Tag: Ridgewood schools

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The Ridgewood BOE was For it before they Were Against it

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Recently, there has been much dialogue on the Board of Education . We find it totally ridiculous that there are some members of the community that feel no need to exercise their right to vote on a $111,000,000 school budget . There is no larger issue facing the future of the Village of Ridgewood then the magnitude of the Ridgewood School budget .They feel instead its best to leave up to bureaucrats who have done virtually everything in their powers to keep the public in the dark as to school spending and issues.

In reading comments, we believe some residents are dangerously misinformed and are missing the history behind the matter. The BOE was UNANIMOUSLY in favor of an April election. They fought AGAINST a November election and requested Council and community support. However, Gov. Christie caused a change which mandated a Nov. election and budget cap (no budget vote) until May 2018. Once that order lifted, many districts started the process of returning to an April election, including Ridgewood. Interesting, the same BOE inexplicably did a 180, and are against all they once fought for. Well informed residents are holding these elected officials accountable.

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Ridgewood School Board Reviews 2019-2020 Proposed Preliminary Budget of $111 Million

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the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, Dr. Fishbein reviewed the schedule for the state aid numbers from Trenton, which will follow the governor’s budget address on March 5. Accordingly, the March 4 Board meeting will be moved to March 11, with an additional meeting on March 8 at 5 p.m. if needed.

Business Administrator Antoinette Kelly reviewed the basics of budgeting and the big-picture areas of the RPS budget (Special Programs, healthcare costs, staffing, security/technology, capital projects, revenue, appropriations). The slide portion of the presentation, which is posted on the district website, may be viewed here

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Ridgewood Board of Education Meeting Tonight

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Board of Education Meets 
Monday, February 11, 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,February 11, 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.
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Reader asks , ” Why hasn’t Ridgewood done enough to keep up and stay competitive?”

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“The Ivy’s received almost 70,000 more applicants in 2017 than in 2012, and overall acceptance rates dropped to 9.3% from 12.6%.”
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EXACTLY.
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Why hasn’t Ridgewood done enough to keep up and stay competitive?
Answer: Because the school values all of the BS (sleep in days, pet therapist for exams, student walkouts against perceieved – but not real – trangressions, etc. etc. etc.) rather than innovative programs and solutions to make the students successful and competitive in an ever more competitive and changing world.
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The attitude that life (in this case getting into college) is getting harder so it is OK that we do not do as well is EXACTLY why we are failing the students and falling behind.
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Making excuses for failure is so much easier than finding solutions for success.

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Reader says , ” The prime piece of evidence is the simple fact that top quality Universities and Colleges simply aren’t taking our students”

RHS 2017

“As I said previously, we needn’t look at a single score concerning Ridgewood. The prime piece of evidence is the simple fact that top quality Universities and Colleges simply aren’t taking our students. It is always a possibility that our students want to take the low road as the high road represents too much studying and they prefer to have major party time. It is also true that many families have a child to satisfy the grandparents or to reproduce themselves and once done go immediately back to focusing on the job. The “It’s not MY child” or “MY child couldn’t have done what you say.” And then they don’t show up for teacher or Principal meetings because “they don’t have time”. As a result, many of our children prefer to take it easy and do whatever they want. We still have a larger number who are hard workers and good students so the world hasn’t completely lost any hope of surviving.”

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Reader says ,” negative comments (on schools) do not appear to be grounded in reality”

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“It always surprises me how much people seem to self hate. If an out of state person were to read the comments one would think we are talking about Paterson or Camden or the South Bronx. My dad lived in Glen Rock and graduated RHS in the 50s my wife and I in the 80s, our kids in the 2000s and 2010s . My personal observation is that there was a slight dip (see graph) but over the decades RHS has maintained pretty well. I do think there is a risk that private schools like Bosco will continue to improve and outpace the public schools. But the negative comments do not appear to be grounded in reality.”

https://www.schooldigger.com/go/NJ/schools/1383000764/school.aspx?t=tbRankings

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Reader says, “a school also significantly influences (more than we’d like to admit) a student’s priorities. This is where Ridgewood falls down significantly”

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Selection to go to a military academy DOES have A LOT to do with internal desire. No argument there.

HOWEVER, a school IS also one of the MAJOR contributors to shaping a student into a successful military academy candidate.

Obviously the emphasis on stingent academics is a part of it, but there are many schools with sringent academics (and for the sake of this discussion will allow that Ridgewoods academics are stringent – even though I beleive they can be significantly improved).
BUT, a school also significantly influences (more than we’d like to admit) a student’s priorities. This is where Ridgewood falls down significantly.
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A school DOES have a lot to do with producing attractive candidates for military academies.
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So:
1) if a student DOES NOT have drive, ambition, persistence and leadership qualities EVEN if they attend a school that prepares them for a military academy, they will never get into one.
and
2) if a student DOES have drive, ambition, persistence and leadership qualities and attend a school that DOES NOT prepare them for a military academy, they will never get into one.
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Obviously there are other factors (parents, etc.) that are also critical to being a successful candidate, but I am limiting my comments to “school” and “internal desire”.

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Reader says we need to ,”help prepare our students for the challenges of the world and workforce ahead”

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Does anyone believe that Fishbein and Gorman are the right leaders for our schools? Are they capable of driving the innovation and dynamic change needed to improve our schools, and help prepare our students for the challenges of the world and workforce ahead? If the answer is no, why are they still employed?

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Reader says ,”reality is we’re not producing competitive, top tier students anymore despite top tier taxes”

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Yeah, reality is we’re not producing competitive, top tier students anymore despite top tier taxes and spending $110 mm a year. Better change the slogan from “Tradition of Excellence” if you don’t think rankings matter. Reality is the best universities aren’t competing for graduates of RHS. Twenty years ago we produced a lot more students matriculating to the best colleges in the country.

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Reader says , “Only ONE student was selected to go on to a military academy! That’s just as bad as only 4 merit scholars”

Ridgewood High School class of 2016


“Only ONE student was selected to go on to a military academy! That’s just as bad as only 4 merit scholars. If people don’t want to believe the ratings published in other sources, just look at a TRUE statistic–the total lack of colleges and other such sources who leap to grab a promising Ridgewood student before someone else grabs him/her. That basically means that it doesn’t mean a darn thing to anyone who counts if you graduated from Ridgewood. Colleges used to race each other to get an out-standing student. Our own daughter had a giant box filled with applications sent to her. How many students can say that now? (now it’s probably e-mails but I’m willing to bet that even they lack in both quantity and quality.) A student used to be told to apply to at least 4 schools–now even 10 isn’t enough.”

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Reader says , “Ridgewood schools were ranked nationally in the 1980s and 1990s”

Ridgewood Police at RHS

file photo by Boyd Loving

Ridgewood schools were ranked nationally in the 1980s and 1990s. No more. As the “CEO” of a school board with a $110 mm annual budget, 10 “offices” and 500 employees, he has overseen the demise of our schools over the past decade. The “product” is in secular decline apart from very niche & expensive “special needs” education. Surely with a budget like that, we can attract world class & innovative leaders and educators that can improve our schools? Instead we get weather updates from Fishbein. If he’s so great, let him destroy another school system instead of ours.

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Reader says , “Our Superintendent leaves a lot to be desired”

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Our Superintendent leaves a lot to be desired. He continually posts “feel good” missives and cannot see the problems right in front of his face. I thought he was “voluntarily” remaining until his last child was out of school. I guess he decided not to give up his “cozy cushion” and look for a job that would pay better and also give him the right to destroy another school system. I don’t know how much more time he has on his contact but it is sure to be renewed by his Lackies. To file a law suit to try to keep the people he knows love him in office so he doesn’t have to possibly have people who don’t bow before him in office instead is pure hubris. The apparent illegality of this action–or merely the fact that it defies the law–seems to escape the notice of our town lawyer.

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Reader says, ” It doesn’t take very long before they notice the rotting spell of greed and personal ambition”

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We have lots of intelligent residents who lead and operate successful businesses. The problem is, we have to wait for them to retire so they could take a volunteer or paid position with Ridgewood. In the meantime people who have no experience and no knowledge of anything rush to see their names and faces in print. Some, like Knudsen, have been unable to realize she is no longer Mayor and keeps sending out “important announcements” before our current Mayor. Maybe this is requested help, and then I apologize. But her notices always preceded his by only a few minutes.

Continue reading Reader says, ” It doesn’t take very long before they notice the rotting spell of greed and personal ambition”
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Reader asks , “what has Dr. Fishbein done to improve academics in Ridgewood Schools ?”

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Fishbein is useless.
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Tell me what he has done of any significance to improve academics in Ridgewood Schools and get the students ready for their future? What has he done to elevate Ridgewood schools and set them apart from others in the state? the country? the world?
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He has just presided over the slow decline of Ridgewood schools, while virtue signaling and lecturing parents on how to raise their children and keep them warm on cold days.
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Useless.
We’d be better off running the show with no superintendent and we’d save a lot of money.