Simply put..People will sell and move..lock in gains here and bank that result into a lower taxed town and in some cases another State.Boomers will avalanche out of here in the next 5 years.School issues costs and declining standings are a ticking time bomb..
August 27,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, NJ Monthly rankings for 2016 – Ridgewood isn’t in top 30 – Why the hell should we pay these teachers more money?
https://scontent.fewr1-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/14117892_10210070329289863_8195586293092428623_n.jpg?oh=6c1cddeaddf98d029b96414b73ce90a3&oe=5859C561
Reader says ,” High school teachers are now unaccountably sabotaging their own students’ grades. As in, the grades of every student in the class. This has been plenty nasty for a while now and the upcoming school year promises fresh outrage from teachers and administrators, adults chronologically, behaving like children.”
The End of Education
Joseph Pearce | February 19, 2014
“The one thing that is never taught by any chance in the atmosphere of public schools,” wrote G. K. Chesterton, “is…that there is a whole truth of things, and that in knowing it and speaking it we are happy.”[1] Such words would be greeted with calculated coldness by the architects of the common core curriculum, who would no doubt respond with chilling indifference that there is no whole truth of things and therefore no meaningful happiness to be derived from it. Modernity never gets beyond Pontius Pilate’s famous question, quid est veritas, which is asked not in the spirit of philosophy as a question to be answered, but in the ennui of intellectual philandery as merely a rhetorical question that is intrinsically unanswerable. This intellectual philandery spawns numerous illegitimate children, each of which has its day as the dominant fad of educationists, at least until a new intellectual fad replaces it. It is in the nature of fads to fade but in the brief period in which they find themselves in the fashionable limelight they can cause a great deal of damage, a fact that Chesterton addressed with customary adroitness in 1910, over a century ago:
The trouble in too many of our modern schools is that the State, being controlled so specially by the few, allows cranks[2] and experiments to go straight to the schoolroom when they have never passed through the Parliament, the public house, the private house, the church, or the marketplace.
Obviously it ought to be the oldest things that are taught to the youngest people; the assured and experienced truths that are put first to the baby. But in a school today the baby has to submit to a system that is younger than himself. The flopping infant of four actually has more experience and has weathered the world longer than the dogma to which he is made to submit.
Many a school boasts of having the latest ideas in education, when it has not even the first idea; for the first idea is that even innocence, divine as it is, may learn something from experience.[3]
August 9th 2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood schools will be open and students will return to school on Tuesday, September 6 (minimum day schedule). Opening Day for teachers and support staff is Thursday, September 1.
Graduating high school will become harder for millions of New Jersey students under a measure adopted Wednesday by the State Board of Education that requires students to pass tests in English and math to earn their diplomas. Hannan Adely, Asbury Park Press Read more
file photo by Boyd Loving
As a 20 year resident who had three children go through the schools I offer the following thoughts. Ridgewood is not an easy town to live in and is getting more difficult every year. The school system and performance has steadily declined while the costs are out of control, $100M budget today will be how much in 10 years? The teachers are nasty, do not help the kids at all, and many of us require multiple tutors to get the kids good SAT and college test scores. How many of us had to use tutors? The town in-fights on everything from a sports field to housing to development to traffic. We spend money to improve the train station, but many residents cant park after 7:00am, there is also no way to pick-up or discharge passengers. We add a bike lane in the busiest section of town and back up traffic in all directions for untold miles. Anyone ever able to get a new stop sign or police enforcement on a road that supports speeding, have to wait for something awful to happen before getting attention? Every spring people plant lawns and gardens and every summer, Ridgewood (only Ridgewood) sends out the ‘deputies’ to fine those who water their lawns.
The taxes on my home have almost doubled in 12 years, value has not risen (in fact may have fallen) while services, roads, parking, etc have all remained stagnant.
After 20 years and with a sense of regret we will fold the tents here and move on. I am sure someone will move in a be very happy as we were, but I do suggest we all understand that times are changed and not for the better
by Beatrice Bravo
Swartz, who had placed third during the Junior Olympics event held in February 2016, bested California fencer Jared Smith to achieve a Top 8 showing at 15-12.
photo by ArtChick
July 13,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, looks like Ridgewood residents who questioned the over development of the central business district proved right all along. A state appeals panel overturned a court order that could have added thousands of units to developers’ plans.
What a shame for Saraceno, Simoncini, Pucciarelli and all the others that stood to gain big time and pushed so hard to get all that housing into the CBD. Kudos to,the citizens who delayed all the development and stood up to Aronsohn and his horrible reign of terror, and Gwenn with her sparkly eyed talk about COAH.
Deadline Extended for New Pilot Preschool Program
July 11,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewod NJ, The application deadline for the district’s pilot integrated preschool program has been extended to Friday, July 29. The preschool program will be taught by a dual-certified K-2 General Education and Special Education teacher. The program will strive to engage special needs and general education preschoolers in learning experiences through play in an integrated learning environment that employs a developmental approach. Children are engrossed in a variety of activities which promote language, cognitive, motor and social/emotional development. Special education children are placed in the program through an evaluation process performed by the Special Programs Department.
Click here for more information and the application form.
photo courtesy of the Ridgewood High School Alumni Association
Dear RHS Alumni,
On June 20, 2016, Ridgewood High School graduates 424
seniors. As members of the Ridgewood High School Alumni Association (RHSAA), we are thrilled to have them join our ranks. We would like to wish our graduates the best of luck and good fortune in their ongoing pursuit of a “tradition of excellence” in college or their choice of post-graduation endeavors.
We would like to take this opportunity to fill you in on some of the steps the RHSAA has taken since our inception in 2014.
The RHSAA is now a 501(c)(3) nonprofit recognized by the state
of New Jersey. We are an active and dynamic board of alumni spanning graduating classes from the 1950s to the 2000s.
Since our website launched, we have had thousands visit the site and many alumni have registered via our online portal.
The reunion subcommittee has connected with dozens of class
years to help them plan alumni events, including campus tours. If you have an upcoming reunion, please let us know.
Our apparel team has created t-shirts (which will be featured
as Project Graduation’s Gift to all seniors). We have also added
umbrellas, blankets and hats. We are working on version 2.0 of apparel for the upcoming 2016-2017 academic year.
This past March, the RHSAA revitalized the Distinguished Alumni
program and introduced five new inductees who represent some of the best and brightest of RHS graduates. They joined the twelve previously inducted in 2008.
So, what’s next?
We would love to continue to connect with you. Please register online at www.rhsalumniassociation.org.
We will also be launching a brick buying campaign in an effort
to beautify our already lovely RHS campus and to celebrate our 125th anniversary in 2017.
If you are interested in supporting any of these programs or
otherwise supporting the RHSAA, please make a donation via our website.
If you would like to volunteer to help the current and future students of RHS, we would love for you to join our team.
Congratulations to the RHS Class of 2016!
June 28,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, One had to read a summary of the ‘Fact finder’s’ recommendation (link below) to figure out how utterly insane it is!
• Salary increases of:
• 2.2% for July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2016 (retroactive)
• 2.8% for July 1, 2016 to June 30, 2017
• 2.8% for July 1, 2017 to June 30, 2018
• No change in the current healthcare insurance plan.
• No change in employee contributions to healthcare insurance premiums.
• The highest paid teachers and secretaries receive additional payments.
RETROACTIVE salary increases? NO change in health insurance Cadillac plan? I definitely want some of whatever the teachers are ingesting.
https://www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us/modules/groups/homepagefiles/cms/923620/File/negotiations/Ridgewood%20Public%20Schools%20-%20fact%20finder%20Presentation%2006-06.pdf?2c42be&90bb08&03dff5&9c292e&c7d197&eee5f6&5b44e7&5b44e7&sessionid=fbfe38ecf9b0ef6fc7b12540bab9c61a
That is how the real world works! The taxpayers are irritated because our district is one of the highest paying in the entire state and the quality of education is lagging – what happened to the Tradition of Excellence? The entire system of education needs to be revisited. Tenure should be abolished although nepotism will still cause problems just as it does in the private sector. Angry masses, as you refer to the taxpayers, simply want value for their tax dollars and are tired of demands by public servants for better benefits and salary increases than what is acceptable in the real world. I am starting to believe educators live in a protective bubble. You chose the teaching profession, hopefully out of a love of learning and children knowing that you could earn a decent living but not get rich. If money was your main motivation you should have considered a different path. Nurses, para-professionals, retail managers with the same level of education do not earn as much as teachers and do not enjoy the generous benefits including time off and generous pensions. Don’t tell me those professions don’t work as hard as you. You are not as special as you think.
“When some districts continue to fail decade after decade, it’s clear that money is not the answer,” – Senator Mike Doherty, on his support for Gov. Chris Christie’s new school funding plan.
A longtime proponent of changing New Jersey’s school funding formula is coming on as the Senate sponsor of Governor Chris Christie’s plan to change the state’s apportionment of school aid. Senator Mike Doherty (R-23), who has pushed his own plan to change the amount of tax revenue given to certain districts rather than the amount of state aid, will serve as primary sponsor of the governor’s plan in the upper house. JT Aregood, PolitickerNJ Read more
I am not a Christie fan but I will give him credit for trying to reel in the unsustainable pension and medical benefits public employees receive. it has to change. I don’t think it is right that money was diverted from the teacher’s pension fund starting with Christie Whitman and that has to be repaid. For heaven’s sake, it is time to freeze pensions and move onto 401K style plans and keep medical costs in line with what private sector receives. Long gone are the days when public employee salaries were lower than the private sector so delayed remuneration in the form of pensions, etc. made up the difference. As for Ridgewood’s current travesty with the NJEA and our BOE – I’m just sick. I wish all these complaining teachers could be replaced. And, yes, I’m one of those who wears the cloak of anonymity because I have kids in school and I know the teachers retaliate. Many are not as dedicated to their students and the field of education as they profess.
District Offers New Preschool Program this Fall
June 15,2016
the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, The Integrated Preschool Program is a preschool program that is taught by a dually certified K-2 General Education and Special Education teacher. The program strives to engage preschoolers in learning experiences through play. Special needs students and general education children are placed together in an integrated learning environment that employs a developmental approach to learning. Children are engrossed in a variety of activities which promote language, cognitive, motor and social/emotional development. Special education children are placed in the program through an evaluation process performed by the Special Programs Department.
Click here for more information and the application form.
