Tag: Ridgewood schools

Posted on by — 6 Comments

Invitation to Math Chat…

>Friends and neighbors please join us for a Math Chat on Thursday, August 9th at 7:30 P.M. at The Unitarian Society of Ridgewood. Over the past several months, parents have been expressing their concerns over the math programs in our village schools to educational administrators and the Board of Education. This issue is an old one for Travell School. Parents have been voicing their concerns since the inception of TERC Investigations more than 5 years ago. What is new is an organization of parents called VORMATH who are providing an opportunity for parents of school age children and concerned tax- payers to be involved in an open forum discussion. Did you know…
· The 6 elementary schools in Ridgewood use 3 different math programs.
· Four of the six schools use reform math- also known as fuzzy math, constructivist based math, or standards based math.
· These reform math programs have been abandoned by hundreds of school districts across the nation because they fail to prepare our children for math at the high school and college level
· Over 200 math professors, 4 Nobel Laureates and 2 Fields Medal winners signed a letter to the U.S. Secretary of Education back in 1999 asking the government to remove these reform math programs from their list of exemplary programs
· A Stanford mathematician stated that TERC Investigations is the “2nd most mathematically illiterate program” he has ever seen. TERC Investigations is the program currently used at Travell and Orchard Schools.
· The district just purchased the newest version of the Investigations program for both Travell and Orchard.
· Benjamin Franklin Middle School has averaged a rank of 21 out of over 200 middle schools in mathematics statewide for the past 7 years using traditional math.
· CMP2 (another reform math program for middle schools that is controversial) has been implemented for 6th graders last year and will follow them into 7th grade this September; why change a math program that has proven itself a success for the students?
There is substantial information available for concerned parents to read. How the math issue affects all taxpayers is simple. Sixty-six percent of every tax dollar feeds into Ridgewood’s $82,000,000 school budget. Are we getting a good return of our investment? Ridgewood’s reputation for excellent schools has kept the value of our homes high. There must be fiscal responsibility and sound choices made for educating all the children in our village. We love Ridgewood and want to keep it the wonderful community that it has been for many generations.
There will be a presentation followed by a Q & A period. Hope you can make it and take advantage of the opportunity to share your concerns and thoughts. TOGETHER WE ADD UP!

GigaGolf Special Couponsshow?id=mjvuF8ceKoQ&bids=14707

Posted on by — 107 Comments

Is it a list? Is it just about ‘passing’?

>

Visit www.vormath.info

VORMATH went straight to the horses mouth. They contacted The Star Ledger regarding the “RANK school performance” tool.

The Star Ledger did some minor tweaks to their tool. It is a rank. It is in list format. And it still shows Travell lagging the other elementary schools in the Ridgewood District.

Way to go math moms.

Posted on by — 20 Comments

K – 8 Math Focus Groups In Process

>Dr. Beth Fisher-Yoshida facilitated the first meeting of the K – 8 Math Focus Groups on June 20. Special thanks to the parents who participated. To ensure broad representation, additional focus groups will be scheduled in the fall. Eight parent participants will be randomly selected at each elementary and middle school, and sessions will be scheduled for two schools at a time. There will also be sessions for teachers and for community members who are not district parents.

Information about how to volunteer for a focus group will be available in the fall. Those parents, teachers, or community members who do not have an opportunity to participate in a focus group, or those who wish to give input to Dr. Beth Fisher-Yoshida prior to the start of the fall focus groups, may email her at byoshida@ridgewood.k12.nj.us. The purpose of the focus groups is to identify areas of strength and areas of concern about K-8 mathematics in the Ridgewood Public Schools.

Posted on by — 22 Comments

Concerned math parents attacked by outsider Michael Paul Goldenberg

>”Yesterday, I was falsely accused of paranoia here by amateur psychologist and professional know-nothing Greg Goodknight. Of course, in the wake of the travesty of democracy we have witnessed in Ridgewood, NJ this week thanks to the clandestine efforts of a tiny group of activists, some of whom don’t even live in New Jersey, let alone in Ridgewood. By making anonymous calls and sending anonymous e- mails, this little group of brown shirts undid the legitimate hiring of a top-notch superintendent because he’d written favorably and intelligently about constructivism and was perceived to support the legitimately selected K-5 math program in Ridgewood, INVESTIGATIONS IN NUMBER, DATA, and SPACE. From what I’ve read, the personal attacks on his integrity and that of his wife were the usual vicious “parents with pitchforks” lies that have been the stock in trade of followers of the leadership of Mathematically Correct and NYC-HOLD. I’m sure those who hold with the beliefs of those groups are congratulating themselves for their “math warrior” victory. The rest of Ridgewood is wondering how fewer than 100 people could cost the town the $20,000 already spent on a job search to land Martin Brooks and the additional money that must now be spent to find a new superintendent.I had a cordial e-mail from Dr. Brooks this morning and I’m confident that had these unprincipled assassins not been allowed to operate with impunity in Ridgewood, the town would have gotten an outstanding leader for its public schools. The effect of what this band of jackals has done is likely to be very chilling as the town tries to find a person of equal ability in the wake of the unjustified personal attacks on Dr. Brooks and his wife.This is the Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, Newt Gingrich, Karl Rove, and George W. Bush legacy. The good news is that I believe this incident will gain enough local and national attention that perhaps “paranoids” like me will be less easily ignored by people in a position to do something before it’s completely impossible for anyone calling her or himself a progressive educator or liberal to seek work in public schools. More importantly, those who have yet to take these hate groups seriously will perhaps now be galvanized into principled and serious opposition to this sort of hijacking of our schools and our democracy.”

User Profile for: mikegol_@_MICH.EDU
UserID:
2957
Name:
Michael Paul Goldenberg
Email:
mikegold@UMICH.EDU
Registered:
12/3/04
Occupation:
Lecturer in Mathematics Education, University of Michigan-Flint
Location:
Ann Arbor, MI
Total Posts:
4,841

Posted on by — 8 Comments

Confessions of a Village Merchant

>ballons

Parking is the issue he told the fly, the rents don’t mean anything if you have the traffic and this town needs out of towners to come in and shop in order for the down town to survive, there are just not enough locals shopping. I asked him but do you really think we need a huge garage? Yes if it’s done tastefully and fits into the down town, but I said aren’t you worried about this monster garage will only being used for NJT commuters and not shoppers? Well that could happen but all the down town employees could use the garage for parking .Restaurants employ a lot of people and the garage could get them off street parking and open the streets up for customers. Look there are lots of businesses in town not just retail, restaurants and banks all would benefit if people had easy parking. I don’t have anything against banks and restaurants we just need more parking.

The parking meter money was originally targeted to raise funds to build a garage but then they just pushed it into the general fund.

The village he said should use it efforts to market to stores to get them to move into town but they have to be careful not to make the down town look like any shopping mall.

He said over and over, they should have built the parking when they had a chance in the 1970’s.

Why has there been so many who continue to speak up against the parking garage? Well the Village Hall renovation was a total fiasco and the council has never come clean, the architects, council and the engineers all made a mess of it. The flooding is worse now than ever. This gives them no credibility with any construction projects, people just worry they are going to screw it up.

Posted on by — 82 Comments

The Now Infamous Letter ?

>This is NOT PJ’s comment, but MY comment, which you can see posted under the headline “Pro BOE reader…”I DID NOT address the comment as “Hello Everyone” – this intro was inserted by PJ.MY intro was “Hey, bbwool,” responding to bbwool’s accusation. So my “basically” pokes fun at his use of the word “basically.” And, of course,the “lie” refers to what bbwool claimed and the liar is, of course, bbwool.thanks a bunch, pj, for making it look like i was calling “everyone” a liar.

*My mistake PJ

Hello Everybody .

I found that letter from Frances to Brooks and she DID NOT tell him not to come. so what YOU said was…ummm…”basically” a lie. which makes you “basically” a liar.

in fact, she gave him a heads up on the math discussion in our district. furthermore, her polite communication enabled Brooks to respond in kind. it gave him a chance to publicly explain his position and i must say, he did it well and graciously.

bbwool, why did you say the Ridgewood Blog “proudly” posted her letter but not tell us the whole truth, that it also posted Brooks’ response??

but hey, everyone, you don’t have to take MY word for it because here is the parent’s letter and Brooks’ response from the May 9, 2007 blog:

“Dr. Mr. Brooks,

I am a Ridgewood parent of three children in our public schools and I, like many others here, have been made aware of your pending position as our new superintendent. Our Board may not have advised you of this, but you should be aware of the present climate in our district with regard to the “Investigation” math curriculum. Several articles and ‘letters to the editor’ have appeared in our local paper over recent weeks. If the Board kept you in the dark with regard to this protracted circumstance, there may be little left for you to do but to give it your deepest contemplation. The link below is but a sample of the present discussion underway.

Respectfully,
Frances”

https://www.lindamoran.net/blog_teen/2007/04/the_disaster_at_plainview_old.html

“Dear Ms. Edwards:

Thanks for this note. I’d like to make a few comments about the link you attached. The math wars, like the whole language wars of the past decade, are based on a false dichotomy: traditional education v. progressive education. Good instruction focuses on the needs of the child – every child, one by one – and no one approach meets the needs of all children.

The math issue is interesting in that the battle seems to be pitched around algorithmic fluency v. conceptual understanding. They are not mutually exclusive. Both are essential for mathematically literacy. Students who learn algorithms procedurally without conceptual understanding aren’t truly fluent because although they are able to answer questions correctly on tests (when the questions are posed in the precise format the students are used to seeing), they often have difficulty knowing whether to (and how to) apply that algorithm to new and different situations. Teaching for conceptual understanding helps children develop efficient strategies for computing. Understanding the concept that underlies the algorithm helps students know how and when to apply it, helping them to become more proficient in solving new, differently presented problems and/or more complex problems.

Programs don’t teach children, teachers do. Good teachers vary their instruction – and their materials – based on student response.

Respectfully,
Marty Brooks”

Posted on by — 17 Comments

Who were the other candidates for Superintendent?

>The Fly is curious. Has anyone filed an OPRA yet to determine the names of candidates #2 & #3? Were any internal candidates being considered? Reportedly, there were over 30 applicants.

It’s difficult to believe that BOE members are going to appoint another interim Super instead of just tapping the next person on their list. Could it be that Marty Brooks was the only candidate they ever looked at?

ORDER FINE ART/ STOCK PRINTS ON-LINE

Posted on by — 62 Comments

Brooks Declines Ridgewood Superintendency

>brooks

From the Village Website!!!

Brooks Declines Ridgewood Superintendency

Dr. Martin Brooks has informed the Ridgewood Board of Education that because of personal reasons he will not accept the Superintendency in Ridgewood. It is the position of the Board that before Dr. Brooks’ arrival he was made to feel unwelcome. Anonymous phone calls, emails, blogs, and web postings by some community members questioned his integrity, ethics and educational philosophy. The Board considers this to be a most unfortunate situation for the Village and schools. It is not reflective of Ridgewood’s supportive community and its values.After an extensive nine-month process, using criteria and specifications developed in collaboration with the community, the Board selected Dr. Brooks to be the next superintendent. Some in the community took exception to the Board’s decision and have undermined the process.At its June 18, 2007, meeting, the Board will discuss the hiring of an interim superintendent and the initiation of a second superintendent search. As always, the Board will continue to focus on the education of more than 5,600 students in the Ridgewood Public School system.

Posted on by — 3 Comments

the fly hears the N.Y. Times checks out the districts fuzzy math…

>The fly heard Dr. Arilotta and Bob Muller got their hair blown out yesterday.
It must have been that the New York Times was coming to visit Travell and Orchard school and interview the district about their fuzzy Math. Hmmmh, the NY Times, why didn’t Marty Brooks want to come and speak with the Times about how he implemented TERC in his last district?

Posted on by — 10 Comments

Welcome Reception for Marty Brooks Postponed

>Because of scheduling conflicts, the Board of Education is postponing the public welcome reception for Dr. Martin Brooks, the incoming Superintendent of Schools at the Ed Center, originally scheduled for Monday, June 11, 2007.

Posted on by — 9 Comments

Meet Dr. Marty Brooks – June 11, 2007 @ 7:30pm Ed. Center

>The Board of Education is inviting the public to a welcome reception for Dr. Martin Brooks, the incoming Superintendent of Schools at the Ed Center, third floor, 49 Cottage Place, on Monday, June 11, 2007, from 7:30-8:30 PM. The informal occasion is the first opportunity for residents to meet Dr. Brooks who was appointed to the position at the May 14, 2007, Board meeting. He takes over the Ridgewood post on July 1, 2007.

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Marty Brooks responds to readers Inquiry

>Dear Ms. Edwards:

Thanks for this note. I’d like to make a few comments about the link you attached. The math wars, like the whole language wars of the past decade, are based on a false dichotomy: traditional education v. progressive education. Good instruction focuses on the needs of the child – every child, one by one – and no one approach meets the needs of all children.

The math issue is interesting in that the battle seems to be pitched around algorithmic fluency v. conceptual understanding. They are not mutually exclusive. Both are essential for mathematical literacy. Students who learn algorithms procedurally without conceptual understanding aren’t truly fluent because although they are able to answer questions correctly on tests (when the questions are posed in the precise format the students are used to seeing), they often have difficulty knowing whether to (and how to) apply that algorithm to new and different situations. Teaching for conceptual understanding helps children develop efficient strategies for computing. Understanding the concept that underlies the algorithm helps students know how and when to apply it, helping them to become more proficient in solving new, differently presented problems and/or more complex problems.

Programs don’t teach children, teachers do. Good teachers vary their instruction – and their materials – based on student response.

Respectfully,

Marty Brooks

Posted on by — Leave a comment

Tips To Speed FEMA Assistance

Dear Friends:

Last week, the President declared parts of New Jersey a disaster area, making residents and local businesses eligible for certain forms of federal assistance. Both Bergen and Passaic Counties are part of the declared disaster area. I am still pressing the President to make Sussex and Warren a part of the area eligible for recovery assistance.

FEMA has released the following guidelines to speed up relief. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact my office and my staff and I will work to help you get the answers you need. As additional information becomes available, such as the location of disaster relief centers, I will share that as well.

tips To Speed FEMA AssistancE

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) encourages residents and business owners who sustained losses due to the severe storms and flooding in the New Jersey counties of Bergen, Burlington, Essex, Passaic, Somerset and Union, to follow the tips listed below to speed up the process when applying for disaster assistance.

Register by telephone or online as soon as possible. Homeowners, renters, and business owners who had flood losses should call the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) registration line at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) to apply for assistance. Individuals with hearing or speech impairments should call (TTY) 1-800-462-7585. The lines are open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., daily. You can also register online at www.fema.gov.

Have information ready when you apply. When you call FEMA, have the following on hand: your current address; the address of the damaged property; phone information; insurance information; and your social security number.

Register, even if you are insured. Your insurance coverage may not cover everything and some foundation damage may not show up until later. Even if you have insurance, you can register with FEMA and the State for uninsured losses.
Remember, disaster assistance covers a wide range of flood losses. Disaster-related damage or loss of personal property, anything from a wheelchair to a major appliance, may qualify for some form of federal/state assistance.

Stay in touch and keep appointments after you have registered for disaster assistance. A FEMA inspector will make an appointment to visit your home. A State inspector will also make an appointment to visit the damaged property. Make every effort to be at the damaged property for the visit and call if you need to change the appointment.

Return all forms promptly. After registering, you may receive a U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) low-interest loan application package in the mail. Fill out and return these forms promptly or visit a Disaster Assistance Service Center for SBA assistance. Even if you aren’t interested in a loan, complete the loan package and return it; as filling out the SBA application is a necessary step to being considered for other forms of disaster assistance. Flood victims are not obligated to accept an SBA loan.
###

FEMA coordinates the federal government’s role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or man-made, including acts of terror.

Disaster recovery assistance is available without regard to race, color, sex, religion, national origin, age, disability, economic status or retaliation. If you or someone you know has been discriminated against, you should call FEMA toll-free at 1-800-621-FEMA (3362) or contact your State Office of Equal Rights. If suspicious of any abuse of FEMA programs, please contact the Fraud hotline at 1-800-323-8603.

FEMA’s temporary housing assistance and grants for public transportation expenses, medical and dental expenses, and funeral and burial expenses do not require individuals to apply for an SBA loan. However, applicants who receive SBA loan applications must submit them to SBA loan officers to be eligible for assistance that covers personal property, vehicle repair or replacement, and moving and storage expenses.

Sincerely,

Scott Garrett

Member of Congress

Posted on by — 2 Comments

No FEMA Money Yet!

>Ridgewood officials are still waiting to hear whether federal funds will be made available for the recovery effort associated with last week’s devastating flooding. If that happens — a declaration by President Bush is expected within days — the Village would be eligible for recovery grants from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. As of now though, all damages not covered by insurance policies must be paid for with local tax dollars.

The most significant damage reported thus far is a shifted water main along the Saddle River between Linwood and Ridgewood Avenues. The estimated costs to remediate that one condition is $400K.

Posted on by — 13 Comments

Freight Container Remains Lodged In Ho-Ho-Kus Brook – Removal Expenses May Be BOE’s Responsibility

>P4190009
P4190006
A freight container weighing in excess of 10,000 pounds remains lodged in the Ho-Ho-Kus Brook near Ridgewood High School after washing away during Sunday’s torrential downpour and striking the Ridgewood Avenue bridge. The bridge sustained minor structural damage, but was deemed safe for continued pedestrian and motor vehicle use by Village Engineer Christopher Rutishauser.

Despite previous posts on this blog suggesting the container may have washed downstream from a point miles above, it is now believed to have been located on the property of Ridgewood High School. The Village’s engineering staff is currently evaluating methods for the container’s safe removal; unconfirmed reports are that it may be resting on top of a water main. If the container is confirmed to be the property of, or leased by, Ridgewood’s Board of Education, all costs associated with its removal will most likely be billed back to the BOE.