McGill Offers Insights Into Labor Day Incident At Board Meeting
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At the October 12 meeting of The Scarsdale Board of Education Superintendant Michael McGill gave an update on the progress of the district’s transition from AP to AT courses and also commented on the school’s response to the Labor Day incident.
The District is now in the third year of the transition from the Advanced Placement courses to the Advanced Topics courses. McGill was pleased to report that the AP test scores last May were consistent with prior years, indicating that the AT courses have not caused a decline in AP test scores, as some had feared. In addition, both students and teachers report a high level of engagement with the new curriculum.
McGill then turned to the Labor Day incident which he said had generated a substantial amount of interest inside and outside the community. He reported that school officials only heard about the fight through the grapevine, two weeks after it occurred, but were bound by the Code of Conduct to investigate. Despite their efforts, they were unable to determine who was involved or what had happened.
The District spoke with their lawyers and determined that they could not act arbitrarily and impose blanket penalties on large groups when they did not know who was at fault. However, Principal Klemme did meet with the sports teams to let them know that if further incidents occurred involving individuals on a team, group consequences could be invoked. Klemme asked the students not to back the school into a position where everyone would have to suffer for the actions of a few.
In order to address the issue, Principal Klemme has scheduled meetings with parents, students and faculty to discuss morals and ethics and determine how to engage the entire school community in thoughtful and reflective discussions on the issue.
McGill then gave his own point of view, saying that the incident raised important ethical issues about the school’s role in the community. He feels that most parents do value character and decency and don’t want bad conduct to be ignored. Parents want students to know that misdeeds will have meaningful consequences yet these consequences need to be reasonable, in proportion to the offense and not have life-changing ramifications.
In closing, he said that our common goal should be to do better. On behalf of the school board, Board President Jill Spieler thanked McGill for the administration’s sensitivity to the issue and asked the community to be patient while the school works through the issue.
Next up was an informative five-minute video of a Singapore Math Lesson in a first grade classroom. For those who are not familiar with Singapore Math, the video demonstrated how children using manipulatives to work through math problems. It looked like they were learning and having fun.
Dr. Robert DiYanni, the district’s Director of Art and Aesthetic Education gave an annual update on our art program. The Lincoln Center Program has grown and this year, 90 faculty and 2800 students will see visiting artists and participate in Lincoln Center Programs. Also discussed, were a mime theatre piece, a program called Louder than Words that involves communication through gestures, and an experimental dance work. The Board discussed the concept of living with ambiguity and how this idea could be explored at all levels – elementary through high school.
Gifts in the following amounts were accepted by the Board:
- $450 from the High School PTA to cover specialists to work with school psychologists
- $367.25 from Maroon and White for trophies
- $3,500 from Maroon and White to cover costs of lights on Raider Pride Weekend
- $500 from the PT Council for Raider Pride weekend
- $7,500 from the Scarsdale Football Board for lighting for sports events
The Slaves of Scarsdale
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If you thought that slavery, or the peculiar institution, had no history in Scarsdale, read ahead. It turns out that slavery in Scarsdale is as old as Wayside Cottage. In fact, Thomas Hadden, who may have been the original resident of Wayside Cottage was a very prolific man who had three children by his wife plus five more with his “Wench Rose”, the family’s slave. Rose’s children, Amos, Lazerus, Dinns, Jacob and Eleanor are all listed as beneficiaries in Hadden’s will, which was handwritten and dated 1761. Unlike Thomas Jefferson who is said to have kept his relationship with slave Sally Hemmings under wraps, the Hadden will is upfront about the “Wench” and her children and stipulates that they are to be freed upon Hadden’s death and each is to be given 25 pounds of good and lawful money.
The will, and many more 17th and 18th century documents about Scarsdale’s first residents and their slaves are being unearthed and analyzed as part of an imaginative original research project led by Middle School Librarian Elizabeth Waltzman. She is working with a team of seventh grade English, Social Studies and Humanities teachers and their students to learn about Scarsdale’s slaves, the last of whom died or were freed in 1835, before the Civil War.
With the assistance of Eric Rothschild the team visited the Scarsdale Library. Their quest continued with visits to Scarsdale Village Hall and the Westchester County Archives and Historical Society to find original documents that the students can examine for clues about slavery in the early years of Scarsdale.
The impetus for the project is a planned visit on October 27 by author Marilyn Nelson who will discuss her book, Fortune’s Bones. Nelson a former poet laureate from Connecticut has written an elegy to a former slave from Waterbury. Fortune was a man who was enslaved to a Dr. Porter in the late 1700s. When Fortune drowned, Porter boiled and stripped the body and turned the skeleton into an anatomy display, which is now the property of the Mattituck Museum. In her book, Nelson juxtaposes pictures from the anatomy display against poems that elegize Fortune’s life. The book is called a Manumission Requiem, as manumission is the process by which slaves were freed.
Taking their lead from Nelson, the SMS librarian and teachers are searching for original documents that provide information about slaves in Scarsdale, which the students will analyze and use to draw inferences about slaves lives here. Among the documents to be examined are census reports, wills, ad for slaves, maps, newspaper clippings and property deeds. Part of the goal of the project is to emphasize the use of primary sources in research, as secondary sources are sometimes erroneous or incomplete.
After the research phase, students may be asked to create their own elegy for a slave they identify in history and the entire project may be put together in an online exhibit. This exercise in critical thinking will be undertaken by the 240 students in the classes of Denise Del Balzo, Meghan Lahey, Marci Rothman and Meghan Troy.
The group is busy uncovering many fun facts, some which link Scarsdale to the history of the new nation. For instance:
- Caleb Heathcote founded Scarsdale in 1701. By 1712 the entire population of Scarsdale consisted of 12 people, 8 of whom were slaves. Heathcote later became the mayor of New York City.
- Another famed Scarsdale resident was Daniel Tompkins. He went on to become the Governor of New York State and the Vice President of the United States under President James Monroe. A slave owner, Tompkins drafted legislation to gradually phase out slavery in 1799.
- The total population in Scarsdale in 1790 was only 281 people, of which 22 were slaves. And 45 years later, it remained stagnant with a total of 345 people, including 33 freed slaves or indentured servants.
If you are aware of any original documents involving slavery in town, please comment below and we’ll pass the information onto the Middle School.
Rocket Launch at Heathcote School
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At the annual fifth grade rocket launch at Heathcote, students built rockets powered by fire, water and air, using recycled soda bottles. They measured the height of the rocket’s trajectory and analyzed it as a function of the amount of water (ml) and air (psi) inside the rocket.
Here are photos of Mr. Deberry’s fifth grade class at the Heathcote Elementary School launching the rockets behind the school.
Photos courtesy of Jon Thaler. View more photos at www.JonThaler.com.
Free Restorative Yoga Classes In Scarsdale
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A March 2010 diagnosis of breast cancer brings Nancy Kardon, a certified Iyengar yoga teacher onto a new healing journey. This month she begins inspirational groups called Beyond Breast Cancer: Restorative/ Recuperative Yoga and Meditation” in Scarsdale and Greenwich, Ct.
The groups will incorporate a “breast health” Iyengar Yoga sequence and practice combined with some meditation. Nancy will share her sustaining longtime practices that have been a source of strength and renewal for her. These groups will be free, other than contributions to cover studio rental.
The classes will be held on Mondays from 1:30 -3:00 pm on the first and third Mondays of the month in Scarsdale. The first group on Monday October 18 is at the Iyengar Yoga Scarsdale studio at 74 Brewster Road in Scarsdale. All others on November 1, 15, 29 and December 13 are at Be True Yoga, on the third floor at 14 Harwood Court, Scarsdale.
Wednesday groups are in Greenwich from 1:00 – 2:30 pm on the second and fourth Wednesdays of the month at the Greenwich Arts Center, 299 Greenwich Ave. Ct. on the third floor. The dates for these groups are October 13, 27 and November 10, 17 and December 8 and 15.
For more information, contact Nancy by phone at 914 629-1994, by email at [email protected] or visit, www.yogascarsdale.com.
Former STEP Student Named Court of Appeals Judge
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On Monday September 27, O. Rogeriee Thompson became the first black person and the second woman to serve as a full judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit. She also happens to be a 1969 graduate of Scarsdale High School, where she attended as the second STEP student, moving here from her home in Greenville, S.C. to live with Scarsdale host parents Jane and Donald Johnson, who attended the reception on Monday.
Michelle Lichetenberg, the current president of STEP, travelled to Cranston, Rhode Island with past STEP presidents Gina Duncason and Tara Tyberg and STEP Founder Eric Rothschild, to attend the investiture ceremony.
Thompson, now 58 years-old, grew up in a segregated area of Greenville, S.C. After her two-year stint in Scarsdale, she went on to Brown University and Boston University School of Law. She had a private law practice before entering the judiciary and also served as senior staff attorney for Rhode Island Legal Services and as an assistant solicitor for the City of Providence.
U.S. Senator Jack Reed recommended Thompson’s appointment to President Obama and called Thompson “a remarkable woman” with integrity, intelligence and industry who has used those qualities to help others throughout her life.
(Pictured above from left to right: Gina Duncason, Michelle Lichtenberg, O. Rogeriee Thompson, Eric Rothschild, and Tara Tyberg)
