RPS Update

Happy Valentine’s Day! This week we celebrated our faculty and staff with our yearly theme “We Love RPS.” The goal of this special week of LOVE is our way to honor educators and support staff through words , and actions. There are many adjectives to describe our RPS community; here are just a few that come to mind: dedicated, caring, flexible, smart, fun, and collaborative. While our families and students began their February recess yesterday, our faculty are engaged in high-quality professional learning today. Thank you to our teachers, school leaders, and staff developers for the meaningful opportunities to grow our craft– we are truly a learning organization, and it's a privilege to work here. We Love RPS!

Assistant Superintendent Cory Gillette and her team have been busy this week with the preparations for professional learning, Forever Summer BRIDGE Programs and the Best Buddies Program. As highlighted on our RPS website, “It is the moments together that change us forever.”. Registration for this unique summer experience taught by RPS teachers is open now; you can find out more here. We hope our students and families take advantage of this amazing opportunity.

The Board of Education will meet the evening of February 24 to discuss and potentially adopt or modify the Superintendent’s Proposed Operating Budget for FY26. You still have time to provide feedback- you may do so by emailing the Board of Education or completing the google form on the District website.

At the risk of being repetitive (sorry!), there is a very important referendum coming our way on Tuesday, February 25. You can cast your vote between 6:00 a.m. and 8:00 p.m. at Yanity Gym. You will be voting on whether to approve funds to support the schools and community through three ballot resolutions:

• Costs Related to Construction of a new Alternative High School and Transition Program Building;

• Costs Related to Design and Construction of Roof Repairs and Replacement at Town Schools (Ridgebury, Scotland, Veterans Park, East Ridge Middle School, and Ridgefield High School) and,

• Costs Related to Design, Construction, and Equipping of a new Public Safety Building.

Want to know more about the AHS/RTP program? Listen to this week's podcast with Dr. Hannaway, Ms. Browne, Dr. DeSantis, and myself!

My next Friday update will be on February 28. Enjoy the holiday break and time with your family!

Warmly,

Susie

Susie Da Silva, Ed.D

We have an All-Star crew for this week’s episode of Ridgefield Tiger Talk. Dr. Susie Da Silva Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Elizabeth Hannaway Assistant Superintendent of Special Services, and Jill Browne Director of Finance join the show to tell us about a very important vote happening February 25. We discussed the importance of the new space needed for the Alternative High School/Ridgefield Transition Program, the long-term cost savings it can bring the community, and the importance of having a commitment like this for our impressive students. Thanks for listening. Click here to see the Alternative High School website mentioned in the show.

Please see our Summer Bridge website for all the incredible offerings RPS teachers are bringing to our students—fishing! singing! cooking! engineering! pancakes! The short "Summer Bridgefield" video of some of the fun we had last summer might get you thinking of summer. Register as soon as possible to ensure your student's spot.

NOTE: Jumpstart Middle School is free for rising sixth graders; that registration starts March 7 on the Summer Bridge site.

Families! Please consider nominating an RPS educator for next year's Teacher of the Year using this form. The Teacher of the Year Program recognizes and honors teacher excellence. It does not attempt to select the "best" teacher; rather, it identifies among many outstanding teachers, one teacher to serve as a visible and vocal representative of what is best in the profession. The program celebrates excellence in teaching by recognizing teachers who have inspired a love of learning in their students, demonstrated fervor within their classroom, and who have distinguished themselves in the profession.

Each school will select a School Teacher of the Year to represent the school in the district's Teacher-of-the-Year selection process.

If you know you know....Anyone who has seen an RHS musical knows that these productions are not to be missed. This year, the talented RHS theater department is putting on the classic, The Wizard of Oz.

Mark your calendars and get your tickets here.

7pm performances on March 7, 8,14 & 15
1pm Sensory Friendly Show on March 7

Please help RPS go green by checking your students' e-Backpack weekly for important information. Organizations that meet the RPS policy may submit their request for inclusion to cmelagrano@ridgefieldps.net

Resources for LGBTQ+ families and youth, including a monthly game night and virtual caregiver support group, are available in the eBackpack and on ridgefieldctpride.com.

RHS learned this week that five seniors are U.S. Presidential Scholar candidates. Congratulations to Carter Brown, Will Carter, Catherine Thompson, Elias Warholak, and Elijah Yurkovsky! Learn more about the prestigious U.S. Presidential Scholars Program. Best of luck in the final selection!

Congratulations to the RHS students on the High Honor and Honor Rolls for Quarter 2. The full list of High Honors and Honors students is here.

Last Saturday, the RHS Science Olympiad Club competed at the Yale University Science Olympiad Invitational. Out of 53 teams our A team placed 16th and our B team placed 39th. Our A team earned medals in the following events:

• 2nd place Astronomy (Jayin Palicha & Asher Pereyra)
• 3rd place Fossils (Jayin Palicha & Sebastian Utomo)
• 6th place Anatomy & Physiology (Mazie Pelusio & Hannah Levine)

Attached below are some pictures of the students from the competition.

(Will Carter and Brandon Lebun-Luo testing their Tower build)

(Ashley Libhart, Walter Treat, Simon Bleck, and Joey Velasco practicing Codebusters)

(Walter Treat and Simon Bleck wearing their lab safety gear for Material Science)

The 2024 edition of Lodestar, the RHS literary/arts magazine, has been recognized as a REALM First Class magazine by the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE). Schools in 46 states and five countries nominated 422 student magazines. Magazines from middle school, high school, and higher education were welcomed for the 2024 contest. 125 magazines were awarded the contest’s highest distinction, REALM First Class. Lodestar is run by a group of talented and committed students and overseen by RHS English teachers Tara Ceresa and Kevin Higgins. The club is open to all members of the RHS student body.

Scotts Ridge Grade 8 hosted its annual Connecticut History Day Fair in the LLC last Friday. The CT History Day theme this year was Rights and Responsibility, and SRMS eighth graders worked in teams and individually to research and present a history topic. On Friday, they shared their projects, which covered a wide variety of historical events, themes, and perspectives. Inspired by the upcoming SRMS musical, Newsles, a couple of student teams chose the News strike of 1899. Staff and students from all the grades visited the fair and voted on their favorites. Please see the winners below.

Veterans Park Elementary librarian Liza Bullard reports that VPES got STEAM-y this week at a nighttime event celebrating Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, and Math. The STEAM Night theme was Wild Symphony, the picture book debut of mega-best-selling author Dan Brown.

The event had all the parts of STEAM - (of course, some areas can be in more than one area!)

S - Science: sound waves

T - Technology: Code a Fan & RPS Robotics

E - Engineering: Make instruments

A- Art: Create animals from the book with tape art & play-do creatures

M- Math: make Lego marble mazes

And we can’t forget the music Anagrams & Bluey’s House! Very STEAMy night!

Thanks to the amazing VPES staff and the PTA for supporting a fun school-wide event.

Scotland Elementary nurse Lisa Martire never knows exactly what her day will look like. Yes, she is likely to hand out several bandaids and ice packs for minor cuts or scrapes and help students manage bloody noses, but the work of an RPS school nurse goes way beyond bandaids, nosebleeds, and hand-washing. Ms. Martire explains that RPS school nurses also help with attendance and dispense daily medication to students. They prepare medicine for field trips and report to the state of Connecticut on asthma, immunizations, and student health. They work with families and students with emotional or physical needs and log every student who enters their offices. They provide vision, hearing, and scoliosis screenings. School nurses are also there to help if an emergency arises.

Ms. Martire started at RPS as a part-time aid to the Counseling Department but quickly put her nursing degree to work at RHS, where she worked alongside the other RHS school nurses for a year. Now, she has been at Scotland Elementary for over ten years. “It was an adjustment at first,” says Martire. “Elementary school nurses might be the only trained medical professionals in their building. We need to be there for emergencies—a student or staff has a serious fall or incident. We are involved.”

Ms. Martire remembers her first days well and says the nurses across the district are always available to each other. “Sometimes different issues come up that we haven’t seen before, so we reach out to each other. It’s very supportive that way.” Ms. Martire credits her nursing colleagues and RPS and SES administrators with being “a great support system. I love the job.”

In turn, she is loved. Scotland Principal Jill Katkocin writes, “Mrs. Martire is at the heart of Scotland, always ready with care, supporting everyone in our building. She goes above and beyond, caring for all of our needs... students and staff! We are grateful for the comfort and guidance she provides to our community, and we just adore her!” Director of Nursing Ms. Andrée Fitzgerald also testifies to Ms. Martire’s contributions to RPS. Nurse Fitzgerald writes, “We are fortunate to have Lisa as a part of our nursing team. Her knowledge, skills, and compassion exemplify the qualities of today’s school nurse.”

Thank you to Ms. Martire and all RPS nurses for all you do to keep our schools healthy and safe.

East Ridge sixth graders celebrated the Lunar New Year last week with a luncheon and other fun activities. Some of our students showed off their chopsticks chops...others needed a fork. Everyone had fun! May the Year of the Snake bring you good fortune.

On Wednesday, the Elementary Spanish teacher Jill Quattrocchi was at Farmingville Elementary, bringing energy, enthusiasm, and español to grades 3, 4, and 5. Students sing the days of the week, talk about el día de San Valentín, receive a civics lesson about the difference between a state and a territory, and play a game using vocabulary…All in Spanish!

"The students are doing so well," says fourth-grade teacher Laura Matos. "It's amazing what Jill can bring to each classroom each time she comes. They really enjoy it, and they can say a lot."

The Proposed SY 2026 Budget expands Spanish instruction to grades k-2.

Photo Note: Wednesday was Hat Day at FES, so students and staff paid a dollar to wear hats (sombreros). The proceeds from Hat Day will go to California wildfire victims.

The following RHS students qualified for the Western Region High School Festival. Congratulations!

Band students: Gia Kim, Ian Whitehurst, Denys Shushura, Preston Penn, Simon Bleck, Zachery Pichardo; Choral students: Hazel Connally, Tristan Farmer, Isabella Lodato, Theo McCue, Charlotte Overs, and Grace Smith; Orchestra Students: Alyssa Bello, Audrey Englert, Sofia Fazzioli Sague, Fyodor Feldshteyn, Eva Figlar, Olivia Hsiung, Ava Murdock, Claudia Padilla, Hancheng Peng, Julia Pierz, Samantha Sauer, Clarabelle Sutjito, Olivia Tejada, Joseph Velasco, Kiril Volkov, Ryan Zou

Tuesday was Clay Day at Ridgebury Elementary. Art teacher Rachael Penney led Ms. Tiger's first graders through an adorable lesson shaping bugs, which will be fired, glazed, and fired again. Students rolled up their sleeves and turned balls of clay into pinch pots, learning how to use hatch marks and water to affix wings, eyes, and other anatomical features. They used burlap and other fabrics and tools to add texture. Each RES grade will be using clay this week. RPS Update will share photos when the final results are ready. Farmingville and Scotland are also having fun getting creative with clay.

On Monday night, fans packed the RHS gym for the Girl's Basketball team's senior night. Many of these super fans are RPS elementary and middle schoolers who have been watching the team's games all year. "We know the players," says Veterans Park fourth-grader Amalia Maylone--Seltz, who is there with her travel basketball teammates—who represent five of our six elementary schools. "We do their camps. They're so nice." Amalia's teammate Lucy sits beside her, dressed in her travel basketball jersey with the #22, like Caitlin Clark (and RHS player Sophie Desiano).

The dads, moms, and even the grandparents of these younger players also count themselves as fans. Two of the parents say they own sweatshirts with the trending "Everyone Watches Women Sports." After the game (another win for the Tigers!), the young girls pose with their mentors for an RPS basketballers group shot. The players reflect love back on the younger players: "We're their fans too!!" one upperclassman says.

The basketball players are not the only superstars in the building. Branchville fifth-grade teacher Jennifer Armas, whose daughter is a senior on the team, is also given the rockstar reception by her former students, who are now in sixth grade.

During this We LOVE RPS week, Monday night in the gym exemplifies how love runs through our students, families, and staff. Congratulations to all RHS senior athletes, including the six basketball seniors. Thank you for being positive role models for RPS students. We're all watching!

RHS senior Emily Seal reports that on Sunday, the Molly Ann Tango Foundation Junior Committee had a Valentine's Day meeting where they assembled flowers for mothers of beneficiary families, listened to Debbie Haughney's story, and wrote cards to beneficiary children. The Molly Ann Tango Foundation is a local nonprofit with a mission is to provide financial assistance/ guidance to families with special needs children. The Jr. board's purpose is to support the beneficiary families and raise awareness within the community.

East Ridge seventh-grade Social Studies teachers Mike Settanni and Will Boylan spearheaded a soup and canned goods drive to support local families. ERMS partnered with SPHERE, CT volunteers Rachel and Joceyln to distribute the canned goods to Ballard Green and Ruby's food pantries. This partnership represented the first collaboration for SPHERE in Action, a new initiative pairing SPHERE members with local non-profit organizations.

Veterans Park Elementary held its Souper Bowl Challenge last week. VPES principal Dr. Sheri Prendergast reports that "students came together to donate cans of soup and other non-perishable food items for the Hillside Food Outreach in Danbury in a friendly competition to see which team—Eagles or Chiefs—had more votes. The turnout was incredible, and together we gathered over 337 items to support local families in need."

The monster collages below greet Ridgebury elementary students and remind them how much they are valued and to be kind friends!

"Wuff U Be My Valentine?" The RHS Student Government organized activities yesterday, including a kissing booth with ROAR therapy dogs Winnie, Murphy, and Cody. Students and staff came in for snuggles, wet kisses, and photos.

During this week of WE LOVE RPS, the RPS community and the greater Ridgefield Community celebrated each other in small and big ways. RHS celebrated supervisory paraeducator Stephen Cole with a heart cake and photo with ROAR dog Murphy. Allison Burke writes, "At one time he was the tennis coach at RHS -- and is the most pleasant man each and every day." RHS Youth Against Cancer Club members sold love llamas to raise funds to fight cancer. East Ridge teachers shared homemade bowls of soup last Friday. The stylish stylists from Pelo by Edgardo pose with hair products they gave to RPS staff for free. Please see all the We LOVE RPS discounts for teachers and staff here. Thank you to all the businesses for your support and ways our community goes above and beyond for each other every day.

Preschool teacher Samantha Colmanetti designed a play-based learning Flower Shop, allowing her students to explore creativity, social skills, and early math concepts through play while preparing for Valentine’s Day.

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.