“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.

It's National Arts in Education Week

Just found out this week has been designated National Arts in Education Week. Click below for more info on how to promote and celebrate the arts in our schools.

Arts in Education Week

Congratulations to our new supervisors!

Last night the BOE appointed two new supervisors:

Mark Ferreri (current RHS social studies teacher) will be Supervisor of Humanities.

Chris McCullough (current RHS art teacher) will be Supervisor of Fine & Applied Arts.

It's really nice to be able to fill these positions with teachers from within the District, helping ensure that the transition is smooth and we maintain continuity. Congrats to both educators!

RHS Celebration of the Arts this Thursday night.

The annual Celebration of the Arts is taking place this week at Ridgewood High School, and the public is invited to the special evening event on Thursday night. It begins at 7:00 p.m. with an art show in the Campus Center and the Gallery on the first floor and continues with a Gala Concert at 8:00 in the Campus Center.

If you want to be knocked out by the amazing artistic talent of our high school students, stop by on Thursday night.

Art, life & hard choices.

I took a little break from budget stuff tonight and attended the Student Art Show at the Ed Center. I always love the art show -- so many talented students, it takes your breath away. And I love seeing all the little kids with their parents, posing for pictures in front of their masterpiece, watching their parents talk to their art teacher or principal. All while the student string quartet plays beautifully in the background.

I took my son with me and he was OK with chit-chatting with various parents and teachers. After a short time, however, he started getting tired of all the gloomy budget talk. Every conversation seemed to quickly become some version of, "Wow,I feel so bad for you this time of year." Or "What's the story with the librarians?" Or "Who decides what cuts get made?" And even, "I never thought I would see these things happen in Ridgewood."

Wow, it's enough to take all the fun out of a nice little evening of art! On that last comment about "these things" happening in Ridgewood, I can say, "you and me both!" Even though we've been saying for months that millions of dollars would have to be cut from the budget, I understand it's hard for people to react until they start to hear about specific people being let go. Then it becomes real. Believe me, if there were a way to save all this money without cutting people, we'd do it. Anything. But the dollar amount we have to achieve with cuts is just too much. Instead, on any list of proposed cuts I've seen, there is not a single cut that is "good." There is not a single cut that promises to make our Ridgewood education better. That's really something. So far, I have seen with my own eyes that the cuts are comprehensive. They touch all schools, all levels. Everything has been studied and discussed and considered, from an overall-benefit-to-the-district standpoint. Principals suggested cuts at their buildings' levels, and there were additional district-wide cuts. The superintendent, who is "CEO" of the district, makes his recommendations to the Board, and the Board discusses and argues and questions and pushes back and suggests alternatives.

Three different people today asked me if the Board has "anything" to do with the cuts, or if the Ed Center just gets to do whatever they want and we "rubber stamp" it. (I guess I'm glad that people feel free to ask me these types of questions!)

It's important for me to express this and make it clear: The Board discusses all of it. We don't always agree with the administration. We don't always agree with each other. We are five different people with five different perspectives. That's what happens on a Board. Throughout, though, we are all trying to do what's best for the students of the district. And like I mentioned above, when all the choices are "bad" choices, well...it's going to be a long five weeks. And before you know it, one day we'll have to get up and implement these changes together.

Celebration of the Arts tonight at RHS

Tonight is the opening reception and performance for the Celebration of the Arts at Ridgewood High School. If you want to be blown-away by the talent, creativity and hard work of RHS visual and performing artists, you should stop by. The reception begins at 7:00 p.m. and the concert starts at 8:00 p.m in the Campus Center.

The performances and art displays will continue for students from 8:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. tomorrow (Friday).

Art & Music Supervisor Research

I was curious about how other districts handle the supervision of art and music. I wanted to either feel better about what our district has proposed, or else prepare myself for how bad it could be. You might be interested in what I found:

Of the Top 20 NJ high schools (according to New Jersey Monthly in 2008):
10 have combined Art/Music Supervisors
7 have separate Supervisors of Art and Music
2 are unknown (couldn't find the info)

Of the 15 high schools attended by award winners in the 2009 duCret School of Art Juried High School Art Show for New Jersey high school students:
9 have combined Art/Music Supervisors
2 have separate Supervisors of Art and Music
4 are unknown

I wanted to compare districts of 5,000+ students (similar to our size), but I couldn't find a quick way to isolate that list. I also considered looking at all the J districts, but I decided to focus on high-performing districts, in whatever quick way I could identify them. (And, yes, I know I've criticized the NJ Monthly rankings in the past but for this purpose, we can assume that the schools on the list are among the best in the state.)

I realize that Ridgewood is special and what we have built over the years in terms of art and music is special. I am deeply concerned that what we have will not remain special. I am certain that in the best of all possible worlds, having separate supervisors of visual art and performing arts is preferred. My little bit of research is unscientific, but I think it shows:

A) Combined art/music supervision may not be a guaranteed "death sentence" for the arts
B) There are other variables that determine the success of art and music programs (and the success of students in those programs)
C) Ridgewood would not be going out on a limb alone if these positions were combined.

Obviously this doesn't answer all the concerns and worries. Just because some other schools have been successful, doesn't guarantee we will be. But likewise, there's no guarantee that our quality will go down, either. The predictions spoken about at Board of Ed meetings (and, regretfully, to students during school hours) are coming from fear -- I understand that. Maybe fear -- as one of the great motivators -- can help drive all of us come up with creative ways to cope.

Is it equitable? Is it fair?

Let's take the 2nd question first: is the district's proposed 09/10 budget fair? Hell, no. It's not fair that we have to make these cuts because Trenton won't let us (and by "us" I mean the people of Ridgewood not the Board of Ed) decide how much money we want to spend on our children's education. It's not fair that we have to make these cuts because the state has never fulfilled its obligations regarding funding of special ed and other mandated programs. It's not fair that we have been prohibited from setting aside money for a "rainy day." It's not fair that prices for many of our required expenses are rising more than we're allowed to raise tax revenue. It's not fair that we are forced to close the budget gap by making cuts in only a 25% sliver of our total budget because two of our unions did not help when asked. It's not fair that we now have to turn on each other, arguing over the value of this program or that. What's more important, athletics or art? Is that a "fair" question? Of course not. It's unanswerable. But in the words of my father and fathers around the world for generations: nobody ever said life would be fair. We do our best with the hand we're dealt.

Are the cuts proposed in the proposed 09/10 budget equitable? I think they are as equitable as they can be, when you factor in all the restrictions, mandatories, contracts, rising outside costs, etc. We had to close a $2.5 million budget gap. Besides the proposed consolidation of the music and art departments' supervision we are also eliminating 6.64 secretaries, 6 teachers, a librarian, 9 aides and half of all the lunch aides. In addition we are cutting in ALL areas of co-curricular activities including athletics. We are also cutting in professional development, substitute teacher allocations and are forced to use our restricted capital reserve account to make needed facility repairs. This is just a partial list but hopefully it better explains how the cuts are being distributed throughout the district. Remember, our budget must be balanced in terms of expenditures versus revenue... we cannot play the budgetary games we see on the state and federal levels.

For those who are particularly concerned about the arts, I can only reiterate what I wrote earlier this week: there are no budgetary cuts to any curricular programs in the arts in any school. AHLISSA will remain. Maroon & White will remain. Art and music classes will remain. All our talented art and music teachers will remain. Will the quality remain? Who can predict the future with certainty? I personally believe our art and music teachers and our principals will rise to the occasion.

Rumor control: art is not being cut

I should have done this earlier today, but I did not know things had gotten so out of control. The word is that "a lot" of people are planning to attend tonight's meeting to protest cuts in the art program at RHS. I've received phone calls from concerned parents and heartfelt emails from upset students. Here's the problem and I'd appreciate if you'd spread this news far and wide as quickly as possible: the budget as proposed does NOT include any cuts of art programs or art curriculum. There's NO PROPOSAL TO CUT AHLISA. There's NO PROPOSAL TO CUT MAROON & WHITE RECITALS.

The proposal is to reduce administration by consolidating Art and Music instructional supervision. When the change takes place, there will be the SAME number of teachers teaching art in the classroom.

Fact: the arts are extremely important to the central office administration as well as the Board of Education.

It is unfortunate that students felt their art programs were threatened and they were encouraged to sign petitions and come to the meeting. Those kids have been misinformed and misled. Hopefully tonight's meeting will set the record straight.

If you want to get upset about anything, be upset about the proposed loss of Spanish teachers in grades 3-5. That's a real cut, with real consequences in the classroom, but unfortunately it's a better option than cutting regular classroom teachers. We'll get more info on the impact of that proposal tonight.

In the meantime, rest assured, the proposed budget does not cut the arts in the ways you've probably heard: AHLISA is not cut...Maroon & White is not cut...OK, I have a meeting to get to!