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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 15 June 2021

Created: 15 June 2021

Last Updated: 15 June 2021

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Scarsdale Bowl Chair Nancy Michaels with 2021 Scarsdale Bowl Recipient Michelle LichtenbergThis letter was written by Nancy Michaels, Chair of the 2021 Scarsdale Bowl:

Dear Scarsdale Community,

On June 2nd, in the backyard of Scarsdale Foundation President Randy Guggenheimer and his wife Liz, the Scarsdale Bowl Committee and Foundation Board celebrated this year’s Scarsdale Bowl honoree, Michelle Lichtenberg.

Michelle has lived the mantra of a strong belief in public service, and has been an exemplary volunteer whom we are proud to have as a role model. Over the years, Michelle has given unselfishly of her time to a large variety of causes, bringing about positive change via her unique ability to promote cooperation, consensus, commitment, and connections, all with a generosity of spirit, inspiration, and diplomacy. She has constantly gone above and beyond what is asked of her, exemplifying the vibrant spirit and culture of volunteerism that permeates Scarsdale.

Philanthropic giving, leadership, and the generous donation of time and expertise by volunteers like Michelle combine to create the dynamic fuel that helps make Scarsdale a home and desirable community. I was privileged to have worked with the members of this year’s Bowl Committee, a terrific and knowledgeable group of volunteers who worked tirelessly on an event that didn’t happen in the usual manner, and who extended their tenure to ensure that this year’s Bowl celebration would be a memorable night for Michelle. Because of Covid and the need for meetings on Zoom, many on the Committee had never met in person until the evening of the celebration.

Along with this group, our Fundraising and Publicity Committees met weekly to strategize how to meet the formidable goal of raising $50,000 via the Scarsdale Foundation Honor Roll towards need-based college scholarships for Scarsdale students. Our webmaster and marketing and graphic design gurus also helped to guide us in the right direction. Special acknowledgement to Scarsdale Bowl Secretary/Treasurer Abby Sroka, who managed online sales, distributed and sent Evites and eblasts, and was always willing to help. Thank you all.

It was my incredible pleasure and distinct honor to present Michelle Lichtenberg with the 2021 Scarsdale Bowl Award for Outstanding Community Service. We look forward to honoring Michelle, along with last year’s recipients BK Munguia and Jon Mark, as well as the 2022 honoree to be selected by the next Bowl Committee, at a blow-out celebration on Thursday, April 28, 2022 with all their friends and the Scarsdale Community present.

Thank you to everyone in the Scarsdale community who has continued to support the Scarsdale Bowl and Foundation, especially during these past two very difficult seasons.

Nancy Michaels
Scarsdale Bowl Chair

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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 23 June 2021

Created: 23 June 2021

Last Updated: 23 June 2021

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As the school year draws to a close, two leaders of the Board of Education completed their service. At the June 21, 2020 meeting, there were many thanks and goodbyes to Board President Pamela Fuehrer and Board Vice President Alison Singer. Here are remarks from the PT Council, the League of Women Voters, the Superintendent and the two departing Board members themselves:

Dalya Kahn, President of the Scarsdale PT Council

On behalf of PT Council, I extend a sincere thank you to all the retirees who were recognized earlier this evening. They are what make Scarsdale Schools the special place we treasure. We appreciate all the talent, time and energy they have given to the Scarsdale schools, and wish them well in their next adventures.

And to mark the final board meeting of the school year, I also wish to thank Board President Pam Fuehrer, Vice President Alison Singer, our Board liaison to the PTC, Amber Yusuf and all members of the Board of Education, Dr. Thomas Hagerman, and the entire cabinet for your dedicated service and commitment to our children’s education. The PTC looks forward to continued collaboration with you all next year.

This Board, working with the administration, has been challenged perhaps more than any other. We acknowledge the tremendous and almost impossible job you had this year, and thank you for leading us through these difficult times. You’ve had to oversee the District during a once in a lifetime pandemic, a move to remote schooling, and a racial reckoning. These were issues no Board had faced, and solutions were often not readily apparent. You all devoted enormous amounts of time, energy and care to working with the administration to arrive at the best possible outcomes. We know this hasn’t been easy. But we also know that you’ve always done what you believed was best for the District.

I have the honor tonight of also recognizing the two outgoing members of the Board of Education, Pam Fuehrer and Alison Singer, as they complete their board service.

Pam and Alison - We salute your willingness to contribute your time and expertise to our District over the past years. You are two of the hardest working volunteers in our District. We realize that Board work has often taken you away from your own families, which, during this past year, has been especially challenging, as our own kids needed us more than ever. We also recognize that the time we see you in Board meetings is just a fraction of the hours you have devoted to this District. And we know you have worked so hard because you care. You care about our children’s education, about our schools being the best they can possibly be, and about the future of the community. Both of you have worked to guarantee that Scarsdale schools maintain their standard of excellence and continue to grow and innovate towards an even brighter future.

Alison, thank you for your 3 years of service on the Board, during the last of which you led as vice president. From the start, we knew you were committed to ensuring that all our students’ needs and concerns were met and addressed. Throughout your tenure and especially this past year, we have benefited from your experience representing people with disabilities. But we also know that you have always worked hard to represent all students in our District. You have taken the time to attend workshops, research best practices, and share your knowledge with the Board. You have also listened thoughtfully at Board meetings, applied your keen intellect to the issues facing the District, and have been unafraid to state your opinion. We appreciate your service and will miss your voice.

Pam, thank you for your 6 years of service on the Board, including your year and a half as Board president. Your leadership, organization, and confidence have been great assets to our community. You have always approached your role with extraordinary grace, respect, and seriousness. Even this past year, when Board meetings were often emotional and heated and went late into the night, your consistently calm demeanor helped the Board navigate through difficult situations. We have benefited from your commitment to community engagement and your willingness to respond to virtually each and every community member who has reached out to the Board. In addition, your extensive knowledge of management has allowed this group to be productive and advance numerous goals and initiatives throughout these years. Thank you for your dedication to our children and all you have given to our District.

We want to extend a heartfelt thank you to all of you for giving so selflessly of your time and working so hard to make sure our schools are the best place to learn and teach in the country.

Alissa Baum, President of the League of Women Voters of Scarsdale

The League Board wishes to thank outgoing Board of Education members, Pam Fuehrer and Alison Tepper Singer for their dedicated service to the Scarsdale School District.

Pam, you served as Board President at an extraordinarily difficult time. There was virtually no precedent for the situation you and your fellow Board members encountered this past year. Not just this year, but throughout your tenure as a school leader-- as a community volunteer and a Board member--you have enhanced the education available to our children through your focus on improving curriculum and programming and through your efforts to broaden outreach to the public. We appreciate your gentle touch and sensitivity as you discussed the issues facing the District as well as your moderate tone during public comment. You truly have been a workhorse dedicated to your role.

Alison, you have been an incredible advocate for special education and student mental health and wellbeing. Your personal and professional experience, reflected in your thoughtful questions and comments, informed Board discussion on the importance of understanding diverse student needs and ensured the inclusion of all children, no matter how they learn. Your great breadth of knowledge, from budgeting and finance to facilities and school safety, contributed to sound Board decisions. In calm as well as in fraught moments, you listened to everyone and remained fair and level-headed.

You both have demonstrated a commitment to maintain and enhance the quality of the Scarsdale school system. You both should be proud of the legacy you leave behind as Scarsdale Board of Education members. We wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

Dr. Thomas Hagerman

When it came time for Dr. Hagerman to say goodbye to Pam and Alison he said, “This agenda item brings me no joy. Saying goodbye to two experienced board members is a profound loss for the district.” He called the duo, “thoughtful, deliberative and informed” and said both have “significant interpersonal skills and emotional intelligence” and have “been adept at building consensus and moving forward on a positive trajectory.”

He said, “Pam and Alison, you have both been exemplars of best practices. You have been committed to the growth and development of yourselves and other board members.”

Turning to Pam he said, “I have known you almost my entire time in the district. To say that we have been through a lot is an understatement. … There has been a tremendous transformation in the district over the past seven years and your leadership has been involved at every level….I will miss that connection and support. There is lore about the people who have shaped our district. Certainly Thomas Sobol, Eric Rothschild, and Judy Fox come to mind. I am certain that history will also remember you as one of those icons. You have dedicated your life to our schools and the lasting impact of your work will be your legacy.”

To Alison he said, “Your reputation preceded your seat at the board table. Your prior positions were distinguished by your deep commitment to special needs students and mental health issues… The skills you cultivated in your professional and volunteer activities translated into your leadership on the board. You have been a clear communicator, an effective problem solver and a trusted partner. Your advocacy of all children was omnipresent and you served as a reminder of our responsibilities around wellness and well-being for all families. You reminded us of the essential partnership between the Board and the staff to our district’s success. Most important, you always took the high road with honesty, integrity and humility…. The only solace is that we know you will remain connected to our work moving forward.”

“I want to thank you both for your accomplishments over the past years. What we will remember the most is the deep bonds you have formed with so many district staff members. It is these relationships that are the hallmark of a Scarsdale education and it is also those enduring relationships that will be your legacy here, so thank you.”

The Superintendent’s remarks were followed by thanks from Board members Carl Finger, Amber Yusuf and Ron Schulhof. You can watch them here. 

Alison Singer said she was “Grateful to have the opportunity to serve and want to thank you and the former board member with whom I served….Pam has been an inspiring leader – you keep your cool through the most challenging situations.” She called Fuehrer, an “effective and devoted public servant,” and thanked the administration and the cabinet for their “poise, grace and compassion.” She said, “I am so grateful to all of you for your heroic efforts. I have never met a more dedicated group of educators … I am even more in awe now that I have had an inside view … I have learned so much by talking and listening to you our students and wish all of our students good health and great joy.”

Pam Fuehrer explained, “My husband grew up here and graduated in the class of 1986. He insisted we raise our children here….He was right…. The focus of everyone was the best way to use their passions to make the best impression on student lives. Our children thrive within this culture. Thanks so much to each of you for giving me this gift.”

She continued, “Alison, my latest and greatest co-chair. You brought oversight and governance into perfect focus….I will treasure this phase of my life… Serving has been an honor.

The Board will hold their reorganization meeting where they will elect new leaders on July 7, 2021 at 3:30 pm.

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Written by Elyse Klayman

Published: 07 June 2021

Created: 07 June 2021

Last Updated: 08 June 2021

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Nancy Michaels and Michelle LichtenbergThis year’s Scarsdale Bowl winner, Michelle Lichtenberg, was honored on June 2, at a small backyard ceremony, hosted by Scarsdale Foundation President Randy Guggenheimer and his wife, Liz, an avid volunteer as well. A slice of Michelle’s many friends and fellow volunteers, along with her family, gathered to watch her accept the Scarsdale Bowl, a powerful symbol, now in its 78th year, of the high regard this community has long had for volunteer service.

Michelle, who has participated in an exhaustive list of civic organizations as well as perpetrating acts of kindness on a regular basis, was gently roasted by her two grown sons for not being available sometimes when they were kids due to all her commitments--and for sometimes being too present, as a chaperone at various dances and the like, but each of them thanked her setting a wonderful example of how to live a meaningful life. “She taught us to be curious about everyone’s story, to invest in long term relationships, and to give our best to bring out the best in others,” said Alec Lichtenberg, adding that it was a delight to have this opportunity to honor his mother, who is always lifting up others. “I’m grateful to you, Mom, for all you taught me.” His brother, Andrew, agreed, remembering the many dinners during which their mom had to leave the table to take calls, and crediting her with inspiring him to include pro bono work in his portfolio now that he is a lawyer at a big firm.

While everyone looks forward to holding a traditional Bowl dinner next April, honoring Michelle, along with last year’s recipients of the Bowl, Jon Mark and BK Munguia, as well as next year’s winner, it felt somehow appropriate to focus on Michelle, who is reluctant to be in the spotlight, in such a homespun and low-key way. “I am honored, grateful, a little embarrassed and thrilled” was how Michelle began her remarks after Nancy Michaels, the indefatigable Bowl Committee Chair, who has presided during Covid, presented the award, praising the honoree’s “calm diplomatic manner” and her “generosity of spirit” as she contributed her time and energy to nearly every organization in Scarsdale during the last 30 years. Michelle, in turn, remembered Terri Simon, another volunteer with tremendous bona fides who was present, first inviting her to join the PT Council Budget Study Committee, and immediately feeling as though she had joined “a family of volunteers.” She also recalled being PTA president on that terrible “first Tuesday of the school year” when 9/11 happened, and then the following September dealing with what she called “the self-inflicted wound” of the 2002 Homecoming debacle, when the New York Times ran a front-page story about students drinking and being sickened at the dance, and the consequences of that episode. A yearlong dialogue among students, parents and school administrators working to make prom possible, yielded the creative response of the now-popular Red Carpet event at the high school, where students gather to take photos and board buses that will take them to prom. Michelle expressed pride in the cultural shift that Scarsdale pulled off in that case, and hope that the Red Carpet, which was recently on hiatus due to Covid protocols, would return next year.

"Stuff happens,” she said, “but we are a resilient and caring community. I am humbled to my core, and want to emphasize that collaboration yields the best outcomes. Let’s work together to make our Village even better for the next generation.”

In addition to her years of service in the school PTAs at every level, Michelle served as Co-Chair of the Scarsdale Drug and Alcohol Task Force, Co-Chair of the Scarsdale Education Transfer Program, a member of the School Board Nominating Committee, the Citizens Nominating Committee, and Scarsdale Forum Education Program Committee, Chair of the Procedure Committee, a Director-at-Large of Scarsdale Edgemont Family Counseling Service, and President of the League of Women Voters of Scarsdale.

There’s more! Michelle has also been very engaged with the Scarsdale Public Library for the last ten years, serving as a Trustee from 2011 to 2016 and President from 2013 to 2015. During her presidency, she oversaw the finalization of the Library’s first Strategic Plan, the development of the Master Plan, hiring of the architectural firm responsible for the extensive renovation and expansion, and the formation of the Capital Campaign Committee. She’s very excited about the just-completed renovation, and is currently a member of the Friends of the Scarsdale Library.

Michelle is also a current board member of the Scarsdale Foundation, the Scarsdale Adult School, and a member of the Greenacres Neighborhood Association, as well as a District Leader and member of the Scarsdale Democratic Town Committee. And you can also find Michelle encouraging residents to run for the SBNC and CNC, as well as the School Board and the Village Board, gathering required signatures for petitions. No task is too large or too small. She intends to resume her volunteer work with critically ill patients at White Plains Hospital once visitor restrictions are lifted, and is working toward her accreditation in Healing Touch therapy. Whew! Scarsdale is clearly a better place thanks to Michelle!

Michelle hugs son Andrew.

Along those lines, the Scarsdale Foundation, which runs the Bowl event, has started a new initiative called the Scarsdale Volunteer Honor Roll where friends, colleagues, first-responders and teens can be honored for good works of all sorts, large and small. The money raised will be distributed to talented, hardworking Scarsdale students who need help paying college bills during their sophomore, junior and senior years. Please visit //bit.ly/3vQRHu5 to name honorees at just $25 apiece. The Honor Roll is about halfway to its goal of raising $50,000 to bolster the chances for academic success for all SHS alumni, regardless of their financial means, while also recognizing the unsung heroes of our town, particularly in light of the pandemic.

Alec Lichtenberg and Natasha Lee Vega-Colon play the African drums.

The Lichtenberg Family