The Board of Education has committed $400,000 to the renovation of the Ridgewood High School library
Ridgewood’s Learning Commons gets another boost
Thursday November 8, 2012, 4:18 PM
BY LAURA HERZOG
STAFF WRITER
The Ridgewood News
The Board of Education (BOE) has committed $400,000 to the renovation of the Ridgewood High School (RHS) library. This contribution will come from the board’s capital reserve account, according to Superintendent Dan Fishbein.
In combination with the roughly $200,000 the RHS Home and School Association (HSA) has already raised, this capital injection should enable the project’s core leaders to get the construction process rolling.
Based on preliminary floor plans drafted last summer by the architecture firm LAN Associates, the new library, to be known as a “learning commons,” will offer students new conference rooms, printers, TV monitors, a café and moveable bookshelves to allow for double-seating capacity.
The new project would replace a library that has not been renovated since 1963. It is projected to cost $850,000 in total, including about $250,000 not yet raised for new lounge furnishings.
The RHS HSA hopes the remaining funds will be raised by other donors and through subsequent fundraisers.
https://www.northjersey.com/news/177960901_Ridgewood_s_Learning_Commons_gets_another_boost.html
More tax payers money when is going to stop?
Never — weren’t you paying attention to the election last Tuesday?
We voted for reckless spending …amongst other things
A cafe ? What in the hell is wrong with these people. What happen to 0 base budgeting? We elected another blow hard to the BOED. Whats next?
When is it going to stop? Um, when there are no more children? The library hasn’t been touched since 1963. It’s time. It’s currently not serving the needs and of today’s students and teachers. And more than half of the cost is is being funded by donations. Seems reasonable to me. There is a website with more info about the design, including links to research regarding learning commons in general and the educational benefits, at rhslearningcommons.com
Funny how people complain when there’s a huge referendum and ask, “why weren’t these things taken care of over the years?” But when they try to do a single upgrade, 50 years is too soon and we should wait even longer?
And zero-based budgeting? The Board has never said they would do that.
Honestly, this is a needed project that’s been designed extremely conservatively and is being funded more than half by donations and not taxes.