These kids lived in neighborhoods immediately adjacent to Travell and BF Junior High School, and for all intents were from the same background. Their fathers did the commute together to Hoboken on the train or rode one of the commuter buses to New York City. Their mothers mostly stayed at home, did the volunteer work all distinguished communities demand, and shopped in the same local stores.
What the decision makers didn't realize was how strongly the bonds of friendship and community were in Hohokus. To this day the graduates from Hohokus Public Schools identify with their town and one another in a way only they can truly understand. I imagine it's the same way people feel who have grown up in a small town together. Though I wouldn't know for sure, having grown up in the much larger Village of Ridgewood. I regarded the kids from Hohokus, once I finally met them at RHS, as though they were from just another elementary school. They fit in perfectly and had the same hopes and dreams as I did. When we all graduated together nobody thought they were anything but RHS graduates.
Times have changed since those halcyon days. I can't say what they consensus is now regarding Hohokus Public School graduates or even where they now ride the bus for their education. I do recall how one teacher, the taciturn Mr. Sweeney, summed them up. Mr. Sweeney used to teach driving as well as Physical Education, and one day we were in the Driver's Education car doing our rounds when the subject of Hohokus came up. He lamented the fact Hohokus would no longer be sending their children to Ridgewood. He simply said, "They are good kids." He didn't want to say much more than that because we were young and impressionable, and teachers regarded themselves as role models, who knew when to keep quiet regarding such delicate issues. But you could hear it in his voice that this was a terrible loss for future generations of RHS graduates.
Looking back on it now I think I know what Mr. Sweeney was intimating. It was the exposure to the intense, small town orientation which the Ridgewood students would miss, without even knowing it. There are countless differences between then and now, but that one attitude remains the same through the years, and has been a gap in the education of a Ridgewood Public School student ever since that fateful decision was made forty years ago. No amount of well equipped computer labs or athletic fields made of artificial turf can ever replace how the people of Hohokus regard themselves and view the world around them. It's priceless to see glimpses of it at our class reunions. They give each other knowing glances and always insist on having pictures taken of themselves separately, just like every other elementary school. I regard their affection for one another as very sweet and a small consolation for the vast number of changes which are imposed upon us all by the very fact of living. I hope they never stop feeling this way.
Posts
Fantastic article. I grew up in Ho-Ho-Kus and graduated in 1972
ReplyDeleteRHS was a wonderful experience