This post is not appropriate for a public forum. We can disagree without name calling and snarky remarks about our neighbors. The level of anger and nastiness in all debates in Ridgewood is over the top. Our current council election is a disgrace. I feel terrible for Mayor Knudsen and will definitely not be voting for her opponents given the sleazy and dishonest statements that they are circulating about her.
As for the school board – newcomers to the school budget woes need to take a step back and educate themselves about how we got here. It is not the fault of the the 5 volunteers who have run unopposed for the last few elections because no one wants that thankless job. You should be thanking them – not abusing them.
If you really want to know how we got here go back 2 years to the last teacher contract negotiation. This board held the line against unreasonable teacher demands as long as they could. Over a year, and in the face of destructive job actions that impacted kids in the schools every day. In the end the dispute went to a state mediator who pretty much gave the teachers what they wanted.
So if you really want to stop this from happening again, stop wasting your time beating up on these people and educate yourself on the state contract resolution process. Take your concerns to your state legislators. Because the teachers’ current contract is almost up. I would expect job actions to begin sometime next year in anticipation of a new round of negotiations.
To all the juniors this year (seniors next year) and their parents –
Remember how much your teachers “do it fer da kidz” while they screw you over by not providing letters of recommendation and otherwise obstructing your college application process.
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It’s part of Ridgewood’s “tradition of excellence”
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Most of our BOE budget is dictated by Trenton so we need to focus our ire there before we get too worked up about our local BOE and Council. We need to get the Teachers’ Union to accept the idea that their pension fund is bankrupt and that their benefits offering is unsustainable for NJ municipalities. New hires need to be put into 401K’s and offered health benefits that are more consistent with those of the residents that pay for them. Tenure also has to go as it rewards the least competent yet highest paid teachers. It might also be a good idea to look at administrator salaries too. That all said, local BOE’s still need to learn how to do more with less just like those of us in the private sector. While I have always admired teachers and would love for them to make more money, there is just no more money around and the tax payers are stretched to the max.