The Ringwood Board of Education believes that this may be a difficult year for our teachers.  Since the budget and second question failed last April, the board has to make due with four fewer teachers for the 2009-2010 school year.  We have already identified one class where a teacher needs to be added and unfortunately we do not have the funding to pay for the teacher.  We need to look elsewhere to see if there are any other areas where we can save some funds to cover the teacher.  Obviously, there are no available funds for repairs and renovations in the Ringwood School System this year.

The Ringwood Schools Improvement Program (SIP) has not received any attention from the board of education do to the poor condition of the U. S. economy.  This is something that will have to be revisited in the near future.  Expected cost to the average taxpayer for the referendum as of April, 2009, should it pass, is now less than $78.00.  This figure is slightly higher than previously expected because we have removed income for leasing Hewitt from the calculations.  Any income from leasing Hewitt will be used for educational purposes.  You can examine the tables that back the taxes by clicking on Tax Charts.  See the explanations of the charts on page 3 of the Tax Charts file.

The Schools Improvement Project (SIP) is designed to take Eleanor G. Hewitt School out of service and perform renovations on Peter Cooper, Robert Erskine, and M. J. Ryerson Schools and build new additions on Erskine and Ryerson schools.  The Facilities Committee provided a public presentation on SIP at the Hewitt School on April 11th, 2007.  You can examine or download the presentation materials by clicking the PP Presentation button on the left or click here.  The presentation information is summarized in the SIP Fact Sheet.

Click here to view the Referendum Video.  This video explains important aspects of the referendum and requires at least a 400Kbs broadband connection to view with Microsoft Media Player.

Seniors!!  See if you qualify for the tax freeze for seniors (income based) at SENIOR FREEZE.  This is a state run property tax reimbursement program that may match your increases in real estate taxes through state refunds virtually freezing your property taxes.

Future meetings for the Referendum Committee: 7:00 PM, Tuesday, November 11, 2008, M. J. Ryerson Media Center All Referendum Committee meetings are open to the public.
The School Facilities Committee has developed a Question and Answer document to help residents better understand the rationale behind the committees thinking.  The document contains many (Currently 47) frequently asked questions and answers.  This document has been modified to provide facts on the current thinking and direction of the Ringwood Board of Education School Facilities Committee.  Click on the Facilities Q&A button to retrieve the Q&A document or click here.   Future meetings for the Ringwood Board of Education: 7:30 PM, Monday, November 17, 2008, M. J. Ryerson Media Center, Work Session 7:30 PM, Monday, November 24, 2008, M. J. Ryerson Media Center, Business Session 7:30 PM, Monday, December 15, 2008, M. J. Ryerson Media Center, Work/Business 7:30 PM, Monday, January 20, 2008, M. J. Ryerson Media Center, Work Session 7:30 PM, Monday, January 26, 2008, M. J. Ryerson Media Center, Business Session All Board Meetings are open to the public.
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