District Boosted by $13K in Grants from Ridgewood Education Foundation

Under the crest of the positive budget news in the village, teachers and students are also getting a boost in curriculum and equipment upgrades in the value of $12,905 provided by the Ridgewood Education Foundation (REF).

In total, eight grants were given to the district, mostly for reading and musical programming.

English teacher Patricia L. Hans received a $1,500 grant to revive the award-winning literary arts magazine Genesis. REF president Elizabeth Gordon told the school board that the lit mag had placed second two years ago, the top public school in the state. Student staff will work on the publication and all students can submit work to be considered for inclusion in the magazine, Gordon said.

Three schools will be receiving a total of $3,649 as the district continues to focus on bullying given the public incidents related to Ridgewood in recent months. The S.T.A.M.P Out Bullying program was successful last year. Though "expensive," the participation was positive officials said and the program can run again at , Willard, .

can be declared the big winner in the grant sweepstakes, taking home three separate grants. Three teachers will be able to bring music and storytelling along with...pirates? Yes, pirates. The project will include kids spending an entire day in a writing workshop with an accompanying assembly. The RHS New Players will also be on-hand. Willard will also be receiving two camcorders, as the technology at the aging school is less than ideal, Gordon said. The grant was in the value of $760.

Students at will be receiving responders for Smartboards, which will help kids that are a bit more shy participate remotely without fear of taunting, Gordon said. The cost is about $1,600. Ridge students will also be receiving a $1,985 grant for a "Music Ace Maestro" program that will enable students to learn music theory at a less breakneck pace.

There will be more books available at the library to 1st grade teachers at Travell with a $1,610 Guided Reading grant.

Finally, Reading teachers will be pushing for greater understanding of character growth with an $800 grant to purchase a "Little Miss Sunshine" book series.

Despite trying economic times, Gordon told the school board "things are going well for us," and added that a big check should be coming from Barclays Bank.