Scarsdale Donates Over 10,000 Baked Gifts, Books and Toys to Those in Need.
- Details
- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
- Hits: 1668
This letter was written by Sarah Bell, President of the Scarsdale Neighborhood Association Presidents:
Thank you to everyone who volunteered for SNAP for HOPE. The program was an incredible success!
We had over 151 volunteer sign-ups which consisted of over 200 Scarsdale residents. Our volunteers included Edgewood Girl Scout Troop #2688, several families working together, all of the residents of 1 entire Scarsdale street, 2 members of the Scarsdale Board of Education, 3 baking and/or cooking businesses, Operation Bookshelf of the Scarsdale Woman’s Club and several volunteers who baked for multiple consecutive weeks.
Over the past 6 weeks, we delivered the following to HOPE (numbers are close approximations)
-9,765 individually wrapped baked items
-3,570 used books
-Over 200 new toys
The Scarsdale Neighborhood Association Presidents thank each and every volunteer for their hard work and participation in this truly meaningful program and wish everyone a healthy and safe 2021.
Warmly,
Sarah Bell, SNAP President
“You can't go back and change the beginning but you can start where you are and change the ending." -C.S. Lewis
Scarsdale's Best Snowmen
- Details
- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
- Hits: 2186
The first snowstorm of the winter on Wednesday December 17 inspired creative and innovative Scarsdale families to go outdoors in frigid temperatures to build snowmen and snow sculptures. With schools closed on Thursday, the contest was a great diversion. Sponsored by the Scarsdale Recreation Department the Snowman contest attracted over 60 entries. The top prize went to the Anderson family for the best overall snowman, "Snowfalke the Snowdog" shown at left. Here are their 13 winners – but if you want to add your snowman to the photo gallery, email a photo to [email protected]. 
The Sneider Family, Best Traditional Snowman
The Rieber Family, Best Animal, "Snow Dragon"
The Sagalowsky Familyl, Most Relevant, "Fauci the Vaccinated Snowman"
The Tse Family, Most Adorable
The Baer Family, Best Use of Props
The Bercun Family, Most Comical, "Ready to Go"
The Li Family, Most Creative, "The Brite Snow Yeti"
The Goyal Family, Best Character, "Captain America"
Ella Berger and Parker Lane, Best Recreation Theme, "Tennis Terry"
The Huang Family, Best Attention to Detail
Zane Ahmed, Most Impressive
Scouts Launch Water Bottle Rockets
- Details
- Written by Midori Im
- Hits: 1301
Sunday December 6 was a perfect (if a bit nippy) day for launching water bottle rockets. Scout Pack 440’s Wolf Den did not let cold weather deter them from sending their bottle rockets high into the clear autumn sky. All it took was some seven year-old muscle and a lot of water.
(Photo credit Midori Im)
Let It Snow: Snow Day, School Closure and Snowman Contest
- Details
- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
- Hits: 2064
With a foot of snow expected in Scarsdale, the Scarsdale School district has declared a snow day for Thursday December 17.... not a remote learning day, but a full closure of school.
Here's the note from the district:
"Given the significant snow storm set to hit the area tonight, the Scarsdale Public Schools will be closed tomorrow, Thursday, December 17, 2020. Due to the magnitude of the storm predicted and the possibility of power outages and widespread closures we will NOT be providing remote instruction tomorrow.
All afternoon programs and activities are cancelled for today, Wednesday, December 16. 2020. At this time, we plan to reopen buildings on Friday, December 18, 2020."
However, due to so many cases at the middle school, the district has announced that it will move to all remote instruction until after the Christmas holiday. Here's the information: "At this time, Scarsdale Middle School is experiencing significant challenges to maintaining in person learning. Based on the combination of students on quarantine, families electing to keep students home, and the difficulty of safely staffing the building for in-person learning, SCARSDALE MIDDLE SCHOOL WILL SHIFT TO ALL REMOTE INSTRUCTION UNTIL THE DECEMBER BREAK. The Middle School will return to the hybrid learning model effective January 4, 2020.
If the snow does come our way, here's something fun to do on Thursday. The Village of Scarsdale has announced a snowman contest with photos of your entries due by Friday December 18. See below for details. And after you're done, also email your snowman photos to [email protected] for publication on Scarsdale10583.com.
Enjoy!
Letter to the Editor: Full-Class K-2 is Possible
- Details
- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
- Hits: 1638
This letter was written by Irin Israel:
All Scarsdale K-2 classes have the space to be full-class, full-time at six feet apart instead of the split-class model in which children spend half of the day with a non-teaching aide, as is currently being done. This is possible with cohorts, and while leaving 3-5 in their current hybrid model, yet positioned correctly so that when positivity rates drop, the kids can become full-time without moving a desk. There is more than enough room for K-2 to fit in all 5 schools without using most cafeterias, gyms, and auditoriums.
This choice can be enacted by swapping rooms and moving furniture/tech, while keeping all other aspects of the school day the same. A full-class K-2 model is beneficial educationally, socially, emotionally, and financially, and allows teachers to teach with their aides and to avoid teaching every lesson twice. Additionally, the District is continuing to spend money on months of deep cleaning between K-2’s AM/PM, which is unnecessary if K-2 is full-class and would significantly reduce expenditures. Teaching a full class with both teacher AND aide in the same room, as in the past, has been the optimal pedagogical choice for all our elementary schools. Has that now changed, and will that change going forward?
The District will not commit to examine this at the Dec. 7th Board Meeting, meaning that it won’t be reviewed until January. That will ensure that K-2 classes will have missed out on months of normal classroom instruction which was/is possible with this small change.
How did this happen? At the Nov. 16th BOE Meeting (timecodes 30:44 and 52:35), the District architect admitted that he ONLY used 56 sq ft per individual to calculate and place how many kids fit in every classroom in every school. Even using just 44 sq ft was refuted by David Zweig back in September (NY Magazine article). Children need 28.26 sq ft. Using 56 sq ft is a tremendous overestimate of the space wasted by built-ins/exits and doesn’t take into account that children can be closer to walls. Each room needs to be laid out individually and creatively to get the correct max capacity, but this was not done. The District architect has taken an inaccurate shortcut, leading to an incorrect conclusion that negatively affects our K-2 kids. I created a model (email me or see Facebook) that easily fits all Scarsdale K-2 in school full-time, full-class with teacher and aide, without sacrificing six feet of distancing.
It’s December and we are still using an invalid architectural analysis of our schools from the summer and our K-2 children are paying the price educationally, socially, and emotionally. We’ve also been paying the price in tax dollars by needlessly deep cleaning every elementary school every afternoon.
It is crucial that K-2 parents who want their children in full-classes speak out at the Dec. 7th Board Meeting. If I had a K-2 child, I would write the Board and Administration about this every day until this issue was openly addressed.
Irin Israel
Stratton Road
Scarsdale
