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Published: 13 January 2011

Created: 13 January 2011

Last Updated: 20 February 2011

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At its first meeting of 2011 the Scarsdale Board of Education touched on a variety of issues: the stellar Boys Varsity Soccer team, the snow day policy, a visit from exchange students from China, a report from the Scarsdale Teachers Institute, a discussion of a resolution regarding potential state tax caps and the District gift policy.

The Scarsdale Boys Varsity Soccer captains and coaches as well as Athletic Director Mike Menna were at the meeting to receive commendation from the Board of Education for the conclusion of an extraordinary season. They ended the season with 20 wins and 3 losses and were League Champions, N.Y.S. Eastern League Champions and proceeded to the state championship tournament. The Board conveyed its warm congratulations to the players and the coaches for their accomplishments.

Board President Jill Spieler reported that she and Mike McGill attended a meeting of the Phi Beta Kappa Society on Liberal Arts Education in the 21st Century. They reported that the presentations at the meeting echoed many similar themes to those now being emphasized in Scarsdale, such as developing a love of learning, problem solving and connecting subject matter to the broader interconnected world.

Spieler also discussed a recent article in the NY Times that reported that the College Board is redesigning the AP program to focus on the curriculum rather than the test. The new curriculum will emphasize concepts rather than facts and teach students to craft arguments and think critically. Spieler told the group that Scarsdale was ahead of the curve on the transition from AP to AT and that the College Board was responding to Scarsdale teachers and several independent schools who initiated this change.

McGill clarified his criteria for declaring a snow day. According to McGill, he looks at conditions in Scarsdale, decides whether or not the buses can operate safely, whether the side streets can be cleared and if parking lots can be plowed.

A video of Chinese exchange students who came to SHS for two weeks was aired and among their interesting observations were the following:

• Scarsdale students can choose from a wide variety of classes while Chinese students take only prescribed classes
• American students have one-to-one communication with their teachers
• American students work as hard as Chinese students
• American children share household responsibilities and have informal, friendly relationships with their parents. Parents in China are more authoritarian.
• The food here is exotic, and our neighborhood is not crowded as China
• Americans are very friendly

In the second portion of the exchange, a group of Scarsdale High School students will visit China this spring.

The next item on the agenda was an Education Report from Susan Taylor and Kenneth Holvig on the Scarsdale Teachers Institute. The entire presentation can be viewed on the Scarsdale Cable Channel.

The Board then turned to a discussion of whether or not to sign a resolution from the Westchester Putnam School Board Association concerning state mandates and a potential New York State tax cap. As drafted, the resolution asked for relief from state mandated costs in the event of the imposition of a property tax cap. The conversation touched on many issues including whether or not a tax cap was an effective way to reign in costs, and the ability of localities to control costs when so many expenses are mandated by the state. The Board also discussed a provision that would allow localities to override the tax cap and what percentage of the vote would be required to do so.

During the discussion, Board members were polled to see where they stood on a cap and here are their views:

• Linda Chayes opposed a tax cap saying it would be “too destructive to educational goals now.”
• Mary Beth Gose reluctantly supported a tax cap but favored a provision to include an override
• Suzanne Seiden opposed the tax cap saying that it is” already the Board’s job to be fiscally responsible to our students everyday”
• Lew Leone favored a tax cap
• Barbara Kemp opposed a tax cap, saying that if there is one she would favor an override provision.
• Liz Gugggenheimer was opposed to current proposals for a tax cap, saying that it “threatens our public education system and local control.”
• Jill Spieler opposed the tax cap as well as Assistant Superintendant Linda Purvis who said, “I think the tax cap is a bad idea. Educational programs will be eviscerated by this legislation. The most important thing to ask for is the ability to override.”

Since the Board was not in agreement on the language for a resolution, Board President Jill Spieler agreed to draft suggested language, circulate it to the Board and revisit the issue at the 1/24 BOE meeting.

Last, the Board considered two gifts to the schools.

There was considerable discussion of a gift of $12,131 from the Scarsdale Friends of Music and the Arts for equipment and guest artists. Linda Chayes called the gift enormous and generous but questioned whether the Board should accept the gift for these “extras” when the district could require funds for the arts programs themselves in the near future. However ultimately the Board voted unanimously to accept the gift, for the following reasons:

• Not accepting the gift would signal a change in policy from the Board
• The 22 items listed in the gift would be used to benefit children and teachers at many grade levels
• The arts budget had already been cut 10% and these gifts would boost morale among the arts teachers.

In addition, the Board accepted a gift of $5,720 to repair the field at Edgewood School from the Edgewood Athletic Association.

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Published: 11 January 2011

Created: 11 January 2011

Last Updated: 11 January 2011

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According to Scarsdale Schools Superintendant Michael McGill these are the best of times and the worst of times in his tenure at the helm of the Scarsdale School District. At a League of Women Voters forum on January 10, League members met with School Board President Jill Spieler and Superintendant Michael McGill for an update on the schools as the Board and administration begin their annual budgeting process for the 2011-12 school year.

According to McGill, the good news is that Scarsdale has begun to see the benefits of the administration’s plan to prepare Scarsdale students for a complex, interdependent world, by fostering critical and creative thinking and a passion for learning. McGill was proud to cite examples of how the district has moved away from rote learning and is now focused on working with students to foster critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

McGill shared a few examples of the validation that Scarsdale has received on this novel approach and believed our district’s philosophy would become a standard for other schools.

Both Spieler and McGill recently attended a meeting of the Phi Beta Kappa Society at the Scarsdale Woman’s Club with representatives from leading colleges and universities. In discussions about the state of education in the United States, it was clear that the colleges were seeking students who were critical thinkers and problem solvers, confirming McGill’s philosophical approach.

McGill also provided several examples of how this approach is being integrated at all levels in the school system:

• Scarsdale’s Singapore Math program was recently featured in the New York Times and has been well-received by elementary school teachers and students.
• In the fifth grade, the Capstone Project teaches students how to do original research at a very young age.
• There will be new final assessments for eighth graders that are learning projects rather than exams.
• In the high school, the transition from AP to AT courses has been a success, and the College Board is now reformulating the AP exams to focus less on fact retrieval and more on critical thinking.

However, Board members and the Administration are fearful that mandates from the federal and state governments and the state’s budget crisis could undermine the District’s success. There are real threats to our independent decision-making process as well as serious budget challenges. Both McGill and Spieler shared the gravity of the situation with League Members and asked the community to lobby legislators on the District’s behalf.

Here are the issues facing Scarsdale:

Governor Andrew Cuomo has proposed a 2% tax cap without providing local communities a mechanism to override the cap or providing relief from fixed costs such as the district’s contribution to the state pension fund. If the school budget goes up 5% due to contractual salary increases, pension costs and health care costs, and the district can only raise taxes by 2%, the Board will need to make tough choices to close the gap … possibly cutting facilities maintenance, raising class sizes, eliminating extra-curricular programs or cutting into the educational program.

N.Y. State won a Race to the Top grant, which will mean more funds for districts in need but no additional revenues for high-performing districts like Scarsdale. Even without funding, Scarsdale will need to conform to Race to the Top mandates. Two new requirements that concern McGill are as follows:

• All district teachers and administrators will need to be rated on a 100-point scale annually. McGill stated that it is impossible for supervisors to give in-depth evaluations every year to the entire staff. This is currently done every three years, though “problem teachers are under intensive supervision all of the time. “ According to McGill, the current three-year process has served us well for the last 20-30 years.
• In addition, the high school curriculum may be changed to require all students to take four years of math and science, where currently only three years of each are mandatory. According to McGill this will limit flexibility in the curriculum for juniors or seniors who may want to do science research, take interdisciplinary courses or take advanced courses in the humanities.

Both McGill and Spieler indicated that they have addressed the tax cap, mandated costs and Race to the Top requirements with lawmakers and education officials to little avail. They urged the League and members of the community to lobby legislators and write letters asking for the ability to override the tax cap, reductions in pension contributions and relief from federal and state mandates for high performing districts like Scarsdale.

As the Board and Administration begin their budget review process this month, they will confront these challenges and review potential scenarios with the community.

Pictured Above: School Board President Jill Spieler, Superintendant Michael McGill and League of Women Voters President Jane Veron. Photo by Angela Manson

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Published: 07 January 2011

Created: 07 January 2011

Last Updated: 07 January 2011

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The Friends of Music and the Arts in the Scarsdale Schools has announced its largest gift to the schools in its history; $12,131.00 will be donated to the Scarsdale Public Schools. Arts and music teachers in every grade will use the funds to augment their programs.

Some of the items already requested include additional glass display cases for the high school lobby, digital recorders, and a huge variety of instruments at every grade level.

The Friends is a dedicated group of community volunteers. Every cent raised by FMA goes directly into the schools allowing the arts and music programs to retain the highest standards.

They also advocate for the arts at community and district meetings and provide information to the public about upcoming events. Their website, is a resource, for information about summer and college programs in the arts. Visit their site here:

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Published: 04 January 2011

Created: 04 January 2011

Last Updated: 04 January 2011

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Elections for the Scarsdale School Board Nominating Committee were held on Tuesday January 4, 2011. Those elected will serve three-year terms on the nominating committee where they will seek out and nominate candidates to serve on the Scarsdale School Board. Following their three-year terms they will also serve on the Administrative Committee to run the elections in the following years.

A total of six nominators from each of the five elementary school areas serve on the committee, and traditionally two new people are elected each year. There are a total of 30 voting members and 4 non-voting members on the committee. Ideally four candidates run for the two open spots in each area every year, though occasionally the committee is unable to find four candidates. This year four candidates ran in Edgewood, Greenacres and Quaker Ridge, three in Fox Meadow and two in Heathcote. In Edgewood, three candidates were elected, as a former member was not able to complete his/her three-year term.

The winners from each area are as follows:

• Edgewood: Nancy Brady, Oliver Goldstein and Viveca Teuber
• Fox Meadow: Joan Bowen and Lorraine Feldman
• Greenacres: John Clapp and Diane Gluck
• Heathcote: Bennett Josselsohn and Mindy Tucker
• Quaker Ridge: Nancy Berdon and Melissa Brown-Bornstein

This year there was also a proposed amendment to the resolution that outlines the process for nominating the candidates. The proposed amendment would extend the term of the nominating committee chair and vice chair until the school board election in May. The proposed amendment passed with 294 yes votes, 21 no votes and 73 blanks.

The total vote count was 388: (Edgewood - 65, Fox Meadow - 84 , Greenacres - 103, Heathcote - 31, Quaker Ridge - 98)

Many thanks go to everyone who participated in the process -- including the members of the administrative committee for their help in managing this effort, and all the candidates. To those who did not win, the SBNC wishes to thank you for taking the time to apply and encourages you to run again next year. For those who did win, congratulations and thank you in advance for your service to Scarsdale.