” As I have commented before, Ridgewood schools attract people from all over the country, esp. autistic students. My new neighbor from Alabama told me that they came here after seeing on the computer that Ridgewood had an excellent program for Autistic children. I know of 2 others who moved into our neighborhood for the same reason. I am sure there are others as we have a good number of school buses coming onto the block. The main problem is that our schools are forced to spend so much money on disabled children that they have had to cut back on so much that made our schools great in the past. But even a bigger problem than that is the schools no longer split children according to their ability. That means the faster learners can sit, bored for days, until the others catch up. (Several mothers told me that this is why they finally sent their children to private schools.) The school system no longer offers Gifted and Talented programs. Basically our educational system tends toward the medium student and this automatically will cause our schools to be lowered in any academic ratings. I have no idea as to a solution for this but as long as this is the way our schools are tending we will continually decline in academic stature. “
Quite possibly the most horrible comment I’ve seen on this blog. The next step is to publicly shame slow learners until they leave the school. Maybe we should make the “disabled children” wear dunce caps? Better yet, make the parents of the fast learners who support this attitude wear a badge with an “A” on it for Type A personality or A hole?
Agree, this comment is insensitive.
God forbid parents with disabled children try and find the best possible schooling for their children! Going to assume the person who wrote this is an aging resident – “seeing on the computer” – that is out of touch with the way the village’s education system is actually set up and just wants to spin a narrative that fits their morally bankrupt thinking. Since I highly doubt there are that many Alabama imports with special needs children in town, this is highly inappropriate (might as well have supplied their address). To that same effect, if those people are reading this, please let your neighbor know they’re an asshole and that they are in fact the ones contributing to any sort of decline associated with this town.
The great majority of mommies still won’t vote “no”. They’re too invested in the lie about the “tradition of excellence.”
My three children went through RPS. No one sat bored in class. Teachers do not have a one-size-fits-all leson plan. They make sure that students are taught at their level. Teachers have been doing this for years. The original poster should talk to a teacher.
And in Ridgewood “all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.”
This is why we are continually dropping in the area of education.
Look at any metric… we are dropping in all of them.
I sincerely apologize for offending people. I certainly did not mean to disparage challenged children.
I was simply stating a fact that, in the past, Ridgewood had not become a core site for special education. I am not slighting them at all to state that fact. Check with the school district if you want to get numbers. Our children have many challenged adults for friends, and invited them all to their weddings. Two worked at Camp Sunshine for years and one is a Godmother to our grandson, and I am a fake grandmother to her son. I am really sorry that people misunderstood what I meant.
JUST FYI: The “but we have challenged friends! We volunteered at a camp for special needs children!” defense is one that totally missed the mark. Just like, “but I am friendly with my black coworker” doesn’t mean you can’t be racist. If you want to be sincere in your apology, I would avoid that angle and just take responsibility for the insensitivity of your post. Done.