Scarsdale's Best Snowmen
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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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 scarsdalecomments@gmail.com. 
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
Let It Snow: Snow Day, School Closure and Snowman Contest
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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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 scarsdalecomments@gmail.com for publication on Scarsdale10583.com.
Enjoy!
Letter to the Editor: Full-Class K-2 is Possible
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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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
Scouts Launch Water Bottle Rockets
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- Written by Midori Im
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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)
Bob Harrison Asks for Donations for SMS Comfort Station
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- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
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To the Editor: After seven long years the Scarsdale School Board and the Scarsdale Village Board finally passed joint resolutions for an Intermunicipal Agreement related to the plans and construction of a Comfort Station with two rest rooms, an office for a tennis attendant, a storage room for athletic equipment and a room to accommodate existing irrigation equipment.
The plan is to construct a 20 X 20 building with in-house Village forces under the direction of the Dept. of Public Works so the cost should be limited to materials cost and architect fees. The estimated cost of the project is $150,000 which we feel is excessive because of no labor cost or overtime costs.
The resolution was passed by 7 to 0 by the School Board who has no cost in the project only to present the plans to the State Education Dept. (SED) for approval because the structure is being built on School land next to the Middle School Tennis Courts operated by the Village. The Village Board passed the resolution by a 5 to 2 vote with some concern by two trustees over the cost of the project and no financial input by the School Board .However, the decision to build the Comfort Station by the Village with Village forces was decided long ago and a number of recent Village Capital Budgets have included funds for the project. This project has been in the capital budget since at least 2016. This is absolutely a pre pandemic project as stated publicly by Trustee Ross at the Board and should be completed as soon as possible.
The Scarsdale Summer Youth Tennis League led by Bob Harrison, volunteer director of the summer league for 36 years, has served over 2,000 Scarsdale boys and girls to enjoy the lifetime sport of tennis in the Summer League. In 2014 the League ran a full-page ad in the Inquirer to raise funds as a gift to the Scarsdale Village to help pay for the Comfort Station. We raised over $2,000 that has sat in our non-profit bank account until now. We have publicly announced a gift a $10,000 to the Village to get the Comfort Station built as soon as possible.
We have started a fundraising campaign to raise $8,000 to complete the gift to the Village. Residents and donors can make their checks payable to the "Scarsdale Summer Youth Tennis League " and mail the check to 65 Fox Meadow Road, Scarsdale, NY 10583 as soon as possible.
We will urge that a plaque with the name of the Scarsdale Summer Youth Tennis League and any donors who give $ 500 or more to the project along with the names of our Village Board members be placed on the front of the new Comfort Station. This has been common practice in the community with the Butler Field Track, the Scarsdale VAC Building, our new Library and other projects.
Contact Bob Harrison with comments and any additional information at 914 725-0962 by email at proscars@aol.com.
Bob Harrison
Volunteer Director for 36 years
Scarsdale Summer Youth Tennis League
