This Day in History: 1941-05-12
The Board of Education voted to establish the first Kindergarten in the local schools to begin in September. Miss Vida Johnson of Ridgewood was hired to teach the classes at a salary of $1,100 per year. The classes were to be established at School #2, Mahwah with two sessions of two hours each. In order to have the class on the ground floor as prescribed by State law, the fourth grade was moved to the second floor. With the voting of funds for equipment and supplies, the special District Kindergarten Committee was disbanded. Mahwah was one of only a very few districts in this area not to have a kindergarten program. Many in the community believed that this placed Mahwah students at a disadvantage when they entered Ramsey High School. Some 30 children had already been identified as eligible. (Bristow)