>RHS Stadium : Good schools differentiate themselves by having many extracurricular activities and excellent facilities for the kids to use
I totally disagree with people critisizing the field and stadium. The old field and stadium were embarrassingly in disrepair. Good schools differentiate themselves by having many extracurricular activities and excellent facilities for the kids to use. This field and stadium are just one part of that. RHS offers more clubs and extracurricular activities and varsity sports than many high schools and that participation by the students should be encouraged and supported.
Ridgewood does itself a disservice by having crappy substandard facilities that are falling apart as if we are some inner-city Detriot school with falling down bleachers and a field that could ONLY be used by varsity football and varsity lax because that is all it could handle. Now we have a field that we can be proud of and can withstand high usage by as many classes and clubs and sports that need to use it. Drive by and you see kids on it all the time now and it is great to see.
This is not about just one or two sports teams, it is about the entire school’s appearance and facilities for many of the kids to use. Think about when we take our kids to see colleges, how does an Ivy League school compare to some crappy low budget college? It does not take very long walking around a campus to get an idea for the quality of the school by just looking at the all the facilities, some of which are the fields. One of the things that most differentiates great schools is the depth and breadth of programs and sports they offer and that kids participate in.
Check out a mediocre college (or private High School) and the list of varsity programs and clubs is short and the facilities are not great. Check out a high quality school and the facilities are nice and the kids participate in many things. It seems we have a culture here in Ridgewood where we support building $10 million wings for classrooms, and second stories on elementary schools and junior high schools. But heaven forbid we spend a tiny fraction of that amount to replace a grandstand that was so old and crappy it was about to collapse and fix a field that is the first thing everybody sees and should be the most used by all the students.
I for one love the new field and I know the kids do too (not just football and lax players). Now when people come see RHS they see a beautiful school with a field and stadium that are at least on par with Ramapo, Northern Highlands, Ramsey, and other good high schools(not better). This is one of the things people consider when they buy a home in Ridgewood and the appearance of the high school field is just one small part of that and it is money very well spent in that regard given how highly visible it is.
