the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, the Ridgewood Board of Education announced at Mondays Special Public Meeting that the District has found its new Superintendent of Schools , Mark Schwarz . Schwarz with begin his duties on August 1st of this year .
Mark Schwarz was appointed Superintendent of Madison Public Schools in May of 2017. As the Chief School Administrator, Mr. Schwarz is responsible for all aspects of school and district operations, including the delivery of instruction to approximately 2,500 students across Madison’s five public schools. He leads a vibrant senior leadership team in support of our excellent principals, faculty, and support staff in their great mission to inspire and challenge all students to be lifelong learners. Since his official start in August of 2017, Mr. Schwarz has strived to provide clarity regarding the state of our schools and to set the district on a course of continuous improvement on behalf of students.
Prior to arriving in Madison, Mr. Schwarz served the Rockaway Borough School District in the roles of Superintendent, Middle School Principal, Vice Principal, and District Curriculum Coordinator. While there, Mr. Schwarz led the Thomas Jefferson Middle School staff and students as they earned recognition from the New Jersey Department of Education for exiting “Focus School” status by substantially closing the achievement gap.
Mr. Schwarz began his career in education as a Social Studies Teacher at Jefferson Township High School. During his years in the classroom, he taught history and current issues, started the JTHS Boys and Girls Volleyball Teams as their first Head Coach, served as yearbook advisor, and provided tutoring for students in all subjects.
In preparation for his career as an educator, Mr. Schwarz earned his Master’s Degree in Educational Leadership, Management, and Policy from Seton Hall University where he is currently developing his Doctoral dissertation. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in History at Ramapo College of New Jersey where he was a captain of the school’s NCAA Men’s Volleyball Team and was recognized as Ramapo College’s Scholar-Athlete of Year in 2002.
Mr. Schwarz resides in the Lake Mohawk community of Sparta, NJ, with his wife and fellow educator, Sharon, and their two sons. With a shared passion for travel, music, food, and physical activity, the Schwarz family loves spending time together and attending Madison community events whenever possible.
Superintendent Mark Schwarz last week led a presentation at a board meeting of the tentative $57 million budget proposed for the 2023-24 school year. The plan proposes a 9% spending increase over last year for the pre-K-to-12 district, but with state aid expected to rise and the district tapping reserve funds, the proposal calls for just a 1.8% increase in the school tax levy. In the fall, voters will consider a $79 million referendum that would have a far bigger impact on local schools and taxes.
Madison Public Schools:
- District size: 5 schools
- Grades: PK-12
- Enrollment: 2,523 students
- Student:Teacher Ratio: 11:1
- Minority Enrollment: 26%
-
Graduation Rate
: 98% (Top 5% in NJ)
-
Overall District Rank
: Top 10%
-
Math Proficiency
: 55% (Top 10%)
-
Reading Proficiency
: 67% (Top 10%)
- Source: National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), NJ Dept. of Education
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Several years ago, the RIdgewood BOE hired a new schools superintendent who quit prior to his first scheduled day of employment. Parents didn’t like him for some reason and began crucifying him on social media within days of his hire. As a result, he quit before ever actually starting work.
Marty Brooks , he was very unpopular at his previous job and the BOE didn’t know how to use google
https://theridgewoodblog.net/nj/marty-brooks/
Mr. Schwarz lives in Sparta. Quite a hike from Ridgewood. Maybe he’ll work from home a few days each week.
Can easily take an hour each way with moderate traffic. And his family loves where they live and clearly do not intend to move. This is a mistake.
This guy is no Marty Brooks, Marty Brooks had 25 pages of derogatory commentary on a simple google search and frankly the former BOE members should pay the town back for the expense the Marty Brooks search consultant charged , I think it was $160,000 ???
Does Schwarz have any idea what he’s getting into ?
He has a lot of classroom experience ,so that should have prepared him
I like that he has plenty of classroom experience
Something isn’t right with this guy. Brings his wife and 2 young kids to the meeting last night. What’s up with that? Posted bio says he takes his family to the town where he works to participate in events and he lives like 45 minutes from there. Kids can’t play in their own town? Something strange about him. It’s almost like he’s trying too hard to fit in.
Being an athlete, maybe he will put in place a policy that mandates first day back free of practice/scrimmages for teams traveling for multiple school days.
good point….travel to fla for spring break, miss 3 days of school, return to a full week of away scrimmages starting day 1 as kids try to make up class work from days missed heading into the last 3 days of the qtr. smh
Good luck! I hope he does well.
He’s a registered republican and so does the board president Lembo. That’s a good sign. Time to take back this town from wokes and to bring some neutral sanity.
He is a republican and got selected but the woke Ridgewood?! Can’t be true.
Education is far from sterling. I’d call it embarrassing for a position of that responsibility, prestige, and salary.
Brooks was part of a tandem.
He and his grant-money-hoovering wife were poised to establish Ridgewood as the equivalent of Mecca for any and all devotees of reform math in particular, and of constructivist K-12 education in general.
Republican jock bro with beyond-unimpressive (lame) academic credentials. Has he ever in fact come to Ridgewood? You gotta know the territory (as they say in The Music Man), but he won’t.
Suggestion: before acting as a role model to our kids, shave.
We have officially had it. There go the property values based on the educational system.
If he pushes for higher taxes there shall be an exodus followed by an incursion of families with more kids for the schools.
Mr. Anonymous…or shall I call you Mr. Brooks?!? Listen Marty…you had your chance. Give the guy a break.
As much as I love Ridgewood, Ridgewood doesn’t deserve Schwartz – he is too good for Ridgewood. Seriously, Ridgewood lucked out luring him from Madison – if he only knew what really happens behind the scenes, he may have avoided the hornet’s nest on Cottage Place.
With his new contract at $270,000, he is being well paid to deal with this dysfunctional Board of Education.
heard he left madison in a shambles fired all supervisors and keft the place a mess
What’s with the recent negative fake press on Schwarz because public and the board love Schwarz. Are you still missing fishbein? That was years and years ago, old news. Get over it and give Schwarz a chance
Honestly we have no idea how he will work out. So many are so pessimistic about him already, and based on what — that his family came to the meeting or his education is not good enough for some. Do not judge him on his predecessors. Give the man a chance. There is so much this district needs to turn around and I just hope he can steer things back in the right direction and stick around for awhile.
Now that someone announced that he is an “R” (true or not), the machine has been activated to smear him and run him out of town…
Well, you can check voter records instead of casting doubts on someone else’s statement?
He’s listed as Republican.
I would look at the size of Madison and the size of Ridgewood in terms of enrollment. Ridgewood is a big complex district. Madison is not. That’s a problem.
heard he left madison in a total mess, fired a bunch of people, stayed just long enough to have a good test score year – of course after pandemic – and on to here. heard he said he’s leaving the minute he hits 55 and has no plans to be here long term – maybe 3 years. hope it works out, cause right now RHS feels like a depressing vape zone with no sense of community like when i attended.
Blame Jeff for RHS issues then? What does Mark have to do anything with the RHS being a vape zone?
Word is that he has already had major issues with Kwak and Dani. He wont last a year and we will once again lose a great superintendent due to them.
Loves to hear himself talk. Hothead. This should be interesting.
All photo ops, bragging, and kissing babies. Wheres the substance? Something off about him unfortunately….kind of bad feeling about what’s coming…heard morale is at all time low and he’s looking to fire a bunch of people like he did in his last district. that is now a mess
May be the 🧹 house cleaning is much “needed”?
For anyone who likes to work, their morals should be high.
For anyone who is Fishbein era and does not want to do their work, yes their morals should be low and they should leave.
This district now only needs those who can do their jobs seriously for the kids!!
Mark Schwarz understands data and evidence. He is an evidence based decision maker.
So he is all about test scores. Seems like there should be more than just that
Well, test scores are important for accountability.