The Maroon Vol. 2… No. 67 Monday, August 29, 2022
“Bringing us all to a place we don't want to lose."
Observer: Doing The Right Thing
Macky’s New York: Building Blocks Of Summer
William Peay: Tales From The Wood…
RHS Athletic Hall Of Fame: Save The Date: Nov. 5th 2022
Dr. Anne Robinson: Did You Know…
M + A NYC: Mighty Are We As One
Zabriskie Girls: Sunday Morning Today
Jeff Meyers: Favorite Movie
Kathy & Ross Petras: You’re Saying It Wrong
Peter McCubbin, RHS 1973: Happy Birthday Bro!
Observer
Doing The Right Thing
As Ridgewood begins another school year, it’s appropriate for us to write about the subject of Hope.
Our Hope is that the Ridgewood Board Of Education (BOE) and its Acting Superintendent Dr. Leonard D. Fitts will give the go ahead to the Later School Start Time (LSST) proposal for Ridgewood High School. This initiative is backed by 12 years of BOE sponsored research and has the endorsement of RHS Principal Jeff Nyhuis.
The strategic action we are hoping the BOE will take is to allow for the day at Ridgewood High School to begin at 8:30AM and end at 3:05 PM. This will be accomplished by taking two pedagogic minutes from each class period. No other Ridgewood Public Schools would be involved.
Previous BOE meetings have demonstrated what happens when civic leaders believe policies can't change, that they must be consistent forever. (Even when facts say to act otherwise.) Our Hope is that the BOE needs no reminder that it can be a badge of honor to change one’s mind.
Macky’s New York
Matthew Cortellesi Photography
August 24, 2022 - Washington Square
Building Blocks Of Summer
I took advantage of the brief but welcomed cloud cover and shot this in the fountain and while I did...everything looked like pieces inside a Lego set that I could just build the scene with.
Looking north with arch and Empire State in distance.
Time 3pm
#ny1pic
William Peay
Tales From The Wood…
Roof top bar at old Citizen’s Bank.
RHS Athletic Hall Of Fame
Save The Date: November 5, 2022
Visit The RHS Athletic Hall Of Fame & Order Tickets for 2022 Inductees Banquet
Digital Printing for the RHS Hall of Fame provided by Tim Boucher, RHS 1988
Did You Know…
Healthy Messages
by Dr. Anne Robinson
Did you know that since the last day of school in June, this is what you see as you pass the front entrance of Willard School? My daily walk includes that familiar route I took decades ago from my childhood home to Willard. On a recent walk, the principal was getting out of her car. I turned back to say, "I love your sign!" She smiled, thanked me for noticing, and replied, "It's a message to our students." And what a healthy message it is.
We don't always realize how important it is for our children to hear the message from the adults in their lives that it is not only OK to take a break, it is healthy to take a break from academic work, athletics, activities, and technology.
One of the first successful initiatives by Smart Balance was instituting homework-free breaks at RHS twelve years ago. The message we are sending to students and families is that we value the students' personal time. Smart Balance also initiated "blackout" weeks in the summer when there are no sports practices or required participation in activities sending the message that we value family time.
In fact, all of the Smart Balance initiatives revolve around respect: respecting the students' time; respecting their needs as growing and developing children and adolescents; respecting their voices when they say, for example, that they feel better and function better when they have had the extra hour of sleep on Enrichment Days, another Smart Balance initiative. It's also about respecting the research that clearly demonstrates positive outcomes with a later school start time (LSST) for adolescent students. LSST is the first Smart Balance initiative to involve the input of the Ridgewood superintendent and BOE. It is also the only one that has taken years to put into effect.
As a district, we are sending mixed messages to our students and families when we talk about excellence and optimizing the potential of every student while we continue to undermine their efforts and place their health, safety, and achievement at risk with early school start times.
Thank heavens for the school administrators who get it. Bravo, Willard School. Keep those healthy messages coming!
The BOE meets Monday, August 29th at 5:00. Thank you for your persistence and ongoing advocacy on behalf of the students. Make sure your voice is heard.
M + A NYC
Mighty Are We As One
M + A is a destination devoted to art, artists, artisans and design. We are inspired by art as it relates to design: the soul, the spark that ignites beautiful ideas. We are equally as motivated by craft traditions passed down from generations.
Shop home décor and wearable accessories at www.mplusanyc.com
Zabriskie Girls
Sunday Today
The Zabriskie girls make Sunday Morning with Willie Geist, RHS 1991!
Jeff Meyers
Favorite Movie
Kathy & Ross Petras
You’re Saying It Wrong
Imply/infer
“The action then shifts without a moment’s pause to a bank robbery in Queens, with a sly racial commentary inferred by having Connie and Nick hold pan african-American cashier while wearing masks, sunglasses, and hoodies that give them the appearance of black men.” —Hollywood Reporter
We are not going to imply anything. And you don’t have to infer anything. Imply and infer are two different words, quasi opposites in a way.
They both concern communication and understanding information. But when you imply, you’re the speaker. You’re giving the information. When you infer, you’re the listener or the reader receiving the information.
From the book: That Doesn’t Mean What You Think It Means: The 150 Most Commonly Misused Words and Their Tangled Histories