Ridgefield Public Schools
Our shared purpose is to provide highly engaging, relevant and personalized learning for ALL members of the community

Welcome to Our district

There's nothing we enjoy more than sharing the good news about our wonderful students and staff members. And we have a lot of great things to share! Read all about student and faculty awards and accomplishments, past happenings, upcoming events, and so much more.

2021–2022 Superintendent's Proposed Budget

Please take a moment to familiarize yourself with the Superintendent's proposed budget for the 2021–2022 school year. You can find additional information in both of the following documents:

Superintendent's Response to Crisis at the Capitol

1/7/2021 

Dear Families and Faculty, As our nation watched the events of last evening unfold, I know we share in disbelief and sadness. The foundation of our country is shaken in unimaginable ways. With the protection of peaceful protest in our country, and diversity of opinion and perspective need to hold value and encouraged, violence and breaking the law aren’t doing either of these. As adults, the events of yesterday are difficult to conceptualize, and thus we can only imagine the impact that this event has on the fragility of our youth. Our schools and educators will navigate the events in responsible, developmentally appropriate ways and as needed. 

The Special Service Department at RPS has offered the following resources for educators, all of which are accessible to families as well. 

Children respond to these situations differently, and we have prepared our schools to support them in any way possible. Our schools are safe places where we encourage children to share their feelings. Please do not hesitate to reach out to your school principal or psychologist with questions, concerns, or for strategies. 

Let us embrace our country and one another during this incredibly difficult time.

Susie Da Silva, Ed. D.
Superintendent of Schools

New Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction

Ms. Gillette comes to Ridgefield from the Darien Public Schools, where she has worked since 2013, first as a literacy program kindergarten through twelfth grade coordinator then kindergarten through fifth English language arts and social studies program director. RPS superintendent Dr. Susie Da Silva cited Gillette’s experience with Darien’s kindergarten through twelfth grade curriculum alignment as critical to RPS’s programmatic needs. “She has the experience to look at curriculum implementation at the elementary level to inform students’ middle and high school success.” For more information on our New assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction, please read our RPS new hire news letter in its entirety.

Weather-Related Procedures

On Tuesday, October 27, we received guidance from the Commissioner of Education on “Weather-Related Closures.” This guidance offers Districts the opportunity to transition into a ‘remote learning’ model rather than a weather-related school cancellation requiring a make-up day in June. The decision to apply the remote learning option is dependent on reported power outages in the community or other factors that may impact our ability to provide an appropriate educational experience. Please learn more about this new communication in Superintendent Silva's October 29 letter.

COVID-19 Vaccine for RPS
Instagram screenshot with caption Guess who this is? It's our very own Aaron Crook getting his COVID19 vaccine. This is great news!

Aaron Crook RN, Ridgefield Public School’s COVID-19 Health and Safety Compliance Liaison and Coordinator of Nursing Services, received the Pfizer mRNA COVID-19 vaccine on December 22. RPS school nurses have scheduled their vaccine appointments in the coming days. Educators will be vaccinated next in phase 1b. Nurse Crook said that after the vaccine he felt “awesome!”

Asynchronous Early Dismissal Days

We will be holding one Early Dismissal day per month between January and May where students will engage in asynchronous learning in the afternoon. The purpose of this time is to allow our faculty to plan, prepare, and discuss best practices to support student learning. Each of our schools will send a reminder as we approach the dates below.

  • Friday, January 29
  • Friday, February 26
  • Monday, March 15
  • Monday, April 26
  • Monday, May 24

Parent Requests for Changes into or out of Cohort “C”

Parents who elect to change their children’s learning model into or out of Cohort “C” (full-time distance learning) may do so by:

  • Elementary School Parents: Please directly contact the building principal via email and “cc” your child’s classroom teacher.
  • Middle and High School Parents: Please directly contact your child’s school counselor via email and “cc” a building administrator.

RPS Reopening of Schools Plan

We have prepared our Reopening of Schools Plan as a comprehensive document that will guide you through CSDE requirements, our journey, as well as inform you on the steps and plans for the reopening of school this fall. You can continue to expect frequent communication and updates as we receive them. We encourage you to read through our reopening plan in its entirety. Continue to send your questions to reopening@ridgefieldps.net.

District Presentations to the BOE

Each month our district leaders make presentations on a wide variety of topics to the Board of Education to keep both board members and the general public informed of the work of our district staff, building leaders, teachers, and students. Although all BOE meeting documents can be found on our dedicated BOE page, for your convenience we will provide quick links here to the most recent presentations.