Dear Ridgewood Community,
One of the most important responsibilities of government is to keep our community safe.
To that end, the Ridgewood Board of Education has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to increase security at our schools, including hardware purchases (driver’s license readers, one-button security) and staffing additions (RHS School Resource Officer). In addition, the BOE has made policy changes that increase security by limiting visitors to the schools; even parents are now actively discouraged from entering school buildings for unofficial reasons at all times in order to keep movement to a minimum during the school day. These are all rightful and necessary steps for the safety of our students and school community.
Fact #1: Thousands of registered voters enter our schools on each election day.
On multiple election days each year, thousands of registered voters[1] are allowed to enter our schools while school is in session. While elections have typically been low-risk events in the past, we believe that our current climate dictates a proactive stance, decreasing exposure to any security risk. Unnecessarily opening our school doors repeatedly throughout the year undermines the security investments mentioned above. Last year some HSAs were so concerned about safety that they requested extra security coverage on election days.
We feel that a better approach would be to hold our local elections on one day — the traditional November Election Day. Eliminating off-cycle election days will help ensure that our students are safer.
One Village, One Vote!
Over the coming weeks and months, we will be presenting data to the community about why it makes sense to move our elections to November. Be sure to sign up for emails at www.onevillageonevote.com in order to receive all of the latest information and learn how you can help support this change in our Village. We look forward to connecting with you.
Respectfully,
Bob Fuhrman
Matthew Lindenberg
Stacey Loscalzo
Deborah Steinbaum
Siobhan Crann Winograd
1 ^ Ridgewood has approximately 18,000 registered voters, all of whom are potential visitors to the schools on election days.