A New Assistant Principal for Fox Meadow School

Dr. Lori LiebowitzAfter a joyful Tenure Conferral Ceremony on May 12, the Board of Education held a Statutory Budget Hearing where they gave a brief overview of this year’s proposed budget and reminded the community of the upcoming budget vote on May 20 at the middle school gymnasium from 7am to 9pm. Budget details are available on the Scarsdale Schools website and voting information can be found under the voter information icon.

New Assistant Principal at Fox Meadow Elementary School
Assistant Director of Human Resources, Meghan Troy announced that Dr. Lori Leibowitz will be appointed as the next Assistant Principal of Fox Meadow Elementary School. Troy explained that “Dr. Leibowitz is currently the Assistant Education Administrator for Gifted and Talented Programs in the Norwalk Public Schools. Prior to this role, she spent many years as an elementary school educator and teacher in the Greenwich Public Schools. Dr. Leibowitz holds an EDD in Learning and Organizational Change from Baylor University, a master's certificate in Gifted Education from the University of Connecticut, an MA in Elementary Education from Sacred Heart University, and a BA in history from George Washington University. We've had the privilege to get to know Dr. Leibowitz throughout the thorough and lengthy process. At every turn, she demonstrated a strong commitment to the students, and her care highlighted the importance of relationship building with faculty, staff, parents and students. Her warmth and compassion and ability to listen will serve her well in this role, combined with her strong academic and curricular background, Lori will be set up for success. I look forward to seeing all that she brings to Fox meadow in the future.”

Electronic Devices in School
The meeting included a robust discussion of the Draft Policy for Students and Personal Electronic Devices. On May 8, 2025, the New York State Legislature passed a bill that adds a new section to the Education Law requiring Boards of Education to adopt a policy prior to the 2025-26 school year prohibiting the use of internet-enabled devices by students during the school day anywhere on school grounds. Though the Board had already done a lot of work drafting a policy in anticipation of this new bill becoming law, there were still several questions and concerns that were thoughtfully addressed during the discussion.

Many Board members wondered what exceptions will be made for students with IEP and 504s and whether or not students will be able to use their laptops during their free periods to do work. Noting the legislation is pretty strict, Leah Dembitzer expressed that she would prefer to keep as much local control as we can at the building level and for the high school administration to be able to use their judgment. Dembitzer added, “They see the day to day life of high schoolers, and they would know what's best.”

Dembitzer also expressed her discomfort with having to report an Enforcement Plan at the state level, accounting for the number of disciplinary actions associated with this policy, and break that down demographically.

The state law reads: “Thereafter, each school district, charter school and Board of Cooperative Educational Services shall publish an annual report on its website detailing enforcement of the policy within the district charter school, including non identifiable, viable demographic data of students who have faced disciplinary action for non-compliance, and analysis of any demographic disparities in enforcement of the policy.”

The Board agreed with Dembitzer that this language feels like a big overreach, and agreed to advocate for change at the beginning of the next school year.

Air Conditioning
During public comments an SHS senior and varsity captain for the girls volleyball team addressed the lack of air conditioning in the gyms and cited the safety and comfort issues. She described the increasing heat in the gyms, an issue that has even seen a student going home ill due to the heat. She emphasized that the issue affects not just sports teams but all students and staff who use the gym and encouraged the Board to consider the concern in their Budget. A third community member chimed in via Zoom and reinforced the need to address the air conditioning in the gym.
Later in the Business portion of the BOE meeting, the Board heard from Kevin Walsh who is heading the Capital Project Steering Committee and he assured them that air conditioning in the gym is on his list of considerations.

Student Member of the Board of Education
The Board reviewed the selection process for the inaugural Ex Officio Student Member of the Board of Education for the 2025-2026 school year. Four juniors and four sophomores have been vetted by the high school student government and will be slated for a general student election on May 20th. The Board looks forward to welcoming the new student members, who will begin their terms on July 1st, 2025.

Food Service
Andrew Lennon provided an update on the Food Service Program, saying that after a bumpy start to elementary food ordering and credit card payment processing at the beginning of the school year, the District is prepared to transition back to My School Bucks for K-12 meal orders starting in September. Parents will not have to wait for a confirmation or a funding confirmation, as they did prior to last school year with My School Bucks and Nutrislice. It'll be an immediate order through Nutrislice.

Lennon also addressed the recent announcement of the NY State budget's “Free Meals for All" component and the need for the district to join the National School Lunch Program. Though the budgeted program is not a state mandate, Lennon shared that, “We are not there yet. There's a lot of work that is involved if we were to pursue this. First and foremost, we would need to be on the National School Watch Program, which we are not. We would need to really look closely at what that means for us, including perhaps participation in the breakfast program that doesn't exist today. We're working with our food service consultant to understand better what's in the state budget, and if there would be an opportunity for one or all, or some of our schools to participate in that program. We will do that over the next few months and come back with an update when we have more information with the recommendation or approach if we were to proceed with that plan.” Lennon added, “This is likely a material change to the food service contract, which would require a new bid for the food service company…It's really an involved process. We want to do it right.”

EV Bus Contract
During Public Comments, Howard Weinberg, representing his company, took the opportunity to share his concerns about the District's $6.1 million electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure plan and encouraged the District to obtain a second quote. Weinberg claimed the true cost could exceed $10 million and that his company proposed a solution at half the cost, promising $5 million in savings over eight years.

Later, Lennon responded to Weinberg’s concerns by saying, “I'd like to clarify the cost component of the $25.6 budget. To be very clear, as the Board is aware, Highland Fleet is a supplier of a fleet as a service program that was competitively bid through a sourcewell, a cooperative bid program. That's where we made our contract to them for this fleet as a service program. There are four budgeted buses intended to be in our fleet next year, one purchase this year and three next year. Highlands' proposal in place to $64,000 in next year's budget for the infrastructure, training and charging systems and software related to just those four vehicles.”

Lennon went on to note that the District is currently in contract negotiations with Highland Fleet and has been utilizing the school’s attorney to help vet both the RP process as well as the draft contract agreement with Highland. Lennon closed with, “Highland Fleet has been negotiating back and forth with us, with very meaningful changes.”

Later in the meeting, two Education Reports were shared which will be highlighted in a separate article. To watch the BOE meeting in its entirety see here.