The Board of Ed knew exactly what it was doing when they changed the election date. This totally removed the possibility of voters voting the budget down and released a wild spending spree on the part of the board. They are literally saying, “You can’t stop us. We can charge as much as we want.” If the money was being spent to evaluate some of the teachers, maybe it could be well spent. Years ago we were actually told by a teacher on back to school night–“I’m tenured, I can do whatever I want until I retire.” This was the answer to our question about what she was teaching. And throwing more money is not going to improve our county rankings, much less state and national, any more than it helps the schools in Paterson and Newark to just throw money at them. “Gilding the lily doesn’t make it an any better lily.” Is any of this money going to be used to improve the lunchroom situation? It is neither sensible nor sanitary to have students eating on the floor. The board should be forced to seriously reevaluate this budget and see what they can cut and what is being directed towards actual needs, not frills to make Ridgewood look better.
In my conversation with some teachers employed by RPS, there is a lot of dead weight that needs purging.
Nobody can question B of E. They are too big and powerful and can name their own increase in budget as they wish. Don’t waste your time. They are operating exactly the way liberals work. Once we get the buildings in BD the budget will go even higher. We’re doomed.
When the budget was voted down, it made almost zero difference. The council at that time was too intimidated to step in.