RPS Update

Pictures do a wonderful job capturing a moment in time. The photos above are a reminder of the “why” of our work, which is our students. Today, I had the pleasure of joining a SES grade-level team of teachers as they met for their weekly MTSS (multi-tiered system of support) meeting. As I listened to our teachers discuss their students' progress, I was both proud and impressed of how our early literacy program is being implemented in our classrooms.

This week we published two podcasts- thank you to Dr. DeSantis for hosting! One podcast focuses on Visual Performing Arts (VPA), with special guest Rick Sadlon, Executive Director of CT Arts Administration Association and the other highlights the RPS Budget FAQs. I encourage those who want to learn more about either of these topics to listen to the educators who are leading this work.

Tomorrow, February 4, the Board of Education will host their second Public Hearing at ERMS at 10:00 a.m. on the Superintendent’s Proposed Budget. There are various ways in which we collect feedback from families and the community throughout the year, and as you might imagine, there are many different perspectives. We listen to all feedback, ultimately creating a budget that reflects what our District and school-based educational leaders believe is best for RPS students. The Superintendent’s Proposed Budget reflects these priorities.

The weather has definitely taken a turn….stay warm and safe.

Susie

Susie Da Silva, Ed.D.

The RHS Theater Department play, Winter Briefs is tonight, Friday, February 3 (SOLD OUT), and tomorrow at 7:30 pm! Get tickets for these four short plays here. PG-13.

Please see our short interview with senior actor Audrey Huff below.

Tomorrow, Saturday, February 4, the Board of Education will host a Special Public Hearing about the proposed Superintendent's FY '23-24 budget. The meeting will be at East Ridge Middle School, 10 East Ridge Road, at 10 am. Public comment is welcome. The RPS Budget Informational Site is one of the ways the community can learn about the proposed budget and the budget process. The Superintendent's proposed budget, presentations from each cost center, answers to the questions submitted by the board and public, and future dates can be found here.

This Wednesday, February 8 at 11 am (snow date, February 15 at 11 am). the Curriculum Department will present on math placement for rising sixth, seventh, and eighth-grade students. This presentation and past presentations are available on the Parent Curriculum website.

Ridgefield Tiger Talk doubleheader this week.

Monday: We are excited to welcome to Tiger Talk Rick Sadlon the Executive Director of the Connecticut Arts Administrators Association to talk to us about Ridgefield Public School’s Visual and Performing Arts program. Also joining us on the show is Linda Johnson, Director of Elementary Education, and Michael McNamara 6-12 VPA Department Chair. We discuss the current state of our VPA curriculum, how that curriculum is rapidly evolving, and the future of VPA in our district.

Thursday: In this episode of Tiger Talk, we answer the frequently asked questions (FAQ) that RPS has been hearing from the community. Joining us on the show will be Dr. Susie Da Silva, Superintendent of Schools, and Jill Browne, Director of Finance. Click here for the budget informational site that was mentioned in the show. Thanks for listening!

Scotts Ridge Middle School held its Annual Spelling Bee last Friday. The top sixteen spellers from grades 6-8 matched wits and kept their cool in front of a supportive crowd. Seventh-grader Amelia Scheirle won the crown in the seventh round. She will go on to participate in the state spelling bee on March 5. SRMS English Department Chair Jennifer Bray reports that the last word was counterfeit. Congratulations to all our SRMS spellers and best of luck, Amelia!

Top 16 SRMS spellers:

Everett Axel-7th

Blake Clausen- 8th

Sam Candullo-7th

Wyatt Clifton- 8th

Taylor Hunt- 8th

Amra Kornusova- 7th

Gus Miceli-6th

Naima Millar- 8th

Luiz Pavan- 8th

Julia Pierz- 7th

Lux Rand- 8th

Simon Rodriguez- 8th

Avery Rosengren- 7th

Amelia Scheirle- 7th

Hunter Sucato- 7th

Madeline Tracey-6th

The FCIAC selected RHS seniors Hadley Drever and Henry Idone as the Winter 2023 Exemplary Scholar Athletes. Both shine in the classroom, the sports arena, and the arts.

Hadley Drever has consistently maintained High Honor Roll all four years of high school and is a member of the National Honor Society. She is a captain of the girls ski team and has been on varsity since joining the team freshman year. She was a key contributor to the team’s CISL State Championship title in 2021, and runner-up in both 2020 and 2022. She was selected CISL First Team All-State junior year, and CISL Honorable Mention All-State her sophomore year. She also received the Most Improved coach’s award in her sophomore year. Hadley is also a part of the Tri-State Alpine Racing Team for Catamount Mountain for 5 years and has been dancing with MacDonald-Pin Dancers for 10. She has volunteered her time as an assistant teacher with the younger dancers for 6 years, and also at a camp for kids with cancer. She has participated in the Danbury Music Center Nutcracker since 2016 and spends her summers working as a certified lifeguard.

Henry Idone has made High Honor Roll every marking period since his freshman year while taking many Honors and AP courses. He received the Assumption University Book Award in 2022. Henry has been a member of the boys ice hockey and boys tennis for three years and is proud to call himself a champion of the 2022 FCIAC Hockey Tournament. Outside of athletics, Henry is a devoted cellist and has earned opportunities to play in Carnegie Hall and in Italy. Additionally, he enjoys leading the Ridgefield Community Cello Ensemble, volunteering for the Appalachian Service Project, and working on his own small business.

RPS kindergarten registration opened this week. Please remind your neighbors, friends, coworkers, and acquaintances to register their children ASAP so they can take full advantage of all the orientation programs and so RPS can plan to welcome all our youngest students. View all the information about dates and eligibility in the 2023 Kindergarten Press Release.

With new variants of COVID circulating and the cold and flu season upon us, we wanted to share a few reminders with you. RPS continues to monitor and collect information about positive cases of COVID across the district. This information is updated daily, by school, on the RPS website and can be found by clicking on this link: RPS COVID-19 Data. Please note: we no longer contact trace COVID cases or send notices regarding exposure to, or level of, illness-specific by classroom. All students and staff are encouraged to observe illness prevention measures as deemed necessary due to individual and family needs. Hand washing (or sanitizing when soap and water is not available), observing proper respiratory etiquette, masking, remaining home when experiencing symptoms of illness, and updating vaccines as advised by your individual healthcare provider remain the cornerstones of illness prevention. Our current COVID practices can be found here. Please reach out to your school nurse if you have any questions or concerns regarding your child’s health at school.

The State of Connecticut distributed millions of at-home COVID-19 antigen rapid test kits in 2022 to municipalities, schools, faith-based organizations, non-profits, and healthcare facilities to allow for convenient, rapid self-testing during multiple surges. On January 11, 2023, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted another three-month shelf-life extension for iHealth COVID-19 antigen rapid tests, bringing the current extension to 15 months from the date of manufacture and nine months from the date printed on the kit. iHealth test kit instructions are available from the DPH in multiple languages including Albanian, Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Haitian Creole, Japanese, Khmer, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. If you have any questions about the iHealth test kits or to obtain alternative language instructions for the iHealth test kits, please submit an email to PHAD.dph@ct.gov.

Please visit the links below to view the FDA-authorized antigen rapid test kits

products, extensions, and to look up the new expiration dates.

FDA iHealth Extension:

https://www.fda.gov/media/164513/download
https://www.fda.gov/media/164551/download

The Boys and Girls Club of Ridgefield partners with RPS to offer quality before school care to students at the RPS elementary schools with start times of 9:10 am (Barlow Mountain, Farmingville, and Veterans Park Elementary). In response to parent demand, the BGCR will offer 10-visit punch cards to these families. Read about the program and the new punch card system here.

The CT State Board of Education is beginning the search process for the 2023-24 student Board members. The application package is attached and can be downloaded from the Department’s website: SBE-Student-Application-2023-2024. Note: the deadline for application submission is February 24, 2023. If you have any questions, please contact the State Board Office at 860-713-6510.

The RHS PTSA and Ridgefield Council of PTAs present, "Do You Have the Tools to Talk?," a workshop for parents about how to talk about differences in race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and ability in our modern world on February 28 at 7 pm. More information about the speakers and registration information here.

The RPS Preschool Program is currently accepting Peer Model applications for the 2023-24 school year. Please go to the website for more information and click on the Peer Model Application to apply. Applications are due by March 1, 2023.

Ridgebury Elementary kicked off World Read Aloud day with the poem, "Read to Me" by Jane Yolen, selected by RES Library and Media Specialist Ellen Paradiso, who organized a fantastic day of virtual and in-person read-alouds. See photos from World Read Aloud Day below.

Read to Me

By Jane Yolen

Read to me riddles and read to me rhymes

Read to me stories of magical times

Read to me tales about castles and kings

Read to me stories of fabulous things

Read to me pirates and read to me knights

Read to me dragons and dragon-book fights

Read to me spaceships and cowboys and then

When you are finished- please read them again.

Seventh graders at Scotts Ridge Middle School had a fun and educational experience last Thursday at The Museum of Natural History in New York City. The students gathered evidence at the museum to answer the compelling question, “How does where we live dictate how we live?” The interdisciplinary trip and project design was a collaboration between science teacher Charlsie Vanderrest, social studies teacher Chris Petersen, and technology teacher Kim Moran. Students looked through the lens of science to explain how the motions of our planet create patterns that affect life on earth. The Social Studies lens focused on how flora and fauna, as well as, climate and geography dictate how humans live. Students created their own virtual “Day at the Museum” using pictures, written notes, voiceovers, previous science and social studies knowledge, and individual research to complete this project. Ms. Moran taught students how to create a non-linear google slide presentation using voice, text, and a variety of strategies.

A human assembly line, an open can of black beans, marshmallow towers. These are some of the demonstrations RHS AP Economics students complete to act out economic principles central to the class, explains teacher Steven Seltz. Seltz and Elizabeth Karlan teach the six sections of AP Economics offered at RHS this year.

“So, the girls who look like they are jousting (photo top left),” says Seltz, “are actually doing a kind of an assembly line, passing a ball across the classroom. This activity demonstrated the concept of diminishing marginal returns in the production of goods. The black beans (photo center) were part of a different activity to portray how the production of some goods creates negative side effects for the larger society. The student whose hands were in the beans was playing the part of someone whose waterfront home was polluted by the runoff from a factory upriver.”

The marshmallow towers? “The photo of the kids making structures with marshmallows,” says Ms. Karlan, “is our Marshmallow Towers activity, where kids are given material costs (toothpicks and mini marshmallows) and are challenged to design a structure where every inch taller makes them more revenue. They must balance the cost of creating the structure with the total revenue they receive from their height. The team with the most profits wins!”

These demonstrations, Seltz says, help students tell the story of any graph and make a potentially dry subject come to life. The AP Economics program has grown quickly from three sections in 2021-22 to six sections this year. In fact, student enrollment in AP Economics has grown from 66 to 103 students in the last year. The semester-long elective economics class has also grown in the last few years, from 98 students in 2021-22 to 122 this year.

Senior Corrie Vakil writes, ”I chose the course because I plan to pursue business in college, so I wanted to have a strong foundation in economics. However, I think this course is highly valuable for any high schooler because the economy truly affects everyone. Mr. Seltz and Ms. Karlan are some of the most dedicated and creative teachers I've had. Economics can often be considered a dry subject, but we do activities and projects that foster our learning. Activities like the recreation of assembly lines and externalities resonate with us far more than reading from a textbook. When we review, my class easily recalls these units because our brains immediately imagine the hands-on activities that we participated in. Although AP Economics is a college-level course, it does not feel mundane. I believe that Mr. Seltz and Ms. Karlan have tailored the class to engage and excite high school students.”

Alexander Prokopczyk echoes his classmate's enthusiasm for the course and the innovative teaching."Throughout my years at RHS, I have taken a variety of business and economics courses. I originally took the semester-long economics class freshman year with the goal of learning some background of the field, and my interest was instantly sparked. Each class offered engaging activities even when remote. AP Economics has been no different and has been even more enjoyable. Everyone from the teachers to my peers has been nothing but encouraging. Rarely if ever do you find yourself working alone; this is because every assignment, task, class, and unit is centered around working with those in your class. By doing so everyone can lean on each other for help and succeed. All of which can be attributed to our great teachers, Ms. Karlan and Mr. Seltz."

What grade are you in?

I’m a senior at RHS headed to George Washington University this fall!

What roles do you play in Winter Briefs?

I play Nancy, Amber, “White”, and Betsy in the winter production.

Why should people come see this show?

I highly recommended this show to the community as it is a brief, witty night of live theater! The small cast and crew have worked hard to create this great show in our intimate Black Box venue.

Winter Briefs runs tonight, Friday, February 3 (SOLD OUT) and February 4 at 7:30. Tickets here. PG-13.

The Winter Concerts in December and January made the shortest days of the year a little brighter. Above please see some photos of Barlow Mountain Elementary students dressed to impress. High school families can testify to the enormous growth our students show from their first year plucking on their string instruments to the masterful RHS orchestra.

East Ridge and Scotts Ridge middle schools welcomed Scott Driscoll on Monday, January 30. Mr. Driscoll runs Internet Safety Concepts, where he visits schools around the country to discuss internet safety and empowers smart online choices. Following each presentation, the middle schools held discussions in their advisory groups to process the information covered. In the evening, he held a parent workshop at ERMS. For resources shared by the program, please visit his website.

Ridgefield's finest came to Farmingville Elementary to lead fifth graders through the D.A.R.E (Drug Abuse Resistance Education) program. An annual rite of passage for the Ridgefield police and RPS fifth graders, D.A.R.E. teaches students how to resist peer pressure "to live productive drug and violence-free lives."

Jayden Kim, a fourth-grade student at Branchville Elementary School, won first place in the Elite International Music Competition, which qualified him to perform at the winners' recital at Carnegie Hall on Tuesday. Congratulations to Jayden, whose brother Justin played in the same recital last year. Congratulations!

1. What year did you graduate from RHS? Class of 2004

2. What was your parents' background? What were their hopes for you?

My Chinese mother and Indian father came from humble beginnings and wanted their children to have a great childhood in America. Their dream came true when they enrolled my sister and me at Veterans Park Elementary School.

3. How did your experience in the Ridgefield Public Schools prepare you for college and beyond?

My transition to Georgetown and Harvard was smooth because for 12 years my RPS teachers and classmates fostered a loving yet intellectually rigorous environment. My RPS experience also equipped me with important life lessons. As a Ridgefield Volunteer Firefighter today, the words of my RHS teacher Theresa Fischer still ring true, “Do your best to help others.”

4. How do you see the Ridgefield Public Schools as a parent?

RPS is the crown jewel of Ridgefield and its staff are our town’s greatest resource. I feel so lucky that my sons get to attend RPS, with my oldest in Kindergarten at Veterans Park.

5. Is there anything else you would like to share?

RPS gifted me my two best friends. I met David Matz in first grade– he was the best man at my wedding and now is an RPS parent himself. My RHS teachers helped me earn a scholarship to college, where I met my wife Christine Guan.

Photo: Indra Sen is on the far left of this second grade VPES class photo

Ridgebury Elementary SLO Officer Matt Seibert and authors Vicki Fang and Charlotte Offsay were some of the readers during World Read Aloud Day.

Fun! These pix show Scotland Elementary reading, counting, and enjoying.

Barlow Mountain Elementary brought back some good memories when it posted their fun parachute photos.

Branchville Elementary PTA volunteer Nicole Pomeroy organized a Family Ski Day at Mohawk Mountain. BES Principal Keith Margolus joined students and families at the mountain. Even Bob the Beaver joined in the fun.

While most of RHS could take a breath after midterms, RHS actors prepared for their winter show. Break a leg!

The healthcare workers at White Plains Hospital pose with the painting RHS senior Matthew Addotta presented to them as a thank you for caring for patients throughout the pandemic. Matthew writes, "I worked hard on the painting so it's really nice to hear that it was appreciated. I'm happy to share the painting as a symbol of appreciation for the White Plains Hospital and all of the doctors and nurses that cared for patients during the pandemic." Thank you, Matthew for continuing to express gratitude to our health care workers.

We would love to hear from you! Families and staff can submit stories, comments, or corrections to RPS Communications. Please follow us on Social Media with links below.