RPS Update
October 16, 2026
Dear RPS Community,
This week, we brought together a diverse group of stakeholders for our Strategic Planning Design Team. I always appreciate opportunities that bring people with different experiences and perspectives into the same conversation. There is something powerful about listening to how others see our schools, what they value, and what they hope for our students. We can't wait to hear what you think!
As we begin this work, I keep coming back to the idea that the process matters just as much as the final product. A strategic plan should not simply be a document that sits on a shelf. It should reflect our shared aspirations, help us make thoughtful decisions, and provide a clear direction for the work ahead.
At the same time, we have begun our annual budget development process. While strategic planning and budgeting may seem like two very different conversations, they are deeply connected. One asks us to think about what we want for our students and schools. The other asks us to consider how we responsibly align our resources to support those priorities.
Both require us to listen, ask good questions, make thoughtful choices, and sometimes navigate competing needs. And both remind me that leadership is not always about having the answers. Often, it is about creating the conditions for the right conversations to happen.
I am grateful for the people who show up every day committed to doing what is best for our students, whether in a classroom, around a planning table, or behind the scenes making sure our schools have what they need.
Yesterday’s heartbreaking event in Oregon is a reminder of the responsibility we share to ensure that our schools are places where students and staff feel safe, supported, and cared for. Here at RPS, safety and security is our most important responsibility. In partnership with our Director of Security, our staff, and community emergency responders, we are continually reviewing our practices, evaluating our procedures, and working with school leaders to identify opportunities for improvement. This work is never finished, nor should we ever become complacent. This work requires collaboration, thoughtful decisions, and a shared commitment to doing what is best for our students and staff.
As October continues to fly by, I hope we can all find a few moments to appreciate the good work happening around us and the people who make it possible.
Wishing everyone a wonderful weekend.
Warmly,
Susie
Susie Da Silva, Ed.D
Photo Captions:
Above: Dr. Annie Tucci leads the first meeting of the Strategic Planning Design Team.
Top of page: Scotland fourth grade pumpkin by Pip H.
Check Your e-Backpack
Please help RPS go green by checking your students' e-Backpack weekly for important information. This week, we have a flyer for Shark Tank 5, a community event on Tuesday, October 27, which has a big group of RHS participants (more to come). Community organizations and groups can submit flyers for inclusion by emailing Christine Melagrano.
October Calendar
This Sunday, the RPS PTAs and Ridgefield Recreation Center are sponsoring a Ridgefield Coat and Boot swap! Go green, declutter, get cozy, and save.
Please check the your school calendar for important dates. The Board of Education committee meeting calendar is ongoing so please review the District calendar for additions. See some important RHS Counseling dates and opportunities below.
November Calendar
Please check the your school calendar for important dates. The Board of Education committee meeting calendar is ongoing so please review the District calendar periodically for additions. RHS Robotics is looking for volunteers for its annual competition; see more information about getting involved and attending the event in the flyer.
Board of Education
This week, the Board of Education held its regular meeting on Tuesday night because of Monday's holiday. The Outreach Committee met first and enjoyed lively reports from Student Body President Andrew Tebbe, NEA-R rep Mary Ellen Foley, PTA co-president Katherine Voellmicke, and student and staff representatives from the Alternative High School and Ridgefield Transition Program. View the Outreach Committee meeting to hear about the costs and rewards of Tebbe's daily Spirit Week costumes, a Top Ten List from the Prospect Ridge campus, and more.
During the full BOE meeting, they approved the 2027-28 calendar, among other policy work and committee updates. "Retired" Facilities Director Joe Morits presented the impressive summer work RPS and the Town of Ridgefield completed on school buildings. Superintendent Dr. DaSilva gave the Financial Report, and Director of Personnel Karen Dewing spoke about her department's recruitment and retention program. View the full meeting, supporting documents, minutes, agenda, and more on the BOE webpage.
REMINDER: Technology Committees Work Continues
Ridgefield Public Schools has launched two technology committees to guide how we choose digital tools, protect student information, and prepare students to navigate a digital world responsibly. Following the Tri-State Consortium's external review this spring, the Technology Advisory Committee, which includes parents, community members, and other stakeholders, and the District Technology Working Committee, which includes educators from various grade levels and departments, are focused on three interconnected areas: Teaching & Learning and Educational Technology; Data Privacy and Security; and Digital Citizenship.
Student well-being is at the center of this work, and our goal is to build trust through transparency. The Working Committee held its first meeting on October 6, and after each meeting, we will post a summary of what we heard and what comes next so families can see how and why we make decisions. Dr. Taylor Wrye, Director of Educational Technology, will also be visiting school communities this year to hear directly from parents and guardians. To read about the committees, view meeting dates and listening sessions, and access key documents, including the RPS Technology Plan, visit the Technology Committees page: https://sites.google.com/ridgefieldps.net/technology-committees/home
RHS Counseling Corner
This week, ninth-grade LLC/Counseling seminars come to a close. Library and media specialists partnered with RHS counselors to deliver lessons on topics such as Digital Citizenship, time management, and resilience. Pictured here are students identifying stressors that are within their control and out of their control.
The RHS Counseling Department sent its Fall 2026 newsletter this last week. Check it out for vital information for parents in every grade, including steps for completing the FAFSA form for financial aid and upcoming presentations.
In the Schools
RPS Pre-K Is Underway!
On Thursday, RPS Update visited Deb Gershner, Tara Dore, and Natalie Skrokov’s Barlow Mountain Pre-K students. Cuteness and connection alert! Ms. Gershner’s students had just come inside from an outdoor scavenger hunt and were hypothesizing why they hadn’t found any acorns amongst the fall leaves and cones they collected. Maybe the squirrels stole them all!
Then, the class could choose from a variety of Centers, which combined play, hands-on learning, social skills, and seasonal activities. In the science center, students used a magnifying glass to explore the scavenged leaves, cones, and sticks. They explored changing colors and textures: rough, smooth, crunchy. A pumpkin-washing activity reinforced vocabulary—round, stems, smooth vs. rough textures. This was sensory play with contrasting textures like gritty dry mud, wet mud, and soapy suds. Students pretended to harvest pumpkins from the patch and then clean the harvest.
In another center, students followed the recipe for pumpkin playdough—a lesson that incorporated math, language, and the smell of pumpkin pie spice. Students rolled a die to see how many stirs of the dough mixture each child would make while taking turns and practicing subitizing (recognizing small quantities on the die—like seeing 3 dots—without counting them individually) and one-to-one correspondence as they counted out the exact number of stirs. They followed directions, communicated with table mates, attended to each other’s rolls, and narrated what was happening to the dough. They used sensory language to describe the smell, texture, and colors as we mixed, including vocabulary like sticky, smooth, and firm.
Students visited the Farmers Market, which let them practice money concepts, vocabulary, social-emotional learning, and executive functioning. They practiced sorting and classifying vegetables, turn-taking, recognizing environmental print (words seen in everyday life, including “exit”, “open”, etc), and role-playing with language: “How can I help you? Thank you. Have a nice day!”
A collaborative orange collage in both classrooms let students use stickers, stamps, sponges, and Q-tips. Blocks and cars were very popular as one student made an enormous house for cars. “We have the best toys,“ Ms. Skrokov observed. Next week, RPS Update will return to Ms. Skrokov’s classroom to see how they use Fundations and Heggerty curriculum resources. We’ll also head to the Veterans Park pre-K classroom to carve the great pumpkin.
Scotland Solves the Case of the Missing Tooth
This week, June Presslaff's Scotland Elementary kindergarten class found a mysterious tooth. Of course, this is not the first time Ms. Presslaff experienced drama in the lost tooth department. Baby teeth are tiny and have a way of disappearing. In fact, Ms. Presslaff has an in with the Tooth Fairy in these circumstances. However, this is the first time a tooth was found without being able to identify who lost it. Ms. Presslaff announced to the class that she was putting the tooth in a special place. Fortunately, the mystery was solved that night, when a student noticed a new (but small) gap in their smile. Ms. Presslaff who has been teaching kindergarten for most of her career, says, "I absolutely LOVE treasures like these happenings!"
Speaking of teeth and kindergarten! The Scribble Monsters below are inspired by two books, The Color Monster by Anna Llenas and I'm NOT Just a Scribble by Diane Alber. Scotland art teacher Megan Kounnas writes, "Kindergarten artists learned about emotions and how they can get mixed up. Then learned that sometimes scribblina and art can help organize thoughts. They also learned that beautiful and creative art can result from a scribble (which is a type of line) and created monsters out of theirs!"
Ridgefield Transition and East Ridge Launch Snack Cart
New Alternative High School Expands Classroom Opportunities
The opening of the new Alternative High School (AHS) at Prospect Ridge has expanded educational opportunities for students—including Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) electives and lessons for students. Dr. Kara Mia Colon, who has taught STEM at AHS for four years and RHS for eight, notes the impact of the new facility: “We have a dedicated space for this kind of instruction now and incredible resources,” referring to the campus's two new 3D printers and high-powered computers. “We just didn’t have the room for any of these lessons before.”
This year, Dr. Colon introduced CAD (Computer-Aided Design) Drawing and Technical Drafting at AHS, mirroring the elective she teaches at RHS on an every-other-day rotation. Available to students in grades 9–12 on both campuses, the course teaches fundamental engineering and technical drawing skills through progressive projects, including drawings of a box, a staircase, and block lettering. “We will put these drawings into CAD and use software to convert student drawings to 3D-compatible printer files,” says Dr. Colon. AHS students will then learn to use the 3D printers to create holiday ornaments and game pieces for an interdisciplinary U.S. history lesson.
Dr. Colon, who also teaches Biology and Physics at AHS, highlights additional features of the new science room, including a planned fish tank and plant growers equipped with moisture controls, temperature monitors, and time-lapse cameras to help students track environmental variables.
What an exciting time for our AHS students and staff!
RHS Candidates Assembly and Mock Election
Written by Frances Walton, League of Women Voters of Ridgefield, President
On Thursday, October 8th, twelfth-grade students at RHS held the 65th Annual Candidates Assembly, where they addressed several topics with candidates. These included Flock cameras and privacy concerns, Route 7 safety issues, affordability, particularly the price of gas, housing and general costs, electricity bills, healthcare costs, teacher shortages in CT, immigration enforcement, and how to best support our community. Three candidates seeking election for the State Senate attended, seeking to represent the 24th and 26th Senate districts, and the two candidates seeking to represent House District 111. There was a second debate for the two candidates for the 4th US Congressional District race, and they were asked questions on affordability, Medicaid changes, immigration and ICE, federal policies and how they affect the state, AI innovation with its risks and challenges, and climate change. All questions were developed by students in American Government & Politics and AP US Government and Politics classes. The candidates who attended for the first debate were Sam Nestor, Melissa Lindsay, Julie Kushner, Blake Consentino, and Aimee Berger-Girvalo; and in the second debate for the US Congress, Michael Goldstein and Jim Himes.
The assembly’s success is reliant on the leadership of senior students. The moderators of the debate were students Jake Levi and Lia Munoz Rojas. Student questioners included Gigi Bakle, Sophia Rinella, Harper Gibbons, Max Fixler, Claudia Padilla, Ned Eagle, Simon DeMain, and Mae Carpenter. The Timers for the assembly were Grace Pepin, Connor Graves, Grace Smith, Finley Cooper, Lucy Lowman, and Nicholas Attaie. Student greeters were Arthur Brown, Andrew Fitzpatrick, Scarlett Fixler, Aarav Puri, Andrew Tebbe, and Sherry Wu.
The impact of such a program is so valuable. Danny Martins, the RHS Social Studies Department Chair, states, “It is always something special when the candidates come in excited to speak directly to our students and graciously mention multiple times that this is one of their favorite events to attend. Most importantly, it's all worthwhile when you hear students discussing the assembly outside the program. Seeing a past student questioner of the assembly be a candidate, made it even more significant.” Co-coordinator Jenn DeJulio, echoed the sentiment “my students reflected on the candidate’s approachability - they really connected with the candidates who spoke directly to teenagers and understood the future they will face.” Mae Carpenter agreed that, "It was such a wonderful experience to be able to talk to actual candidates. Their insights were so valuable and it inspired me to participate in democracy."
The League of Women Voters of Ridgefield has a long history of working with the high school on the candidates’ debate and the Mock Election, which was held on October 9th. The Government and Politics program emphasizes civic participation, and all seniors were encouraged to vote in the Mock Election whose results are always highly anticipated. Senior students could vote for one candidate in each of the races, Senate District 24 and Senate District 26, House District 111, and US Congressional District 4.
Seniors who are 18 years old or who will be turning 18 prior to November 3rd were given the opportunity to register to vote with both the Ridgefield Registrars of Voters and the League of Women Voters of Ridgefield (LWVR).
With 201 votes cast, the successful candidates were: for the 4th US Congressional District, Rep Jim Himes, for the 24th State Senate District, Julie Kushner, and for the 26th State Senate District, Aimee Berger-Girvalo. The students voted using real ballots and a town vote scanner. The Mock Election was made possible by the generosity of the Ridgefield High School Parent Teacher Student Association, Ridgefield’s Registrars of Voters and the League of Women Voters of Ridgefield.
Writing Instruction Update: College Essay Conferences
Last week's RPS Update shared the curriculum team's Writing Instruction Update, which showed how RPS teaches writing from kindergarten through high school. You can view this presentation on the curriculum website. Conferring with students is an essential part of the writing process. It begins in elementary school and continues through high school, supporting writers throughout their learning experience!
Writing conferences expand at RHS. Teachers use the adaptive scheduler to meet with students in 1:1 writing sessions multiple times throughout the year. Students not only improve as writers and thinkers; they also build the skill set to self-advocate. Seniors applying to college meet with their English teachers in the first months of school to polish their Common Application essays and supplements.
“Good teaching is about relationships,” says English teacher Kevin Higgins, who has, with the permission of the students, opened up a couple of his conferences to RPS Update. “And this is a good way to start the year.”
Mr. Higgins’s AP Literature students—Audrey Bonheim and Gabriel Fincham—are already confident writers with developed essays that show originality, fluency, and cohesion. They want great essays that help them stand out to some of the most selective universities in the world. “I’m here to help,” says Mr. Higgins, asking Audrey to read parts of her essay to him. In doing so, Audrey can identify parts of the essay that could be strengthened to create a more powerful turning point.
Mr. Higgins points out how Gabriel’s creative essay about building sandcastles is authentic and original. They discuss details that could be confusing or teased out to reveal more. They also discuss the supplemental requirement for film school, which asks for a creative response to a work of art—a challenging assignment!
English teachers often hear from RHS alumni about how prepared they are for post-secondary life. Sometimes, our RHS counselors even hear from college admission representatives how exemplary our students’ essays are. Much of the credit for that excellence goes to our ELA teachers, from kindergarten through RHS, and the dedicated conference program. Of course, our students and families’ hard work and investment are critical pieces of the program’s success.
Business Tech Students Unplug to Better Understand AI
Submitted by RHS Business Teacher Jonathan MacIsaac
In Business Technology class, RHS students are learning about Information Technology and Artificial Intelligence before even opening their Chromebooks. To build strong digital literacy skills, students spent the first week of the unit doing hands-on, unplugged activities. These activities helped them understand how AI works, how to set safety guardrails, and how to use tech efficiently. The highlight of the week was a visit from Assistant Principal Jarrett Pepe, who jumped into the action to help run a live prompt engineering experiment.
The "Literal AI" Gas Station Experiment
To show how AI Large Language Models process commands, the lesson began with a blind prompt. Students had five minutes to write step by step instructions on paper for a simple task: getting gas at a gas station. No extra hints or directions were provided.
Next came the main event, "The Literal AI." Mr. MacIsaac read the student instructions aloud while Mr. Pepe followed them literally, without making any smart human assumptions:
When a prompt said "Pull up to the pump," Mr. Pepe walked right past the pump because the prompt did not say where to stop.
When instructed to "Put your card in the machine," he shoved a card into a random slot and left it there.
When told to "Pick up the nozzle and put gas in the car," he squeezed the nozzle before putting it in the tank. This sprayed imaginary gas everywhere because the prompt forgot to mention opening the fuel door or gas cap.
Bridging Chaos to Core AI Concepts
The exercise helped students quickly connect the activity to real AI vocabulary:
Implicit vs. Explicit Context: Humans fill in missing details automatically, like turning off the engine. An AI only knows what you explicitly tell it in the prompt.
Unexpected Behavior: Squeezing a nozzle prematurely was not a mistake by the AI. It was simply following a poorly ordered prompt.
Edge Cases: Prompts need clear rules for unexpected events, such as telling the AI what to do if a payment card is declined.
System Prompts: To wrap up, students flipped their papers over and rewrote their instructions as structured system prompts. They added clear roles, step by step order, safety rules, and fallback plans.
Students Respond
(Note: Student responses summarized by the teacher from class discussions following the activity.)
Question: What surprised you most about watching your gas station prompt executed literally?
Answer: "AI cannot read your mind. It was eye-opening to see how many simple steps, like unscrewing the gas cap, we take for granted."
Answer: "Watching Mr. Pepe pick Premium fuel because I forgot to specify Regular showed us that leaving out details leads to unexpected results."
Question: How did converting your initial instructions into a structured System Prompt change how you view AI tools?
Answer: "Good AI results depend entirely on the human user. A vague prompt leads to chaotic output every time."
Question: Why is it important to learn about AI guardrails and ethics before using these tools for school or business?
Answer: "It is easy to blindly trust technology. Learning about guardrails reminds us that humans must always remain in control."
RHS Athletics
The Ridgefield Athletic Department sent out its newsletter this week. See all the teams tearing up their conferences, an upcoming chat for parents (and students) with the RHS nutritionist, and some pretty spectacular photos here. We spy two undefeated varsity teams!!!!
Speaking of undefeated, RHS Girls Swim beat its biggest rival, perennial powerhouse Greenwich, on Wednesday! What a wonderful way to celebrate RHS seniors with an amazing team effort. Congratulations, Girls Swim!
Visit the RHS Athletics webpage for full schedules and team results. Tiger Hollow is beautiful at this time of year, so bundle up and come cheer on our Tigers!!!!! For more exceptional coverage of RHS athletics, follow @tiger_media_rhs on Instagram and find play-by-play commentary on YouTube. Look for next week's newsletter to learn more about this impressive student-led club.
HeARTS, Hallways, and Fit
We love this Scotland Elementary bulletin board. All hands in for inclusivity—always in season and the perfect fit. Speaking of perfect fit, join us in wearing our classic WE LOVE RPS swag. Click here for the link to order and have it delivered to your school!
Editor's reminder: We love sharing photos and stories from the RPS Community every week, so please continue to reach out! At times, we make errors, which we correct in the next newsletter; to avoid confusion and cluttering inboxes, we resend a corrected newsletter only when necessary. You can reach out to Alison Pratt to submit stories, corrections, and feedback.
Please follow us on Social Media; see links below.