Reader says The schools are going to have to become more efficient, and offer less.
Talk to the Prinipals at the various schools. They will tell you that the cap on the budget is starting to have real effects on what they can do. The BOE “budget” is already “subsidized” by hundreds of thousands of dollars a year (if not more) from individual, activity and sports related fund raising that goes on from the elementary, middle school, and high school levels. Fees for supplies, field trips, classroom upgrades, etc….all of which used to be “in the budget” are now additional costs. With a 2% maximum increase in the budget and something like annual 1.5% salary raises and continued rising costs in health care, the end effect is going to be “cuts.” And those cuts are going to have to come from a lot of different places. Cuts to administrators, cuts to teachers, cuts to programs, cuts to class offerings, cuts to drives ed, cuts to athletics, etc…. The schools are going to have to become more efficient, and offer less.
Ridgewood administrator details Common Core standards
MARCH 27, 2014 LAST UPDATED: THURSDAY, MARCH 27, 2014, 3:32 PM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
Fresh off the heels of Indiana’s announcement on Monday that it would be the first state to formally drop the Common Core State Standards (CCSS) for math and language arts, about 100 parents attended the district’s presentation on the standards on Tuesday night at Orchard School.
And in spite of all the looming national agitation, most parents appeared to leave feeling much less concerned about the initiative.
The presentation highlighted what the district believes are the many positive aspects of the CCSS, including its professed aim to improve the ability of U.S. students to compete globally.
Ridgewood father James Giordano stood up to leave at the tail end of the presentation and made an announcement.
“I came here to this meeting very pessimistic … This is very encouraging. I’m very pleasantly surprised,” he said.
The next Regular Public Meeting of the Ridgewood Board of Education will be held on Monday, March 17, 2014 at 7:30 p.m.
The public is invited to attend the meeting at the Ed Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3. The meeting will be aired live on FiOS channel 33 and Optimum channel 77. Or it may be viewed live via the district website atwww.ridgewood.k12.nj.us using the “Link in Live” tab.
Click here to view the agenda for the March 3, 2014 Regular Public Meeting.
Click here to view the webcast of the March 3, 2014 Regular Public Meeting.
2014-2015 Budget Information
Superintendent of Schools Dr. Daniel Fishbein has announced three public presentations on the 2014-2015 school budget. The presentations will offer residents the opportunity to hear the budget details and ask questions of the superintendent, business administrator and Board of Education members.
The 2014-2015 school budget presentations will be offered as follows: Thursday, April 10 at 1 p.m. at the Education Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3; Thursday, April 10 at 7 p.m. at Benjamin Franklin Middle School Auditorium, 335 North Van Dien Avenue; and Wednesday, April 23 at 7 p.m. at George Washington Middle School Auditorium, 155 Washington Place.
Taking effect this year, the Ridgewood Board of Education has opted to move the annual school board elections from April to November, thereby eliminating the public vote on the proposed general tax levy if it is at or below the statutory tax levy cap. Since next year’s proposed budget falls within the mandated cap, it will not be put to public vote.
The Board will continue to discuss the proposed budget at upcoming regular public meetings on March 17, April 7 and April 28. Residents are welcome to attend these meetings and speak at the public comment portion of the agenda. The Board is expected to approve the final budget at its Regular Public Meeting on Monday, April 28.
Click here to view the Preliminary 2014-2015 Budget Presentation presented at the March 3, 2014 Regular Public Meeting.
First draft of Ridgewood school budget keeps increase under 2 percent
MONDAY MARCH 10, 2014, 4:06 PM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
The school district’s spending plan for the 2014-2015 school year features a local tax hike of 1.9 percent, the lowest increase for a Ridgewood school budget in the past 10 years.
The budget features a $86,223,037 local tax levy – a $1,614,402 increase over last year, which required a 2 percent property tax increase, Business Administrator Michael Falkowski said. The proposed tax levy for 2014-2015 amounts to about $172.09 more in property taxes for a resident with the average assessed home value of $688,358, he said.
The preliminary budget, which Falkowski presented to the Board of Education (BOE) on Monday, is now available on the district website. The budget “maintains existing district staff, academic offerings, extra-curricular activities and transportation,” he said, and “improves upon instruction” while meeting “our contractual obligations.”
COFFEE, ANYONE? CASUAL CONVERSATION WITH THE BOE AND SUPERINTENDENT IS MARCH 12
Maybe you’re interested in learning about school security and safety. Perhaps you have concerns about iPads in the classroom. Possibly state testing results or the budget is on your mind. Superintendent Dan Fishbein and Board members Sheila Brogan, Christina Kraus, Michele Lenhard, Jim Morgan and Vince Loncto want to hear from you. Residents are invited to drop in for Coffee and Conversation next Wednesday, March 12 at the Education Center at 49 Cottage Place, floor 3, any time between 7 and 8:30 p.m. It’s an evening designed for you to ask your questions, make suggestions and share concerns in a casual setting. Anything goes! Please come!
Ridgewood school board to vote on calendar changes
Friday, February 28, 2014
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
Changes to the 2014-2015 school calendar should be finalized after next week’s BOE meeting.
The district has engaged in a discussion about possible ways to end the next school year earlier, resulting in a longer-than-usual delay in publishing the 2014-2015 calendar.
Ending earlier in June would accommodate vacations and camps that start before the close of the Ridgewood school year, district officials have said.
BOE President Sheila Brogan noted at Monday’s meeting that she hopes the board makes “a decision on [the calendar] next week.”
Food Fight: Lunch vendors file claim agains Ridgewood school board
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 28, 2014
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
A claim has been filed against the Board of Education (BOE) that challenges its recent decision to ban outside vendors from delivering lunch to Ridgewood students at school.
In the claim, attorney Victor Herlinsky, of the law firm Sills Cummis and Gross, notes that “Ridgewood has acted in an arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable manner by relying on an ever-changing set of rationales for the cancellation and continually refusing to engage with plaintiffs to reach a resolution that would reverse the cancellation and benefit all parties.”
Herlinsky believes his clients have a solid case.
“The only problem is this case is going to take months, if not years, to litigate,” he said. “It’s going to take a tremendous amount of school board resources.”
The three outside vendors who have taken issue with the ban are Parkwood Delicatessen & Catering in Midland Park; Westside Bagel & Deli in Ridgewood; and No Fuss Lunch, a school lunch delivery business run by Ridgewood mother Gabriella Wilday. Ridgewood parents Oliver and Alla Train, Maya Scanlon, Leigh Warren and Wilday’s husband James are also plaintiffs.
– See more at: https://www.northjersey.com/news/247718361_Lunch_vendors_file_claim_agains_Ridgewood_school_board_schools.html#sthash.zESG2cHE.dpuf
Reader says the school resource officer is a great idea.
BUT let’s be perfectly TRANSPARENT here. The three amigos were dead set against hiring the two young men who are sons of cops, one of whom they detest. Then there was a HUGE backlash for them, at the meeting and on the blog. So, they figured out they could save their asses by saying it would be OK to change the ordinance IF a school resource officer was added to the mix. Voila, they all changed their votes one week later.
it is not because Aronsohn, Pucciarelli and Hauck want a school resource officer. This was just a convenient way for them to “save face” after such a widespread outrage at their votes the week before.
So they think they look like thoughtful, reasonable people who can change their minds for all the right reasons. In fact, they changed their minds ONLY because people were so pissed at them. They are despicable people, the three of them.
In any case, I hope the ordinance goes forward, because it should, and I hope those two young men are at the academy in a couple of weeks, as they should have been all along.
RECALL.
All meetings of the Ridgewood Planning Board (i.e., official public meetings, work session meetings, pre-meeting assemblies and special meetings) are public meetings which are always open to members of the general public.
Reader says the Ridgewood municipal is budget is well managed and the BOE budget is where the runaway spending is
Do you want to base your conclusions on the faulty FAC report and ignore the fact that the Village provides more services at a lower municipal mil rate than all of the other towns I referred to in my post as #20 that is fine. None of the towns listed there provide garbage pickup, fully staffed fire services, recreation services for kids and seniors or a sewage treatment facility for their residents, that is a fact, and. How that is a union talking point is beyond me.
You claimed that I am only providing half of the story and I am leaving out the property taxpayer’s perspective,” I am a taxpayer, and have been a taxpayer in Ridgewood for many years. If anything is only providing half the story it’s your FAC report. It only tells half the story since it does not even consider the cost to the residents for the Board of Education (BOE). If your report included the BOE then I would have to agree that the largest portion of the Village Tax bill (BOE) has been increased at an alarming rate and is not sustainable.
How do I arrive at that conclusion? Here is the 2011 Bergen County property tax data showing the town – County – total tax levy – % County Taxes – % School Taxes % – Municipal taxes. This is the latest year available on the NJ.com by the numbers web site. There are 70 Municipalities in Bergen County. Below are 18 municipalities that have an equal or greater percentage of their municipal taxes dedicated to the school budget like Ridgewood. The other 51 municipalities have a lower percentage than Ridgewood dedicated to their school budget and a higher percentage number dedicated to their municipal services. Ridgewood’s municipal tax levy is lower than the other 51 Municipalities in Bergen county and is even below the state calculated average of 29%. You can draw your own conclusions from this data however this data clearly shows that the Village municipal budget is very well managed as contrasted with other Bergen County Communities and the overall state average. It also indicates that BOE budget is out of control and unsustainable.
Town – County – tax levy – % County – % BOE – % Municipal
Ridgewood Village Bergen $130,248,198.77 10% 65% 25%
Woodcliff Lake Borough Bergen $38,129,520.22 12% 66% 22%
Statewide total $25,643,843,500.01 18% 52% 29% of 567 municipalities
https://www.nj.com/news/bythenumbers/
This information confirms that the Ridgewood municipal is budget is well managed and the BOE budget is where the runaway spending is since the Ridgewood BOE takes a higher percentage of the total tax bill than 51 other Bergen county municipalities. The FAC report ignores this fact, and therefor is even more faulty than I originally thought.
New state school performance report raises the stakes in Ridgewood
Friday February 14, 2014, 2:36 PM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
The 2012-2013 School Performance Reports, which the state released last week, are as confusing as ever, highlighting even more areas for improvement in an already high-performing district, Ridgewood school officials said.
While confusion is a typical complaint about state school reports, this year’s is made worse by the fact that they were introduced only last year, replacing the former “School Report Cards” to “bring more information to educators and stakeholders about the performance of schools,” according to the state’s NJ School Performance Interpretive Guide.
Schools are now measured for the first time based on similar “peer” schools, with a new emphasis on measuring college and career readiness and student growth percentiles, on which teachers will now be evaluated. This new focus, administrators said, is placing increasing pressure on schools to improve.
According to Superintendent Daniel Fishbein, administrators are currently reviewing the latest reports on each of the district’s schools, which are available for public access via a link on the district website, by looking up “each school in the peer group to determine accuracy and see how like test scores impact rating.”
“This new performance report is so … different than in the past, that it will take years for the public to get used to this new report versus what we had in the past,” Fishbein said. “The same data has become much more high stakes.”
RIDGEWOOD PUBLIC SCHOOLS WILL HAVE A DELAYED OPENING FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 14
DELAYED OPENING: Under the delayed opening plan, the school day will begin two hours later than usual. School bus schedules will operate two hours later. The morning kindergarten will be cancelled; the afternoon kindergarten will follow the regular hours. Children in grades 1-5 who have not ordered lunches must bring a bag lunch to school. There will not be sufficient time for children to go home for lunch when there is a delayed opening.
Ridgewood School district saves green on energy
Tuesday February 11, 2014, 10:00 AM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
The Ridgewood school district has already reaped at least $55,000 in energy savings for the 2013-14 school year, based on the calculations of an energy conservation company.
The savings are the result of the Board of Education’s (BOE) decision last year to hire a new energy specialist and contract with Cenergistic, an energy savings company. The total represents roughly 19.5 percent of what the district would have spent if it had not started the energy conservation program, said specialist Michael Parigi.
Parigi and two consultants from Cenergistic attended the Jan. 27 BOE meeting to explain the results of their work.
Reader Questions BOE judgement on delayed opening ,school closed flip
Why would the BOE call for a delayed opening when the Village OEM has made the following statement of the Village facebook page :
A Winter Storm Warning has been issued for our area from midnight tonight through 6 pm Wednesday.
We are expecting 4-8 inches of heavy, wet snow, and up to 1/3 inch of ice. Heavy snow and ice creates a significant risk of downed trees and power lines, and potential power outages. Prepare now for possible loss of power.
Due to a severe state-wide shortage of road salt, we cannot guarantee enough salt to treat secondary roads. Our priorities are the major arteries, and those roads leading to Valley Hospital. Therefore, we anticipate extremely hazardous driving conditions on most village streets.
The Office of Emergency Management urges all residents to stay off the roads tomorrow for your own safety. If possible, do not drive, stay indoors, and stay away from downed trees and power lines.
The Board will hold a Regular Public Meeting on Monday, January 27, 2014 at 7:30 p.m.
The public is invited to attend the meeting at the Ed Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3. The meeting will be aired live on FiOS channel 33 and Optimum channel 77. Or it may be viewed live via the district website at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us using the “Link in Live” tab.
click here to view the agenda for the January 27, 2014 Regular Public Meeting.
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