Photo Courtesy of Winnie Kievit Pictured are some of the new employees of the Glen Ridge School District. The district has 20 new employees including 18 teachers. The first day of school is Sept. 2.
Pictured are some of the new employees of the Glen Ridge School District. The district has 20 new employees including 18 teachers. The first day of school is Sept. 2.
Schools open Tuesday, Sept. 2, and administrators have been busy preparing for it.
The district will have 20 new employees: 18 educators, a secretary and a payroll worker. Three of the educators are familiar faces.
The head cross-country coach, Ira Ford, will also be a paraprofessional at the high school as will the assistant lacrosse coach, Edward Adeogun. The field hockey coach, Hannah Legotte, will also be at Central School as a leave replacement teacher.
“This is great for the kids,” said Winnie Kievit, the acting superintendent. “They will get to see their coaches in the classroom and the coaches will now see their team members as students. It helps the term ‘student-athlete’ come to fruition.”
Three of the new people are borough residents: Elizabeth Nuttycombe will be a high school secretary, Jennifer Powers will be teaching at Ridgewood Avenue School and Ryan Liddy will teach social studies at the high school.
“He’s a re-Ridger,” Kievit said. “He went to school here, attended college and has come back to his home town to work. Glen Ridge is a positive place.”
Kievit pointed out that all the hires have some experience. She said there has been only one significant change to the curriculum. The K-4 language curriculum will be tweaked.
“In collaboration with the Glen Ridge Educational Foundation, we’re adding classroom libraries which will give the students an opportunity to self-select books for their reading process,” she said.
This replaces the use of an anthology program.
“It was time for a change,” she continued. “Grades five to 12, they do more of the novel study. That changes all the time, too, based on student and teacher interest.”
Ridgewood Avenue School will be introducing an initiative called, “Capturing Kids’ Hearts.” According to its website, the program is meant “to strengthen connectedness and build a relationship-driven culture.” Ridgewood Avenue teachers were given two days of training this week.
“It’s sort of like an SEL program, a social, educational and learning program,” Kievit said. “It will promote a positive climate. We know it’s effective because last year, Forest, Linden and Central schools did it. But what is great is that our second-graders will be coming into Ridgewood already having the training.”
For the program, teachers will learn various strategies which stress employing the nomenclature children use.
“It’s about a lot of mutual respect,” Kievit said. “The students and teacher sign a contract on how the classroom will be run. They are partners in learning.”
Keisha Harris, the acting principal at Ridgewood, Kievit said, was her ‘capturing kids’ hearts’ expert. Harris was previously the Central School principal.
“It’s nice to give the kids a voice,” Kievit said. “They need to be a part of their own learning.”
On Wednesday, Aug. 27, there was a staff meeting for all teachers. They met at Ridgewood Avenue and the high school. Kievit had a pep rally planned with cheerleaders and the band to get everybody pumped up for the new year. She said this approach has never been done before. The cheerleaders were to announce good news about the teachers.
Kievit will spend the opening days visiting schools. Her advice to teachers this first week is simple.
“I always say, ‘Teach something and inspire.’”
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