The Second Nuclear Age
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Paul Bracken, Professor at Yale School of Management, will speak on the dangers confronting us as a result of nuclear proliferation on February 28 at 7:30 pm at the Scarsdale Library. In his new and timely book, Professor Bracken draws on his experience as an analyst of cold war nuclear strategy at the Hudson Institute to introduce new strategies that might reduce the risk of nuclear conflict in such areas of current geopolitical concern as Iran, Korea and South Asia. Professor Bracken, recently named one of the top 100 Professors in America by the Princeton Review, has consistently been rated as one of the top executive education teachers in the world.
For further information go to www.yalewestchester.org or call Rich Fabbro at 914-391-3707. This event is 
sponsored by the Yale Westchester Alumni Association.
Middle School Students Toast Biographers at Book Party
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Eighth graders in Ms. Serafin's English class at the Scarsdale Middle School celebrated biographies last week at a book party where they toasted the authors and shared what they learned about their chosen subjects. The event was highlighted by a visit from one of the authors, Dorit Whiteman, who escaped Hitler's takeover of her native Vienna at age 11 and eventually wrote Lonek's Journey. Middle School student Adriana Nicolaievsky, also an emigree, read Whiteman's book about a Jewish boy who escaped Nazi-occupied Poland and a Siberian slave labor camp to find freedom and his family in Palestine.
Adriana toasted Dorit who then shared her story with the class, describing a comfortable life in Vienna before Hitler's ascent, the family's narrow escape to London and her experience as a boarder with a poor family in an unheated cottage in northern England. Whiteman's family eventually moved to the United States where she earned a PhD in Clinical Psychology from NYU.
Fellow student Christine Hu hosted her party at Delmonico's for the famed scientist Nikola Tesla and designed an invitation to her book party 
that actually lit up!
Sam Goldstein moved the party to a beach on the island of Oahu to toast the author of Soul Surfer, Bethany Hilton who lost her arm after an attack by a tiger shark while she was surfing when she was only 14 years old.
The book party, called "The Life of the Party," was the result of a collaboration with Middle School English teacher Trish Serafin and Librarian Liz Waltzman. To prepare, each student read a biography, designed an invitation, and hosted a "book party" at a suitable location.
For those of us in the audience, it was great fun to listen to the students discuss their books and raise our glasses of Sprite to toast their success.
Scarsdale Kids On the Air
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Scarsdale kids aren't shy and now a few are making the news. Catch Lucie Fink a 2010 graduate of Scarsdale High School and a junior at Johns Hopkins on the Today Show with Matt Lauer on January 24 talking about teen's online relationships and setting ground rules for spring break.
Also, three Scarsdale High School sophomores were recently interviewed for Good Morning America by Lindsey Davis. Paige Phiipps Rachel Berglass and Rebecca Rosenbaum were on the morning show to discuss Snapchat – a new app that lets you take a picture, send it to a friend and then see it vanish after it is viewed. See what they say about the perils of this new app here ... do these compromising photos actually disappear?
Scarsdale Boys Triumph in New Castle
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This Scarsdale RJS basketball team sponsored by Robert Jacobson Sports, won the Annual New Castle Youth Basketball Association MLK Day tournament, Division B, seventh grade on Monday January 21. In the finals, RJS beat Mahopac by 2 points (40-38). Jacob Brief (MVP had the winning basket)
Pictured from left to right are: Noah Glantz, Andrew Nussbaum, Matthew Myron, Jacob Miller, Jacob Fischer, Noah Bleustein, Joshua Ludwig, Nicky Nathanson, Jack Solodar, and Jacob Brief with their coach, Melvin Calhoun. Jack Solodar, Matt Myron and Jacob Brief were also named to the Tournament team. Jacob Brief was MVP.
Coach Melvin Calhoun is a former Westchester All Star Basketball player and a Port Chester resident.
Lew's Views
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I was channel surfing the other night and spotted Scarsdale's Lew Leone on the screen. Temporarily confused, I looked again and realized I was not watching Channel 77 and this was not a Board of Education meeting! I usually see Lew, who is a member of the Scarsdale Board of Education, sitting around the large table at Scarsdale High School, but here he was presenting "Lew's View" on Fox 5 where he is the Vice President and General Manager.
And what were Lew's views? Last night he was comparing the State of the State addresses of Governor Christie and Governor Cuomo. He called Governor Cuomo's 78-minute speech "mind-numbing" and then went on to compare the approach of the two on gun control, saying,
Andrew Cuomo was actually ranting and raving. New York already has some of the most strict gun control laws in the country but Andrew wants to do more. "We must stop the madness, my friends," he said. "And in one word it's just enough -- it's been enough." He used some flawed logic by linking the Second Amendment to hunting but he wins on this topic because gun control didn't come up in Christie's speech. The New Jersey governor says gun control is not a priority for him. That's because he has national aspirations and gun control doesn't go over well with Republicans.
Interested in learning more about Lew's Views, I looked up a few more of his statements on the Fox website where he often speaks about the same issues that face the Scarsdale School Board.
Here are just a few of the comments I found:
Mandate Relief: (From the January 14 statement)
Cuomo laid out plans for full-day preschool in high needs districts. The self-described chief lobbyist for students left out any mention of mandate relief for the many districts choking on state-required payments and he was also mum on the fact that New York City does still not have a teacher evaluation plan.
Teacher Evaluations (From April 18, 2012)
It has been interesting to hear teachers unions and administrators complaining about the new system to rate job performance on a 100-point scale as part of the federal Race to the Top program. Most of the opposition to the rating system relates to how it is not fair to the teachers because there is no perfect system to evaluate teacher performance and effectiveness. In New York City, the United Federation of Teachers has filed suit to fight the release of teacher ratings to the public.
... Take a look at any union contract and you will see that we, the taxpayers, have bent over backwards to reward teachers with high pay, tenure, terrific benefits, summer vacation, huge pensions, and favorable work rules. In return we deserve and demand accountability.
So what if the ratings aren't perfect? It's time for the unions to step up, stop protecting the adults, accept that our system is failing and embrace reform to help put us on the right track.
Teaching is noble and valuable profession but it is not for everyone. Given the current state of the economy and our education crisis we have to ensure that we are able to reward the best teachers, develop the promising ones and help the worst ones find a new job.
Teacher Tenure: September 2010
Tenure is an antiquated process whose time has come to an end. Tenure was established when few protections were afforded to teachers. Now there are many employment laws and regulations that protect teachers and tenure is an added level of security that is no longer necessary. Most people agree that no one should be guaranteed a job for life.
It is my view that tenure reform will happen sooner than later and I believe the tenure process should be completely abolished. The teachers unions are going to fight tooth and nail to oppose tenure reform but they will do so with public perception turning against them.
Since it appears that the Scarsdale Board of Education holds their more controversial discussions in executive session, it's interesting to know what at least one of our School Board members really thinks.
