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

Monday, November 30, 2009

Get Referendum Facts Tonight: Q&A and School Tours

I hope we'll get a decent turnout tonight at the Community Meeting at George Washington Middle School auditorium. The session begins at 7:30 p.m. with a presentation by Superintendent Dan Fishbein followed by questions-and-answers -- anything you want to know, we'll answer! This is a chance for everyone in the community, parents, non-parents, senior citizens, all registered voters, to get the facts, see plans, clarify rumors, etc.

Prior to tonight's meeting at GW, everyone has a chance to tour Willard Elementary School, Travell Elementary School, Hawes Elementary School, GW Middle School and Ridgewood High School. Principals and other staff will give a first-hand look at some of the conditions in need of renovation and expansion. Tours will take place from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.

Hope to see you tonight!
(And don't forget to VOTE on Dec. 8!)

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

BF Community donates 130 turkeys for needy families!

Congratulations and thank you to the Ben Franklin Middle School community for today donating 130 turkeys for local needy families. This is the unofficial total, and I'm told it may be just one turkey shy of the previous record. (Can anyone confirm this?)

As a reader posted here earlier this evening: "Great job BF'ers. Your community is proud of you. There will be lots of appreciative and well-fed families on Thanksgiving."

Wishing a warm and happy Thanksgiving to all.

Interview with Dr. Fishbein on Ridgewood Patch

Ridgewood Patch, the new online local news site, has posted a brief interview with Superintendent Dan Fishbein on the Referendum. It's a fairly accurate story, but...I don't know why the reporter felt the need to describe Dr. Fishbein's "spacious...corner office." Wow, sounds pretty fancy. Anyone who visits the Ed Center will notice that this historic building is anything but posh...Also, Dr. Fishbein's office is not in a corner. I guess it's spacious enough (I've seen much larger offices), and yes it's also somewhat cozy -- due in part to the nice paint job Dr. Fishbein did himself.

This might be a good time to point out that the Ed Center -- in the building that was formerly the Beech Street School, built in 1894 -- is not included in the list of Referendum projects. The building is in OK shape -- the roof has issues, there are leaks, the wind whistles through the windows like a freight train -- but we decided to focus on school buildings as the priority. You should stop by the Ed Center sometime...it's an interesting building. Did you know that the 3rd floor, where we hold public meetings, was the gymnasium? I find it amazing that they'd put a gym on top and classrooms beneath. Also, there's a good story about the construction of the building, which I wrote about last year (click here to read).

So, looking beyond the needs of the Ed Center and Ridgewood Patch's skewed portrayal of Dr. Fishbein's office, check out the Ridgewood Patch story. Click here to read the article.

Monday, November 23, 2009

Referendum Update: School Tours, Community Meeting on Nov. 30

The community is invited to George Washington Middle School auditorium on Monday 11/30 at 7:30 p.m. for a presentation and question-and-answer session on the upcoming referendum. This event is for everyone in the community, parents, non-parents, senior citizens, all registered voters. Come get the facts and ask questions, see plans, etc.

Prior to the meeting at GW, principals and other staff will be leading tours at a few schools, to give a first-hand look at some of the conditions in need of renovation and expansion. Tours will take place from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at RHS, Travell, Willard, Hawes and GW.

There are also some photos posted on the district website, showing some of the building conditions. Click here and then click on the school photos you'd like to see.

Questions are also welcome at referendum09@ridgewood.k12.nj.us, or post a question here.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Rumor control: this week’s “out there” referendum comments & questions

As Board members speak with community members at HSA meetings, neighborhood coffees, cocktail parties or on the sidelines, I’m surprised nearly every day with some of the questions I get or the rumors I’m asked to confirm or deny. I’m surprised because it seems like no matter how hard we try to get the facts out there, many people still have many questions (and some people haven’t even heard of the upcoming vote!).

Here are some of the more “out there” comments I heard this past week:

Rumor: "If the Referendum fails, they will redistrict the middle schools, and force some students to move from GW to BF." (Variation: "All Village 6th graders will go to GW and all Village 7th and 8th graders will go to BF.")
Fact: Moving middle school kids around from one side of town to the other is not going to solve our space problems. And consolidating two full grades at BF would mean a population of 800 students…that is not something BF could physically accommodate. Besides that, an 800-student middle school is a completely different environment, educationally, logistically and socially—which would create a whole new slate of issues. Finally, the transportation costs alone to bus kids across town would make this extremely cost-prohibitive.

Rumor: "The track at BF will have an artificial turf field inside."
Fact: The infield of the new track at BF will be a natural grass field.

Rumor: "Ridge and Willard will get computers and Smartboards as part of the referendum, while our school had to fundraise for those things."
Fact: There is no technology -- no computers and no Smartboards -- in the Referendum projects. Ridge and Willard will have Computer Labs added, but those are just new rooms that will house the labs. Currently Ridge's computer lab is in the hallway.

Rumor: "BF students will not be allowed to use the track and field at their school, as it will be reserved for high school students."
Fact: BF students will have complete use of the track and field, including gym classes and afterschool intramurals.

Comment: "The Referendum is not fair for schools such as Somerville or Orchard, which are not scheduled for major renovations or expansions."
Answer: The Board must look at the needs of the entire District as a whole. There’s no east side or west side when we look at needs. We could point out that Somerville was expanded in the last referendum and Orchard has had many projects completed in recent years. The selection of projects included in the referendum should make it clear that we did not simply “give” every school something. We truly balanced the needs of the entire district.

Comment: "We can’t trust the BOE to spend our money wisely. Look how much money and time they just wasted on the new bathrooms at Vets Field."
Answer: Huh? Sorry. OK, here’s the deal: the Board of Education and the School District are completely separate from the Village of Ridgewood. We don’t share budgets, we don’t share management, we don’t share ownership of properties… The bathrooms at Vets are a Village project, not the schools.
However, to address any worries about trusting the BOE with the finances: our budget for these projects is set. The amount that we bond for is the maximum we can spend. We simply are not allowed, by law, to go over budget. If our contingency doesn’t cover change orders due to some unforeseen expensive development, we are required to reduce or eliminate other projects to come in at the $48 million amount. We can’t just pass an ordinance if we need more money. We will hire a construction manager to examine and justify each and every invoice and change order.

More comments and questions to come…

Donate frozen turkeys at BF

Last Thursday was the annual Turkey Trot at BF Middle School. Students, staff and parents walked the BF field...long ago students would get pledges, and then turkeys would be purchased with the funds raised. Nowadays, the walk is for fun and fitness and community, and turkeys are collected as donations.

The annual collection of frozen turkeys at BF Middle School will take place this Tuesday morning, November 24. Every year the BF community generously donates turkeys which are distributed by Social Services to local families in need. Last year there were a couple hundred turkeys donated -- this year the need is the same or even greater.

A lot of local families are hurting this year, and your donation of a turkey will make one family's Thanksgiving holiday a little easier. Please consider dropping off a frozen turkey at BF on Tuesday, before 8:30 AM. Turkeys will be collected in the back of the school at the cafeteria doors.

Monday, November 16, 2009

What has the District been doing to maintain the buildings?

Currently posted on the District website is a report of building-by-building maintenance expenditures over the past 10 years.

Note: these are not major capital improvements. These are maintenance, which includes things like:

* Removal and replacement of asbestos tiles in gyms and classrooms
* Removal and replacement soiled and worn classroom carpeting with tile
* Renovation and refurbishment of classrooms, offices, and hallways (eg., recent work at RHS)
* General plumbing, electrical, roof , HV and HVAC repairs
* Installation of electronics/electrical (e.g. white boards, projectors, air conditioners, etc)
* Fence repairs and improvements (for example the fence that neighbors keep cutting over at BF!)
* Glass replacement
* Preventive maintenance (e.g. filter replacement, oil motors, clean and inspect uni-vents)
* Boiler inspections
* Boiler repairs
* Stack permits (yes, the state charges us for having chimneys that vent our boilers)
* Signage
* Site work (e.g. Curbs, paving, signage, concrete)

Click here for the complete 10-year spreadsheet (click on "Detailed Annual Maintenance Worksheet")

Board of Ed meeting tonight

Head on over to the Ed Center, or tune in to our webcast, to watch tonight's meeting of the Board of Education. It starts at 7:30. A few highlights from the agenda:

-- Review of the annual report from our auditor on financial and administrative performance.
-- Some proposed course changes at RHS next year.
-- Discussion of our new Policy Manual...we've been working on revisions for the past year or so. No ground-breaking changes but lots of revision to ensure our policies are in compliance with state regulations. The draft Policy Manual is currently available on the District website (click here), if you want to take a look (warning: it's 1,500 pages long!)
-- Update on Referendum communications
-- Acceptance of donations from some very generous members of our community (thank you!)
-- Update on K-2 Math professional development
-- Various appointments, changes of assignment, bills, etc.

Oh, boy, this week's meeting required a ton of reading. I'm still reading.

Congratulations RHS Coach Jacob Brown, Running Warehouse National Coach of the Week

Ridgewood's women's cross country and track coach Jacob Brown was named the Dye Stat Running Warehouse Coach of the Week last week. Click here for article/interview. In addition to posting a ridiculously impressive record over the past 34 years at Ridgewood, Coach Brown has had a major influence on, and been a major supporter of, women's HS athletics overall.

According to local sports writer Paul Schultz, Coach Brown's record includes:

24 Bergen Group titles
19 North 1 Sectional titles in 34 straight appearances at State Groups
24 BMOC (Bergen Meet of Champions) titles
At least a divisional title in 28 of the 29 years the NNJIL had girls team scores
4 Group 4 state titles
15 appearances in SMOC (State Meet of Champions)
2 SMOC titles
That's 101 major league, county, sectional and state titles (out of a possible 199)
Also, 44 different runners he's coached have finished in the top 10 of sectionals a total of 91 times

Congratulations Coach Brown!

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Refresher Course on the BOE Budget

(updated 11/16/09)
There's been some confusion on another local blog about our district financing.

Some posters said something like, “the district isn’t allowed to put aside money for future capital improvements, because they’re not allowed to end the year with any extra money.”

Other posters countered that the NJDOE says any district can put aside money for capital improvements.

They're both correct…

It is true that a district is not allowed to end its year with a surplus of more than 2% of its total budget. Any surplus beyond 2% must be returned to the voters as tax relief. So that could explain the first poster’s not-allowed-to-save-money statement.

It is also true that a district may budget to put money into a capital reserve account, creating a fund that is accumulated for a “rainy day.” That would be in line with the info the other previous poster got from the NJDOE.

The truth is, this district established a capital reserve fund in 2000. I don't know the exact history of deposits since then, but I do know the fund currently has $1,187,144 in it. (Last year we used money from this account to do some repairs on the 1919 roof at RHS.) In recent years, the district has not been able to budget additional funds for capital reserve, nor have we been able to end the year with as much surplus as in the past. In fact, last year, when developing the budget for this year, the district had to take funds from surplus and apply them to the revenue side, and even then we still had to cut $2.5 million from the budget in order to remain under the state’s cap. The idea of planning to put aside millions of dollars in a capital reserve fund sounds great, but where will that money come from? It would have to come from current programs in our operating budget. Not only that, but can you imagine voters approving cutting several million dollars from the operating budget and setting it aside for some unknown purpose at some unknown future date? Me neither.

(And, yes, it's true that we could choose to add a second question to our annual budget votes, and ask for more tax money to place into a capital reserve. Based on the statistical history of second questions, that doesn't seem too likely, either.)

I know there’s some chatter that the district’s budget is huge or inflated or wasteful. But how many people are looking at the facts (rather than feeding off each other in anonymous blog posts)?

If you really look at the expenses in the district you would quickly see the cost centers: Salaries and Benefits are 75% of the budget (teachers, secretaries, administrators, lunch aides, special education aides, substitutes, etc.), with the remaining 25% going to (in no particular order) transportation costs (busing for special education, regular education, athletics and some RHS extracurricular programs like Speech and Debate), tuition costs (special education out of district, vocational schools, Bergen Academy), custodial and maintenance services, grounds and fields, technology (lease purchase of computers, this year installation of new phone system), professional development and curriculum development, extracurricular/athletics, supplies, maintenance and capital projects, related services for special education (ABA therapy, some OT, PT, Speech, sometimes evaluations by outside psychologists and neurologists when required due to evaluations, IEP and out of district placements), insurance (other than health), legal services, auditor, architect (every capital project requires engineering or architect drawings as required by the state), utilities, phone charges, textbooks, and books for libraries. (I might be missing something.)

If you take a look at the comparative spending guide on the NJDOE web site, Ridgewood’s costs per student are less than the average cost for districts over 3500 students. Compare our costs to Northern Highlands and the other regional high school districts, or Millburn, Montclair, Teaneck, Paramus, Fair Lawn. Our ratios for students and teachers to administrators is higher (meaning we have fewer administrators) than other districts in our size range.

One more thing — school districts are highly regulated by the state. The new accountability standards (215 pages long!) effective last year require us to get state approval for most things that we do, and our budgets are reviewed each year by the state (county superintendent). Our administrative costs are below what the state allows. The county superintendent also approves contracts for our superintendent and two assistant superintendents. Our budget and contracts are in line with all rules and regulations as dictated by the state. As a matter of fact, our auditor will be reporting to the Board the audit of the 2008-09 budget Monday night and the district is being monitored next month by the state under QSAC (a new monitoring system in which districts are monitored every three years).

Sorry for such a long post, but I thought the details would be helpful.

The last thing I want to say (at least for tonight!) is this: This referendum is not a case of, “oops, we forgot to take care of the buildings.” Our budget pressures (thanks mostly to salaries/benefits) combine with 11 old buildings to make it virtually impossible to take care of these types of major capital improvements within the regular budget. In recent years we’ve spent around $2 million every year on capital projects and maintenance…but that doesn’t go very far.

Anyone who has paid close attention to the budget over the years knew this day would come. Personally, I'm thankful it came when interest rates are low, construction costs are low and the state of New Jersey still has it's last few million dollars to grant.)

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Referendum 5 at 5: my most frequent FAQs

I wanted a catchy title...it's almost 5:00...so here you go.

I feel the need to review some of the things I've already written (or spoken a hundred times). The questions and misinformation are swirling...I wish I could have a one-on-one conversation with everyone, because whenever I do that, we both benefit. But in the meantime, here are the questions I keep hearing -- and some bullet point answers. (Technically these were my notes for the RHS HSA meeting the other night):

1) Why now? The economy is too bad.
* The needs of the buildings are not going away, they will only get worse/more expensive.
* Now we can take advantage of $12 million in state aid, reducing the cost to the taxpayer. State aid will not be available if referendum is defeated. There is a limited "pot" of money, and other districts are in line right behind us. On December 9, if our referendum has failed, that money will be scooped up.
* Construction costs are currently lower than they've been in years (we save $$)
* Interest rates are lower than they've been in years -- if we need to borrow, now is the time -- we'll save $$ in long run
* Energy savings will help our operating budget, year after year

2) It's too much; there are too many luxuries
* We worked for two years to identify the projects; worked with every principal. Many many more projects did not make the list.
* List contains nothing luxurious or purely aesthetic. No finishes. Everything is infrastructure, health & safety, expansion/crowding/efficient use of space

3) Why not re-open Glen?
* Re-opening Glen would not save money and would not address the needs of the district as a whole. We would still need roofs at RHS, Somerville, Travell & Willard, RHS would still have all its renovation needs, GW would still be crowded, electrical needs would remain at Ridge, etc.
* Glen has 15 classrooms. 5 are currently used by preschool disabled classes. They would have to move somewhere in the district, or else add classrooms on to Glen
* Glen would require work to be brought up to current code. There is no library or cafeteria, so those would need to be added.
* Glen does not have a principal, nurse, librarian, secretary -- adding them (along with teachers needed to staff classrooms) would add to our operating budget every year. My back-of-napkin estimate is as much as $1,000,000 per year added to our budget. Since we're still capped by the state, that money will come from existing programs.

4) How did this happen? Is it mismanagement?
* We spend about $2 million every year on capital projects & maintenance. That's more than the state requires. With 11 buildings, $2 million will never allow us to do major projects like roofs at all of them. (Old home analogy: your home's new roof is financed by home improvement loan, not your weekly paycheck)
* Our budget is capped, so even if we wanted to spend more on annual capital projects, the money would have to come from somewhere else.

5) Why the luxury of turf fields, and why in a flood plain?
* Not a luxury; RHS does not have adequate outdoor teaching facilities, according to state
* Need to protect all our field assets -- turf & re-sizing will allow RHS and Stevens to be used more, lessening wear & tear on our grass fields
* Turf field engineering will actually enhance drainage and reduce flooding.
* Turf & re-sizing will allow RHS and Stephens fields to be used by more RHS students (boys & girls) and more community youth
* Regulation track will give our championship track & field athletes a facility that matches their accomplishments and caliber; host RHS meets; maintain grass infield at BF
* The fields are in the referendum (and not a 2nd question) because we feel they are important. Statistically, 2nd questions fail. Relegating the fields to a 2nd question would have killed those project.

So that's some of what I said Tuesday night at RHS. I'd like to add: I'm a taxpayer. I was laid off last year and remain "underemployed." My husband was laid off for part of this year and recently started a new job. I am not thrilled that my taxes will go up. I understand the struggle. But with the hundreds of hours I've spent working on this, and the hundreds of questions I've asked, I honestly believe this referendum is the right thing for this community and for our schools.

Please get the facts. Then vote however your heart and your circumstances dictate. If you hear a rumor or some wild claims, please just ask. I will answer if I can, or I'll tell you where to find the answer if I can't.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Free speech lesson for high school journalists.

And now a short diversion to a non-referendum, yet important, topic:

The New York Times reports that U.S. Supreme Court Justice Anthony M. Kennedy recently insisted that a high school newspaper get his approval before publishing any article about a talk the justice gave to an assembly of the school students.

This is quite a lesson in how not to operate a free objective press. And I find it troubling that both the school's headmistress (it was the fancy Dalton school in NYC) and the justice's representative so casually defended the action, saying things like, we just thought it would be good for the students to check their facts.

I agree wholeheartedly with the rep from the Student Press Law Center, who said this was more about image control than teaching journalism. Where are the journalists anymore? I worry that the valuable role of "the fourth estate" has been diluted and distorted and, frankly, abused by those who believe that anyone with an internet connection is a journalist. Yes, I do see the irony of my writing that statement in my blog, but I understand the role of my blog. And anyway, I have a journalism degree, the study for which included journalism ethics, news reporting and investigative journalism. I know my professors and mentors in the business would be dismayed by Justice Kennedy's action. In the meantime, all I can do is remind people, especially young people, that the press -- including the high school press -- does not exist to serve anyone but the public, and no true journalist should ever allow the subject of a story to dictate its content. Mr. Kennedy, normally a defender of first amendment rights, knows better.

Friday, November 6, 2009

FAQ #5: Why didn't we split out the athletic fields?

Someone asked, "Why are you sneaking in the fields with the educational projects in the referendum? You're just trying to slide it past the voters."

Let me explain it. We talked at length about whether we should have one question or two. We wondered if the athletic projects should be in one question, and the building renovations in another question. There was some worry that the athletic projects would become the "lightning rod" issue, like the pool was way back when (in the failed referendum). I can tell you my personal opinion from the very beginning was that we should NOT have two questions. First, I work in direct marketing, and my first boss taught me that when faced with a difficult decision, if you give customers a way "out," they will take it. I always felt that if voters were faced with two questions, they would vote "no" on the smaller question in order to feel more in control. I felt from the beginning that our athletic facilities were in serious disrepair, due in part to their overuse in our field-poor village, and this situation truly needed to be addressed in a way it has not been for a very long time.

Second, statistically, 2nd referendum questions fail. That is a fact. You can read a history of New Jersey referendum questions by clicking here. By deciding to include the athletic projects in the single referendum question, the Board clearly felt that the projects were too important to sacrifice.

Believe me when I tell you, the athletic projects in the referendum have nothing to do with kids wanting to play on turf or parents wanting fancy facilities for their kids. It's not about wanting "luxuries." It's about these things only: 1) Ridgewood High School does not have enough outdoor "wellness" teaching space. That's according to the State. (And that's why they're giving us debt service aid.) 2) Ridgewood does not have enough field space for the number of children age 5-18 participating in recreational sports. We want to do our part to address this community shortage by putting the RHS and Stevens Fields into the rotation. (I experienced first-hand the benefit to my family's daily life when Maple was renovated, relaxing some of the competition for soccer fields and reducing our late-night schedule.) 3) We need to reduce wear and tear on our current BOE fields, which will keep them in better shape, reduce the work/expense needed to keep them playable, and protect our investment. One bonus to all this is the addition of the regulation 400M track & field facility at BF, which will allow our athletes, some of the best in the state, to train and compete in a facility whose quality matches their efforts. Another bonus is the RHS school community being able to walk out their door, come together, and either play soccer or lacrosse or football, or cheer on their classmates, boys or girls, as they compete.

I understand how some people may cynically believe we have a single referendum question as some sort of "trick." It's not a trick. (And by the way it's too late to change it for the Dec. 8 vote.) It's only this: the athletic projects are included in the question because they're important...important enough that we don't want them to fail.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Increase in dangerous "dip" in Ridgewood

Chew. Chaw. Dip. Packing a lip. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't heard it from a number of reputable sources over the past few months, but it's a fact that the use of smokeless tobacco among Ridgewood youth -- primarily teen boys -- is rising dramatically. I'm told that athletes and non-athletes alike are using chewing tobacco at night, on weekends and even during the school day. It seems they think it's a "healthy" alternative to smoking. And it delivers a real buzz, without sneaking liquor from your parents cabinet or hiding from the cops in the woods.

Obviously it's easy to carry some dip in your pocket without anyone knowing. I'm not sure where the kids are buying it...probably older siblings are buying it for them?

If you've got teenage boys, please talk to them about this disgusting, dangerous and highly addictive activity. Smokeless tobacco is a leading cause of mouth and throat cancers. The kind of cancer that can result in the victim losing his tongue, jaw, cheeks, neck muscles...get the (gory) picture?

Below are some great website resources.

National Spit Tobacco Education Program

My Last Dip

Why Quit: Story of Gruen Von Behrens (sad, scary, shocking story to get kids' attention)

In my opinion, in many ways this is worse than teen drinking. No teen is walking around sipping vodka during the school day.

Has anybody else noticed this phenomenon growing?

Any ideas for how to stop it?

Christie promises even more state regs for schools.

Governor-elect Christie in today's Bergen Record:

“I refused during the campaign to come up with some type of slick, packaged proposal that people were going to say, ‘Oh, wow, that’s a miracle, there’s going to be no pain involved.’”

Instead, Christie’s plan for reducing property taxes targets government spending in general. The hundreds of town councils and schools districts in New Jersey where most of the money generated by local property taxes is spent are going to be held more accountable, he said.


We're going to be held more accountable? School districts already have accountability regulations that stretch from here into eternity. Piles and piles of paperwork. Micromanaging rules about what kind of paper we can print our newsletters on. So the strategy is no "magic" plan (or any specific plan), but massive amounts of "accountability regulations." This ought to be interesting...

Village Council meeting: Well, that was awkward

Members of the Board of Ed, along with Dr. Fishbein and Angelo DeSimone, Business Administrator, attended last night's meeting of the Village Council. Our purpose was to inform the Council about the upcoming Bond Referendum vote on Dec. 8. (Normally we invite the Council to attend a Board meeting for this presentation, but this year they declined. Everyone's busy this time of year and adding another meeting can be problematic. I'm assuming that was the reason. But we really wanted our Village leadership to be informed about the facts of this important issue, so we traveled to their fancy Village Hall digs.)

Anyway, Dr. Fishbein raced through his powerpoint in order to finish within our allotted 15 minutes. Council members asked what have definitely become "frequently asked questions:" 1) Why now? 2) Have you looked at alternatives? 3) Why not re-open Glen School? 4) How did the schools get into this shape? (Click on each of those questions to read my previous thoughts on these topics.) And that was it. Oh, yeah, Councilwoman Zusy thought it would be helpful to have the Village Clerk remind everyone about how the Village's budget was going to increase our taxes this year, too. That was helpful.

We stayed around for the fireworks when the Chamber of Commerce president and other representatives complained about the Village Council's actions on raising fees (parking, sewer, dumpster, health dept, sidewalk, etc.), in light of the terrible business climate in town and 35-40 businesses closed. It was so unpleasant and emotional and frustrating for everyone in the audience, at one point Councilman Mancuso commented that he could tell that the BOE members present were glad we ran for the Board of Ed and not the Council. Right you are, Pat!

People were shouting (on both sides of the lecturn). There were personal attacks. Most of us BOE members left after that. (Awkward!) Needless to say, I'll definitely hit my local Ridgewood stores when running errands today!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

BOE visits the VC tonight

Superintendent Dan Fishbein and members of the Board of Education will pay a visit to the Village Council's meeting tonight, to present them with information about the upcoming Bond Referendum (please vote on December 8). This is a courtesy call to inform our Village leadership of our plans and answer any questions they may have. I'm told they've allotted us 15 minutes in the agenda, so I guess they don't expect to have many questions. Starts at 7:30 tonight.

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

New York Times Op-Ed on Teaching Teachers

At last night's Board of Ed meeting, Board President Joseph Vallerini commented on yesterday’s New York Times op-ed piece on America's teacher training programs. As I'm swamped with work today, I'm re-printing a post from the blog of Rachel Norton, of the San Francisco Board of Education, since her views are aligned with mine. Rachel wrote, "If you were a teacher, how would reading this make you feel?"

Our best universities have, paradoxically, typically looked down their noses at education, as if it were intellectually inferior. The result is that the strongest students are often in colleges that have no interest in education, while the most inspiring professors aren’t working with students who want to teach. This means that comparatively weaker students in less intellectually rigorous programs are the ones preparing to become teachers.

Rachel continues on her blog:

I am not sure that bashing the rigor of teacher training programs does anything to advance the author’s suggestion that the profession should attract students with better academic records. Instead, we should create policies, programs and compensation schemes that will convince the best and the brightest that we will give them respect and a decent standard of living if they choose teaching as a career. The piece does, however, go on to make some great suggestions, such as:

* Spend “less time studying specific instructional programs and learning how to handle mechanics like making lesson plans,” and instead encourage prospective teachers to continue studying the disciplines they want to teach – “It makes no sense at all to stop studying the thing you want to teach at the very moment you begin to learn how.”

* Take a page from programs that train therapists, which encourage students to videotape their sessions and go over their work with mentors and peers. Similarly, “young teachers need to record their daily encounters with their classrooms and then, with mentors and peers, have serious, open-minded conversations about what’s working and what isn’t.”

* Help prospective teachers learn “how to watch children, using research and theory to understand what they are seeing,” because disregarding “the developmental needs of our students it’s unlikely we’ll succeed in teaching them.”

* Finally, hire new teachers in groups of seven or more. “This way, talented eager young teachers won’t languish or leave teaching because they felt bored, inept, isolated or marginalized. Instead, they will feel part of a robust community of promising professionals. They will struggle and learn together.”

(Thanks for the assist, Rachel!)

Monday, November 2, 2009

Register to Vote 11/17 @ Ridgewood Public Library

The Village will be holding a Voter Registration Drive on Tuesday 11/17 from 4:30 to 9:00 p.m. It will take place at the Ridgewood Public Library. Register just in time to vote in the December 8 Referendum!