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Written by Natalie Isak

Published: 21 June 2018

Created: 21 June 2018

Last Updated: 21 June 2018

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Yehuda sits happily in his new high chair designed and built by Friedman. As the school year drew to a close, the senior class was immersed in a mixture of emotions: relief, anticipation, apprehension, and excitement. Yet before Scarsdale seniors could cross the finish line of graduation, they faced their last obstacle: senior options.

For the months of May and June, Scarsdale seniors spent seven weeks, 30 hours a week, in the workforce completing internships or independent projects of their choosing.

Beginning in the winter, seniors were tasked with finding a “mentor” for their internship, any teacher at the high school who they have a close relationship with, to help guide them through the process. Students were then randomly assigned a “case manager” who is in charge of approving their proposals and passing their final projects.

Students then spent the ensuing couple of months finding, researching, and securing an internship. To do so, students found a “sponsor,” or an employee/volunteer at their chosen internship to oversee their work. It is also possible for students to complete independent studies: projects in which approximately 10 hours are spent as structured time related to their study and the other 20 hours are spent alone working on a private project.

This year, Scarsdale seniors’ senior options ran the gamut of interests. Here are some of a few exciting internships and projects:

Anthony D’Ambrosio completed his senior options with Dr. Matusz, an orthopedist. At his internship, he observed and helped Dr. Matusz complete MRIs and X-Rays for his patients.

During his time in the office, D’Ambrosio encountered a number of different spinal injuries and conditions, such as Spinal Stenosis, Spinal Spondylosis, Spinal Slippage, and Herniated Discs.

Although D’Ambrosio spent the majority of his time interacting with patients and aiding Dr. Matusz, he did have the opportunity to watch certain procedures.

D’Ambrosio observed two laminectomies, one rotator cuff repair, and two meniscus repairs.

“Overall I really enjoyed shadowing Dr. Matusz and getting to see the whole process of an injury from diagnosis to recovery,” said D’Ambrosio.

Noah Glantz spent the past seven weeks at Pro Sports Physical Therapy. An athlete himself, Glantz has visited their physical therapy office a shocking 89 times for a variety of different injuries. He had always enjoyed the positive and welcoming environment and felt as if he “owed it to them to work there.” Glantz is also interested in sports, medicine, and interacting with people, so this senior options project was the perfect fit.

At Pro Sports Physical Therapy, Glantz prepared bottles for ultrasounds, met with patients, did laundry and cleaned tables, made ice packs, and shadowed therapists. Over the course of his internship, he learned a variety of different physical therapy techniques, including heat, ice, manual therapy, strength therapy, ultrasounds, and laser.

Not only did Glantz learn technical, hands-on skills, but also how to support patients emotionally. Glantz helped many patients make short-term goals and focus on how far they have come rather than how far they have left.

For Ryan Guo’s senior options, he spent 30% of his time interning as an IT assistant in Scarsdale High School and the remainder of his time on a personal project. Guo expressed interest in creative applications of technology, and this combination of responsibilities exposed him to a number of different skill sets in this field.

At the high school, Guo obtained real world experience working with hardware and software. He spent time reorganizing chromebooks, testing computer programs, installing new software, and researching database effectiveness for the foreign language department. Guo also had the opportunity of redesigning Scarsdale High School’s floor plans to help improve legibility.
For the remainder of his senior options, Guo designed a visual novel. He used python and other coding languages to create special effects, wrote content, created artistic designs for the background, and incorporated audio. Guo said he “enjoyed the autonomy and free time” of his independent project to pursue his passion.
Guo has yet to finish his visual novel and looks forward to completing it this summer.

Jack Lazarus spent his senior options interning for a plumber. This unconventional internship was spurred by his interest in engineering and desire to gain hands-on, applicable experience in the workforce.

During Lazarus’ final presentation, he joked that his friends and family all believed that he spent seven weeks unclogging toilets. Lazarus explained, however, that plumbing encompasses a much broader scope than toilets, but showers, sinks, gas generators, hot water tanks, radiators, and boilers as well.

Lazarus learned how to change flappers and flush valves; unclog drains; fix leaks, snake sinks and sewage pipes; and install sump pumps, new boilers, and new hot water tanks.

“Senior options gave me a look into a profession I had never considered before. The experiences I had gave me a new appreciation for plumbing and showed me just how many professions I take for granted and that many have larger impacts on the world than I thought,” said Lazarus.

Charlotte Moser spent her senior options at Baked In Color. Local resident Julie Waxman, who began the operation business in May 2016, runs this company. Moser is interested in pursuing a career in medicine, but has always held an interest for baking and business as well.

At Baked In Color, Moser was charged with a variety of responsibilities. She had the opportunity to bake some of Baked In Color’s staple rainbow chocolate chip cookies, those of which the business produces approximately 2,000 cookies per day. Moser also bought and managed baking supplies and helped prepare cookie packaging.

For the majority of her time, Moser helped run Baked In Color’s social media accounts. During her time at the company, she learned the importance of social media exposure for new businesses. Moser helped design aesthetically pleasing cookie promotions to post on the company’s Instagram account.

Caroline Stemerman interned at NM Designs, a budding interior design company. NM Designs incorporates traditional and contemporary elements to create unique designs.

Stemerman had a lot of independence at her internship. She sourced materials, coordinated and attended meetings with clients, created invoices, estimated project costs, and pitched ideas to her boss and clients.

Some of her projects included houses in the Hamptons, Long Island, and New Rochelle. Just as each house was unique, so were the needs of its clients. For instance, Stemerman recalled working with a religious family that could not have the color black in their house. “The most important thing that I learned was that each client has different wants and needs… and I had to learn how to work with that”

Zach Friedman designed and built a high chair for 15-month-old Yehuda. Friedman is interested in adaptive design association and creative engineering, and wanted to spend his senior options creating a physical product.

Yehuda has microcephaly, which causes abnormal brain development. He is smaller than most babies and struggled to sit upright in his previous highchair. Friedman’s solution was to build inserts for Yehuda’s head, neck, hips, and feet.

Friedman developed his prototypes and final product in the design lab at Scarsdale High School. “One of the best parts of this project was being able to work in the new design lab – having all that technology right in front of you makes a huge difference, it really makes the whole experience nicer,” said Friedman.

After designing and building three prototypes, Friedman was finally ready to create his final product. It included Velcro ankle fasteners, a height adjustable footrest, 3D printed footholds, and side inserts. To build the final high chair, Friedman used a number of different technology and tools: everything from a 3D printer to a sewing machine.

Yehuda loved the final product. “He [Yehuda] wasn’t in the best mood, and then he sat in the chair and we put all the inserts in, and you can see his face light up. Without it, he’s really just falling over in his chair and you can tell he’s not really comfortable, but with all the inserts in there, it’s almost like he’s being hugged the entire time and he finally feels comfortable in a chair that fits him,” said Friedman.
To learn more about Friedman’s project, click here. 

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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 26 June 2018

Created: 26 June 2018

Last Updated: 26 June 2018

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The Scarsdale Summer Youth Tennis League is now registering players for their 34th season. The league is organized by the New York Junior Tennis and Learning Scarsdale Chapter and the Scarsdale Recreation Department for boys and girls between the ages 6 and 18.

The program begins on Tuesday, July 10 at the Scarsdale Middle School Tennis Courts on weekday evenings from 6 to 8 PM for four weeks and the fee is just $50.

This program offers up to 32 hours of tennis in round robin matches for all skill levels :beginner, novice, intermediate and advanced. Every player receives a participation trophy and a Scarsdale NYJTL tee-shirt . The program concludes with a tennis tournament and pizza and ice cream party. Players can pick their evenings and play for one or two hours.

Contact Bob Harrison, League Director at 914 646-4054 (cell) or by email at [email protected]. Applications can be picked up at the Recreation Department at Village Hall or printed at the Village website at www.scarsdale.com/recreation or from Mr. Harrison's email.

Sign up your kids today to enjoy the Scarsdale Summer Youth Tennis League this summer.

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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 13 June 2018

Created: 13 June 2018

Last Updated: 13 June 2018

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The question about mold at Greenacres School has resurfaced again. At the May 21 meeting of the Scarsdale Board of Education, Greenacres Dad Mitch Kahn inquired about the results of follow-up mold testing that was done at the Greenacres Elementary in January 2018. The re-testing was done after mold was found in the school in October 2017 but the results were never shared with the community. The report was dated January 22, 2018 just two weeks before a community vote on a bond referendum that included plans to renovate Greenacres School, but the testing results were not made available to voters.

Kahn said, “I don’t understand why we haven’t been told the results of those tests. Clearly we had to go through a FOIL to get the results of previous tests and we don’t want to have to go through that process every time a test is done. We have an upcoming large renovation and its supposed to have third party testing and we don’t want to have to FOIL the results.”

He continued, “I think the administration has a communications problem. You know these are big issues. You know that parents care. If there are no issues then there should be no problem telling people where we can get the results of these tests…. If we do these tests and we don’t tell anyone the results, does it matter that we do the tests? There are a lot of parents that are worried but are too intimidated to come up here to speak.”

Just hours before the June 11, 2018 meeting of the Board of Education, which was five months after the January environmental report was received, those results were made public. They showed that there was again mold at four of the previous sites at Greenacres School – not at the same levels as previously reported – but present enough to require another disinfection process. Elevated readings were found in Classrooms 2B and 9, in the teacher’s lounge and in the custodial area.

On Monday night, in a discussion of the testing, Assistant Superintendent for Business Stuart Mattey steered away from discussing the results or steps to eliminate the mold and instead focused on future reporting protocols. He said, “The district failed to follow up on IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) testing when we said that we would. This will be a regular agenda item in January and June. All reports will be posted on the website as soon as they are completed. The website has been updated. We included money for environment testing in next year’s budget and John Trenholm will arrange the schedule.”

However, reporting the problem does not solve it. Given that the school is about to undergo a $35 million renovation, Mattey might have addressed how the architects and engineers proposed to get at the source of the mold to stop these re-occurences. The building is known to be on a high water table and has had issues with water infiltration. In November, areas of the building were found to be very humid. Due to the expense, the existing areas of the building will not be air conditioned, which would have lowered the humidity and discouraged the growth of mold.

We followed up with Mattey and posed the following questions in an email on Tuesday June 12, 2018.

Stuart: I was surprised to see mold testing results from January 2018 issued in June, especially in light of a facilities bond vote in February. Information like this might have affected voters' choice.

Here are my questions:

Why were the results held until now?

Elevated readings were found in rooms 2B and 9 and in the teachers’ lounge. The teacher’s lounge is on the opposite side of the building from where the new dehumidifiers will be located. I believe that Room 9 is also above a dirt crawl space.

As you know, three quarters of the building sits on a dirt foundation on a very wet site. Has the district done any testing of the dirt crawl spaces? How can we assess the mold levels there? What are the plans for remediating any mold that may be coming up from this dirt foundation? I assume that BBS has submitted a plan – can that be shared with the public? Is there someone for me to contact at BBS to discuss this issue?

Mold was found in November 2017 and then reappeared in January 2018. Given that the mold appears to be endemic, are we all still comfortable with a renovation in the case that we are unable to eradicate the mold in the building?

Here is Mattey’s response:

Dear Joanne:

Unfortunately, the District failed to circle back to the community regarding the January test results. This was certainly an oversight during an extremely busy period that included budget preparation and the enormous amounts of work prior to the February Bond Referendum. We are thankful to the Scarsdale resident who reminded us at the last Board meeting that the report had not been circulated as intended.

As a result of this experience, the District will now include Environmental Testing Updates twice per year (January and June) to help assure that both the Board and the community are kept abreast of testing results and activities.

In addition, all reports and protocols will now be posted on the website as soon as they have been completed. These can be found in the Facilities & Grounds section, under District Information. (https://www.scarsdaleschools.k12.ny.us/domain/8).

For your information the Indoor Air Quality Protocol states the following:

All the classrooms in the High School and the Middle School will be tested for indoor air quality (IAQ) during the 2018-2019 fiscal year. All elementary school classrooms will be tested for IAQ during the 2019-2020 fiscal year. The District will re-test all classroom areas every 3 years for IAQ issues. The District will enlist the following protocols in the event of any IAQ Issues.

-All building indoor air quality (IAQ) concerns are to be reported to the facilities department.
-Upon receipt of an IAQ concern, a report will be opened for the area in question and a thorough inspection of the area will be performed by the facilities staff within 1 day of receiving notice.
-The room inspection will follow EPA guidelines for possible causes for poor IAQ ( i.e nuisance dust, water infiltration, poor ventilation, poor disinfecting, visible signs of mold, etc.)
-If none of the EPA criteria are met for poor IAQ the District will look for possible outside sources. If nothing is found the District will completely ventilate the room and issue a report to close the investigation. If any of the EPA criteria are met for poor IAQ, a hygienist will be contacted to perform further air quality testing, ie MOLD Score.
-IAQ test of areas that have a MOLD Score of 150 and lower require our normal cleaning and disinfecting procedures.
- IAQ test of areas that result in a MOLD Score above 150 and below 250 will receive a full additional cleaning and disinfecting of all hard surfaces and a thorough floor cleaning.
-All areas that have a MOLD Score above 250 will be completely emptied and all items and surfaces will be cleaned and disinfected including but not limited to; hard surfaces, furniture, floors, walls, windows blinds, lights, etc. Re-testing of these areas in 6-8 weeks after cleaning to ensure that the levels have been reduced.
-All reports including results will be posted on the District’s website

* Scores greater than 150 mean a moderate probability that the spores originated from inside the building. Scores above 250 mean a high probability that the spores originated from inside the building.

It should be noted that molds are part of the natural environment, and can be found everywhere, indoors and outdoors. They are found in schools, homes, hospitals, industry etc. Outdoors, molds play a part in nature by breaking down dead organic matter such as fallen leaves and dead trees. It is impossible to get rid of all mold and mold spores indoors; some mold spores will always be found floating through the air and in-house/school dust.

Greenacres IAQ Specifically

In November, testing showed six areas with mold scores of above 150, but below 250.

Retesting in December after cleaning protocols were followed showed levels below 150.

Follow-up testing in January showed four areas with moderate scores just above 150 but below 250 (in fact, below 175 in all areas). Cleaning protocols were again followed.

As you recall we have included funding in the budget for IAQ studies at each of our buildings over the course of the next two school years, beginning with the Middle School and High School this upcoming year.

All elementary buildings will be completed the year after that (2019-20).

These protocols will assure that we can respond in a timely and appropriate manner in the event that levels return a moderate or high probability moldscore.

Sincerely,
Stuart
Stuart P.G. Mattey
Assistant Superintendent for Business
Scarsdale Public Schools
2 Brewster Road
Scarsdale, NY 10583
(914) 721-2422