Ridgewood Public Schools

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Ridgewood Public Schools
49 Cottage Place
Ridgewood, NJ 07451
District information
Grades K-12
Superintendent Dr. Daniel Fishbein
Business administrator Angelo J. DeSimone
Schools 10
Students and staff
Enrollment 5,702 (as of 2011-12)[1]
Faculty 418.5 FTEs
Student-teacher ratio 13.62:1
Other information
District Factor Group J
Website http://www.ridgewood.k12.nj.us
Ind. Per Pupil District
Spending		 Rank
(*)		 K-12
Average		  %± vs.
Average
1A Total Spending $17,982 44 $18,891 -4.8%
1 Budgetary Cost 13,979 41 14,783 -5.4%
2 Classroom Instruction 8,343 35 8,763 -4.8%
6 Support Services 2,575 75 2,392 7.7%
8 Administrative Cost 1,312 28 1,485 -11.6%
10 Operations & Maintenance 1,508 36 1,783 -15.4%
13 Extracurricular Activities 229 46 268 -14.6%
16 Median Teacher Salary 78,193 95 64,043
Data from NJDoE 2014 Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending.[2]
*Of K-12 districts with more than 3,500 students. Lowest spending=1; Highest=103

The Ridgewood Public Schools is a comprehensive community public school district serving students in Kindergarten through twelfth grade from suburban Ridgewood, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States.

As of the 2011-12 school year, the district's 10 schools had an enrollment of 5,702 students and 418.5 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.62:1.[1]

The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "J", the highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.[3]

Awards, recognition and rankings

Benjamin Franklin Middle School was awarded the Blue Ribbon School Award of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, the highest award an American school can receive, during the 1998-99 school year.[4]

For the 1993-94 school year, George Washington Middle School was named a "Star School" by the New Jersey Department of Education, the highest honor that a New Jersey school can achieve.[5] For the 1995-96 school year, Benjamin Franklin Middle School was named a "Star School".[6]

The district's high school was the 28th-ranked public high school in New Jersey out of 339 schools statewide in New Jersey Monthly magazine's September 2014 cover story on the state's "Top Public High Schools", using a new ranking methodology.[7] The school had been ranked 28th in the state of 328 schools in 2012, after being ranked 20th in 2010 out of 322 schools listed.[8]

Schools

Schools in the district (with 2011-12 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics[9]) are:[10]

Pre-school
  • Glen School[11] (35; Pre-School and Private Day Care Center)
Elementary schools (Grades K-5)
  • Henrietta Hawes Elementary School[12] (409)
  • Orchard Elementary School[13] (335)
  • Ridge Elementary School[14] (497)
  • Irwin B. Somerville Elementary School[15] (502)
  • Ira W. Travell Elementary School[16] (392)
  • Willard Elementary School[17] (476)
Middle schools (Grades 6-8)
  • Benjamin Franklin Middle School[18] (700)
  • George Washington Middle School[19] (687) for grades 6-8
High school (9-12)

Athletics

Ridgewood High School's sports teams are nicknamed the Maroons. Ridgewood High School is one of twenty public and private high schools from Bergen, Essex and Passaic Counties that are members of the Northern New Jersey Interscholastic League.

Administration

Core members of the school district's administration include:[21]

  • Dr. Daniel Fishbein, Superintendent[22]
  • Angelo DeSimone, Business Administrator / Board Secretary[23]

Superintendent search

The Ridgewood Board of Education had been searching for a new superintendent since July 1, 2006, with Dr. Paul Arilotta, previously Principal of Travell School, serving as an interim replacement during the year-long search. The Board hired Martin Brooks as Superintendent, effective July 1, 2007. However, in mid-June, Brooks declined the invitation for what the Board described as personal reasons, though there was community opposition to Brooks' appointment that was said to have made him "feel unwelcome". This has the led to the beginning of another search, and another year of the district hiring an interim superintendent, until a permanent replacement is hired and assumes the position.[24] The New York Times reported that this is the result of a dispute over the district's reform math program.[25]

On July 8, 2008, Dr. Daniel Fishbein, a Ridgewood parent and previous superintendent of the Glen Ridge, New Jersey school district, agreed to take the position as superintendent.[26]

Global Learning

Ridgewood Public Schools participated in the "Rural School Project". The goal of the project is to build a school for children in Cambodia to overcome the challenges their people have faced from the genocide at the hands of the Khmer Rouge, the communist political party, in the 1970s. George Washington Middle School, Benjamin Franklin Middle School, Orchard Elementary School, and Travell Elementary School participated in the student-centered fundraising effort. Ridgewood focused on having students tap into their strengths and talents to make a difference on a global level.

Ridgewood Public Schools began the fundraising effort in the summer of 2007, in collaboration with parents, to participate in the Rural School Project. The Rural School Project is funded through a nonprofit organization, The American Assistance for Cambodia/Japan Relief for Cambodia (AAfC). The project was initiated by two Ridgewood parents, Lisa Summers and Liz Louizedes. Students, parents, teachers, and administrators convened regularly to provide support for students and articulating the effort across the entire district. The goal of the program was to initially raise $21,500 for the school construction. Nominal fundraising efforts would take place after the school's inception to sustain its progress. Ridgewood Schools is raising funds in collaboration with American Assistance for Cambodia/Japan Relief for Cambodia (AAfC). AAfC is a nonprofit organization and has established a proven program. It has led the effort to construct over 300 Cambodian schools with matching funds from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank.

The Ridgewood Village School will create a structure for Ridgewood students to communicate with Cambodian students via email and participate in global citizenship and distance learning. Ongoing fundraising efforts will allow the Ridgewood Village School to build a water well, create a vegetable garden, and hire a full-time cook for the school to provide a nutritious breakfast and lunch for Cambodian students.

The fundraising supported the construction cost of a rural school (includes the building, desks, chairs), a full-time trained English/computer teacher for 2 years, 3 solar panels to provide basic electric for lighting and computers, and books.

In February 2009, several representatives from Ridgewood, including students, parents, teachers, and administrators, visited the Ridgewood Village School in Cambodia for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. The representatives brought gifts for students and contributed to the improvement of the village.[27]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 District information for Ridgewood School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed October 5, 2014.
  2. ↑ Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending April 2013, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed April 15, 2013.
  3. ↑ NJ Department of Education District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed October 4, 2014.
  4. ↑ Blue Ribbon Schools Program: Schools Recognized 1982-1983 through 1999-2002 (PDF), United States Department of Education. Accessed May 11, 2006.
  5. ↑ Star School Award recipient detail, New Jersey Department of Education, Archived December 18, 2006. Accessed November 25, 2009.
  6. ↑ Star School Award recipient detail, New Jersey Department of Education, Archived December 18, 2006. Accessed November 26, 2009.
  7. ↑ Staff. "Top Schools Alphabetical List 2014", New Jersey Monthly, September 2, 2014. Accessed September 5, 2014.
  8. ↑ Staff. "The Top New Jersey High Schools: Alphabetical", New Jersey Monthly, August 16, 2012. Accessed September 27, 2012.
  9. ↑ School Data for the Ridgewood Public Schools, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed October 5, 2014.
  10. ↑ New Jersey School Directory for the Ridgewood Public Schools, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed October 2, 2013.
  11. ↑ Glen School, Ridgewood Public Schools. Accessed October 2, 2013.
  12. ↑ Henrietta Hawes Elementary School, Ridgewood Public Schools. Accessed October 2, 2013.
  13. ↑ Orchard Elementary School, Ridgewood Public Schools. Accessed October 2, 2013.
  14. ↑ Ridge Elementary School, Ridgewood Public Schools. Accessed October 2, 2013.
  15. ↑ Irwin B. Somerville Elementary School, Ridgewood Public Schools. Accessed October 2, 2013.
  16. ↑ Ira W. Travell Elementary School, Ridgewood Public Schools. Accessed October 2, 2013.
  17. ↑ Willard Elementary School, Ridgewood Public Schools. Accessed October 2, 2013.
  18. ↑ Benjamin Franklin Middle School, Ridgewood Public Schools. Accessed October 2, 2013.
  19. ↑ George Washington Middle School, Ridgewood Public Schools. Accessed October 2, 2013.
  20. ↑ Ridgewood High School, Ridgewood Public Schools. Accessed October 2, 2013.
  21. ↑ New Jersey School Directory for Bergen County, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed October 4, 2014.
  22. ↑ Office of the Superintendent, Ridgewood Public Schools. Accessed October 4, 2014.
  23. ↑ Business Office, Ridgewood Public Schools. Accessed October 4, 2014.
  24. ↑ Coutros, Evonne. "Ridgewood's new schools chief quits", The Record (Bergen County), June 13, 2007. Accessed June 18, 2007. "The district's new superintendent has backed out of the job two weeks before he was to begin work, a startling move that the school board blamed on a hostile reception by some residents to his hiring. Martin Brooks, the former superintendent of the Plainview-Old Bethpage Central School District on Long Island, cited "personal reasons" for his withdrawal from the post. But a statement by the board on the district's Web site said he had been made to "feel unwelcome."
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ http://schoolsite.capturepoint.com/assets/resources/Superintendent%20Letter%206.08.pdf
  27. ↑ http://web.me.com/marylouhandy/Cambodia_Rural_School_Visit_2009/Welcome.html

External links

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