I don’t think this huge budget is supposed to be aimed at any particular people except for the wealthy citizens in our town whose children must have the very best in everything and are willing to pay to support it. The Board doesn’t seem to give any thought to the fact that a large number of people in town are struggling to make ends meet and are sick of having to pay through the nose so someone’s precious darling can be treated with kid gloves. And, Just for your info–if you want the best all round education for your kids, get out of Ridgewood! We went down the educational tube years ago. A huge increase in support staff in the Ed center and a corresponding huge decline in the educational system in Ridgewood. Sure, we’re probably still in the top 1/3 and maybe even in the top 1/4 in the state but that’s a long way down from being in the top 10% of the nation
I must preface my question with this- I’m not meaning to invalidate anyone’s point of view because I sincerely believe everyone’s experience merits their outlook. Where should one look to relocate to in order to have their child’s needs met outside of Ridgewood?
8.34am. Chatham. Number 1 in NJ schools for a few years, half the taxes of Ridgewood, manageable school size at about 60% of our Goliath. I regret not moving my family there years ago.
You are using these words: “down the tubes”, “huge decline in the educational system”, “huge increase in support staff”, “pay through the nose”. Please back this up. What are your measurements?
You are expressing class-warfare frustration. Ridgewood has been an expensive place to live for all our lifetimes. It is also stable, with little change to it’s demographics. People move here knowing what they are getting into. People leave when it no longer suits their needs.
“You are using these words: “down the tubes”, “huge decline in the educational system”, “huge increase in support staff”, “pay through the nose”. Please back this up. What are your measurements?”
.
$100+ million dollar budget for multiple years (decades?)
Not even in the TOP 25 schools in NJ (forget about Nationwide Ranking – We’re not even in the TOP 500! – barely made the top 600)
.
Enough said.
.
…but we got that great “tradition thing” going for us.. so there’s that.
Ryan – I agree with you.
We looked at Chatham and Princeton and Ridgewood – these were three top tier comparable towns.
All 3 towns had good schools and were very nice places to live and raise a family when we were looking to buy a house and start a family.
I think we made a big mistake.
.
Unfortunately, Ridgewood has veered left and has gone downhill, both as a place to live and a place to get a good education.
.
2017 School Rankings:
.
PRINCETON:
#6 in NJ | 155 in National Rankings | #127 in STEM Schools | College Readiness Score 74.4/100.0
.
CHATHAM:
#7 in NJ | 189 in National Rankings | #134 in STEM Schools | College Readiness Score 71.9/100.0
.
RIDGEWOOD
#26 in NJ | #583 in National Rankings | Not Ranked in STEM Schools | College Readiness Score 53.6/100.0
but #1 in Tradition of excellence
.
Look at those numbers.
Look at the gap between Chatham and Princeton vs Ridgewood.
Look at the pitiful 53.6% College Readiness score
Look at the $101 million dollar budget.
.
I could be wrong but i don’t think our kids are treated, seated or graded differently because of their parent’s income. Remember that In the wheel of fortune, you can’t buy a vowel so if such were the case, the pampered would only have easy access to B, C and D grades. Fs are for everyone i would imagine.
Yes the budget is very, very concerning but i don’t think the blame should be placed on those who struggle less to pay their taxes. Salaries and benefits take up the largest portion of the budget (no line items for comfy chairs, participation trophies or gloves made by kid).. If you want to address the impact that the school budget will have on our taxes, start with the largest line items and you will have many supporting your efforts.
I never thought I would pack up and leave Ridgewood when my kids were out of the schools but now it seems moronic not to. So sad!!!
Beating the same drum RW elects local people to lead the schools and village These are simply not the best Remember when Fishbein threatened to leave unless the lifted his salary cap? Remember no one else would hire him, we got stuck We need real proven leaders who can make tough decision Not Gorman (call me Dr please ) who oversees a sinking HS Not Fishbein Not Knutson or Sedon
We need real leaders and quickly
i call BS on this $110 million monstrosity of a BOE budget. its not buying us excellence. Fishbein and Brogan need to go.
Admittedly, we have been here since Jan 1971. When we moved in, the taxes were about half of what we now pay (and we thought they were very high then!). When we moved in Ridgewood was in the highest grouping in both national and state rankings. When we moved in there were approximately half the number of support staff. When we moved in, Ridgewood had some internal problems, Glen school had a Kindergarten teacher who actually told me “What did I do to deserve your child? She claims that kindergarten is for reading, writing, and arithmetic when the state law clearly states that that is not what kindergarten is for. I had a student just like her first semester and I had him promoted to first grade.” This was after I had already been told that both my first and second graders would have to be skipped because they were too far ahead of the comparable classes of Glen School students. And we came from an inner city public school! This is the point that the Ed center hired several “specialists” to make sure each school was learning the same material as the others. But the schools were far better then than now. Gifted and talented was a class in the grade schools–not now. Ridgewood has to spend so much time and money on special education that the gifted, and non-gifted, are given no extra challenges. Read the paper. Does Ridgewood participate in robots and all the other advance things that most of the area schools send students to compete in. Even the Debate team (if it still exists) never receives any recognition. Athletes, sure, but non-athletic competitions do not seem to exist any more. Yet our budget gets bigger and bigger with Ridgewood continuing to go down in almost every way. Our high school has decided one lunch period is sufficient. The cafeteria was designed for multi period uses and is too small for one lunch period. Kids actually eat sitting on hall floors. And we say we’re “excellent”?