We all know full day K is extended day-care for moms who work (except in Ridgewood where if fills the need of moms who go to the spa or lunch or tennis). But that is OK, we’ll just pay for it and move on.
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To say that it has and significant educational value and kids who don’t attend full day K will be at a (long term) disadvantage is disingenuous at best.
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The only place where full day K might make sense would be for those children diagnosed with significant (medical) developmental disabilities
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But again, these facts don’t matter – give the moms what they want, pay for it and move on.
Why start applying logic to the Ridgewood school budget now…
Let those that want full day kindergarten pay the difference, it is certainly cheaper than day care or a baby sitter.
Screw that. Get out the stop Garazila playbook. Like Nancy Reagan said JUST SAY NO TO Increased spending..private options available ..take a hike..I’ll pay from first grade thru 12 ..that’s all folks
How much teachers chipping in?.?.
1:56:
To say that full day K is extended day-care for moms who work and for moms in Ridgewood who go to the spa or lunch or tennis is just as disingenuous, untruthful and hypocritical.
Make it optional, tuition based enrichment. Those who want to leave their kids can, those who want to take their kids home can do that.
What is wrong with offering it for tuition? Parents pay. Full day K will not help them with college caaeptance or with getting a job after high school. No long term benefits.
But Greg… That is the truth of the matter. Full day K IS extended day-care for moms who work and for moms in Ridgewood who go to the spa or lunch or tennis.
What PC speech do you recommend we use to obscure these facts while discussing it?
10:21
If you want to have an honest discussion about this, don’t hide behind the “anonymous” tag. Your statements are not only sexist, but blatantly hypocritical and uninformed. Suggesting that all “moms” in Ridgewood don’t contribute to society and live off of their husbands is a notion from the 1950’s that I thought we had moved past and became a more educated and tolerant society.
Greg, I happen to agree with 10:21. Perhaps the stay at home moms do not all go to the spa, lunch or tennis but many do. It is a life style. I know because I was a stay at home Ridgewood mother but to your point I was active in the community and I also enjoyed time with my children after school. I will remain anonymous and am thankful that this blog exists as a place we can feel free to discuss local issues without retaliation. Let’s not get into the mommy wars here. I think the best compromise is to make the kindergarten tuition based. If you want it, pay for it but don’t expect others to subsidize. I enjoyed those after school hours with my kids and would not want them in all day kindergarten.
I am against full day K.
It is sexist to claim that it is for the moms to have free time. There children have mothers and fathers. Their reasons are their own.
Ha Ha Ha… sexist… what a bunch of snowflakes.
Never let the truth stop you from righteously claiming victimization to deflect from the facts.
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I see lots of RW dads staying home, going to the spa, having lunch in town and playing tennis… don’t you?
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Facts are facts, even when they don’t fit your view of how life should be.
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I have a major problem with how this is being done. The BOE should decide if it is critical or “nice to have”. If the latter it should not even be considered given the fiscal issues in this town. If critical it should be incorporated into the budget and if cuts need to be made or a vote to go over 2% cap then that should be our choice. But I do not think grade warfare is right…after all we don’t vote on 6th grade programs or high school programs for example…wonder what would happen if we could?
Forget the fact that every single other town has full day kindergarten. The education in Ridgewood is literally collapsing behind competing towns. We have no full day kindergarten, no programs for students who are further ahead academically, and our class size is larger than virtually every other in the county. These each are huge disadvantages. Together, they are potentially catastrophic. All while our Superintentant presents false data and keeping Ridgewood academics glued to the ways of the 1950s.
Our teachers are paid in the top 10%. This is all a massive failure that we pay what we do in taxes, yet can’t have any of the most basic amenities benefitting every single neighboring town and most of the country. Pathetic and disgraceful. We are also falling in ratings now in most academic lists. If you want the value of your home to hold up, Ridgewood’s value is meaningfully predicated our the reputation of our school system. We have an opportunity here to have full day kindergarten, something that 80% of the US now enjoys. Data is utterly indisputable on the value of this service. Please Google the countless studies. This isn’t about moms having free time, and any suggestion of this is sexist at best.
At 4:20, even if there is marginal value in full day the myriad of problems you describe will still exist but we will be paying more in taxes. How does this make our school system more attractive or competitive in every other way? I would be more inclined to vote yes if it was folded into the current budget.
The tax increase is modest. The superintendent had been misleading residents about the true cost, previously suggesting that full day kindergarten would cost millions when the actual cost is under $1 million. I recognize this still results in a tax increase in Rodgewood. But the place for this cost increase should not be the families in Ridgewood but by the existing school budget. Our teachers are paid in the top 10% in the county, as is the superintendent. There is ample room for them to be paid in the top 15% and include kindergarten in the costs, but nobody wants to talk about making teacher compensation more aligned with neighboring towns. Upper Saddle River, Wyckoff, HoHoKus…great schools systems with lower teacher compensation. Wyckoff’s tax rate is 1/2 of Ridgewood’s. There is so much fat in this chicken, we could have all of the amenities we need with our existing budget. The fact that the teacher’s are protesting for even higher wages is rediculous.