RPS Update

Earlier this week, I wrote to the Ridgefield community in response to the war in Israel; you can find my letter here. Since my writing, I spoke to several community members including a member of the clergy who shared that while my letter may have carried important messaging, it missed an opportunity to communicate RPS’ values. I would like to take advantage of this widely read communication to be clear- RPS, together with our community, stands against all forms of terrorism, hate and violence, in and out of our schools. We condemn the act of terrorism against Israel and recognize the impact that the unrest in the region has on our entire community. We will continue to work to ensure our students and faculty feel safe at school, and provide a school culture that is inclusive, respectful, and supportive of all. As the crisis evolves, we continue to receive resources from various trusted organizations that will be accessible to our faculty and students. Further, as our students and community organize events, we will be sure to share them with you. Our world and children deserve peace.

This past Monday evening, we began our Board of Education meeting dramatically! with a performance by cast members of the RHS fall production, The Play that Goes Wrong. If you were undecided about purchasing your tickets, act now! Our performers were followed by our leadership and faculty presenting on two important topics. First, we presented new graduation requirement recommendations for the Classes of 2027 and 2028 (and thereafter). Additions to the graduation requirements include courses in personal finance, visual arts, and social studies. The second presentation focused on the RPS Visual and Performing Arts. For the first time, a collective K-12 team came together to share the work and progress, as well as the goals for the future. I encourage you to watch this portion of the meeting (1:01 mark) and/or review the District VPA Timeline to see the work that has happened over the past three years.

Also on Monday evening, I shared the District's plan for the 2024-25 school year with respect to the new legislative kindergarten start age. If you know anyone that has a child turning five after September 1, 2024, who is/was planning on attending kindergarten for the 2024-25, please share this Memo.

Warmly,

Susie

Susie Da Silva, Ed.D

Instagram: rpssuper

The Board of Education approved an updated calendar at Monday's meeting. RPS will be closed on Wednesday, June 19, for Juneteenth. The last day of school for students is currently, June 11, but weather season is rapidly approaching, so we wanted to give families plenty of time to plan for no school. The Curriculum team will continue to look for meaningful ways to teach into Juneteenth as we do with other federal holidays. Information about Weather-related delays, early dismissals, and closures, can be found here

The updated district calendar can be found here.

Temple B’nai Chaim and The Wilton Clergy Association invite RPS and the entire Ridgefield Community to join them along with local, state, and national officials in an Interfaith Vigil of Prayer, Healing, and Solidarity with Israel on Sunday evening, October 15 at 7:00 pm at Temple B’nai Chaim.

RSVP FOR THIS EVENT IS REQUIRED.

Zoom Link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87098713611?pwd=UVQ2MXZCVVlCQmdEeVZIY2RZazZWUT09..

WuFoo RSVP Link: https://templebnaichaim.wufoo.com/forms/interfaith-community-vigil-in-solidarity-of-israel/

This Thursday, October 19 is an early dismissal for Professional Development.

Early dismissal schedule is here.

The next BOE Meeting is on Monday, October 23. The meeting agenda and link to livestream can be found here. Public comment is at the beginning and end of each meeting.

Board of Education

90 East Ridge Road

RHS Homecoming Weekend is October 27-28. The Varsity Football game (Dance and Cheer showcase) is home on October 27. Families with children under twelve should plan to attend the game. The RHS Student Government has fun plans for the week leading up to the weekend. Let's go, Tigers!

November 2, 3, & 4 @ 7 pm

Cast members of The Play That Goes Wrong offered a staged reading of a scene to the Board of Education on Monday night. It was hilarious and we can't wait for more! Please get your tickets here. Read more about the new RHS theater staff in last week's RPS Update.

The FirstView Bus App is available, including Student Security Codes! Please use the link here for instructions. You can find your District Student Number on PowerSchool under Grades and Attendance. You can find FirstView Security Code and Bus Number on PowerSchool under Transportation. We apologize for the glitches with the codes last weekend and the delays with the roll out. We value your partnership and look forward to providing you with a more efficient and informative transportation experience. FirstView Customer Support will be available Monday-Friday from 7:00 a.m. EST to 5:00 p.m. EST

On this week’s Episode of Tiger Talk, we welcome Billy Gramajo, Ridgefield Public Schools Transportation Coordinator and Jill Brown our Director of Finance. We talk about our four tiers of busing, the TransFinder Software upgrade, the new First View app, the challenges of planning routes, and much more. Thanks for Listening!

This month, East Ridge and Scotts Ridge eighth graders are learning about some of the free high school options available to them beyond Ridgefield High School. One of the alternatives for RPS students is Abbott Tech in Danbury, which teaches a variety of trades—plumbing, mechanics, nursing, graphic design, technology, etc.—as well as core academics. Other high school programs presented to grade 8 include Center for Global Studies at Brien McMahon, Stamford Regional Agriscience and Technology at Westhill High School, and AITE (a STEM-based school in Stamford). Many graduates of these programs go right into the workforce, start their own business, or go to college. RPS does not provide transportation. Note that open houses are ongoing this month and some application deadlines are approaching. See the full presentation here.

Last week, RPS Update covered the fifth-grade ELA teachers' rockstar reception during their visit to the Middle Schools. The ninth graders played it a little cooler when they saw their eighth-grade English teachers walk into their classrooms. Still, you could detect the students' joy at seeing their middle school teachers. Eighth-grade teachers were able to observe students discussing John Steinbeck's classic, Of Mice and Men, and the shrewd insights students offered about setting, character, and theme. In other classes, students were engaged in the drafting or revision stage of their Motif essays or preparing to discuss To Kill a Mockingbird. RHS English Department Chair Patricia Boutilier and the middle school teachers had a brief and productive pre-meeting before joining classes, "We have worked so hard to find the time to foster this touchpoint," says Grade 6-12 Humanities Supervisor Dr. Annie Tucci, "it's so important for teachers to see where their students are heading—the classroom, the expectations, the level of engagement, and fostering of independence they need. The connection between buildings is also important in making students' transitions easier."

RPS is committed to providing a supportive and inclusive environment for all members of our community. Please know that we are here to support our students during these challenging times. Our secondary students may want to engage in conversations with their teachers or counselors, if so, our educators will have resources to support them. While our teachers will not initiate these conversations with our youngest students, they will be available to answer questions in a developmentally appropriate way. Most importantly, regardless of age, our school counselors, school psychologists, and/or social workers can assist students and families.

I am including a few resources that may be helpful.

How do I Talk to My Kids about Violence

Explaining the News to Our Kids

How to Your Children About Conflict and War

Talking to Children about Terrorism and War

School districts around the world are calling families’ attention to the possibility that graphic photos and videos could appear on students’ social media accounts in real time. We want to share this concern and encourage families to consider curtailing their children’s social media access. RPS elementary and middle school students should not have access to personal devices at any time during the school day.

Please help us in our effort to go green by checking students' e-Backpacks! Organizations that meet the RPS policy may submit their request for inclusion to cmelagrano@ridgefieldps.net. Thank you!

Nick Fraticelli’s RHS Modern History sophomores are mingling. They are John Locke and Thomas Hobbes, Abigail Adams and Mary Wollstonecraft. They are Voltaire and Montesquieu. As they share their philosophies—"a natural right to Life, Liberty, and Property;” “to make and Enforce Laws;” “to believe in any Religion;” “to be free from Monarchy;” “equal rights for women;” “a series of checks and balances”—the foundations of American political thought lay bare. These philosophers are our forebears with revolutionary ideas that shape the freedoms we enjoy today.

Mr. Fraticelli is new to Ridgefield but he isn’t new to the classroom. Before coming to RPS, he taught at Danbury High School since 2008. He became a teacher because he always loved learning. “It’s a blast. It’s what I like to do.” His students seem to be enjoying their mingle, sharing in a dynamic exercise that has them on their feet, thinking, and creating a slide deck.

“I love being at RPS,” Mr. Fraticelli, who teaches Modern History, Introduction to Economics, and U.S. History says, “The students are so motivated, interested, and intellectually curious that we can do a wide variety of activities that involve debate, creativity, high-level questioning. It is really an amazing thing to see in action and I am so excited to see continued growth in my students.”

Mr. Fraticelli lives in Southbury with three children, Chase (age 7), Austin (age 5), and Leah (age 2), and his Leonberger Wally.

This week, Italian students celebrated Italian Heritage Month at RHS. Students learned about Amerigo Vespucci, researched a famous Italian, made t-shirts, danced the tarantella, and prepared authentic Italian dishes to share.

RHS Spanish III went to the Wadsworth Art Museum in Hartford last Friday to see Hispanic artists. They followed up their visit to this great cultural resource with a trip to the Parkville Market to taste different cuisines from Latin America and around the world. Spanish teacher Farah Borges sent the gorgeous photos below and reports that "the students loved it and we plan on going again next year!"

This week, RHS Creative Writing students participated in a two-day poetry workshop run by poet and former Scotts Ridge ELA teacher, and Ridgefield Poet Laureate, Barb Jennes. Students had the opportunity to explore various poetic forms and to draft original poems based on famous works by Sharon Olds, Robert Pinsky, and Tracy K Smith. Creative Writing Teacher, Patricia Boutilier noted, "With all this inspiration, thanks to Ms. Jennes, I am excited to see what our students will draft next week as we enter into our poetry project."

Scotts Ridge seventh graders closed out their unit on Empires last Friday. Groups presented their Empire—Aksum, British, Byzantine, Incan, Mayan, Ottoman, for example—in a engaging Museum Walk. The unit asked students to consider what made an Empire rise and fall.

This week, RHS unveiled a new mural that celebrates the arts. Senior Maddie Brown, an aspiring graphic designer, had the idea for the mural as part of her National Honors Society leadership project. She wanted to celebrate creativity and inspire others to participate in the arts at RHS. Working with a team of RHS students, she finished the project on the very last day of school in June 2023. The mural takes a quote from painter Henri Matisse, "Creativity Takes Courage," and features collages of different artistic pursuits—dance, music, theater, and visual arts.

The Play That Goes Wrong

RHS Auditorium

This hilarious farce was written by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer and Henry Shields. Welcome to opening night of "The Murder at Haversham Manor" where things are quickly going from bad to utterly disastrous. With an unconscious leading lady, a corpse that can’t play dead, and actors who trip over everything (including their lines). You would be WRONG to not make plans to see it!

Looking for an enjoyable activity for a winter Sunday? Consider taking a trip into NYC to hear thirty six of our Ridgefield high school and 8th grade choir students sing John Rutter's "Magnificat" on Sunday Jan. 7, 2024 at Carnegie Hall! They will sing alongside 175 other singers and full orchestra under the baton of John Rutter himself! We hope you'll purchase tickets through our Carnegie Ticket Fundraiser. 20% of these group sale tickets will benefit our choir students.

The deadline to purchase tickets through our fundraiser has been extended to Tues. Oct. 24!

East Ridge Middle School had approximately 30 students participate (grades 6-8) in an interactive leadership program led by ADL (Anti-Defamation League) facilitators. They learned strategies to be an ally, discussed concerns they saw in their own community, and planned NPFH activities and the pledge signing that will take place later in the year. The teachers and administrators who joined in were impressed with ERMS students who are doing their part to make the school a safe and inclusive space where all students feel they belong. Leaders look forward to making ERMS a No Place for Hate for the third year in a row.

The Club Fair on Thursday showcased the rich extracurricular offerings at Ridgefield High School. RHS students gave out information to their fellow students during lunch waves. Diverse offerings include community service, sports, arts, and the life of the mind. The Frisbee Club is one of the new clubs that drew a lot of interest. The Gay Straight Alliance explained their meaningful work this year with the Ridgefield Historical Society, recording interviews with notable queer people in our community. Student Lily Archibald shared The Heritage Club's connection to Jericho Partnerships—a nonprofit in Danbury that serves at-risk youth—and the Robotics Club lets students experience the fun of their challenges. Editors from the magazine, The Ridgefielder recruited photographers and reporters. Did you know the Astronomy Club hosts "star parties" on Tiger Hollow? Visit the RHS Student Life page to see all the Clubs on offer and ways to get involved.

The Boys Cross Country team ran their hearts out at the Great American XC Festival in North Carolina last weekend, earning a second-place team finish against tough National competition!
Individual performances (5K course):
Steven Hergenrother: 8th, 14:52
Charles Lovett: 35th, 15:37
Sullivan Dunn: 42nd, 15:43
Magnus Manley: 48th, 15:48
Trevor Fuller: 76th, 16:07
https://twitter.com/ridgefieldad/status/1710680139338510414?s=51

Last Saturday, the RHS Debate Team competed at Connecticut Debate Association (CDA) Tournament at Joel Barlow High School. During this tournament, RHS students competed in four 40-minute rounds of debate with teams from other Connecticut schools as they argued whether or not the U.S. should set maximum age limits for elected office.

In the end, RHS won 11 rounds of debate and a Novice Team earned a trophy! Debate Advisor Adam Horvath writes, "Each win was earned by these students as a result of their efforts to enhance their critical thinking skills and master the art of public speaking."

Varsity Division

Varsity Teams

James Cox-Donovan & Gabriel Uceda-Sosa (3 Wins)

Hannah Rosenfeld & Charlotte Gray (1 Win)

Peter Iwasiutyn & Elijah Yurkovsky (1 Win)

Novice Teams

Ayan Bhowmik & Connor Graves (2 Wins)

Sherry Wu & William Knispel (4 Wins) - 4th Place Novice Team Trophy

Elementary schools received their art carts this week. These mobile art resources have scissors, paper, origami, chalk, and other supplies so students can get creative during recess.

Why can't we smile when running like the Scotland and Veterans Park Elementary students in these photos? Their spirit is contagious! Thank you to all the parent volunteers who make these events possible and the generosity of our community.

We would love to hear from you! Families and staff can submit stories, comments, or corrections to RPS Communications. Please follow us on Social Media with links below.