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The Ringwood School system
currently consists of 4 school buildings.
Each school is relatively small in size. The largest is the Martin J.
Ryerson Middle School (built 1972) which houses more than 500 students in the 6th, 7th, and
8th grades. The three elementary schools house around 300 students
each. Peter Cooper School (built 1964) and Robert Erskine School
(built 1962) are community schools with each housing about 300 Kindergarten through 3rd grade
students. They house some pre-K students also. The Eleanor G. Hewitt School houses
300+ 4th and 5th graders. E. G. Hewitt School was constructed
around 1937 and was expanded twice. Temporary, portable
classrooms were added in the 1970's and are still in place despite a
fire in the late 1980's that did considerable damage to the structures.
The NJ Department of
Environmental Protection has prohibited the Ringwood District from building
a new school on the Hewitt property because of Storm Water Regulations.
The committee's focus now is on renovations to our existing schools that
will serve education through the coming years.
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After
almost 3 years of meetings, the School Facilities Committee plans have
formalized into a district plan to maintain 3 public schools rather
than the 4 schools the Ringwood Board of Education currently operates.
According to this plan, the oldest of our Schools, Eleanor G. Hewitt School, will be taken out
of service due to its age and it's tendency to have breakdowns and
system failures. Removing Hewitt School from service will require
adding rooms onto Robert Erskine and Martin J. Ryerson Schools.
The plan calls for 9 classes, an
elevator, a Gymnasium, and new office space to be added to Erskine School and 5
Classrooms to be added onto Ryerson School. Peter Cooper School
and Robert Erskine School will both become Kindergarten through 4th
grade schools and Martin J. Ryerson will be expanded to a 5th grade
through 8th middle grade school. Room for the 4th grade at Peter Cooper
School will be made by transferring 4 special education classes from
Cooper School to Erskine School. The new classrooms at Erskine
will be enough room to house the special education classes from Cooper
School and the new 4th grade students. Fifth grade
students will be housed in Ryerson by building 5 new classrooms and
by taking back 5 classrooms that are currently being rented to the
Passaic County Board of Education. |
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