Superintendent: phone-free day has gone 'remarkably smoothly' ¶
DeMarco told the board the district's phone-free school day has gone "remarkably smoothly" with very few issues, as the first month of the school year closes.[18] Brian DeLaite, who reported for the board's athletics, arts, extracurriculars and communications committee, said the policy has received positive feedback with no significant pushback from parents or students.[19]
Board approves design contracts for 18-21 program space and HVAC ¶
The board approved two architectural and engineering contracts: $117,900 with Solutions Architecture for alterations at Ramapo High School for New Horizons, a program for special education students ages 18 to 21, and $209,800 with LAN Associates for rooftop HVAC upgrades at both high schools. The resolutions say the board intends to pay for the projects from capital reserve, and a separate resolution transfers $117,900 from HVAC projects authorized at the April 27 budget hearing to fund the New Horizons improvements.[20] DeMarco described a proposed renovation of the former board office space on the Ramapo campus, and said the goal is a dedicated setting with its own entryway.[21]
85% of multilingual learners moved up a level ¶
The district reported that 85% of its multilingual learners increased at least one English proficiency level from last year on the state's ACCESS for ELLs test, a figure tracked student by student.[22] A separate three-year slide of the share of students at the higher proficiency levels, staff cautioned, compares different groups of students: higher scorers leave the program and newly arrived students join it.[23]
Board reports district's state monitoring scores ¶
The board approved a resolution reporting the district's 2026 initial placement scores in the state's monitoring system, the Quality Single Accountability Continuum, which scores districts in five areas. Instruction and program scored 87%, up from 83% in the 2022-23 review; the other four areas scored 100%.[24] The resolution reports that the district was designated "high performing."[25]
Education
On Redesigned State Graduation Test, Ramapo Indian Hills Holds Steady in English, Rises in Math
English rates fell more than 10 points and math rose for two small groups: students with individualized education programs and Hispanic/Latino students, who had about 80 and 40 test-takers last year.
Ramapo Indian Hills reported at its Sept. 28 Board of Education meeting that 85% of its 11th graders met the state's graduation-readiness benchmark in math on the spring 2026 graduation proficiency test, up from 81.1% a year earlier. In English, 94% met it, against 94.3% last year.[1] Within English, the share of Hispanic/Latino students who met the benchmark fell from 85.7% to 75%, and the share of students with individualized education programs fell from 82.3% to 70%, according to slides shown at the meeting.[2][3] The state Department of Education's English figure also fell, from 81.3% to 75.1%, in a year the state moved the test to an adaptive format.[4]
Darren Groh, the district's director of curriculum and instruction, presented the results from the New Jersey Graduation Proficiency Assessment, which 11th graders took in March.[5]
How the district compares
The district's 2026 rates are above both the county's and the state's. The district's slides put Bergen County at 84% in English and 73% in math, 10 and 12 points below the district; those county figures appear only in the district's presentation.[6] The state Department of Education's figures, from an Aug. 5 presentation to the State Board of Education on recommended cut scores, are 75.1% in English and 60.3% in math.[4]
Comparing with last year
Spring 2026 was the first operational administration of a redesigned test, so the district's year-over-year changes span two versions of it. The department lists the move from fixed-form to adaptive testing, new academic standards and redesigned test blueprints among its considerations for the change in rates, and says the way questions are phrased and how students interact with the new testing platform "can impact their performance until they become familiar with the new formats."[7] It says the recommended passing cut "is what will be held constant and what future administrations of the assessment will be compared to."[4] The department's math figure rose, from 58.5% to 60.3%.[4] Groh said the test company also changed between spring 2025 and spring 2026.[8]
By school
| English 2025 | English 2026 | Math 2025 | Math 2026 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Indian Hills | 91.8% | 95% | 78.9% | 82% |
| Ramapo | 95.4% | 93% | 82.1% | 86% |
| District | 94.3% | 94% | 81.1% | 85% |
Share of 11th graders rated graduation-ready, from slides shown at the meeting.[9]
By student group
| Group | English 2025 | English 2026 | Math 2025 | Math 2026 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hispanic/Latino | 85.7% | 75% | 61.9% | 75% |
| White | 95.1% | 95% | 82% | 85% |
| Female | 94.8% | 96% | 79.3% | 87% |
| Male | 93.8% | 92% | 82.8% | 84% |
| Economically disadvantaged | 72.7% | 77% | 45.5% | 85% |
| Individualized education programs | 82.3% | 70% | 37.2% | 43% |
Share of 11th graders rated graduation-ready, from slides shown at the meeting. 2026 figures were reported as whole numbers. All 2025 figures here that the state publishes match state data, which also shows that 11 economically disadvantaged students in the district had valid scores in 2025.[10][11]
Nancy Blomquist, the district's supervisor of English, said the 25% of Hispanic/Latino students who did not meet the English benchmark "represents a very small number of students," and that "almost half of them were within 10 points of a passing score."[12] Of the students with individualized education programs who did not, she said, "half of that very small population were within 10 points of passing. Most of them were within five points, and some of them missed it just by three points."[13] The district did not state how many students were in either group this year, and the state has not yet published 2026 counts. In spring 2025, 42 Hispanic/Latino students and 79 students with disabilities (the state's term) in the district had valid English scores, according to state data, so in a group of 42, each student is worth about 2.4 percentage points.[11]
Mike Kaplan, the district's supervisor of mathematics, said that of the students who graduated in the 2025-26 school year, "everyone met their graduation testing requirement when considered all available pathways for graduation."[14] Blomquist said that "all of our students have fulfilled their graduation requirement in ELA through some available pathway."[15] Both statements count every route to meeting the requirement, not just the test. A student who scores below 450 on a component can retake it, which the district will offer on Oct. 14; meet a cut score on a substitute exam; or, if neither works, file a portfolio appeal.[16] So neither statement shows how many students met the benchmark on the test itself, and Kaplan's describes students who have already graduated. Superintendent Shauna DeMarco said the board would hear the district's results on the spring New Jersey Student Learning Assessments on Oct. 12.[17]
Every claim in this article is drawn from public Wyckoff records. To dispute a fact, request a fact-check, or ask that personal information be removed, contact the ombudsman.