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Written by: Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 27 April 2020

Created: 27 April 2020

Last Updated: 27 April 2020

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(This note was sent to Scarsdale10583 by the Scarsdale Bowl Committee) This week we would have been celebrating the Scarsdale Bowl Dinner together. One powerful way to express gratitude is to thank the volunteers who make Scarsdale the amazing place we know and love. Scarsdale is a community full of volunteers whose dedication shines in every area of civic life.

For the first time, we can thank all of our community volunteers publicly by naming them to the new Scarsdale Foundation Volunteer Honor Roll!

The Honor Roll will help the Scarsdale Foundation, which provides need-based scholarships for college sophomores, juniors, and seniors, reach a vital fundraising goal of $150,000. As a community that values education, we should give every Scarsdale student a chance to succeed beyond their time in Scarsdale schools. During this unusual time, funds are critically needed.

All Scarsdale volunteers are eligible to be part of the Honor Roll, including former residents. For $25 per volunteer, you can honor as many volunteers as you choose, such as neighbors and friends who coach sports, help at our schools, cook for the homeless, serve on local boards, committees, and our everyday heroes. It is a way to acknowledge those who serve in the more prominent ways and the quieter ways as well.

Members of the Honor Roll will be contacted and recognized in print, online, and at the Scarsdale Foundation Bowl Dinner at Brae Burn Country Club on September 24, 2020. Please honor your friends and neighbors and remember that all donations will help the Scarsdale Foundation reach its goal for college scholarships and ensure that our students have a bright and shining future!

Click here to honor a volunteer today!

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Written by: Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 21 April 2020

Created: 21 April 2020

Last Updated: 21 April 2020

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The school administration presented new numbers for the proposed 2020-21 school budget, reducing the proposed budget to budget increase to just 1.07% and the proposed tax levy increase to 2.15%. This is the second lowest increase in the past 10 years and on a par with peer districts in the Westchester-Putnam School Boards Association.

Assistant Superintendent Mattey presented new estimates of expenses and revenues since school has now been closed for many weeks and economic conditions have changed. The district has realized some savings since the schools are closed, but at the same time anticipates that revenues from state aid, sales tax and interest will decrease.

Here are the latest assumptions for the end of year balance for the 2019-20 School Budget:

State Aid: For this year, the state had committed $800,000 in aid to Scarsdale. Assuming no changes are made, Mattey projected a $156,000 surplus in state aid for 2019-20.

Interest earnings are expected to drop by $395,000 due to the economy.

Sales tax was expected to rise dramatically, but has now been decreased to a surplus of $412,000.

Assigned fund balance is currently anticipated to decline by $1.1 million

Use of reserves is expected to be a deficit of $221,000 which will no longer be used for cooling projects.

The total proposed revenue deficit for 19-20 is $1,148,000.

The picture for expenses for this year has also changed.

Mattey anticipates a $1.4 million surplus in the health insurance account because the district received a $400,000 rebate from the prescription benefit plan, claims have decreased and stop loss insurance collections are reduced by $500,000.

A spending freeze for non-essential expenses will yield a surplus of $920,000.

Salary savings resulting from the school closing will yield savings of $820,000.

Due to a decrease in price and use, the district will save $500,000 for oil and gas.

Special education costs will rise as a result of an increase in the number of students requiring special education services at a cost of $1,074,000.
Other savings from security, bus fuel, safety monitors will be $825,0000.

The total surplus from expenditures is anticipated to be $3,390,000.

Putting all this together, Mattey anticipates that the district will end the fiscal year on 6-30-20 with a fund balance of $24,483,216, which is $2.2 million higher than the fund balance at the end of the last school year.

Looking forward to 2020-21, Mattey examined what happened to state aid in times of large budget deficits from NYS and has recommended reducing anticipated state aid to Scarsdale by $920,488 for next year. He also believes sales tax revenue will continue to decline and reduced that by $181,000. He anticipates further savings in health insurance ($820,000) and an increase of $300,000 for special education, due to the rising number of students.

Adding all this up, Mattey presented the following proposed budget for 2020-21:

Total Draft Budget $162,508,332
Budget to Budget Increase 1.07%
Projected Increase in Tax Levy 2.15%

Projected Tax Increase:
Town of Scarsdale 1.99%
Town of Mamaroneck 2.81%

The state has ruled that the budget vote should be held no sooner than June 1. Therefore, the administration recommended that the board adopt the 20-21 budget at their meeting scheduled for May 11 with a possible budget hearing on May 19. Mattey questioned how the election could be run while respecting social distancing rules. Many of the people manning the polls are senior citizens so he wondered how this could be safely conducted.

Several of the school board members commented on the budget.

Chris Morin said, “I think our challenges are going to deepen for a while. The Governor is saying that our situation is only going to grow more dire. Next year’s TRS number will grow more difficult. As we look ahead, do we have any strategy for dealing with our budget constraints (such as mandates, civil service rules etc.)?

Scott Silberfein said, “I think the current proposed budget falls short for our taxpayers. I am not advocating for deeper cuts. But I would advocate for a greater use of our assigned fund balance. This is a year when it is probably necessary to give relief …. I don’t want to use too much as we could be in a worse position next year.”

Board President Pam Fuehrer said, “The 1.01% budget increase that is proposed now is among the lowest in our peer group. For these nine schools the average for the tax levy increase is 2.4%. Compared to our peers and West-Put school districts it is what we are seeing across the board.”

Stuart Mattey responded: “We considered further use of the fund balance – above the $1.1 million. The danger is, if we thought this would only go on for one year, we could use more assigned fund balance as a band aid. But if this downward turn continues, we would dig a hole that we would have to dig out of twice.”

Ron Schulhof said, “When you look at the budget to budget increase of just 1%, the administration has done a good job of finding places to cut expenses. If we try to reduce taxes with fund balance this year, we might be in a difficult place next year. We are already using $300,000 more. I think the community supports the core educational program and not making cuts to it. I would like to hear from the community.”

Carl Finger said, “A lot of work has been done and I would like to hear what other people have to say about it.”

The board invited public comments.

SHS PTA President Deb Morel read the following statement from the SHS PTA Executive Committee:
The Scarsdale High School PTA Executive Committee appreciates this opportunity to comment on the proposed 2020-2021 School Budget. We hope everyone here and in the Scarsdale community is well and coping with the new “normal” of social distancing. We also appreciate what a difficult time this is, and thank the members of the Board of Education and both the District and the High School Administrators, particularly Dr. Hagerman, Mr. Mattey, Mr. Martin and Mr. Bonamo, for their commitment to the education of our students and for their time, expertise, and responsiveness during the budget process.

The High School PTA Executive Committee stands by its previous statements of support for all of the High School administration’s requests, but we acknowledge and agree that some of those, including the staffing additions, the renovation of Art Room 215 and the Quiet Study Space in the library, while necessary, are more appropriate for future budget cycles.

We fully support the District’s recommendation at the March 30th Budget Session against personnel cuts in the 2020-21 school budget. We expressly do NOT support reductions to faculty or staff at the high school that would increase class sizes, decrease curriculum offerings or negatively affect the support our students get and need from resources like the Learning Resource Center, the Math and Writing Centers, the Counseling Department or the College & Career Center.

With respect to the high school auditorium project, we continue to support the full project as necessary for the safety and education of our students and all community members who use the space. Though we respect and accept the Board’s decision to trim next year’s budget in response to economic concerns related to COVID-19, we strongly urge the Board to transfer from Debt Service the approximately $730,000, originally part of the 2014 Bond and earmarked for the auditorium, to the project fund in the 2020-21 budget to accomplish--or at least start-- some of the most critical items on the auditorium project list in the coming year.

We remind the Board and the community that this budget is for the entire upcoming school year-- a year, I sincerely hope, that our children can enjoy with each other and their teachers using our school buildings and facilities to their full capacity and potential. We must develop and pass a budget that can support that learning and activity, and that upholds the excellence of Scarsdale schools.

Again, we appreciate your time and efforts on behalf of Scarsdale High School, our students, and the larger community, and your consideration of our comments this
evening.

Claudine Gecel of 10 Kent Road said, “This budget book is getting more appropriate to the environment we find ourselves in. As this might go on for more than one year, TRS depends on the rate of return that is assumed, if they lower their rate of return we will have to increase our contributions… At some point health expenses will catch up – people won’t postpone treatment indefinitely. Maybe we can put the $770,000 in a reserve fund for use later… Maybe we have to look at big ticket items and assess whether we really need them. We are spending a lot of money on security services, all over the place. It’s a large number. Do we want to look at that? $1 or $2 million per year. Even though there are state mandates, we don’t necessarily have to comply with all of them.”

Mayra Kirkendall Rodriguez from Fox Meadow Road provided extensive data about unemployment and the economic downturn and called for minimizing any increases, though she said, “I would love to see an expanding budget. I have long advocated for more foreign language and math in the elementary schools.”

Art Rublin from Donellan Road said, “You have done a great job at striking the right balance. We know how affluent this community is in a lot of respects. In the scheme of things $400 is something folks can bear. The more consensus you can have on this board the better. If there is some increase in the use of the fund balance that you can agree to - $100, 000 or $200,000 – I would be comfortable with that… If Bronxville is approving a budget with an increase of 2%, we should keep this in mind. There is a point of diminishing returns in terms of cutting the tax levy.”

Bob Harrison spoke at length. Here are excerpts from his comments: “I would like to see a 0% increase. There are some years in which the budget has not been passed. My favorite expression is “shared sacrifice.” In 2009 the superintendent and top five administrations agreed to freeze their salaries. I am asking the top people who are on this call to offer to freeze your salaries for the coming year. You have your jobs. Many people in our community are not going to have any paycheck.

This is the time to use the fund balance. Maybe we’ll have a vaccine in 18 months and this will turn around. Thomas “I love you” – what’s the projected increase in your salary for the coming year? You don’t have to worry about a paycheck coming in. So I ask you – shared sacrifice. I ask you to bring the increase down to no increase.”

Robert Berg said, “We are in a severe crisis of unmatched proportions. We have to have shared sacrifices. A lot of our residents have lost their jobs and lost their savings. We have to pass a budget with their votes and I think the budget you are proposing is too high. You have to come in with a 0% increase. It’s doable. You can do it thought attrition. Share their teaching responsibilities with existing staff – share their responsibilities with administrators who are not teachers. You should have a standstill arrangement and not have any increases. That will save money. It’s fair. That’s a shared sacrifice. Or pay the tax bill in two installments. That would be a great benefit to taxpayers. You can do it without interest if you get the approval from the county to do that. The point is your school taxes are enormous and a great hindrance to selling your house. The taxes are killing our property values.”

Mattey responded to some of the questions raised. About the high school auditorium he said, “We will not use the $730,000 for the auditorium next year because the phasing doesn’t work. The first phase would be over $1mm, so none of those dollars are included. It’s on hold right now though we may consider a bond in the future.” About the health reserve and TRS reserves, Mattey said, “between the two pension reserves, we are just about at $4 million.”

Responding to Bob Berg’s idea of splitting the school tax bill to allow two payments, Fuerher said that the Board had asked for more information about splitting tax payments.

Note from the Scarsdale Schools re: Kindergarten Registration

Parents Encouraged to Complete Online Kindergarten Registration As Soon As Possible

The Scarsdale School District continues to offer online Kindergarten registration. Current residents who expect to have a child attend Kindergarten during the 2020-2021 school year are encouraged to complete this process as soon as possible. Although prospective Kindergarteners may register at any time prior to the start of the school year, completing this process early ensures a smooth placement process. Children whose fifth birthday falls on or before December 31, 2020 may be registered for the 2020-2021 school year.

Please visit www.scarsdaleschools.org/registration 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. If you do not know which elementary school serves your neighborhood, please contact the District Registrar, Nunzia Mauro, via email at [email protected].

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Written by: Oscar Tirabassi

Published: 09 April 2020

Created: 09 April 2020

Last Updated: 09 April 2020

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No Prom, Graduation, and Spring Break? SHS Seniors are Less than Thrilled with the Prospect

It all happened so quickly.

Scarsdale High School seniors are struggling to come to terms with not only the burden – and worrying headlines – of an international pandemic, but also the unfinished business of a senior year suddenly and jarringly cut off. The culmination of their high school experience will never be realized in the way it has been viewed in movies and recounted by friends, parents, and older siblings. Although many students are disappointed, they are making their best effort to complete their academic obligations and enjoy their days spent at home.

“We started our education in kindergarten,” one senior said during a Zoom coronavirus discussion session hosted on April 8 during Wellness Week. “Maybe by fourth grade we were expecting the year before college to have so many good things happen.”

(The application called Zoom has been employed by the district to conduct virtual classes; a student explained his schedule as “two Zoom classes a week for each of my core academic classes, and in each half-hour class we discuss topics or ask questions, for example, about answer keys or homework.”)

He continued: “Now knowing that there’s a virus that basically put a stop to all that kind of minimizes what I feel like I’ve accomplished, and in addition, the accomplishments of people that I’ve known that I won’t see again until I come back as a college freshman.”

The most looming regret for seniors is the likely cancellation, delay, or rearrangement of a few beloved traditions: prom, spring break, and graduation.

Tickets were already being sold for prom before the extended closure was announced, and the current status of that event appears largely up in the air.

“I am really upset about prom being canceled! I went last year and I was really looking forward to it as a senior milestone,” explained senior Eve Mainster. “I also already bought my dress and I know lots of other people paid for their outfits as well, so that sucks. It would have been a great night to mingle with friends, and it’s an important life experience.”

As for graduation, Mainster conceded her disappointment, mentioning that “it is a huge milestone but the ceremony is less important than the actual achievement.”

“I hate that [these events] are cancelled and it’s disappointing, but it has to be done,” said senior Abhinav Vittal.

“I am a little upset to hear that I will probably be stuck in my house for spring break,” said Ava Girardi, another senior. Mainster expressed similar sentiments about spring break: “I was going to go to away with my friends and then see family I rarely spend time with…senior spring break is supposed to be a really fun and lighthearted time with low stress.”

As for prom, a recent email from Principal Kenneth Bonamo promised that school administrators would “do everything [they] can to preserve this event.” Graduation: “We continue to plan for our traditional ceremony on Dean Field. Should New York State require alternate planning, we will follow the State guidelines.”

In the meantime, opinions on e-learning among students have been largely mixed and conflicting.

“E-learning generally seems scattered. A lot of teachers are still shifting around when we meet, and that adds a level of confusion,” opined senior Jack Greenspan.

On the other hand, senior Ava Girardi considered e-learning a success. “E-learning is going well so far and I believe the school is doing a very good job on making this transition easier for everyone.”

“I don’t really like e-learning,” admitted senior Eve Mainster. “It is better than nothing because it gives me a sense of routine. But e-learning is like having double the homework and none of the social aspects of school. Zoom is probably getting more traffic now than ever, so it tends to be slow and glitchy. It is also hard to keep track of because teachers can change up the Zoom schedule rather than sticking to the same schedule.”

Still, other students admitted that e-learning was the best possible current solution in spite of its challenges.

“We all knew e-learning wouldn’t be as good as having a teacher,” Vittal said. “I don’t really have criticisms because I know it’s difficult for teachers to adapt.”

Another senior offered a different perspective. “I think e-learning is doing pretty well. My sister personally doesn’t like it: she doesn’t think that the teachers are using their time effectively, and that most of the time it’s a waste of time,” he said. “For me, I think my teachers did a good job of setting it up and creating a system where the way that we learn is pretty similar to how we learn in class, but also a good adaptation to a virtual platform.”

When they’re not studying, students at SHS have used numerous indoor and outdoor activities to occupy their time. The most commonly named activities include walking outside, biking outside, exercising, reading, watching movies and television on Netflix, learning new skills, and spending time with family.

“I go out pretty often,” said senior Vlad Asriev. “I try to avoid groups of people especially, but I like to bike on the Bronx River trail. It tends to be in some ways – with the ways that that path works – a little hard to stay away from people. That’s one thing that tends to be a little more worrisome.

“For the most part, I feel pretty good in quarantine,” he continued. “There’s kind of a lot to do - I never feel bored. Sometimes I might get addicted to Tik Tok [popular social media app] and just waste the day away, but I never feel like there’s nothing to do. There’s so many movies that I can watch, so many books that I can read.”

For some seniors, their social lives have hardly changed it all. Texting and FaceTime are easy avenues of communication, and stir-craziness has given students the disposition to reach out to people they would not normally contact.

“I feel like people are a bit more open to calling each other even if they’re not the closest friends,” said Asriev. “In school, you kind of have the opportunity to talk to someone really quickly, 5-10 minutes, whatever. Since you can’t really do that at home, I feel like the barrier to communication has kind of been lowered. Everybody’s a lot more willing to talk to each other and check in on people they normally wouldn’t check in with as much.”

“I’m currently trying to get my license, although my test was cancelled,” Asriev continued. “I’m still going out and doing driver’s ed. On top of that I talk to friends a lot. For the most part, I feel pretty busy, actually, and the only thing I’d change is to be a bit more productive, be more creative, things like that.”

One of the most noticeable impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, especially for seniors, rising seniors, and their parents, has been enrollment at colleges and universities. As the Regular Decision round of college admissions has come to a close, SHS families – and those of other high schools across the country – are faced with difficult and perplexing decisions due to campus closures that prevent them from visiting prior to matriculation. COVID-19 may also affect what kinds of students matriculate at these colleges. To clarify how college admissions will likely be affected at SHS, here is an unedited statement from Director of Counseling Oren Iosepovici:

SHS Director of Counseling Oren Iosepovici"This national emergency has had an impact on every segment of society, and college admissions has been no exception. Much like our world has changed over the past few weeks, many of the assumptions that colleges and universities had barely a month ago are in some cases no longer valid. International students that were due to arrive on their campus in September may no longer be able to. All across our nation, families that believed they could afford a specific institution have witnessed drastic changes to their employment and financial outlook. Institutions themselves have undergone a shock to their bottom line through lost revenue from unclaimed fees from students who are no longer on campus, a loss of endowment through the downturn of the stock market, and other economies they can usually count on. In the enrollment process, campus closures have prevented schools from marketing themselves to admitted students. All these factors have combined to make this as arguably the most challenging year for colleges in memory. We have heard from various institutions the difficulties in predicting what their incoming class would look like, and this has obviously had an impact on the admission process. Though we haven't seen final numbers, we have seen unexpected positive outcomes for students at some colleges, and anecdotal evidence that waitlist decisions increased this year as schools attempt to plan for all contingencies. How that plays out in the coming weeks (and possibly months) will be interesting to follow, and will ultimately answer the question of the true impact of this crisis on college admissions.”

On April 8, the Class of 2020 advisers, Coach Alex Greenberg and Ms. Eileen Cagner, sent an email out providing some consolation and clarification for the SHS senior class:

“We are sorry that we will not get to celebrate the way we had planned. But, that does not diminish all that you have achieved through the years. Your class has already proven that there are no limits to what you can do and that doesn’t stop even if the world around us has for the time being. With so much uncertainty right now, including what the rest of the school year will look like, there is one thing we are sure of - we will figure out the best way to honor the class of 2020 because no matter what, we are all in this together :)”

Scarsdale High School, although physically closed, is still in session. Little has changed.

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Written by: Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 31 March 2020

Created: 31 March 2020

Last Updated: 02 April 2020

Hits: 2744

After the coronavirus hit and economic fears grew, there was pressure on the Scarsdale School Board and School Administration to re-evaluate the proposed 20-21 school budget, which called for a 3.43% budget to budget increase and a 3.23% increase in the tax levy. With statutory deadlines looming, the administration acted quickly to come up with a proposed list of reductions which they presented to the Board of Education at their March 23 meeting.

The roughly $3.7 million in proposed reductions included cuts to facilities, program improvements and professional development and also offered up some efficiencies. Though the school budget is 80% salaries, and 20% “other expenses” all of these reductions were derived from the non-salary portion of the budget. The $3.7mm reduction cut the tax levy increase dramatically and would have meant a 1.45% tax levy increase over 2019-20.

At the conclusion of the 3-23 meeting, the Board asked the administration to look even further and “leave no stone unturned.” The general sentiment appeared to be, “show us what else might have been on that list.” They also asked the administration to consider decreasing the size of the faculty and staff through attrition, consolidation of work or examination of the teacher load.

One week later, on March 30, the administration returned to the table with a defense of the current budget, an explanation of the underlying assumptions and a recommendation to maintain the 3-23 budget, or possibly re-instate some of the proposed cuts.

At the outset of the meeting, Board President Pam Fuehrer announced that a new decision from the Governor delayed the calendar. The board no longer has to approve the budget by April 30 and the election will be put off from May to June. This removed some of the pressure for the board to make decisions quickly, given the changing landscape. The Board will hold another budget meeting on April 20.

Assistant Superintendent Drew Patrick reviewed district staffing, demonstrating why all faculty, civil service staff and administrators were essential to the district’s mission. He had given a similar presentation at the outset of budget planning in January and reiterated many of underlying principals such as class size, the staffing requirements for the middle school house system, the need for flexibility and electives at the high school and the implementation of extra reading support in the younger grades and the STEAM program in the older grades that all required staffing.

He explained that the “total personnel increases over the last ten years are a result of work that the district has prioritized... the civil service staff has stayed the same – except of an additional nurse at the high school and two cleaning staffers due to the expansion of the high school.

He went through the staffing of each of the seven district schools, explaining that overall “We have 4,745 students, 25 administrators and 458.4 teachers.” For next year, two contingency teaching positions are in the budget, one of which is already needed for a special education kindergarten class.

In response to the Board’s question about not filling vacancies, Patrick explained that the work of civil servants cannot be redistributed. He then outlined the impact of cutting faculty and staff to show the effect on the program and on the students. For instance, if we cut a bus driver, students would have significantly longer ride time to and from school. Cutting teachers at the high school results in a decrease in flexibility, increase in class size and perhaps fewer elective choices. If the district fails to replace the Public Relations person who is retiring, the district could not produce the “Insight” newsletter or board meeting highlights, would be less responsive to the press and would have less website content and social media presence.

He defended the staffing plan saying, “it is not based on excess – but built on excellence. We have been tempered and deliberate with staffing… teachers can’t teach more sections…We can’t cut without changing our fundamental assumptions.” He concluded, “The Cabinet recommends no personnel cuts.”

Assistant Superintendent Stuart Mattey then presented the list of the proposed $3.7 million in reductions, categorizing them into four groups and explained:

Efficiencies – “We support these because they do not affect the curriculum or can be deferred.”

New Items – “These will stall progress on well thought out program improvements.”

Safety – “Enhancements to the physical plant to improve safety.”

Support for Core – “These items maintain the excellence of our core program.” He added, “If these are excised, we believe there should be a commitment to re-instate them.”

The numbers for these four groups of proposed budget reductions were as follows:

Total Efficiencies - -$459,000 (including a $250,000 reduction in fuel oil.)

Total New Items -$553,722 (including plant improvements at the bus compound and Butler Field sound system

Total Safety - -$143,800 (for gates, bollards and phase 2 glass mitigation)

Core Educational Support –$2,514,156 (including high school auditorium, professional development, summer curriculum and the early pay-off of the computer lease.)

Technology Director Jerry Crisci explained that the department’s total hardware budget is $1.5 million which includes the $400,000 for the lease. He said, “If we can’t make it up next year, no instructional devices can be bought for that year.”

Scott Silbefein suggested that the district might use surpluses from this year to fund some one-time expenses. Carl Finger clarified, the savings, saying “By paying off the lease, we are just paying off this year what we could pay next year. So we’re still spending the same amount of money.”

Mattey then presented three budget proposals, one with the core items, one without the core item and another with the core items minus the auditorium to show the tax impact of each of these scenarios. See all the assumptions here:

Mattey also discussed some unknowns given the uncertainty of the state’s finances. He said, “The shortfall for the state budget could be $15 billion – up from the previous estimate of $4 billion. The state has already spent $1 billion on the coronavirus. The Governor says state aid to schools may be reduced and may be paid quarterly. After the 2008 crisis it took 5-6 years to get the money we were due from the state.” He added, “The total state aid for the district is $7 million but it could be reduced by $700,000.”

Furthermore, the state could require the district to use a contingent budget, no higher than the prior year. Also unknown is the impact of the crisis on the district’s contributions to the Teachers Retirement System and Employees Retirement System.

In the Board discussion that followed Board Vice President Alison Singer said, “The core principles that defines a Scarsdale education have to be maintained. I support deferring the auditorium and maintenance work but do not want to eliminate programs, faculty or alter class sizes. Education is now more crucial than ever. I do support taking down the budget to a 1.44% increase by eliminating the auditorium, the .4 position at the middle school and one contingency position and paying the computer lease.”

Karen Ceske said, “I agree with much of what Alison just said. Our experience has shown us the importance of school to students and families. The reputation of the schools is important to our real estate as well.”

Carl Finger said, “I would like to hear from the community. I don’t think anyone wants to diminish the education or make a substantial change. Now is not the time to look into cutting staff. We don’t know what the future will hold. In a year there may still be tough decisions that need to be made…the reality is we are trimming around the edges. We are only talking about a few hundred dollars (on the average resident’s tax bill.)

Chris Morin said, “Any one year’s budget is not as important as the long-term projection and sustainability. What I found a little distressing tonight is that we built this system that has so little resilience that even in an economic downturn with falling enrollment we can’t conceive of letting headcount drift down by a couple of tenths of a percent and we think it is draconian to get by with an above inflation increase. I think we need to do a much better job of long-term planning and pursue some of the things that make the system so inflexible, whether it’s state mandate relief, or county civil service reform or union flexibility. When things calm down a bit I think we need to ensure that we are building a sustainable school district that works for everybody. But for now I agree with what I have heard and support the direction that we’re headed."

Ron Schulhof said, “The Governor has given us the gift of time. We have to consider that this 1.44 (tax increase) increase could shift – state aid, and sales tax may change. We could get hit with tax certs. (About the computer lease he said,) “I do not think we should pay it off.” We are setting up a future board for a major increase. It is a core educational component.”

Scott Silberfein said, “I would like to take another look at our fund balance and see what opportunities we might have there. Using fund balance to pay for the computer lease may be more meaningful down the road. We don’t know a lot tonight. If we lose $5 million of our $7 million in state aid, we will have more to discuss.”

Board President Pam Fuehrer said, “We are not looking to adjust core philosophies. I know we will look at fund balance again. We will track our surpluses – those will change as well and I want to keep them in mind.”

During the public comments section, Leah Dembitzer, President of the League of Women Voters of Scarsdale read the following statement on behalf of the League's Board of Directors:

League of Women Voters of Scarsdale Board of Directors
Comment on School Budget Re: Staffing March 30, 2020

In light of last week’s Board of Education budget discussion regarding staffing, contingency positions and class size, the League Board would like to emphasize the paramount importance of protecting our educators and students. The League Board supports investment in staffing our schools appropriately, including budgeting for contingency positions to support current elementary class size practices. We support budget choices that link to Scarsdale educational values and include reflection on teaching and learning.

The League Board recommends adherence to established elementary school class size maximums (22 students in grades K-3 and 24 students in grades 4-5); including support services for special education as well as sufficient mental and emotional health staffing for middle school students; and a commitment to high school class size norms that supports student choice, teacher availability, the protection of teacher course load and appropriate staffing to support the mental, social-emotional health of our high school students, especially in light of the current unprecedented health crisis affecting us all.

At a time when additional models for delivery of educational services to students are being implemented, the League Board recommends that the Board of Education and Administration engage in practices that ensure that all student needs are met.

The League Board strongly encourages the Board of Education to consider the continued importance of staffing levels and the preservation of class size norms as these issues affect student experience, protect student wellness, enhance teaching and learning, promote enrichment and reflect core values of the Scarsdale Schools.

The Scarsdale High School PTA Executive Committee also made comments. See their letter here:

Mary Beth Evans and Dan Moretti of Edgewood Road also read comments: See them here: