulants like Ritalin, antipsychotics are not FDA-approved for use in children with behavioral issues.

Dr. Bhatia, who goes professionally by Dr. Taz, says, “Nobody, whether you’re a mom trying to advocate for your child, or you’re a physician trying to decide what’s best for the child, nobody wants a child on a medication with long-term side effects that may even affect their development. Nobody wants that. We have to create a system that really digs and looks for other options for these kids.”

Dr. Taz acknowledges that some kids need an ADHD medication. But, she thinks it should be used only as part of a broader treatment plan that includes lifestyle and dietary changes and behavioral therapy.

So, what should you do if your child’s doctor is recommending a pill?  Dr. Taz says, “My first recommendation would be to make sure you’re on the lowest dose of that medication with the fewest side effects.”

Next, Dr. Taz says ask what else you can do – along with the medication – to help your child succeed.

She says, “That’s where you and your doctor should be talking about sleep and diet, and (about) other things. Like, about school, and are they well-matched to the school they’re about to enter?”

https://www.myfoxny.com/story/29662567/adhd

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‘Cool kids’ can go on to become losers in later life, study finds

mean-girls

HARDEEP MATHARU Saturday 01 August 2015

Being the “cool kid” might seem ideal at school but it can land you in difficulties later on in life, according to a new study.

The work, “Whatever Happened to the Cool Kids?”, was published in the journal Child Development by researchers at the University of Virginia, and looked at the lives of more than 180 teenagers in America over a decade.

But the results might not be to the liking of those who want to rule the roost at their schools.

According to the study, teenagers who tried to act cool and were popular during their younger years had a higher risk of experiencing problems as adults, including alcohol and drug abuse, and becoming involved in crime.

So ‘cool teens’ – made popular in films by characters such as James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause and Rachel McAdams inMean Girls – may go on to lose out.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/cool-kids-can-go-on-to-become-losers-in-later-life-study-finds-10432348.html

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Aramark details plans for upcoming year for Ridgewood Schools

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JULY 30, 2015    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JULY 30, 2015, 11:07 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Ridgewood will have a new maintenance company serving its schools this upcoming year.

Aramark, a food service, facilities and clothing provider, will be taking on the role in 2015-2016, providing services to the district.

“Thank you for allowing us to serve this community,” said Patrick Gallagher, New Jersey district manager for Aramark, at last week’s Board of Education meeting. “We’re very excited about this opportunity.”

“We’re committed to work with problems as they arise, with the goal of service improvement and support for the district, district’s administration and goals,” said Joseph Aidala, general manager of Aramark Education.

The company, founded in 1959, has served schools, sports facilities and healthcare centers.

“Our on-site management team is active throughout the district and is interacting with our employees and the district stakeholders,” Aidala said. “Our sites are currently on a summer cleaning program for the school opening.”

For the summer cleaning, Aramark not only makes sure everything is neat, but also examines everything in the classrooms and offices, ensuring all is in working order, company officials said.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/custodial-provider-details-plans-for-upcoming-year-1.1383580

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Ridgewood school board, union hope to iron out contract

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JULY 31, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, JULY 31, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Despite the start of the school year rapidly approaching, the Board of Education and Ridgewood Education Association (REA) have been unable to agree on a new contract.

The current contract, which began on July 1, 2012, expired at the end of June.

Mike Yannone, president of the REA, confirmed this week that the organization’s members are working without a new contract. The REA represents 550 teachers, secretaries and counselors in the Ridgewood school district.

“When our contract expires, we continue to work under the terms of the old contract,” Yannone said. “We will honor the contract, and the kids will be taught.”

However, the optimal result is for an agreement to be hammered out as quickly as possible.

“I would love to be able to talk to the other side,” Yannone said, adding that he understands that setting up a meeting can be difficult over the summer.

The main sticking point of the negotiations is a dispute over health insurance premium contributions.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/sides-hoping-to-iron-out-contract-1.1384018

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Ridgewood schools review estimates for building renovations

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JULY 28, 2015    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, JULY 28, 2015, 9:38 AM
BY MATTHEW SCHNEIDER
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Representatives of architecture firm EI Associates gave estimates on the cost of renovations to Ridgewood school buildings at last Monday’s Board of Education meeting.

“Over the past school year, we have been working with EI on some facility projects,” said Superintendent of Schools Daniel Fishbein. “The focus of tonight is on the facility review of all our schools.”

Mike Wozney, the director of all educational projects at EI Associates, described the way in which the firm travels to schools, inspects buildings, and estimates how much it would cost to spruce them up. However, as Wozney made clear, the numbers are hypothetical, and subject to change.

“These numbers are conceptual in nature,” Wozney said. “Any time we do a project for a district, we first identify the deficiency; put a budgetary number to it. As you move that project along, the next step would be schematic design. The numbers would be more accurate, and obviously with a detailed design, very accurate.”

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/renovation-costs-reviewed-by-ridgewood-district-1.1381853

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Teaching Social Skills to Improve Grades and Lives

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By DAVID BORNSTEIN JULY 24, 2015 7:00 AM July 24, 2015 7:00 am 91 Comments

Fixes looks at solutions to social problems and why they work.

In the early 1990s, about 50 kindergarten teachers were asked to rate the social and communication skills of 753 children in their classrooms. It was part of the Fast Track Project, an intervention and study administered in Durham, N.C., Nashville, Seattle and central Pennsylvania. The goals were to understand how children develop healthy social skills, and help them do so.

Using an assessment tool called the “Social Competence Scale,” the teachers were asked to assign each child a score based on qualities that included “cooperates with peers without prompting”; “is helpful to others”; “is very good at understanding feelings”; and “resolves problems on own.”

This month, researchers from Pennsylvania State University and Duke published a study that looked at what had happened to those students in the 13 to 19 years since they left kindergarten. Their findings warrant major attention because the teachers’ rankings were extremely prescient.

They predicted the likelihood of many outcomes: whether the children would graduate from high school on time, get college degrees, have stable or full-time employment as young adults; whether they would live in public housing or receive public assistance; whether they would be held in juvenile detention or be arrested as adults. The kindergarten teachers’ scores also correlated with the number of arrests a young adult would have for severe offenses by age 25.

The researchers had statistically controlled for the effects of poverty, race, having teenage parents, family stress and neighborhood crime, and for the children’s aggression and reading levels in kindergarten.

One major result: Children who scored high on social skills were four times as likely to graduate from college than those who scored low.

https://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/07/24/building-social-skills-to-do-well-in-math/?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0

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Despite All the Panic, Millennial Teens Have Much Less Sex Than Their Elders Did

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Parents stay calm teenagers are not having sex …anymore 

Elizabeth Nolan Brown|Jul. 23, 2015 3:15 pm

According to popular culture, today’s teens are a bunch of “hookup”-scarred heathens, trapped in a sordid world of casual flings with one another and exploitation at the hands of online predators. In reality, teenagers today are having less sex than they have for decades. New data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the National Center for Health Statistics shows that the number of (unmarried) 15- to 19-year-olds who’ve had sex dropped by 14 percent for girls and 22 percent for boys in the period between 1988 and 2013.

As of 2011-2013, 44 percent of teen girls surveyed and 47 percent of teen boys said they had sexual intercourse—compared to 51 and 60 percent, respectively, of their 1988 counterparts. Or, to put it another way, 4.3 million millennial girls and 4.8 million boys, compared to 5 million and around 6.15 million in the late ’80s. Congratulations, last of the Gen X’ers: you are better than the youngest of the millennial cohort at getting laid.

But kids these days are better about practicing safe sex: 79 percent of the girls surveyed and 84 percent of the boys said they had used some sort of contraceptive method the first time they had sex, with condoms ranking the most popular. In 1988, only 71 percent of male teens and 69 percent of female teens used contraception when they first had sex.

After condoms, the birth control pill and the pull-out method are now the most popular teen contraception choices. Fifty-four percent of 15- to 19-year-old girls surveyed said they had at some point been on the pill, which is similar to the 2002 rate; the rates of contraceptive-implant use (2 percent) and intrauterine device, or IUD, use (3 percent) were also relatively stable.

https://reason.com/blog/2015/07/23/despite-all-the-panic-millennial-teens-h

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Feds renew N.J. waiver of No Child Left Behind law for 3 years

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JULY 23, 2015, 10:33 PM    LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, JULY 23, 2015, 10:36 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

New Jersey received a three-year pass to continue education programs and reforms put in place by the Christie administration, including a new educator evaluation system despised by the teachers union.

The U.S. Department of Education told seven states on Thursday that they had renewed their waivers, letting them continue practices that vary from the federal No Child Left Behind law.

New Jersey’s three-year waiver, approved without conditions, was described by state officials as an “affirmation” that what they’re doing is working.

“New Jersey can take pride knowing that our efforts are leading to real improvements in student learning,” New Jersey Education Commissioner David Hespe said in a news release.

State officials say education reforms are helping to close the achievement gap and give quality educational opportunities to all students. But the state’s largest teachers union, which has publicly sparred with the administration on such issues as pension, evaluations and testing, said the renewal was “pro-forma” and doesn’t mean schools are getting better.

 

https://www.northjersey.com/news/feds-renew-n-j-waiver-of-no-child-left-behind-law-for-3-years-1.1379842