Tag: Ridgewood Schools

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Ridgewood High School Cambodia Club has new project

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MARCH 27, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015, 8:24 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Cambodia Club has new project

To the Editor:

Many would say that the Ridgewood Cambodia Club has been one of the most effective clubs in all of Ridgewood, and we would have to agree. The goal for Ridgewood’s Cambodia Club has been to build and enhance a school in a rural Cambodian village. Ridgewood students have been raising money and awareness to support this effort since 2007.

Our sister school, the Ridgewood Village School, was built through World Assistance for Cambodia, an independent nonprofit organization that is dedicated to improving opportunities for the youth and rural poor in Cambodia. The mission is to galvanize support for the people in Cambodia, where genocide occurred in the 1970’s. We are helping to rebuild the country through education.

With support from the Ridgewood community, the Ridgewood Village School was built in Cambodia and the dedication took place in February 2009. Since then, we have enhanced our sister school by providing the students with an English and computer teacher, an Internet connection, and a vegetable garden and outdoor kitchen. The garden and kitchen help to ensure that the students enjoy healthy lunches at school.

Our annual goal is to raise $5,500 to fund these enhancements. We have been successful in previous years and now the Ridgewood High School Cambodia Club is introducing our 55 Families Initiative to broaden the opportunity for more Ridgewood residents to get involved in our village-to-village effort. On top of the Ridgewood High School Cambodia Club, there are also active Cambodia Clubs at the George Washington and Benjamin Franklin Middle Schools. The Cambodia Club is not limited to just those schools though. All schools in Ridgewood are welcome to join us in our mission to help support the Ridgewood Village School in Cambodia.

Fifty-five Families is a way for caring members of the Ridgewood Community to be a part of the Ridgewood Cambodia Club. The 55 Families Initiative invites families to pledge $100 each to our club. Through this initiative, simply by engaging 55 families in a pledge, we can reach our annual fundraising goal. Any tax-deductible donation would be greatly appreciated and the students of the Ridgewood Village School in Cambodia would be on their way to a brighter future.

Checks can be made out to World Assistance for Cambodia with School #422 written on the memo line. Please send checks to: Liz Louizides, c/o Ridgewood Cambodia Club, 554 Linwood Avenue, Ridgewood, NJ, 07450.

We thank you all for your kind consideration and generous contributions.

Elena Esteve and Simran Narula

Ridgewood High School Cambodia Club

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-ridgewood-high-school-cambodia-club-has-new-project-1.1297338

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Ridgewood Schools Phase II Solar Proposal

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Ridgewood Schools Phase II Solar Proposal

March 30,2015

Phase II Solar Proposal is Presented at the March 23 BOE Meeting

Click here to view the Verterra Phase II Solar Presentation presented at the March 23, 2015 Regular Public Meeting.

• Eight Ridgewood schools have been receiving a portion of their electricity from solar power since late 2012/early 2013 • Ridgewood High • BF Middle • Glen • Hawes • Orchard • Ridge • Somerville • Travell • Total installed solar capacity of 841 kW • 2014 solar energy production of ~875,000 kWh • 2014 savings from using solar energy ~$70,000

Additional Solar Potential :

GW Middle School • 34.77 kW Rooftop Mounted System • $0.117/kWh year 1 PPA Price with a 3% Escalator • Year 1 Savings ~$3,500 • 15-Year Savings Potential >$50,000 BF Middle School • 329.4 kW Carport Mounted System • $0.125/kWh year 1 PPA Price with a 3% Escalator • Year 1 Savings ~$18,000 • 15-Year Savings Potential >$275,000

Click here to view pictures of BFMS with the proposed solar panels
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PARCC tests are not good for children

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PARCC tests are not good for children

MARCH 27, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015, 8:27 AM
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Print

New tests are not good for children

To the editor:

The Common Core State Standards and PARCC testing are expensive: lots of new technology, increased bandwidth, lots more technical support personnel, more administrators – and we the taxpayers are footing the bill.

That would be fine if all this were good for our children, but it’s not. Our children are learning less: they’re reading less classic literature because they’re reading more informational texts; they’re doing less math because they’re writing essays about math; they’re doing way less social studies and science because they’re spending endless hours practicing for the PARCC.

Younger children are on keyboards practicing their typing skills instead of using paper and pencil which research shows leads to enhanced cognitive development.

They’re also watching lots of movies. Presumably their teachers are too busy to teach as much as they used to.

During the testing season, libraries resemble test prep centers more than they do traditional libraries. And now the giant publishing firm Pearson, the makers of the test, is employing a company in Utah, Caveon, to spy on children’s social media sites to see what the kids are saying about the PARCC test they’ve just taken.

Teachers are stressed, passing the stress onto the children. Teachers are afraid to say what they really think about all this for fear of losing their jobs. The teaching profession has been degraded and will continue to be degraded as long as this regimen prevails.

Turmoil is the word I most frequently hear. Is this the tradition of excellence in education that we brag about here in Ridgewood?

Interestingly, the people who most vociferously support the Common Core State Standards and PARCC testing do not send their kids to schools that use either the Common Core State Standards or PARCC testing, yet they want the rest of us to do so. How does that make any sense in a democracy? In an oligarchy, yes, a system of government in which the monied elite dictate to the masses what to do for the financial benefit of the monied elite.

The children of Silicon Valley executives go to schools which not only do not use the Common Core State Standards or PARCC testing, but also use NO technology – that’s right – NONE – and why? Their tech-free teaching methods are designed to foster a lifelong love of learning and to teach students how to concentrate deeply and master human interaction, critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving skills. Isn’t that what we are trying to do? How did we get it so wrong?

Increasingly, we parents and grandparents in Ridgewood want the Board of Education to figure a way out of this mess. It’s unsustainable. In the short-term we want the Board of Education to provide our children a “technology-lite” alternative to the heavy duty technology path it has charted.

We have done all this for all the wrong reasons. It is time to think about the children. Let’s eradicate the stench of corporate greed from our fine Ridgewood schools.

Marlene Burton
Ridgewood

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-letters-to-the-editor/letter-to-the-editor-new-tests-are-not-good-for-children-1.1297340

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Readers challenge idea of a private corporation abridging students first amendment rights

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Readers challenge idea of a private corporation abridging students first amendment rights  

“The Ridgewood Public Schools guards our data and only shares with state and federal officials the information that is required by law. We make every effort to teach our students about good digital citizenship and with the beginning next school year, we will teach it more formally through a Digital Citizenship Curriculum, from kindergarten through Grade 12.”DANIEL FISHBEIN

Students in New Jersey were told repeatedly that they had no choice about taking a test(PARCC) which then resulted in their private information being given to Pearson and also restricted their first amendment rights.

I love how all the NJ DOE apologists are glossing right over the fact that our schools were being asked by a private corporation to discipline a student. What’s next? If a kid tweets that the school lunch is disgusting, will the school punish him on behalf of Aramark??
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Colleges getting out of health insurance business

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Colleges getting out of health insurance business

March 28, 2015, 11:13 AM    Last updated: Saturday, March 28, 2015, 11:15 AM
By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP
Associated Press

SEATTLE (AP) — The federal health care overhaul is leading some colleges and universities to get out of the health insurance business.

Experts are divided on whether this change will be good or bad for students. Some call it an inevitable result of health care reform and a money-saver for students since insurance in the marketplace is usually cheaper than the college plans. Others worry that more students will go without health insurance since their premiums won’t be folded into the lump sum they pay for school, and they say college health plans offer more coverage for the money than other options.

The main driver of colleges getting out of the insurance business is a provision in the Affordable Care Act that prevents students from using premium tax subsidies to purchase insurance from their college or university, according to Steven M. Bloom, director of federal relations for the American Council on Education, a Washington, D.C., group representing the presidents of U.S. colleges and universities.

Add to that the provision that allows young people to stay on their parent’s health insurance plans until age 26, plus the expansion of Medicaid in some states and the rising cost of student insurance. The result is cheaper health insurance available for students off campus.

But Bloom worries more schools will decide to drop insurance coverage..

https://www.northjersey.com/news/colleges-getting-out-of-health-insurance-business-1.1298154

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RHS Girls Lacrosse: Reloaded Ridgewood poised for a deep run

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RHS Girls Lacrosse: Reloaded Ridgewood poised for a deep run

March 27, 2015    Last updated: Friday, March 27, 2015, 12:31 AM
By Matthew Birchenough
ASSISTANT SPORTS EDITOR |
The Ridgewood News

RIDGEWOOD —A full team’s worth of seniors, including four of last year’s top five goal scorers, left the Ridgewood High School girls lacrosse team after the Class of 2014 graduated, but the expectations of the program didn’t follow them out the door.

It’s fitting that the team chose the word “relentless” as its rallying cry for this season, as the adjective also accurately describes the regenerative nature of the Maroons program.

This year, the program welcomed 14 new girls to the varsity unit, according to assistant coach Marissa Moore, who filled in earlier this week for head coach Karla Mixon, who had to attend to a family emergency.

Armed with “ridiculous speed” all over the field, Moore is confident the Maroons are just as capable of wearing the State Tournament of Champions crown as any of the recent teams that have come up a few steps short.

“These girls are driven to get that. Our captains, especially, want that more than anything,” Moore said. “These girls circle it on their calendar, and that’s their ultimate goal.”

RHS fell just shy of its sixth straight North Group 4 title in 2014, dropping a tight 11-10 contest to Ridge of Somerset County in the sectional final.

https://www.northjersey.com/sports/high-school-sports/girls-lacrosse/hopes-high-for-new-look-girls-squad-1.1296818

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PARCC Refuseniks : Mounting refusals to take state tests could hurt N.J.’s federal aid

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PARCC  Refuseniks :  Mounting refusals to take state tests could hurt N.J.’s federal aid

MARCH 27, 2015, 10:53 PM    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015, 10:56 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

A tally kept by the state’s largest teachers union shows that the number of students refusing to take new state tests may top 46,000 — meaning too few students are taking the exam to meet a federal mandate, which officials say could put education funding to the state in jeopardy.

Refusals grew from week to week as tests were conducted in March, numbering hundreds in some North Jersey school districts, including 1,100 in Ridgewood alone, or one-fourth of all eligible students.

The union, one of the leading opponents of the tests, has collected numbers from teachers, media reports and parents. Although the numbers are unconfirmed, the union’s tallies from local districts are similar to figures The Record has received by talking to a limited number of school superintendents.

Steve Wollmer, spokesman for the New Jersey Education Association, said that the 46,000 figure represents 5 percent of all students in the state. “We know at least that many opted out and that [list] doesn’t even include every district in the state,” he said.

State education officials declined on Friday to say how many have refused the test known as PARCC, or whether the participation rate was below 95 percent. A spokesman said results won’t be known until after testing ends on Thursday.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/mounting-refusals-to-take-state-tests-could-hurt-n-j-s-federal-aid-1.1297847

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Ridgewood Superintendent’s Column: On digital citizenship

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Ridgewood Superintendent’s Column: On digital citizenship

MARCH 27, 2015    LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, MARCH 27, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY DANIEL FISHBEIN
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Years ago I ran in a local road race that had a very strange outcome.
…………..

Now you are probably wondering why is this guy telling this story? Well, it’s because I innocently signed up for this race as did a few hundred others and found that the organizers of the race gave away or sold that list. We do this same thing all the time when we hit the “Agree” button to get information off the Internet.

We hardly give it a thought when we electronically sign up, email, tweet, use Facebook, post on Instagram and blog as part of our everyday existence. Our lives have improved in many ways with the fast, easy, convenient and mostly free access to information at our online fingertips, whether we are researching directions, restaurant reviews or places to stay, ordering our clothing and books, or keeping track of our bank accounts, our photo albums, our documents.

Such convenience makes it easy to forget that when we log on, we also agree, yes, agree, to hand over access to all types of personal information about ourselves in exchange for that instant line of communication. Our privacy and personally identifiable information is easily shared, as we know from the personalized ads that appear on the sites we search. And yet, we get upset and outraged when the obvious happens, when a breach occurs and our files are hacked, or a company is called out as a spy on an individual.

Just this month, a student in another New Jersey district tweeted out some PARCC testing information. Pearson, the company that developed the assessment, followed its protocol to contact state officials, who then called to inform those school district administrators of a testing breach.

Many people were upset at this chain of events … and so was I … at first. Then I thought about Daniella. Sixteen years ago I had essentially “tweeted” out my personal information when I agreed to run that race, never thinking of the consequences. I did what we have all done dozens, maybe hundreds, of times when we readily fill out an electronic form, order over the phone, search for our next vacation and the like.

We know now that when we order from our favorite online vendor, they remember us. They know how our waist sizes have expanded or shrunk from the last time we ordered, our color preferences, the types of movies we like to watch.

As we move forward, others will know more and more about us because we have either given them this information directly, or granted them permission to access our files. We must hope that they use our personal information ethically, at least that is my expectation, but we must also make every effort to scrutinize to whom we give out our data so that it does not come back to haunt us. We must teach our children the same and pray every night that they’ve listened.

Taking responsibility for technology-based information, and having this conversation with our children, too, is called good digital citizenship. The Ridgewood Public Schools guards our data and only shares with state and federal officials the information that is required by law. We make every effort to teach our students about good digital citizenship and with the beginning next school year, we will teach it more formally through a Digital Citizenship Curriculum, from kindergarten through Grade 12.

As always, please feel free to contact me with your questions or concerns.

Daniel Fishbein, Ed.D., is Superintendent of the Ridgewood Public Schools. Dr. Fishbein can be reached at 201-670-2700, ext. 10530, or via e-mail at [email protected]. For more information on the Ridgewood Public Schools visit the district website at www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us or visit the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/RidgewoodPublicSchools.

https://www.northjersey.com/opinion/opinion-guest-writers/on-digital-citizenship-1.1296988

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Graydon Pool may have revenue shortfall due to early school opening

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Graydon Pool may have revenue shortfall due to early school opening
March 26,2015
Boyd A. Loving

Just when you though you’d heard everything –

Ridgewood NJ, It appears as though the scheduled September 2, 2015 opening of the Ridgewood Public Schools may seriously impact Graydon Pool revenues this summer.  Graydon Pool is currently scheduled to remain open until Labor Day, Monday, September 7, 2015.

Village Councilwoman Gwenn Hauck, liaison to the Parks, Recreation & Conservation Board, stated that the last operating week of Graydon Pool (just prior to and including Labor Day) traditionally generates a significant amount of revenue. If  the Pool is forced to change its schedule and close earlier in the season than Labor Day [due to the unavailability of lifeguards (students) and supervisory staff (teachers)], the Pool may experience a significant revenue loss.

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Ridgewood school district putting goals into action

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Ridgewood school district putting goals into action

MARCH 24, 2015    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015, 11:22 AM
BY DARIUS AMOS
STAFF WRITER |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Ridgewood education leaders have outlined several forms of action that the district will consider as it works toward the goals established during community planning sessions last fall.

At a March 9 Board of Education meeting, Superintendent of Schools Daniel Fishbein reviewed the laundry list of action items created to address five distinct BOE goal areas: student achievement, communication, diversity, facilities and technology.

These areas were identified during an hours-long brainstorming process, which brought together school board trustees, administrators, students and community members in September. Goals were then refined by a consulting firm, which presented its report to the BOE and the public in November, and accepted by the BOE.

In its 24-page presentation, Sousa and Stern Education Consultants provided a blank sample plan of action for the BOE to complete while including benchmarks and timelines for each of the goal areas.

According to the goal list, a focus on student achievement would create a comprehensive learning environment that will inspire and empower all students to reach their highest potential academically, creatively and socially.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/district-putting-goals-into-action-1.1294469

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Study by Niche Places Ridgewood High School as one of the 100 Best Public High Schools in New Jersey

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Study by Niche Places Ridgewood High School as one of the 100 Best Public High Schools in New Jersey
March 26 ,2015
the staff of the Ridgewood blog

Ridgewood NJ, In a new ranking , Ridgewood High School came in at number 34 for its A grade in academics, A- in health and safety and A+ in teachers. The high school also received an A+ for extracurriculars and activities, an A for sports and fitness, a B+ for resources and facilities and a B- for student culture and diversity.  https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-high-schools/best-overall/s/new-jersey/

Niche Best Public High Schools ranks 14,431 high schools based on dozens of key statistics and 4.6 million opinions from 280,000 students and parents. A high ranking indicates that the school is an exceptional academic institution with a diverse set of high-achieving students who rate their experience very highly.

An additional 834 schools received a grade but were not eligible for ranking. The list includes magnet, charter, and online schools. https://k12.niche.com/rankings/public-high-schools/best-overall/methodology/

Tenafly High schools came in 8th , Nothern Highlands  came in 21 , Pascack Hills came in 23 , Cresskill came in 24  , Nothern Valley 48 and Glen Rock 53 .

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RHS Latin Teams Excel

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RHS Latin Teams Excel

March 19,2015

Ridgewood Nj, On Tuesday, March 17, Latin academic teams from 30 New Jersey schools traveled to Princeton to compete in Latin language, Roman life, Roman history and Greco-Roman mythology.
The Novice team fought hard and scored well in its first competition.  The Advanced team finished in first place and will advance to play for the State championship on April 25 against Ridge High School and PACTA, the second and third place teams.
Advanced Team members were Poyani Bavishi, Ben Bechtold, Charlotte Kahan, Elizabeth O’Keefe, James Psathas, Peter Psathas, Sophie Simpson,Anthony Tokarz and Chelsea Trattner.  Novice team members with media permission to be named were Desiree Bottigliero, Joe O’Keefe and Tommy Carver. The Latin Club advisor is Catherine Venturini.
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Stevens Institute Lauds RHS Honors Class

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March 23,2015

Ridgewood NJ, The Stevens Institute of Technology awarded National Science Foundation certificates to students in Dr. Lillian Labowsky’s Chemistry Honors class for the students’ efforts to create a three-dimensionally printed periodic table of elements.

Dr. Labowsky’s class created the chart on a 3D printed model over three months and individually printed all 118 interlocking element pieces. The height of each piece corresponds to the element’s electronegativity and the radioactive element pieces were printed with glow-in-the-dark material.

A 3D printer uses an additive process to lay down successive layers of material in order to create a computer printed object.

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Orchard School principal to leave ‘solid foundation’ in Ridgewood

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MARCH 24, 2015    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015, 11:28 AM

BY LINDSAY IRELAND
CORRESPONDENT |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS

Margaret “Peg” Loonam thought long and hard about how to break the news to her students.After more than two decades with Ridgewood Public Schools, Loonam, principal of Orchard School, will retire this August to spend more time with family.

“I am not sure what notions children ages 5 to 10 have about retirement, but I want them to know that I am not leaving because I am in any way unhappy,” Loonam said. “I am retiring because I want to spend more time with my four grandchildren and fulfill some of my own personal ‘bucket list’ items.”

Loonam said she also looks forward to having more time to enjoy the simple things in life after retirement.

“I am looking forward to cooking, visiting friends and family, exercising and watching an entire movie with my husband without falling asleep,” she said.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/education/orchard-school-principal-leaving-a-solid-foundation-1.1294473

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Community colleges to use controversial PARCC tests for student placement

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Community colleges to use controversial PARCC tests for student placement

MARCH 24, 2015, 2:03 PM    LAST UPDATED: TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 2015, 10:00 PM
BY HANNAN ADELY
STAFF WRITER |
THE RECORD

In New Jersey’s march to roll out new academic standards and testing in public schools, some of the strongest and most vocal support has come from the state’s colleges and universities.

Now, in the latest measure of faith in the exams, the council of 19 community college presidents announced that they plan to use scores on the new tests for student placement next year. It will be the first time the tests have consequences for students.

“These scores will be a valuable tool for colleges in our work to help high school students avoid remediation and begin study in college-level courses,” the New Jersey Council of County Colleges said in a joint statement Monday.

By embracing the tests — which are designed to measure students’ knowledge of the more rigorous standards — college officials are at odds with many parents who have protested their use in schools and kept their children out of the exams. But higher education officials say the new system will better prepare students for college and prevent many of them from having to take remedial classes.

https://www.northjersey.com/news/community-colleges-to-use-controversial-parcc-tests-for-student-placement-1.1294635