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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 08 September 2022

Created: 08 September 2022

Last Updated: 08 September 2022

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The following letter was sent to us by Amber Yusuf and Ron Schulhof, President and Vice President of the Scarsdale School Board:

Dear Scarsdale Community,

The search for the next Superintendent of Schools is underway and we hope you will take the opportunity to provide your input! We are committed to conducting an inclusive, thoughtful and comprehensive process. The Board of Education has planned for extensive community engagement, including focus groups, community forums, and a survey.

The Board welcomes your input as feedback from the school community will be used to develop a set of search specifications to create a Leadership Profile. This Leadership Profile will serve as a guiding framework for recruiting and vetting candidates.

The survey is conducted by a search firm, which ensures that your individual responses are kept anonymous. The survey is available in English, Spanish, Mandarin and Portuguese.

The survey is available online here and will remain open until September 23rd at 5 p.m.

We also invite you to attend any of the three community forums, on the following dates:

● Wednesday, September 14, 2022, at 9:30 a.m. (Scarsdale Public Library, Scott Room)
● Monday, September 19, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. (Scarsdale High School, Room 170-172)
● Thursday, September 22, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. (via Zoom.)

Whether you attend a community forum, complete the survey, or do both, the Board hopes you will take the opportunity to provide your input! Learn more here.

With thanks,
Amber Yusuf, Board of Education President
Ron Schulhof, Board of Education Vice President

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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 14 September 2022

Created: 14 September 2022

Last Updated: 08 May 2024

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Twelve students from Edgemont High School and twenty eight students from Scarsdale High School are among the 16,000 named as semifinalists in the 68th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. These high school seniors have an opportunity to continue in the competition for some 7,250 National Merit Scholarships worth nearly $28 million that will be offered next spring. To be considered for a Merit Scholarship® award, Semifinalists must fulfill several requirements to advance to the Finalist level of the competition. About 95 percent of the Semifinalists are expected to attain Finalist standing, and approximately half of the Finalists will win a National Merit Scholarship, earning the Merit Scholar® title.

The names are as follows:

Edgemont High School

Samika Agarwal
Justin P. Alexander
Skandan Gurumurthy
Julia Hu
Aarya J. Kumar
Chaemin Lim
David I. Litvack
Rajan S. Sandhu
Raj Savla
Andrew D. Shane
Vivien F. Wong
Maxwell F. Yang

Scarsdale High School

Matthew Barotz
Claire Chou
Cindy Y. Dedianous
David Diao
Thomas D. Dilorenzo
Ali El Moselhy
Jackson Fielding
Isabella Frank
Carly S. Gelles
Oliver S. Hong
Anushka Kumar
Mason Y. Lau
Hyunjin Lee
Amelia Liu
Olivia Liu
Emily-Jane Luo
Michael Marks
Colin H. Michael
Amanda D. Nudelman
Bryan Shi
Katherine Shi
Noa S. Shiloach
Steven C. Su
Emily Q. Wang
Hannah Y. Wang
Benjamin P. Yacoub
Maxwell Zhang
Matthew Zhao

Steps in the 2023 Competition

High school juniors entered the 2023 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2021 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screen of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state. The number of Semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state’s percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

To become a Finalist, the Semifinalist and a high school official must submit a detailed scholarship application, in which they provide information about the Semifinalist’s academic record, participation in school and community activities, demonstrated leadership abilities, employment, and honors and awards received. A Semifinalist must have an outstanding academic record throughout high school, be endorsed and recommended by a high school official, write an essay, and earn SAT® or ACT® scores that confirm the student’s earlier performance on the qualifying test.

From over 16,000 Semifinalists, more than 15,000 are expected to advance to the Finalist level, and in February they will be notified of this designation. All National Merit Scholarship winners will be selected from this group of Finalists. Merit Scholar designees are selected on the basis of their skills, accomplishments, and potential for success in rigorous college studies, without regard to gender, race, ethnic origin, or religious preference.

National Merit Scholarships

Three types of National Merit Scholarships will be offered in the spring of 2023. Every Finalist will compete for one of 2,500 National Merit® $2500 Scholarships that will be awarded
on a state-representational basis. About 950 corporate-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards will be provided by approximately 180 corporations and business organizations for Finalists who meet their specified criteria, such as children of the grantor’s employees or residents of communities where sponsor plants or offices are located. In addition, about 160 colleges and universities are expected to finance some 3,800 college-sponsored Merit Scholarship awards for Finalists who will attend the sponsor institution.

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Written by Amelia Fader

Published: 01 September 2022

Created: 01 September 2022

Last Updated: 01 September 2022

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Scarsdale School District is inviting community members to participate in a public forum on the search for a new superintendent. Below find a letter from the district providing times and details.

The Board of Education cordially invites you to assist the Board in establishing direction for the selection process for the new Superintendent of Schools. As you may be aware, this year the Board is charged with the important task of selecting the next chief officer of our schools. We are reaching out to you, as valued members of our school community, for your input in this critical process. Community forums with Ms. Deborah Raizes and Dr. Susan Guiney from Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates, the search firm engaged by the Board to assist with this search, have been scheduled for:

Wednesday, September 14, 2022, at 9:30 a.m. (Scarsdale Public Library, Scott Room)

Monday, September 19, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. (Scarsdale High School, Room 170-172)

Thursday, September 22, 2022, at 7:00 p.m. (via Zoomlink)

All members of the community are invited to attend. For the September 22nd meeting, all guests will initially be placed in a Zoom waiting room and will be allowed into the forum by the host. The goal of the meeting will be to identify the personal and professional qualities and experiences that the Scarsdale community would like the new Superintendent of Schools to possess. Dr. Guiney and Ms. Raizes will describe the process and estimated timetable for the search. Much of the focus group meeting will be devoted to hearing participants' views on the following three prompts:

1. How would you describe the strengths of the District?
2. What do you see as the greatest challenges facing the District in the next few years?
3. What characteristics and areas of expertise would you like to see in the next Superintendent?

Please note that we encourage all community stakeholders to participate in a survey that will be available on our superintendent search page from September 8th-23rd, as an additional means for the community to voice their input. The survey questions will be similar to the questions discussed in the focus groups so if attendance to a focus group is not possible, the survey can provide a comparable opportunity to share your feedback. Whether you attend a focus group, complete the survey, or do both, the Board hopes you will take the opportunity to provide your input.

Information from this and other focus groups with members of the District’s school community will be synthesized into a set of search specifications that the Board anticipates reviewing at its meeting on October 3rd. This Leadership Profile Report will then serve as a guiding framework for the Board of Education as it undertakes the search for a new Superintendent.

The Board thanks you in advance for participating in this important process.

Sincerely,

The Board of Education

Amber Yusuf, President; Ron Schulhof, Vice President; Colleen Brown; James Dugan; Robert Klein; Suzie Hahn Pascutti; Jessica Resnick-Ault

boardofed@scarsdaleschools.org