“The Fabric of Ridgewood.”

Have you ever wondered about the full-wall mural on the 3rd floor of the Ed Center? I have…to my mind, it’s always been there, but I also know that some of the portraits were done my the children of friends, so it can’t be that old (because I’m not that old!).

So I asked around and got this story:

The mural’s theme is The Fabric of Ridgewood. It was created during the 1997-98 school year and was coordinated by Somerville Art Teacher Samantha Stankiewicz (nee Bennett). The mural was created by artist Michael Smyth and funded by a grant from the Ridgewood Education Foundation. The concept was that the mural should reflect the children's idea of Ridgewood. As research, he gathered sketches from students at every elementary school and created the mural design based on their ideas. All the art submitted by the students was collected and placed in a bound scrapbook, which I saw the other day in the smaller 3rd floor conference room. (It was neat to see art from kids’ who I remember from long ago, who are now college graduates!) The self-portraits that surround the mural were done by Ridgewood students in their art classes. The handprints are of children in the Village. On a set day, all children who wanted were invited to come to the Ed Center, dip their hands in paint and make a print on the wall.

I discovered that there is a large plaque on the wall in the 3rd floor Board Room which describes the process and lists the names of each student who contributed to it. Nest time you’re on the 3rd floor, check it out: if you are facing the mural, the plaque is in the right-hand corner of the room (behind a large plant).

One of the Ed Center staff told me that the artist’s small son would sometimes accompany his father when he painted, and amused himself by hammering with the Board President’s gavel. So cute!

The next time you’re at the Ed Center, take a closer look at the mural…it’s really something and a Ridgewood treasure. (I should have taken a photo to include here...I'll try to grab one next time and post.)

Youth art all around us.

Every year, I love the Board meeting that takes place on the Monday before the Youth Art Reception at the Ed Center. Since there is so much art to be displayed, they start setting up in the days before the event. Monday night, as we discussed the budget, staffing, and other (dry, somewhat unexciting) business, we could look around and see just a ton of beautiful and amazing pieces all around us. There are paintings and drawings, of course, and ceramic pieces and other sculptures. And there are always a few unusual things. This year my favorite (so far) is the Totem Pole made by some of the students in the SAIL program at RHS. It's made from painted and decorated student backpacks, which have been stacked on top of each other to create a totem pole in the style of poles found in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska. It's about seven feet tall and it's awesome!

Then, yesterday, at the BF HSA meeting, Ms. Hyer, an art teacher, gave a presentation to the parents about some of the different types of art being created in her classes. It was fascinating to see the students' skills changing and developing as they grow from 6th grade to 8th grade.

I hope you'll consider attending the Youth Arts Reception at the Ed Center tomorrow night. It begins at 6:30 p.m. on the 3rd floor. The room will be filled with children leading their parents around, showing off what they made, mingling with their art teachers...one of my favorite events at the Ed Center.

Also, March is National Youth Art Month. Click here to find out more about Youth Art Month and the Council for Art Education.

Monday's Board of Ed meeting: what's on the agenda.

Monday the Ridgewood Board of Education will meet and the agenda doesn't look too unwieldy -- mainly because we just met a week ago. Some of the highlights (full agenda available by clicking here):

-- Recognizing Ridgewood High School's National Merit and Advanced Placement scholars
-- Presentation on some of the math routines our kindergarten students participate in every day
-- Info on crisis management in our schools
-- Approval of our submission of a Grant Application to the Bergen County Historic Preservation Fund for funds to replace the Ed Center's slate roof.
-- Review of some proposed revisions to BOE by-laws and Board policy.

As always, the Board of Education meeting can be viewed live and in person at the Ed Center, 3rd floor, at 7:30 p.m. You can watch the meeting on Cablevision Channel 77, or you can view the live webcast by clicking here. Later, you can view the archived webcast by clicking here.

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.

Ridgewood parent involvement: the EARLY years

Live from the RHS HSA:
At tonight's meeting of the RHS HSA, incoming president Rola Baddoura just told a great story from Ridgewood's past.

In 1894, when the town decided to build a central school, there were two options under consideration by the three-member (three-MAN) board of education: an all-wood building for $35,000 or a brick building for $47,000. The board decided on the wood option, and a special meeting of voters approved the money-saving plan.

When the women of the town (who, by the way, did not have the right to vote) found out what the men had decided, they were outraged. How could their husbands agree to build a fire-prone wooden school, endangering their children? The mothers wanted the safer brick school. They organized, they argued and they made their case -- until the school board called a special meeting and the voters authorized the brick building. The brick school was built, and today is the Ed Center at Cottage Place. (An interesting footnote, after this victory, the women tried to get the voters to allow women to vote in school elections only. Not sure if that was successful.

(Another footnote, according to the Celebrating a Centennial history of Ridgewood): the controversy was enough to cause some of the outlying residents to withdraw from Ridgewood, rather than send their children all the way to the Beech Street school. Apparently this is why the southern boundary of Ridgewood is irregular.)

Rola described the brick school story as an early example of Ridgewood's tradition of parent involvement!