Ridgefield Park Public Schools

The Ridgefield Park Public Schools is a comprehensive community public school district that serves students in kindergarten through twelfth grade from the Village of Ridgefield Park, in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States.

Ridgefield Park Public Schools
Address
712 Lincoln Avenue Ridgefield Park, NJ 07660 United States
Coordinates	40.86174°N 74.025739°W
District information
Grades	K-12
Superintendent	Dr. Angela Bender
Business administrator	James Tevis (interim)
Schools	4
Students and staff
Enrollment	2,341 (as of 2017-18)[1]
Faculty	170.0 FTEs[1]
Student–teacher ratio	13.8:1[1]
Other information
District Factor Group	DE
Website	https://www.rpps.net
Ind. Per pupil District spending Rank (*) K-12 average %± vs. average 1A Total Spending $16,613 19 $18,891 −12.1% 1 Budgetary Cost 12,055 7 14,783 −18.5% 2 Classroom Instruction 7,360 14 8,763 −16.0% 6 Support Services 1,908 20 2,392 −20.2% 8 Administrative Cost 1,271 9 1,485 −14.4% 10 Operations & Maintenance 1,085 2 1,783 −39.1% 13 Extracurricular Activities 411 44 268 53.4% 16 Median Teacher Salary 68,466 52 64,043 Data from NJDoE 2014 Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending.[2] *Of K-12 districts with 1,800-3,500 students. Lowest spending=1; Highest=68

As of the 2017-18 school year, the district and its four schools had an enrollment of 2,341 students and 170.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.8:1.[1]

The district is classified by the New Jersey Department of Education as being in District Factor Group "DE", the fifth-highest of eight groupings. District Factor Groups organize districts statewide to allow comparison by common socioeconomic characteristics of the local districts. From lowest socioeconomic status to highest, the categories are A, B, CD, DE, FG, GH, I and J.[3]

Students from Little Ferry attend the high school as part of a sending/receiving relationship with the Little Ferry Public Schools that has been in place since 1953.[4][5]

Awards and recognition

Grant School was recognized by the United States Department of Education's National Blue Ribbon Schools Program for the 2009-10 school year, "the most prestigious designation in education". While 49% of students had failed the Elementary School Proficiency Assessment in 2001, by 2010 all of the school's students were deemed proficient by the New Jersey Assessment of Skills and Knowledge (NJASK).[6] The school was one of 10 in New Jersey to be recognized that year.[7]

For the 2005-06 school year, Ridgefield Park High School was one of 22 schools statewide selected as Governor's School of Excellence Winners, an award given to schools that have demonstrated significant academic improvement over the previous two academic years.[8]

Schools

Schools in the district (with 2017-18 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics[9]) are:[10][11]

Elementary schools

• Grant Elementary School[12] (192 students; grades K-6)
  • James Donohue, Interim Principal
• Lincoln Elementary School[13] (313; K-6)
  • Dr. Janet Elder, Interim Principal
• Roosevelt Elementary School[14] (318; K-6)
  • Matthew Perrapato, Principal

High school

• Ridgefield Park High School[15] (1,232; 7-12)
  • Eric Koenig, Principal
  • Michael Kilmurray, Assistant Principal

Administration

Core members of the district's administration are:[16][17]

• Dr. Angela Bender, Superintendent of Schools
• Michael Steinmetz, Business Administrator / Board Secretary

The district's board of education has of nine members who set policy and oversee the fiscal and educational operation of the district through its administration. As a Type II school district, the board's trustees are elected directly by voters to serve three-year terms of office on a staggered basis, with three seats up for election each year held (since 2012) as part of the November general election.[18] A representative from Little Ferry serves on the Board of Education.[19]

References

1. District information for Ridgefield Park School District, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed November 1, 2019.
2. Taxpayers' Guide to Education Spending April 2013, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed April 15, 2013.
3. NJ Department of Education District Factor Groups (DFG) for School Districts, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 9, 2014.
4. Abiut Us, Little Ferry Public Schools. Accessed February 1, 2020. "The Little Ferry School District is a New Jersey Public School District located in Bergen County, New Jersey. Our Prek-8 district serves approximately 950 students in two schools located across the street from each other in the town of Little Ferry, New Jersey.... Little Ferry’s 9–12 students attend Ridgefield Park High School in Ridgefield Park, New Jersey."
5. James, George. "School Districts' Battle On Tuition Goes to Court", The New York Times, December 16, 1989. Accessed August 19, 2013. "School officials in the borough, Little Ferry, which sends 202 students to the 546-student high school, say a partial audit several years ago raised suspicions that Ridgefield Park has overcharged them by hundreds of thousands of dollars in recent years.... Little Ferry, a borough of 1.5 square miles and 9,900 people, has sent its high school students to this neighboring 1.92-square mile village of 12,000 people, since 1953."
6. DeCicco, Robin. "Grant School merits praise", The Record (Bergen County), September 24, 2010. Accessed March 28, 2011. "Grant Elementary School was recently named a Blue Ribbon School, the most prestigious designation in education, by the New Jersey Department of Education, said Dr. John Richardson, superintendent of Ridgefield Park School District."
7. 2010 Blue Ribbon Schools: All Public and Private, United States Department of Education. Accessed July 12, 2011.
8. 22 Governor's Schools of Excellence Winners Recognized, New Jersey Department of Education, November 22, 2005. Accessed July 21, 2016.
9. School Data for the Ridgefield Park Public Schools, National Center for Education Statistics. Accessed November 1, 2019.
10. Our Schools, Ridgefield Park Public Schools. Accessed February 1, 2020.
11. New Jersey School Directory for the Ridgefield Park Public Schools, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 29, 2016.
12. Grant Elementary School, Ridgefield Park Public Schools. Accessed February 1, 2020.
13. Lincoln Elementary School, Ridgefield Park Public Schools. Accessed February 1, 2020.
14. Roosevelt Elementary School, Ridgefield Park Public Schools. Accessed February 1, 2020.
15. Ridgefield Park High School, Ridgefield Park Public Schools. Accessed February 1, 2020.
16. Central Office, Ridgefield Park Public Schools. Accessed February 1, 2020.
17. New Jersey School Directory for Bergen County, New Jersey Department of Education. Accessed December 29, 2016.
18. New Jersey Boards of Education by District Election Types - 2018 School Election, New Jersey Department of Education, updated February 16, 2018. Accessed January 26, 2020.
19. Board of Education, Ridgefield Park Public Schools. Accessed February 1, 2020.

External links

• Ridgefield Park Public Schools
• Ridgefield Park Public Schools's 2015–16 School Report Card from the New Jersey Department of Education
• School Data for the Ridgefield Park Public Schools, National Center for Education Statistics