Year of Changes

As the new 2024-2025 school year began several new policies were introduced at Ridgewood High School, sparking mixed opinions. The most talked about and anticipated has certainly been the new phone policies, which follows the New Jersey Department of  Education’s articulation of an increasing concern over excessive phone usage in schools by students prompting school districts to craft their own phone policy guidelines.  With the expanded use of phone caddies in each class, Ridgewood High School’s phone policy for the school year has consisted of a more strict system of phone collection at the beginning of class.  While some teachers have previously used them, it is now mandatory in every classroom.

In an interview with Mrs. Wood, assistant principal of RHS, about the various new policies in place this year, she said that the new phone policy would be effective in helping “with positive, productive class time.” Though some parents have expressed concerns over emergency situations, Mrs. Wood believes the new phone policy is essential in making sure that all students are focused during class time and not distracted. 

The new school year has also brought about a new attendance policy for students. This new attendance policy has updated the amount of absences one can have for each class, with full year courses allowing eighteen, semester courses allowing nine, and quarter courses allowing six. Students will also be assigned to academic study hall for each partial absence they have, though it will not count towards one of the absences in their classes. When absence limits in a class have been exceeded, students will be dropped from that class. However, every student possesses the right to sit for an attendance appeal hearing.

Along with the new phone and attendance policies, a surprising change to teacher absence rules has been introduced. Previously, all grades levels would be given a free work period if their teacher was absent except in the case of there being a substitute available. However, this year, freshmen year students do not have that privilege, instead they have to report to class when their teacher is absent. The motivation behind this policy is explained by Mrs. Wood: “Freshman students struggled last year with being ‘free’ when their teachers were absent. We had to address inappropriate behavior and many students were not completing the assignments left by their teachers.” 

However, many ninth graders are unhappy with this new policy.  Many blame past freshmen classes for the introduction of this policy and do not understand why they are being “punished” for the behavior of their predecessors. They question why this policy only applies to freshmen, which Mrs. Wood attributes to the fact that upperclassmen need to learn how to manage their time, as this is very important for life in college and the workplace. This brings up the question of whether delaying learning this skill until sophomore year will end up helping or hurting the class of 2028. Despite this, the administrative department of RHS believes this teacher absence policy for freshmen is beneficial and will help students to learn to manage their time better. 

With these new school policies, RHS  looks different than it has in the past. Nevertheless,  students will hopefully be more attentive and present in class through the new phone and attendance policies, and freshmen will have the opportunity to continue to learn in a focused environment by completing the assigned work for the period.  However, only time will tell how these policies will function in the school over the course of the years and how effective they prove to be in ensuring a more mindful and focused Ridgewood High School.