Welcome Message

A strong educational system is crucial to Bloomingdale for two reasons:  to secure the brightest possible future for our children, and to improve the health of our community.  Balancing these two commitments -- to our schoolchildren, and to the taxpaying community-- has always been, and will always be, the foremost concern of the administrators and volunteers of the Bloomingdale School District who have been trusted with this responsibility.

Their efforts allow our full-time educators to devote undiminished energy to the classroom, keeping the student-teacher ratio as low as possible while continuing to save the taxpayers money.  The Bloomingdale Board of Education, headed by President Lauren Grecco, has consolidated positions, pooled resources with other districts, and re-evaluated extracurricular and co-curricular activities.  Such wise decision-making earned us the status of "High-Performing District", as Bloomingdale was declared in April following a rigorous evaluation by the New Jersey Department of Education.  Moreover, while achieving this status, the Board of Education continues to ensure an excellent educational experience for its students and vigilantly safeguard the taxpayers' purse strings.

Consolidation has been the key.  By combining services in the areas of administration, technology, mechanical maintenance, library services, payroll processing and custodial management, the Bloomingdale Board of Education actively engages in cost-efficiency wherever possible.  Entering into an inter-local agreement with Manchester Regional Board of Education has enabled improved technology support at a significant savings in dollars and hours.  Money has been saved in the areas of transportation through our participation in a county-wide transportation consortium, and through an agreement whereby our neighbors in the West Milford School District provide mechanical and maintenance services for our vehicles.  The Board of Education also has an inter-local lease agreement to lease the school fields for the purpose of field improvement and to enhance community usage.  Additionally, to achieve the greatest possible savings in classroom supplies, Bloomingdale continues to participate in a mega-buying cooperative bidding service.

Four years ago, the administration of the school system was downsized, combining roles of middle school principal and superintendent of schools.  Around the same time, an elementary school principal also became the supervisor of special services.  With these four positions merged into two, our payroll was significantly reduced -- again lightening the taxpayers' burden.

Outsourcing educational programs is expensive.  By creating programs to keep as many children as possible within the district, we can save money while shaping a more positive experience for Bloomingdale's children and their parents.  The Board of Education, under the guidance of Superintendent Dr. Fredda Rosenberg, recently approved a new class for multiple handicapped children who, in the past, attended class about an hour's bus ride away from home.  Three years ago, the Board, Dr. Rosenberg and Mrs. Mallen, Supervisor of Special Services, introduced a pre-school autistic class to provide intensive services for this population of students who, in the past, had to attend programs in other districts or in private schools.  Not only do these innovations keep our children closer to home, they reduce the costs of instruction and transportation.

Federal grants have assisted the District in expanding its technology plan, increasing the number of updated computers in the classrooms, and increasing the number of Smartboards that grace the classrooms in each building.  In the short-term, funding from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has given us the opportunity to enhance the use of technology in our schools without relying on direct support from the taxpayers.

The education of our students is paramount; therefore, all other conceivable measures are taken before the removal of a full-time educator or an increase in class size is considered.  Due to the loss of state aid, many stipend positions related to extracurricular activities needed to be eliminated in order to maintain an appropriate teacher/student ratio at each grade level.

In an effort to minimize the possible impact of the reduction in state aide on the academic success of our students, the Bloomingdale Board of Education will continue to pursue educational cost efficiency wherever it can be found.

The Bloomingdale Board of Education holds regularly scheduled meetings that generally fall on the first and third Monday of each month.  Please refer to the exact schedule on the district website at www.bloomingdaleschools.org, as there are some exceptions due to Monday holidays.  The public has two opportunities to participate during each meeting.  At the beginning of the meetings, which start at 7:00 p.m. in the library of the Walter T. Bergen School, the public may discuss any agenda items.  The second period of public discussion, scheduled at the end of the public session, is open to the discussion of non-agenda items.  Community participation is highly encouraged.  If you are unable to attend in person, the minutes of each meeting are accessible from the district website.

E-Mail:  frosenberg@bloomingdaleschools.org

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