Enrollment Trends, Class Sizes and Teacher Hires from the Scarsdale BOE
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It was back to work for the Scarsdale School Board on Monday September 12. The meeting covered a broad range of topics, and here are the highlights: School Board President Jill Spieler announced the names of appointees to the new Education Foundation Steering Committee which will be chaired by Ellen Miller Wachtel. Committee members will include, Joyce Hirsch, David Shuster, Joshua Silverman, Eric Staffin, Florie Wachtenheim and Beth Zadek. The Committee’s Board liaison will be Liz Guggenheimer and Dr. McGill will serve as the administrative liaison.
The Steering Committee already held their first meeting and reviewed their charge. In the coming month they will identify school needs that could be funded by a foundation, fundraising strategies, community relations and governance and legal steps necessary to launch the foundation.
In addition, Spieler reported that the Board considered closing Huntington Road in between the Greenacres School and the Greenacres field during school hours per parent’s requests. However, the Village Attorney has determined that this is a state issue and that the Village does not have the authority to close the street without state legislation. The road closing would require a vote from the State Senate and Assembly and the Village has reached out to Amy Paulin and Suzi Oppenheimer.
In his remarks, Dr. McGill reported a smooth school opening and relayed that for the most part the schools were untouched by the storm. However, there was flooding in the Scarsdale High School basement.
Speaking about college admissions McGill reported that 66% of the SHS graduating class of ’11 were admitted to schools ranked “the most competitive in the country.” He said, “This is a very impressive statement about our families, athe students, and the school district – where teachers and administrators are determined to get the best out of each student.”
Joan Weber provided the personnel and enrollment report, and said that during the spring and summer the district hired 16 teachers, one nurse, and two civil service staff. At the high school, Fred Goldberg and Kelly Hamm are serving as co-principals and Chris Renino is a new assistant principal, Ann Liptak, a long-time English Teacher at SHS will now replace Renino’s as English Department Chair and former math teacher Doug Vermese is now a co-head computer teacher. In total, there were 11 retirements from the professional staff .
On enrollment, Weber provided the following numbers:
- 190 children left the district and 185 entered
- In the five elementary schools, 2143 students were projected and as of now there are 2,118 students. The district had projected 108 elementary school sections and there are currently 107. At Greenacres, the kindergarten split into four sections as did the fifth grade at Quaker Ridge.
- At the middle school 1,188 students were expected and there are now 1,158 and at the high school, 1,449 were projected and there are now 1,404. Overall the district has 4,715 students versus a projection of 4,769. The numbers are now in a state of flux and will be finalized in October.
It is interesting to note the following enrollment trends:
- The entering kindergarten class included 303 students, while the high school graduating class of 2011 had 374 pupils.
- Overall, enrollment is expected to decline by 15 students per year over the next five years.
- 74 new international families moved to Scarsdale this year from 23 countries.
In terms of class size, Weber provided counts on class sizes at the middle school and the high school. Average class sizes at the high school are as follows:
- English 22.4 students
- Social Studies 22.5 students
- Math 20.9 students
- World Language 16.6 students
- Science 21.8 students
Overall 7.7% of high school classes have over 25 students which is an improvement over last year.
Rather than supply average class sizes at middle school, Weber provided stats on the percentages of students in classes of various sizes.
- For Spanish 6.5% of students are in classes of 26 students and 3% are in a class with 27 students.
- In French classes, 18.8% have classes of 26 students
- In math, no sections are larger than 25 students.
Retirements: Edgewood School Principal Scott Houseknecht offered remarks about retiring third grade teacher Margaret O’Farrell who taught there for 24 years. Saying “she will be remembered with great fondness,” he told the group that O’Farrell “made a point of knowing everyone: and was “truly everybody’s teacher.” Among her contributions to the school were the Chinese New Year parade and the third grade musical production, a favorite among students. O’Farrell acknowledged everyone with a birthday card and had more visits from returning students than any other teacher.
Weber ended by reporting that the District will be actively recruiting a new Principal for SHS and hopes to announce an appointment by the Spring of 2012.
Last, the state’s new Race to the Top legislation will require Scarsdale to develop teacher evaluations and evaluate all teachers on a 100-point scale. A certain number of points will be derived from student performance on state tests and local assessments will account for 20 points of the 100 points. Scarsdale is now in the process of developing our own assessments for this portion. The November Board of Education meeting will be devoted to a discussion of this topic.
FEMA Recovery Center Open in White Plains
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The FEMA Disaster Recovery Center at the Westchester County Center in White Plains is now open for individuals, households and businesses to get help filing for Hurricane Irene disaster aid. The Disaster Recovery Center will operate from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., seven days a week until further notice. (Parking fees have been waived.)
The first step is to register: by calling FEMA’s registration number 1-800-621-3362; or on line at www.disasterassistance.gov . For those with speech or hearing disabilities, use the TTY number at 800-462-7585. FEMA strongly advises people to register in advance of visiting the disaster center.
In addition to state and federal partners at the center, staff from the county Department of Social Services will be on hand to help residents. There will also be representatives from the Small Business Administration, who can explain the low-interest loan packages available to individuals, nonprofits and businesses of any size.
(photo credit: Bruce Wells)
Why Does Con Edison Treat Westchester Residents Like Second Class Citizens?
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Here is a letter written by Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner about Con Edison repair work in Westchester: To the Editor: Hurricane Irene left a good portion of Greenburgh and Westchester out of power. Con Ed issued a press release after the storm that indicated that most of their NYC customers would have their power restored by Tuesday night and Westchester customers would get their power restored two days later--by late Thursday night.
I realize that Con Ed cannot restore everyones power immediately after a storm but question why Westchester ratepayers are treated like second class citizens. After every storm Westchester customers wait much longer to have power restored than our NYC neighbors. We pay the same rates as NYC customers pay but don't get treated equally. Why should NYC customers always get their power restored first--a few days before Westchester customers?
My home phone is ringing off the hook with calls from senior citizens and disabled residents who experience real hardships whenever there are power outages. I think it would be fairer if Con Ed treated all of their customers the same----and if they would spread their crews around their service area until power is restored to all. Another option: they should rotate the order of service restorations--during one outage NYC should get service restored first and Westchester second. The second outage Westchester gets power restored first and NYC gets it second.
PAUL FEINER
Greenburgh Town Supervisor
Freshmen Find Their Way at Scarsdale High School
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Students were broken into smaller groups and taken on tours of the school by peer leaders and upper classmen and introduced to all of the high school clubs and extracurricular activities at a club fair in the afternoon.
Best of luck to the class of 2015!
Pictured at top: Student Government Advisor Neil Ginsberg counsels newcomers
Should Scarsdale's CNC Deliberations Be Confidential?
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Below find a letter from Scarsdale resident Harry Reynolds concerning Scarsdale's Non-Partisan Resolution: In accordance with the provisions of the Resolution of the Non-Partisan Party, I have formally objected to the proposed amendment in November, 2011 of the Non-Partisan Resolution insofar as it provides for secrecy in new Section 7 of Article V:
“Section 7. CONFIDENTIALITY POLICY. Each member of the Citizens Nominating Committee shall observe strict confidentiality at all times, whether during or after the deliberations of the Citizens Nominating Committee, as to the identities of persons seeking positions before, sources of information provided to and discussions, determinations, decisions and votes of, the Citizens Nominating Committee.”
Scarsdale’s Non-Partisan System, as regulated by the proposed amended Non-Partisan Resolution, keeps secret the identities of persons seeking the system’s nominations to electoral office. It bars voters from learning the identities of persons seeking nominations and facts concerning their qualifications. It also keeps secret what those applicants said, or failed to say, when they appeared before the nominating committee, and what members of the committee said to them.
The system’s curious argument for keeping secret the identities of applicants is that applicants would be lower in number if they foresaw their embarrassment upon the public learning that they had not been selected. There is no electoral system in the free world that advances that laughable, mindboggling argument. Are these applicants adult women and men or fretful little boys running around in knickers and little girls in frocks of silk? The public should know the identities of the applicants who were rejected in order to determine the integrity and electoral judgment of the nominating committee. Why should that knowledge be denied the public? The system's pressing for that secrecy is evidence that it regards itself as less a political party than a shuttered, closed-end social club with a village, ignorant as they are of the Non-Partisan system, looking on as spectators who move their lips as they read.
A claim for secrecy must be supported not by bizarre reasoning but by a supervening cause consistent with, and in support of, the public good. If the rule were otherwise, we would risk living in a society governed by secrecy laws. Incredibly, the secrecy given to nurse the anxieties of a very small number of applicants denies all voters of the knowledge of the identities of all persons who are seeking the power to govern them, surely an irrational inversion of electoral values in a democracy.
Further, there is no rational justification for keeping secret the statements made by applicants before the nominating committee and the statements of committee members made to the applicants. The only place on earth in which that justification could be made with a straight face is in a poorly lit asylum late at night. Do you seriously tell Scarsdale’s voters that they should not be told what an applicant knows, thinks, believes, plans, or desires concerning the public office he seeks? Do you tell the public that they should not know how honestly and diligently the nominating committee applies itself in questioning applicants?
If we have been taught anything about government, it is that secrecy is the refuge of the hypocrite and the curse of the persecuted. In the 1930’s, 1940’s, and 1950’s, the secrecy in the conduct of the then essentially Protestant Non-Partisan system was used successfully to keep Jews out of Scarsdale’s public offices. (See, O’Connor, Carol A., A Sort of Utopia, Scarsdale, 1891-1981, pp. 98-100) Would you be surprised if anti-Semitism or some other group hatred returned again to the Non-Partisan system through its rear door of secrecy? Are you aware that the secrecy that the Non-Partisan system desires will enable it to conceal the system’s incompetence, prejudice, ignorance, or corruption, should it be present but hidden? Why should you ask the public to give you that secrecy? What is it that so attracts secrecy to a Non-Partisan system that was created in reaction to the deceits of organized political parties?
Harry Reynolds
Bradley Road
