A New Principal for Greenacres Elementary School
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Greeancres Elementary School will have a new Principal. Upon the announcement of former Principal Sharon Hill’s retirement, the district conducted a search and identified the current Assistant Principal of Fox Meadow Elementary School, Trish Iasiello, as the next Principal for Greenacres.
Commenting on her appointment, Ms. Iasiello said: “I am thrilled to continue my professional journey in Scarsdale as the principal of Greenacres School. I look forward to meeting the staff, students, and families of Greenacres and building strong, meaningful relationships. Both Greenacres and Fox Meadow are warm and welcoming communities that value education and are dedicated to providing enriching experiences for students. While I will miss the people at Fox Meadow, it will be an honor to lead a school with such a deep commitment to learning, collaboration, and growth. I am eager to partner with the incredible educators, engaged families, and talented students to foster a supportive and inspiring environment where all children can thrive. I am so excited for this opportunity.”
Here is the announcement from the Scarsdale Schools sent on Tuesday March 4, 2025:
Dear Scarsdale families
Over the past many months, we have been engaged in a search process to identify the next principal of Greenacres Elementary School. I am excited to announce that we have identified Ms. Trish Iasiello as the next principal of the Greenacres Elementary School. She will be appointed at our upcoming Board of Education meeting on Monday, March 10th.
Ms. Iasiello is currently serving as the Assistant Principal of the Fox Meadow Elementary School where she has been since 2019. Prior to her current role, she was a highly-regarded elementary school teacher for twenty years at Quaker Ridge Elementary School. Ms. Iasiello holds an Educational Leadership Advanced Certificate from Long Island University, an MS in Special Education from Mount St. Mary College, and a BA in Elementary Education from Clemson University in South Carolina. Throughout the hiring process, her student-centered approach was evident in each and every answer. Ms. Iasiello’s long history and experiences in Scarsdale gives her a deep understanding of the community and culture that are unique to Scarsdale. In addition, her warmth and approachability will allow her to continue to build strong and positive relationships with students, faculty, staff and parents. These combined skills, qualities, and experiences will position Ms. Iasiello and the entire Greenacres community to thrive in future endeavors.
I also would like to thank the Greenacres School community for their involvement and support in the process. Their willingness to invest both time and energy ensured our success in identifying a candidate that aligns with the leadership profile. I look forward to seeing all that Greenacres accomplishes under the new leadership of Ms. Iasiello. Please join me in welcoming her to their new role!
Trish’s transition to this new role creates a vacancy at Fox Meadow. We will begin the process of searching for an assistant principal for the 2024-25 school year immediately upon her appointment on March 10th. I will be working closely with Fox Meadow Principal, Melissa Feinberg, to ensure a successful hiring process and a smooth transition for the new hire.
Students Pose Questions to Lawmakers at PTC Breakfast
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State Senator Shelley Mayer and Aseemblymember Amy PaulinWhile some in the audience were wondering if the Federal Department of Education would be disbanded, a group of legislators, educators and local officials were considering issues on the state and local level at a panel discussion on Friday February 7 at Greenacres Elementary School.
The annual PTC Legislative Breakfast brought together panelists from the state, the county and local government to respond to questions posed by students in an AT Government Class taught by Elizabeth Harris and Kami Wright at Scarsdale High School. It was well attended by PTA members, parents, school administrators and members of both the Village and School Boards. The event was organized by Joshua Mitts and Juliane Pollaro who Chair the PTC Legislative Advocacy Committee.
Panelists included:
State Senator Shelley Mayer
State Assemblymember Amy Paulin
NYS Regent: Dr. Frances Wills
County Executive Ken Jenkins
County Legislator Ben Boykin
Scarsdale Mayor Justin Arest
The students developed and posed questions, many which were of concern to younger residents.
Joshua Mitts introduced the session.
The first concerned a bell-to-bell ban of cell phones in school proposed in Governor Kathy Hochul’s state budget. State Senator Shelley Mayer who is the Chair of the State Senate Education Committee said, “I think the concept is good but districts should have some flexibility on how they want to do it… in developing this there was little input from students. We will want to hear from students. But there does need to be a way that parents can contact the schools.”
To a question regarding a proposal to lower the voting age to 18, Assemblymember Amy Paulin said that she had initiated it. She said, “By lowering the voting age we get another voice on the issues. I am not sure the students will be less educated than other voters.”
Paulin also discussed Governor Hochul’s veto of legislation supporting school-based health centers. She explained, “School based health centers are on a fee basis where the fees are paid by Medicaid. The health centers are almost all in NYC – in poor areas. This is to help kids get health and dental care – which is critical for these kids. The Governor is proposing to move this to managed care. It will be cumbersome and complicated and will essentially destroy the program.” She added, “We will hopefully use the leverage of the budget to extend the program.”
The panelistsNYS Regent Frances Will was asked her views on the NYS Regents. She said, “The regents will continue to exist – but as an option. The regents alone as the one way to get a NYS diploma has prevented many from graduating. It is also a challenge on college applications.” She advocated for more holistic assessments of student performance.
The Mayor was asked about the dredging of Library Pond. He explained that the work was done as an outcome of the Save the Sound lawsuit. The work will prevent stormwater outflows from entering the sewer line and will improve overall water quality.” He suggested that the work might continue with the dredging of the watercourse that runs through the Brewster Road parking lot of Scarsdale High School. He added that an additional benefit of the project was a new sidewalk running along Olmsted Road.
County Legislator Ben Boykin was asked if there were any projects that the Board of Legislators is working on that he wished the public knew more about. He responded that the Board had passed legislation to give veterans free passes to county parks. He also said, “We are concerned about federal funding cuts and will meet with Congressman Latimer at the end of the month to review them.”
Students from an AT Government class posed questions.
Mayor Arest was asked how he envisions Scarsdale evolving in the next ten years. He said, “Our three priorities are stormwater, public safety and quality of life. Many of our playing fields are not in the shape we would like them to be. We are looking at technology improvements for public safety and we are looking for help from the county and state for stormwater improvements. We are working with the school districts to make the community more walkable. Our pool project is also under consideration. We are looking at a year-round facility to allow competitive swimming indoors with amenities for seniors.” Arest invited students to provide their input.
Michelle Sterling and Ken JenkinsWhat about a local hangout for high school students? Arest responded by saying maybe new community rooms at the Scarsdale Pool could be space for teens along with the building at the Scarsdale Train Station which the Village is seeking to rent to a vendor to open a café.
A student asked the panelists for advice for pursuing a career in politics or public service.
Pauliin said, “I have been involved I public service since I was 14 years old. It doesn’t start later in life. Be active in the environment in which you live. There are politics within the school. Change the environment in which you live. I was the first female President of my high school and I made a lot of changes in school. And when I moved here I got involved to make change.
Will said, “The regents now has a seal of Civic Engagement which indicates you were involved in civic engagement.”
County Executive Ken Jenkins said, “Everyone is passionate about something and you can get engaged in it.”
Ben Boykin told students to “start early and stay engaged and involved.” As a first step he said, “You have an election here in Scarsdale on March 18. You can get involved. You can participate in “Students Inside Albany.”
And Mayor Arest added, “You are engaged right now.”
This is So Awkward, But It Doesn't Have to Be
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As if talking to kids about “the birds and the bees” wasn’t already difficult enough, parents today have to also consider factors like the influence of social media, easy access to pornography, and the fact that puberty is happening earlier in a child’s development.
Though trying to figure out how and when to talk to your kids about all things “puberty” and sex” can be overwhelming, the Scarsdale PTC aimed to provide parents with a little support by inviting the host of the “That’s So Awkward” podcast, Vanessa Kroll Bennett, to share her expertise and offer some helpful guidance on January 22 at Scarsdale Middle School.
With her humor and warmth, Kroll Bennett immediately connected with her audience and made talking about a sensitive topic way less…well awkward, and a whole lot more personable. As a parent herself, Kroll Bennett related many of her own tried and true strategies and concrete ways to start sensitive conversations. While the hour long presentation was packed with helpful insight, only some of the highlights are included here.
Kroll Bennet began her presentation by providing a brief explanation of the science of puberty and highlighted how important it is for children to learn and understand all aspects of the “development” conversation. She explained that the more (age appropriate) information children have, the more empowered they are and more empathetic they can be to the wide variety of changes that occur for everyone during puberty.
The podcaster also explained that over the last few decades, there has been a lot of research focused on puberty which has in turn helped us to better understand the entire developmental process, including how and when “sex” hormones start to affect the brain and body. The research has also made clear that the onset of puberty is starting earlier and lasting longer than it did in decades past. Kroll Bennett described a variety of reasons for this shift, including chronic stressors like poverty, trauma, and abuse, as well as the use of endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
While, on a whole, the onset of puberty is trending younger, Kroll Bennett reminded her audience that children develop at different rates and can experience an array of differing puberty effects. Though only some children might struggle with body odor and pimples, almost all children experience the impact of hormones on their moods. She made clear that when children experience the dreaded mood swings of puberty, they commonly have no idea why and will often experience shame and anger. Kroll Bennett stressed that it is the job of every parent to help kids feel safe and to help them regulate their big emotions. To help them regulate she suggests :
Cool down: If your child’s emotions are running high, we want to help kids bring them down. Parents should avoid phrases like, “calm down”, “stop crying” or “it’s not a big deal”...these words don’t help regulate emotions and can instead make a child feel worse. Instead, parents should try to co-regulate and let children “borrow” their own calming strategies. Parents can take their own deep breath which not only keeps the parent calm, but models for their children how to regulate strong feelings.
Pivot, don’t engage: Children experiencing high emotions often don’t even know “what is wrong” because their prefrontal cortex has shut down and their limbic system is driving the bus. They don’t know what’s wrong, so instead of trying to engage them in conversation to try and figure things out, try distraction or redirecting them to a “calming activity” like taking the dog for a walk or getting a glass of water saying something like, “I am so dehydrated and need a glass of water…let’s get a glass of water.” Distractions give kids an opportunity to breathe.
Words are not always needed: As parents, we sometimes can’t help ourselves from talking and trying to fix our children’s problems…however, children usually benefit more from just being able to offload their feelings to a sympathetic listener. Instead of lecturing your child, try to just validate their feelings and create space for them to talk.
Validate: It might feel inauthentic at first, but try to come up with one line you can say when your child is upset and trying to share their feelings. Something like, “That stinks, I am so sorry that happened to you” and then just sit and allow your child to keep talking if they want to.
Take a do over: And if you mess up as a parent (as we all do), make sure to go back and say, “I messed up, I’m really sorry”. When you take a do over, it actually strengthens your relationship and creates a stronger bond with your child. When kids are in the midst of a mood swing and are stewing in shame and embarrassment, if they know you as a parent can take a do-over, they know they can take a do-over too.
In her presentation, Kroll Bennett also talked about “decision making” and how the human brain isn’t fully developed until almost thirty years old. Even though the brain is still developing and children will make many mistakes, she reminded parents that kids are a work in progress and that it is important to keep having important conversations with them to create “muscle memory”. It's about making an impact with the information you are offering your kid over and and over.
When it came to the topic of talking to children about sex, Kroll Bennett suggested that it is more than just a one time conversation and should be talked about in a variety of ways with a variety of considerations. In the presentation she went into great detail about the various considerations and a few of the key points include:
It’s important to remember that middle schoolers and high schoolers are still trying to figure out who they are and who they want to be and that process is a long and arduous road. When we talk about inclusive conversations about sex, it's also inclusive of the reality that a kid’s identity formation is a long and winding journey.
Answer questions according to and what is appropriate for a kid’s AGE & STAGE and where a child is at in their development. And if you don’t know an answer to a question or if you are unsure how to answer, Kroll Bennett suggests to say, “That's such an interesting question, what made you ask that” and try to figure out where the child’s questions are coming from. Did they learn something in school? Did they see something in a movie? You want to find a starting point.
The other way to be inclusive when talking about sex, is to talk about love and to talk about the emotional experience of physical intimacy. Kroll Bennett shared, “We get scared of our kids someday, having sex. That feels really scary, and we think about the fear and the repercussions. But if you think about it, we really want our kids to someday have a loving, meaningful, connected relationship with someone.” She added that it's important that kids hear us talk about that part of a relationship so they can know it's supposed to be part of, and expected in a relationship.
Kroll Bennett further suggests parents talk with their children about consent starting at an early age, even when the consent has nothing to do with sex. She also encourages parents to teach the anatomically correct vocabulary for all body parts and stated that “Research tells us that kids are safer from sexual predation when they know the names of all of their body parts.”
When parents talk to their kids about sex, eventually and over time, it’s important to include all kinds of sex. Kroll Bennett related that people have lots of different kinds of sex (oral sex, anal sex, sex with yourself) and we want kids to feel safe asking questions about all of it. And (age and stage appropriately) you want to talk about it because you don't know what kind of sex your kid is going to have someday. When parents normalize all sorts of sexual activities they let their kids know that they are a safe person to talk to when kids have questions.
Just as important, Kroll Bennett reminded parents to lead their conversations with curiosity and ditch the shame…and if a discussion heads in an unexpected direction, parents can always ask, “That’s an interesting question, what makes you ask that?”
Another topic Kroll Bennett talked at length about was the negative impact of modern pornography. While in her presentation the discussion was incredibly detailed, some of the takeaways include:
-Average age of exposure to porn is 12 years old
-15% of 10 year olds have seen porn
-Phone or no phone, kids are still exposed
-Today’s porn is way different
-Don’t let the pornographers write the script!
In closing, Kroll Bennett reminded parents that “It's not just one talk. You do not have to back up the dump truck and give them all the information. It's five minutes here, it's five minutes there. It's a ride in the car. It's little bits and pieces over time. Take the pressure off and don’t assume that they need every piece of information right now. You can give them some information and just say, do you have any more questions? And I can tell you this…The kid who seems like they're not listening. The kid who says, no, I have no questions and runs outside. The kid who had their hood up and their back turned, they can come back tomorrow or next week or next month. You never know, all you do is open the door…they will choose when they come back in through the door.”
The parents who were able to attend this informative presentation were treated to a night filled with wisdom, wit, and incredibly applicable advice. If you weren’t able to catch the talk in person, You can find all sorts of useful resources on the Less Awkward website including a link to the “this is so awkward” podcast and book with the same title.
Forum Explores the Use of GenAI in the Scarsdale Schools
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Parenting in the digital age can be overwhelming to say the least, and parents often find themselves wading through a sea of uncertainty searching for guidance and answers to dozens of complex questions. Some questions a parent might struggle with include:
How much screen time should I allow?
How can I put parental controls on my child’s device?
How old should my child be before I let them have access to social media?
Should I allow my child to use AI to better understand their homework?
Since so much of this technology is new or rapidly changing, it can be difficult for parents to find concrete answers or to try to create norms in their families and communities. In an effort to help parents navigate this new and ever-evolving terrain, the Scarsdale PTC has partnered with District administrators and faculty to offer a series of Family Forum meetings which explore a wide array of technology related topics. The meetings, hosted by the PTC Technology Committee, also aim to create a community for parents and educators so that they can “navigate the digital world and build stronger connections together.”
According to Jeannie Crowley, Director of Technology for the Scarsdale School District, the committee held their pilot Family Forum meeting in May of 2024 and have since run 6 additional meetings on topics ranging from family media plans, parental controls for iPads, the impact of cell phones on learning, and empowering parents to manage devices at home.
Crowley further explained, “Attendees look forward to participating and connecting with other families to share experiences, and opportunities to learn from guest speakers (and each other) about pressing technology topics in their lives. Many parents share that they feel alone or isolated in their challenges with technology, and the Family Forum is an opportunity to build community around technology topics that are top of mind for families.”
At their most recent Family Forum held on Friday January, 31st, SHS English teacher Stephen Mounkhall and SHS Instructional Technology Chair, Meredith Dutra (co-facilitators of the SHS AI Inquiry Group) led a dynamic session on Generative AI (GenAI) where they explored GenAI, how it's impacting classrooms, and how SHS is responding to this new technology. Attendees learned about teaching values, heard how students are thinking about the use of AI, and shared their own thoughts in an open family discussion.
During the meeting, it became clear that the District is exploring AI thoughtfully and with careful consideration. After giving a brief explanation and history of GenAI, Mounkhall and Dutra laid bare some of the questions faculty and administrators are exploring…namely, “How do we best support our students?” Included in this inquiry, the faculty is exploring how they can teach students to use AI as a tool and to be prepared for the world beyond high school, while at the same time imparting upon their students the importance of learning to read, write, interpret, and generate ideas on their own. In addition to encouraging their students to practice using resources and patience before turning to GenAI, SHS faculty also tries to teach students about the privacy and environmental concerns that GenAI can pose.
For those that missed this informative meeting, you can catch the PTC Technology Committee’s next Family Forum on February 24th. At this meeting Ms. Iorio, Learning Specialist at Greenacres School, will share tips, strategies, and dispositions for developing Digital Executive Functioning skills in children. According to their webpage, “This session will explore how to effectively support children's growth in these essential skills both in the classroom and at home. This is an excellent opportunity for educators and parents alike to enhance their understanding of digital executive functioning and implement supportive practices to help children thrive in our increasingly digital world.”
For more information about this upcoming session or the special viewing of the film Screenagers in April check out the Scarsdale Family Forum at http://scarsdaleschools.org/familyforum
Parents Encouraged to Complete Online Kindergarten Registration by January 31, 2025
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The Scarsdale School District offers online Kindergarten registration. Current residents who expect to have a child attend Kindergarten during the 2025-26 school year are encouraged to complete this process by January 31, 2025. Although prospective Kindergarteners may register at any time prior to the start of the school year, completing this process early ensures a smooth screening and placement process. Children whose fifth birthday falls on or before December 31, 2025, may be registered for the 2025-26 school year.
Please visit here for instructions on how to register online.
Enrollment in one of the five elementary schools (Edgewood, Fox Meadow, Greenacres, Heathcote, and Quaker Ridge) is determined by the neighborhood in which you reside. Click here for a map of the school district outlining elementary attendance zones. If you do not know which elementary school serves your neighborhood, please call the District Registrar, Nunzia Mauro, at (914) 721-2444 or send an email to [email protected].
