Glen Ridge School Board Opens Year Addressing Linden Ceiling Collapse Repairs, Cell Phone Policy and Substantiated Bullying Reports

The Glen Ridge Board of Education returned from summer break on September 8, 2026 with a packed agenda that included nearly $85,000 in emergency repair spending tied to a ceiling collapse at Linden Avenue School. The board approved payments to more than a dozen vendors — including $56,840.96 to Magic Touch Construction Co. for lighting reinstallation, $4,400 to Protective Services for rewiring the fire safety system, and smaller sums for electrical work, flooring replacement, classroom supplies, and technology — to address damage from the incident.

The board also accepted the Superintendent's findings on three separate Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying investigations (Report #310715, #311048, and #311049), with each substantiated by a unanimous 9-0 vote. The board accepted, with regret, the resignation of paraprofessional Linday Bura from Ridgewood Avenue School, effective August 10.

Board President Elisabeth Ginsburg reported that the board completed its legally required annual evaluation of Superintendent Winnie Kievit in executive session and will conduct its own board self-evaluation in public session on October 6. She also announced a new "suggestion box" for parent questions at Back-to-School Nights; the inaugural question, raised at Ridgewood Avenue School's event, asked when Chromebooks and ed-tech would be removed from the curriculum. Superintendent Kievit responded that the district has instituted cell phone restrictions at all grade levels and new elementary technology guidelines this year, emphasizing that devices should be used purposefully for instruction rather than as a "babysitting" tool.

Student Representative Tyler Abraham told the board the new phone ban has measurably cut phone use and encouraged more student interaction at lunch, and that new AI-use guidelines — color-coded red, yellow and green by classroom — are being well received. A member of the public, Jesus Yay, raised concerns during public comment that students who serve as EMTs on the Glen Ridge Volunteer Ambulance Squad rely on a phone-based dispatch app as backup to their pagers, and asked the board to consider a dispensation from the phone policy for those students; Ginsburg said she would follow up with him directly.

The board also accepted generous donations, including $21,500 from the Glen Ridge Educational Foundation for the "Capturing Kids' Hearts" program districtwide and $9,100 from the Foundation for the high school's new Virtual Business Suite software, plus Home & School Association donations including $6,072 for a business-program LED stock ticker and $15,587.10 for business-program furniture. Ridgewood Avenue School's Home & School Association donated bike racks and classroom carpeting and furnishings valued at several thousand dollars in scholastic funds. The board approved disposal of outdated World History and U.S. History textbooks and older library books at Linden and Forest Avenue Schools, and gave first reading to new policies on student attendance and student use of internet-enabled devices, part of a broader policy audit conducted over the summer by consultant Strauss Esmay.

Action items

• Approved nearly $85,000 in emergency repair and remediation services at Linden Avenue School following a ceiling collapse, including $56,840.96 to Magic Touch Construction Co. for lighting work.
• Accepted findings that Harassment, Intimidation, and Bullying was substantiated in three separate investigations (Reports #310715, #311048, #311049).
• Accepted the resignation of paraprofessional Linday Bura from Ridgewood Avenue School.
• Approved abolishing roughly 30 outdated board policies and regulations following a summer policy audit, with new/revised attendance and student internet-device-use policies advanced to first reading.
• Accepted donations including $21,500 and $9,100 from the Glen Ridge Educational Foundation and over $21,000 combined from the Glen Ridge Home & School Association for the high school's new Business Program.

Watch key moments

• 13:56 — Board President Ginsburg unveils a new "suggestion box" for parent questions at Back-to-School Nights, with its first question asking when Chromebooks and ed-tech will be removed from the curriculum.
• 17:08 — Superintendent Kievit and student rep Tyler Abraham describe the districtwide cell phone ban's early effects, including students talking to each other again at lunch.
• 46:16 — Resident and ambulance squad member Jesus Yay asks the board to exempt student EMTs from the phone ban so they can receive emergency dispatch alerts via an app backing up their pagers.