Ridgewood Public School Issues

SMOKING BAN?

While I understand the rationale behind the decision to introduce an ordinance to prohibit smoking within 1000 feet of the Ridgewood High School, I do not understand a few things. 1) Why is just prohibited to students? 2) Aren't all persons under the legal age (18) prohibited from smoking anywhere in the village? I seem to remember that ordinance being passed 10 years ago. 3) One Hour before and One Hour after will result in no smoking from 6:15 am to 7 pm because of athletic practices, events, etc. Why not just prohibit smoking by everyone at all times? The faculty should be setting examples anyway.

It seems to be an enforcement problem of the previous ordinance - Smoking is going to continue around the village and designating an area for this seems to be the best solution. Why this has recently become an issue again is a surprise to me.

The ordinance can be viewed on the 9/13 agenda for the village council -

http://www.ridgewoodnj.net/agenda/SHORT9%201306.htm

2005 AUDIT

The annual audit for 2005 was recently provided to the Village Council person's and as a resident of Ridgewood I would greatly like to get a hold of a copy of this audit and that of our public schools - with over $100 Million of residents property taxes distributed among the village council, BOE, and county - all we hear about is how tight our budget is - How can $80 Million not be enough money to educate 5,000 students?

If the high school has 1600 students - 400 per grade - then both middle schools have about 600 students - then each of our 6 or 7 elementary schools have (K - 5) 400 students each -

1600 + 600(2) + 400(6) = 4800

$80,000,000.00 / 5000 = $16,000.00 a year per child

That is what most state colleges charge for a year of tuition!!!

If they are still unable to provide quality education and services at this price it's no wonder why residents are paying the additional $10,000.00 a year to send their children to private high schools.
Holmstead

A proposed program would seek $1 - $5 Million for staff and a facility. The rough idea of the program is to take the students that are having difficulty in the current school program and place them in a learning environment tailored to their learning styles.

http://www.holmstead.org/


RIDGEWOOD HIGH SCHOOL STATE RANKING -

In the recent article published by "The Ridgewood News", RHS placed 24th in the state from its previous 17th. There have been many excuses / reasons for this slip from its fromer prestegious top 10 ranking. I pose one question on this issue - When I was at RHS the test that determines the school ranking (The HSPT's) was given to us at least 2 times in almost the exact same format and questions - (PHSPT's in sophomore year and HSPT's in Junior year).

Granted a school average of 97.5% is not a bad thing - but if you are taking the test twice - shouldn't we know who did not score 100% and work with them to improve their scrore? The test does not include any other course material other than math and english on a 9th grade level.