Posted on May 6, 2019May 6, 2019 by James — 2 Comments

Ridgewood Board of Education Updates Full day Kindergarten Implementation

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, at the Ridgewood Board of Education meeting the BOE presented what amounted to nothing more than an over priced baby sitting service. This should be interesting when all the new high density housing floods the schools with new students.

UPDATE ON SECOND YEAR OF IMPLEMENTATION OF FULL DAY KINDERGARTEN
Supervisor of Elementary Education Jean Anne O’Neill and the elementary school principals provided an update on the full-day Kindergarten program, covering the topics of multi-sensory reading, social-emotional learning, purposeful play, learning centers for math and language arts, and lunch and recess. The gift of time through the extension of the day allows the teachers to develop the talents and interests of the Kindergarten students.

The slide portion of the presentation may be viewed here.

Posted on May 4, 2019May 4, 2019 by James — Leave a comment

Republican Lawmaker Says Move SDA To Treasury’s Division Of Property Management And Construction

Parsippany NJ, A new proposal by Assemblywoman BettyLou DeCroce would eliminate the Schools Development Authority and transfer its responsibilities to the Department of Treasury’s Division of Property Management & Construction.

Posted on May 3, 2019May 2, 2019 by James — 4 Comments

STOP, LOOK AND WAVE PEDESTRIAN SAFETY

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood Public Schools, Federated Home and School Association and the Village of Ridgewood wants to keep pedestrians safe.

STOP – LOOK – WAVE – BE SAFE-BE SEEN is a campaign designed to keep everyone safe by reminding drivers and pedestrians to look out for each other. Please read and follow the tips below.

Posted on May 1, 2019June 27, 2021 by James — 6 Comments

Class-action Lawsuits have just been Launched against the main supplier of Synthetic Turf Fields in the Suburbs of New Jersey

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, There is a closely related story in the community that requires investigation and exposure.

Area schools, towns and public agencies have spent millions of dollars installing synthetic turf fields in recent years. A number of important class-action lawsuits have just been launched against the main supplier of synthetic turf fields in the suburbs of New Jersey.

Continue reading Class-action Lawsuits have just been Launched against the main supplier of Synthetic Turf Fields in the Suburbs of New Jersey

Posted on May 1, 2019April 30, 2019 by James — 3 Comments

US News Best High Schools 2019 : Ridgewood High School Ranks 27th

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Ridgewood High is now ranked 27th in NJ and 554th in the country in this influential survey… note there are lots of non-selective schools ahead of RHS in NJ’s top twenty-five, including Jersey City, Elizabeth, Princeton, Chatham, Millburn, West Windsor-Plainsboro, Ridge, Glen Ridge, Mountain Lakes, Summit, and Tenafly.

https://patch.com/new-jersey/pointpleasant/us-news-best-high-schools-2019-heres-how-350-nj-schools-ranked

In other similar rankings RHS ranked #26, #32, and one where it wasn’t even top fifty in the state. I think we ranked 23rd for SAT scores statewide in a NJ.com survey last year. Ridgewood only scores a 60.4/100 on the college readiness scale in this US News ranking.

Posted on April 29, 2019April 29, 2019 by James — 1 Comment

Ridgewood Board of Education Meets Monday, April 29, 2019 49 Cottage Place 7:30 p.m.

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, The Ridgewood Board of Education will hold its next Regular Public Meeting on Monday, April 29, 2019. The Board meets at the Education Center, 49 Cottage Place, Floor 3 at 7:30 p.m.

The public is welcome to attend the meeting, or to watch from home on Fios channel 33 or Optimum channel 77. Meetings are also streamed via the “BOE Webcast” tab on the district website at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us.

Meeting webcasts are immediately available on the district website.

Posted on April 29, 2019April 28, 2019 by James — 7 Comments

Reader says the BOE is running its own agenda over the majority will

” Through various ways a select group of people took the BOE and Admin in their iron grip, running their own agenda over majority wish, the Budget vote has taken that privilege away and that’s why this frustration, One Vote’s target is taking away the Budget vote and additionally influencing the local politics of Ridgewood with the muddy national one. “

Posted on April 28, 2019April 27, 2019 by James — 4 Comments

Reader says ,”“It’s hard to assign a “good” or “bad” label on turnout levels”

“It’s hard to assign a “good” or “bad” label on turnout levels. A few benchmarks though, for comparison, of total votes cast in Ridgewood:

– 2019 School election (Apr): 2,473 total votes cast (unofficial)
– 2018 Midterm election (Nov): 11,400 total votes cast for U.S. Senate
– 2018 Midterm election (Nov): 7,663 total votes cast for Ridgewood BOE
– 2016 Presidential election (Nov): 13,308
– 2016 BOE election (Nov): 8,650

So it seems clear that expecting 3x, perhaps even 4x, the turnout by moving the BOE vote (and Village Council vote) to November is a reasonable expectation.”

Posted on April 26, 2019April 26, 2019 by James — 9 Comments

New Ridgewood Group Set Up to Take Your Right to Vote Away

Dear Ridgewood Community

Posted byswinograd April 24, 2019

Last Tuesday, April 16, 2019, only fourteen percent of Ridgewood’s eligible voters participated in an off-cycle election (defined as any election not held in November) on the Ridgewood Public School budget for the 2019-2020 school year. This election cost Ridgewood taxpayers $50,000.

Posted on April 25, 2019April 24, 2019 by James — Leave a comment

Reader asks , “Has identity politics come to this, where being a boy is now a special needs category? “

” Has identity politics come to this, where being a boy is now a special needs category? Yes classroom learning seems better suited to the female temperament and the disproportionate success of girls in K-12 proves that out. I was one of those boys who hated school, cut classes, treated it as a joke. I grew out of it. Most do. Let’s not dumb the system down any further to coddle to boys. “

Posted on April 25, 2019April 24, 2019 by James — 1 Comment

Reader Suggests Ridgewood Schools Need to Teach Financial Literacy

” Too bad we’re not teaching any REAL financial literacy in the schools (not the cursory required HS financial literacy course)… especially in a “rich” town like Ridgewood.
RW kids should come out of RHS ready to run a business or manage a sophisiticated financial portfolio. Instead they learn how to use a checkbook (a dying financial tool).
.
If RW was actually still a top tier school district, RHS students would graduate with at minimum a 4 year plan to fund college and enough funds to at minimum pay for freshman year.
.
Instead we waste precious teaching hours on distribution of wealth, groupism over individualism, the importance of diversity over competency and so forth, not to mention pure time wasters like sleep in days, comfort dogs and the like. “

Posted on April 24, 2019April 24, 2019 by James — Leave a comment

State Senator Tom Kean Blast Murphy Administration after Delgado-Polanco’s Resigns from the New Jersey Schools Development Authority

the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Trenton NJ, Senate Republican Leader Tom Kean said representatives of the New Jersey Schools Development Authority (SDA) should be prepared to answer questions about the agency’s operations and employment practices at upcoming Senate Budget Committee hearings following today’s resignation of chief executive officer Lizette Delgado-Polanco.

Posted on April 23, 2019April 23, 2019 by James — 12 Comments

Reader says,”There has always been a “turnover ” of residents but taxes will chase us out faster, and your taxes will go up exponentially”

“I am contemplating retirement in a few years.
I am not rich, but I saved a few bucks and have no mortgage .
I actually like it here and lived in NJ all my life.
For those of us who do not have children in public schools (and never did) the biggest expense is the schools portion of the real estate tax.
If you want to keep us here to subsidize your kids, you better figure out a way to limit our tax increase.
If we leave, you can be certain our home will be purchased by a young family with children requiring an education
In the old days, many long time Ridgewood families stayed here for generations (and thanks to them it’s a nice town – before the vinyl siding and and lawn sign crowd moved here from NYC)
There has always been a “turnover ” of residents but taxes will chase us out faster, and your taxes will go up exponentially .
Residents with no kids in school get NOTHING in return while SUBSIDIZING those who do. “

Posted on April 23, 2019April 23, 2019 by James — 8 Comments

Reader says , “Ridgewood Schools Fail to Develop Male Students of High Academic Potential “

“The Ridgewood district has also chronically failed to adequately encourage and adequately develop students who early on demonstrate extremely very high academic potential, but also who have moderate emotional or behavioral challenges and/or ADHD, or who happen to be male. (Oops–was only thinking that last part, didn’t mean to blurt it out. How rude to admit the hard and naked truth of Nothern New Jersey public schools in 2019.)

Posted on April 23, 2019April 23, 2019 by James — 1 Comment

Reader says , “There’s too much talk about diversity and inclusion and less about discipline and competence”

The rankings measure how well the competition does, as well as Ridgewood school district. Without proper analysis, one can’t assume the drop in Ridgewood rankings is due to declining quality. It could just be other schools started to deliver better performance than before.

I am concerned about indoctrination in the school system though. There’s too much talk about diversity and inclusion and less about discipline and competence.

Dear Ridgewood Community

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