Welcome!

Welcome to Laurie Goodman's blog. I use this space to share news and opinions about education and schools in Ridgewood, the state of New Jersey and the nation, in addition to other issues I'm personally interested in. I invite you to share your thoughts, feelings, questions or opinions, too, by posting comments on any blog entry. Please observe basic courtesy -- keep your comments focused on issues, no personal attacks or bullying, please. Contact me directly at: lauriegood@mac.com

Friday, October 31, 2008

Hot topics

Look at this cool thing I found! The following image shows the top 100 words mentioned on this blog...the more times they've been mentioned, the larger the words appear. Really cool website called Wordle. You can enter any text or collection of words, or you can give the URL for a blog or site with RSS feed, and Wordle will create a word image automatically.

Image created by Wordle

Thursday, October 30, 2008

Voting @ Schools

Some parents have questioned the safety and security of our students on Election Day. Here is some information about the voting in Ridgewood on 11/4:

The District has been discussing and preparing for Election Day. Monday, Dr. Fishbein spoke with the Chief of Police. The police have not received any notices of imminent threats nor official alerts about security.

All of our schools, except Willard, are able to limit access to the polling areas, so that voters do not enter the rest of the school. For example, at Somerville, voters enter and exit the gym through dedicated gym doors, and not through the hallways. Willard, because of its design and the location of the voting, cannot do this. For this reason, there will be a police officer on duty at Willard all day on election day. (FYI, we did try to get the polling moved out of Willard and the county Election Commission denied the request.) Regular security procedures (locked doors, visitor sign-in, etc.) will be enforced for any person who enters the non-polling-place areas of any schools. In addition, police will do walk-throughs at every school building throughout the day.

It is not possible to deny voting at the schools (although feel free to bring that up with the county!). Without specific threats, closing the schools up to four or five times per year on election days is not practical.

The District's thinking is that persons entering our schools to vote are our neighbors, who come to the buildings several times a year on election days. I agree with Dr.Fishbein that it's important for students to see the democratic process in action.

Monday, October 27, 2008

The 'Math Meeting' was tonight...any feedback?

I was not able to attend the math meeting tonight. (FYI, too much work and I'm leaving tomorrow for the NJ School Boards Association Workshop). How did it go?

Parry Aftab will speak about internet safety on December 11: here at RHS!

All Ridgewood parents and community members are invited...

A Common Sense Approach to Internet Safety in this Age of Changing Technology

Parry Aftab, an Internet privacy and security lawyer, is WiredSafety's Executive Director. WiredSafety is the world's largest Internet safety and help group. Ms. Aftab will present to Ridgewood parents and community members in the Ridgewood High School Campus Center on December 11 from 7:00 to 9:30.

This will be a great and truly informative session! Ms. Aftab has spoken to thousands of students and parents and knows the hot topic issues, explains them in parent-speak, and offers parents workable ways to balance their parental responsibilities and create sensible guidelines for kids.

In particular, the very important topic of Cyberbullying will be discussed and the audience will be introduced and asked to take the Megan Pledge. In particular, Ms. Aftab will cover:

What steps can parents take to prevent their children from becoming victims of cyberbullying? (pro-active approach)

If they become victims, what can victims and parents do, where can parents go for help and when do they bring it to the attention of school administrators or law enforcement?

What to do if they find out that their child is a Cyberbully?

Most victims of CyberBullying are so affected by the threats and harassment that they keep quiet and never report it to their
parents, teachers or friends. It is important that victims realize that we adults are here to fight this new form of bullying.

Get more info by clicking HERE or HERE.

Fixing 'No Child Left Behind'

I thought this was an interesting OP-ED from Washington Times, 10/23/08. What do you think?

Nailing down specifics on 'No Child'
by Michael J. Petrilli

Education is the neglected stepchild of this year's presidential race - very likely because the candidates are correctly reading the electorate. A recent poll found that only 1 percent of registered voters identified education as the issue most important to them. Yes, they've got plenty else on their minds. Still, it's a stunning change from 2000 when, during a time of peace and prosperity, school reform made it to the top of the nation's agenda.

One of the most significant outcomes of that election was bipartisan passage of President Bush's No Child Left Behind Act - a controversial law that is now overdue for renewal. Both Sen. John McCain and Sen. Barack Obama have promised to make changes to it, though each has been coy about the specific fixes he would propose.

That's not too surprising, either. NCLB is hugely unpopular with the bases of both political parties, with teacher unions abhorring its focus on test scores and conservatives ruing its expansion of federal powers. In the face of this widespread buyers' remorse, both candidates have been careful not to offer any specifics that would alienate key supporters.

But no such reticence is an option once Mr. McCain or Mr. Obama becomes president. Nor is NCLB going away. This massive statute houses most of the major federal programs in elementary-secondary education, as well as some $25 billion per annum in federal education aid. To move any school-reform initiative forward, indeed to do anything significant in K-12 education, the new president and Congress will have to update NCLB. And that means finding a political compromise.

That's plainly true for Mr. McCain, who would face a Democratic Congress. But Mr. Obama, too, will have to make a deal. Because so many members of his own party are loath to buck the unions, he will need to find Republican votes in order to get any NCLB reauthorization through Congress.

What could such a compromise entail? The best feature of NCLB is the transparency it has created around school performance. Because of annual testing in math and reading, and the reporting of test results for sub-groups as well as entire schools, communities now have tons more information with which to gauge their schools' effectiveness. The worst feature of NCLB is its heavyhandedness, labeling schools as failures even if just a handful of students perform poorly on state tests - and spelling out in excruciating detail the year-to-year cascade of sanctions that are supposed to be imposed on such schools.

How could the next president and Congress keep the good while getting rid of the bad? They should turn NCLB on its head, making it tight where today it's far too loose while loosening the parts that today are excessively tight.

Right now, NCLB micromanages the formula and timelines by which schools are labeled and sanctioned, yet it allows states total discretion over the academic standards and tests used to judge schools (and kids) in the first place. These should be flipped. Provide incentives for states to sign up for rigorous nationwide (not federal) standards and tests. Make the results of this testing publicly available, sliced every which way by school and group. But then allow states and districts (or private entities, such as GreatSchools.net) to devise their own school labels and ratings - and let them decide what to do with schools that need help.

This will enable parents, policy-makers, and taxpayers to compare schools in an apples-to-apples manner, across state lines, but will also empower states and communities to take the driver's seat again when it comes to determining which schools need help and how to intervene.

This solution won't please everyone. Some reformers will worry that, without stern mandates from Washington, some states will fail to hold troubled schools accountable. Some conservatives will complain about "national" testing. And some union leaders will still chafe at the transparency of school results and the possibility of tying student performance to teacher effectiveness.

But reasonable people on all sides of the issue will see that this approach is better aligned with Uncle Sam's skill set. After all, Washington is at least three or four steps removed from the operation of local schools. There's only so much policy-makers can do from Capitol Hill and the federal Education Department, whatever their intentions. It would be far better for the feds to focus on making school standards explicit and results transparent, and then allow the states, communities and expert educators to focus on how to reform schools that aren't making the grade. It might even remove some of the buyers' remorse that has come to be associated with NCLB.

Michael J. Petrilli, a former Bush administration official in the U.S. Department of Education, is vice president for national programs and policy at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute.

Friday, October 24, 2008

Why we all need to answer the math questions.

I’m from the school of thought that believes if you’re asked outright for your opinion, you should give it. I’m also a big believer in second chances. Or even more chances. In the messy world of people with different opinions working together to figure out what’s best for the community, as many chances as it takes to get the job done.

The District is asking community members to share what’s important to them in terms of elementary math education. We have two options: 1) Attend the Math Meeting at the Ed Center on Monday night at 7:30. 2) Send our opinions via email to kkiedaisch@ridgewood.k12.nj.us. I’ll be using the second option. (But I'll probably be at the Ed Center to help with the meeting.) I encourage (urge, ask, beg) you to use whichever option most appeals to you. Just please make your opinion known now.

Yes, there were already focus groups. But those were over a year ago. And the purpose of the focus groups was not, no pun intended, focused. At that time, there was no explicit goal of choosing a math textbook/program for all elementary schools. Now that we know that’s the ultimate goal, and we had a long year of talk amongst friends and neighbors and others, let’s make extra-sure that the District knows the opinions of as wide a sample of parents as possible.

Click here to read the four questions you’re being asked. Please answer any or all of them. If you don’t like the first question about “passion,” (it’s a little touchy-feely for some), it would probably be ok to skip it. The real meat is in questions 3 & 4: what do you think all students should know, and what would you like to see in a math textbook?

So please come to the Ed Center Monday night. Or please send your email comments by November 10.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

New Board of Ed web pages

The Board of Ed has expanded its web pages on the District website, in an effort to give the public more information on what we do, how and why. If you go to the Ridgewood Public Schools website and click Board of Ed on the left, you'll find:
-- Board member bios with e-mail addresses;
-- An FAQs page with explanations of how the Board operates, what the Board is responsible for vs. what the superintendent is responsible for, meeting formats, etc.;
-- List of Board committees with descriptions and Board member assignments;
-- Detailed line item budget;
-- Referendum planning page, containing drawings of expansion plans for GW, Willard, Hawes and Ridge.

If you check it out, let me know what you think. Is there anything else about the Board of Ed you'd like to know?

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

We have goals!

At last night's Board meeting, we approved the following as the Board of Education's goals for the 2008-2009 school year. (Normally this would happen sooner, but this year we waited to have our Board retreat until Dr. Fishbein had started as superintendent).

Student Learning
Promote academic achievement for all students. Develop a set of metrics to collect baseline data that measures and demonstrates individualized student success in curricular and co-curricular opportunities.

What this means: We want to define the things that are important to us as a district...how do we measure student success in ways other than test scores? Is there a Ridgewood definition of "success" that encompasses academics, extracurriculars, that measures effort in addition to achievement? This year we want to answer these questions, figure out what we want to prioritize, and then we'll proceed to use those metrics to evaluate the district and ourselves.

Communications
Conduct an audit of the two-way flow of information between the district and the community. Identify effective components and areas in need of improvement. Design a community survey instrument to be used in the 2009-2010 school year. Identify the procedures/standards, personnel and budget resources needed to create a highly effective communication system.

What this means: We want to evaluate our communications, both from the Board to the public and from the public to the Board. As part of this evaluation, we will create an annual survey or "report card" or feedback device where parents can tell us how the District and schools are doing. We'll determine where and how our communications can be improved.

Ridgewood Board of Education Policies and Regulations
Review and revise the district's Policy and Procedure Manual, aligning it with state law and code so that it becomes an effective reference and public information tool. Develop new policies that reflect legal mandates and local priorities. Develop a process that ensures ongoing review and updating of the policies and procedures.

What this means: Our Policy Manual needs to be updated, both to incorporate legal requirements and also to make it more user-friendly and more relevant to real, day-to-day life in the District. Updating the policy manual is routine every district must undertake -- it's time to do ours and we want to do it well.

2009-10 Budget and Bond Referendum
Develop a budget that meets the educational needs of all our students and is mindful of the state's budgeting parameters as well as the economic climate in the community. Design a bond referendum that would allow funding for construction of new and improved instructional space, building repairs and capital improvements as identified in our Long Range Facilities Plan and Ridgewood High School Building Evaluation, and possible improvements to athletic facilities.

What this means: Pretty self-explanatory, isn't it? It's going to be a tough budget year, and we're going to have to create a budget AND come up with a smart, comprehensive, fair, efficient and forward-thinking referendum to meet our pressing needs.

Let me know if you have any questions...

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Attn: Willard & Ridge Parents

Dr. Fishbein, Sheila Brogan and I will be at the Willard HSA meeting on Monday at 1:30, and the Ridge HSA meeting on Tuesday at 2:00 to discuss each school's expansion plans vis-a-vis the 2009 referendum. Please attend if you'd like to see the plans up close, ask questions, etc. (The plans will also be available in PDF form on the district website.)

Agenda for 10/20 meeting

You can see the complete agenda for tomorrow's Board of Ed meeting by clicking here. Some highlights (in addition to the Violence & Vandalism report already mentioned):

Update on referendum planning, specifically energy conservation/efficiency.

Mr. McDonald, RHS athletic director, will update us on the sports league changes. It's somewhat confusing and, from what I understand, no better than what they had when they started the discussion. I'm looking forward to Mr. McDonald explaining the latest.

We're going to discuss the Board's goals for 2008-09.

Dr. Fishbein will give an update on the Math Plan.

Ridgewood Education Foundation will announce grants totalling almost $8,000.

Like I said, you can read all the minute details on the district website, just click here.

See you tomorrow night!

School Violence & Vandalism

One of the topics on the agenda for tomorrow night's meeting (10/20 @ 7:30 PM) is the annual Report on School Violence and Vandalism for 2007-08. There will be a report on the numbers in Ridgewood, comparison to previous years, and also a discussion about activities in the schools related to the prevention of violence. There will be a public comment section, so if you have any questions or comments about violence or vandalism in our schools, you are invited to share and/or pose questions at the meeting.

Monday, October 13, 2008

Summer Homework

A parent emailed me the following question:

"Why do so many other neighboring communities have "summer homework" - a required book/s to read, worksheets, historic local sites to visit, etc. - and Ridgewood does not? Just wondering!"

I will see what I can find out about our schools' practices and philosophy re: summer homework. But, in the meantime, I'm interested to hear what parents think. Any thoughts?

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Consolidation of Special Ed Classrooms

As a continuation of the discussion on expansion, it helps to understand where our self-contained special ed classrooms are currently located, and where they'd be located following the expansion in the proposed referendum:

Pre Construction:
Somerville -- PARCCA (K-2)
BF -- PARCCA (3-5)
Orchard -- LLD (K-2)
Somerville -- LLD (K-2)
Travell -- LLD (3-5)
Travell -- LLD (K-2)
Travell -- LLD (3-5)

Post Construction:
Willard -- PARCCA (K-2)
Willard -- PARCCA (3-5)
Willard -- LLD (K-2)
Hawes -- LLD (K-2)
Hawes -- LLD (3-5)
Ridge -- LLD (K-2)
Ridge -- LLD (3-5)
BF -- PARCCA (6-8)

In other words, under this plan, PARCCA K-5 would be together at Willard, and then move to BF for PARCCA 6-8. Our LLD (Language & Learning Disabled) classes for K-2 would be at Willard, Hawes and Ridge, consolidating to 3-5 at Hawes and Ridge. (Traditionally, the numbers of LLD students is reduced from K-2 to 3-5.

Why are Ridge, Hawes and Willard the schools chosen to be expanded? Why not Travell or Somerville or Orchard? This mainly has to do with property and the availability of space for expansion. Ridge and Hawes have the most room. And Willard, as the oldest elementary school, has some very small classrooms which can be easily adapted for LLD or PARCCA, with the addition of larger non-LLD classrooms.

The 2008-2009 Math Planning Year

The outline for the 2008-2009 Math Planning Team has been released and you can find it at the District website by clicking HERE. You'll find a detailed outline of activities, objectives and action plan, as well as a list of the external advisors who will be participating and lending insight throughout the process.

The objectives for this Math Planning Year are:
1) Select an elementary math textbook or program for use in all elementary schools;
2) Plan professional development and implementation rollout for 2009-2010

The Math Planning Team consists of Dr. Fishbein, Ms. Botsford, Dr. Anspach (our new Director of Curriculum), Mr. Dan Ilaria (6-12 Math Supervisor), all the elementary school principals, and Ms. Nancy Schultz (Mathematics Specialist of Professional Resources in Science and Mathematics (PRISM) at Montclair State University). The Team's action plan includes the following:
-- Review relevant documents (see list in Math Plan)
-- Understand parents' wants/needs for math textbook/program
-- Understand teachers' wants/needs for math textbook/program
-- Understand the views of mathematicians (see full Math Plan for names/bios)
-- Write a District vision statement for elementary mathematics
-- Identify District needs and wants for math textbook/program
-- Recommend math textbook/program for Board approval in May 2009

Throughout the process, the Math Planning Team will give updates and solicit feedback at Board of Ed meetings, Board Curriculum Committee meetings, Curriculum Communication Committee meetings, HSA meetings and faculty meetings.

In terms of parent input, things will be kicked-off with an Elementary Math Evening on Monday, October 27, from 7:30 to 9 p.m., on the 3rd floor of the Ed Center. All interested parents are invited to attend. Please attend if you have an opinion about math education! The structure will be to work in small groups to respond to the following questions:

* What is your passion when it comes to mathematics?
* Reflecting on your own education in mathematics, what would you want that is different or the same for all children today in their mathematics education?
* What do you think all students should know and be able to do in mathematics when they graduate?
* What do you want to see in an elementary mathematics textbook or program?

The goal of the meeting will be to collect and forward input to the Math Planning Team, along with all the focus group and other parent input received last year.

So here we go...it's great to have a plan. The "math issue" has been out of the limelight over the past few months, and I think it has been good to tone down some of the emotions that got riled up last spring. Now we can focus and really work through the issue together.

So check out the plan (click HERE) and I'd love to hear what you think.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Board Meeting Agenda Highlights for 10/6

Just a few highlights of what we'll be doing at tomorrow's Board of Ed meeting (you can read the full agenda by clicking HERE):

• Proposed plans for expansion at Ridge and Hawes. Revised plans for GW expansion. (This will be early on the agenda, so if you want to come see and discuss these plans, you can get home fairly quickly).

• Various human resources items (appointments, resignations, leaves of absence, substitutes, etc.)

• Miscellaneous financial approvals (receive donations, budget appropriation transfers, contract with the Ice House, change order for Hawes retaining wall project)

• Presentation of the Elementary Math Planning Year including objectives, action plan, timeline, team members and external advisors.

• Discussion items: 1) student residency; 2) security
NOTE: One of the security issues involves the posting of a guard at BF. I would love to hear what BF parents think about this. Do you think it's necessary? Do you and your children feel more safe with the guard in place? Any comments or thoughts? Email me or post here! Or come to the meeting and speak to the Board...

As always, there will be two opportunities for public comment: once at the very beginning of the meeting and once toward the end.

The public portion of the meeting will start at 7:30 p.m. Don't feel like coming down to the Ed Center? You can watch the meeting online by clicking here.

What’s the story on the referendum?

If you’ve been reading the Ridgewood News the past few weeks, you’ve seen stories about proposed construction projects at several of our schools. The articles have not done a great job of explaining the big picture. Maybe I can help clear things up a bit.

Here’s the deal. We have physical needs at all of our school buildings. Some of the needs involve expansion: we need to add instructional and other space where we’ve run out of room to educate our school populations. In addition, we need to create permanent homes for some of our special ed programs which have moved from school to school in recent years. Some of the needs involve renovation: many of our buildings are very old and have typical old-building needs like roofs, windows, leaks, handicap-access, etc. It has come time to address all these needs and, since our budget certainly doesn’t allow us to save up for construction projects, we’ll need to acquire the funds via a bond, which must be approved by voters in a referendum, or vote.

Since last spring and continuing now, the Facilities Committee has been meeting with principals and looking at each school, compiling a list of needs in terms of expansion and renovation. The third area we’ll be looking at is energy efficiency – looking for ways to either save on energy costs or possibly to create our own solar power (if the finances make sense). And the fourth thing we’ll be looking at is our athletic facilities, especially fields and gyms. The ultimate goal of all this research will be to put together a package of the most important and vital projects districtwide, and then bring the package to the voters for approval, probably in September 2009.

Over the last few Board meetings, we’ve seen plans for expansion at GW and Willard. Monday night we’ll look at plans for Ridge and Hawes. Future meetings will discuss needs at Orchard, Travell, Somerville, BF and RHS. The purpose of these presentations is to keep you apprised of our thinking, and to ask for feedback from the public. We’ll also be taking feedback and answering questions at HSA meetings. Plans will be posted on the District website soon. We’re moving somewhat quickly right now because we have a deadline of January to submit plans to the state for approval.

So right now, we’re gathering info and estimating budgets. Eventually, we’ll put it all together and we’ll have to make some decisions about priorities. We will have to say “no” to some things…a lot of things. But the ultimate goal is to update our school buildings and create learning environments that serve all our children and that comply with state laws.

When it comes time to prepare for the vote, we’ll have detailed plans, budgets, FAQs and more. There will be meetings and presentations. For now, tune in to (or visit) Board of Ed meetings and/or HSA meetings to be part of the planning process. And, if you have any questions, feel free to post a question here (click "comments") or email me at lauriegood@mac.com.