YES Spring Flower Sale and SHS French Club Reunion
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Here are two nice events from Scarsdale High School:
YES Spring Flower Sale
The Scarsdale Youth Employment Services office (YES) is a community organization that matches bright, talented, ambitious Scarsdale teenagers with prospective employers. They depend on donations from the community to sustain their school office and convenient online system. They have an exciting new fundraiser for the Spring of 2012.
YES has collaborated with Living Color Fundraiser to provide you with the best quality plants and flowers for your garden at great prices. Please order all your flowers, vegetables, seeds and herbs to plant in your garden this Spring and support the good work done at YES. Hanging baskets and color bowls will also be available as Mother's Day Gifts. Orders will be accepted through April 5th and delivered the first week of May.
Click here to find the order form.
Calling All SHS French Club Alumni
The SHS French Club cordially invites you to its 90th anniversary celebration on Saturday evening April 14, 2012 from 6:30 PM – 10:30 PM in the SHS Student Cafeteria. The celebration includes hors d’oeuvres, dinner and dessert as well as French Club videos and photographs dating from 1981 – 2012. There will be live entertainment and a silent auction. Be a part of the proud history of one of the longest-running clubs in SHS history!
R.S.V.P. by Wednesday April 4, 2012. For more information please contact Laura Bell at: lbell@scarsdaleschools.org or by phone (914) 721-2558
Here is a letter from French Teacher Laura Bell, inviting all former French students to the event:
Chers étudiants et anciens membres du Cercle Français,
Salut tout le monde!
This school year marks the 90th anniversary of the Scarsdale High School French Club, making it one of the longest-running clubs in the history of SHS. You have all been a part of this special history as students of French and especially as members of le Cercle Français. Perhaps you played a role in one of our great videos, ground-breaking technology for its time! Or did you write an article or a poem for our newspaper Papier Mâché? Do you remember flipping crêpes or donning funny costumes during our Mardi Gras relay races? Or how about preparing one of the recipes in our cookbook "Bon Appétit" or attending the traditional autumn festival dinner? Did you work on our series of calendars or participate in the International Fair as models of French haute couture or dancers of the can-can? How many crêpes au Nutella did you serve to hungry students?
Or did you simply enjoy the beauty of the French language and the culture of France?
For some of you, more than thirty years have sped by since we last saw each other; for others, only a few. On April 14, we will have the chance to reconnect, to share the memories. You will also have the opportunity to meet the current officers and members while enjoying a delicious dinner of, bien sûr, crêpes!
Please join us. It's been too long.
Slow Down on Grand Boulevard
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Here is a letter to the readers of Scarsdale10583 from Sharon Hoffman, a working mom who lives in Fox Meadow: I live over on Grand Boulevard, across the street from Hyatt Field. You probably know the block, if you have a child who’s played baseball on that field, or a younger one you’ve pushed on the swings in the park playground. You may also know it because you use it as a speedy cut-through, a way to shave a few minutes off your errands or your trip to work, the only route you can take to make the train if you really book it.
I’m writing to ask that you please -- please -- stop doing that and slow down.
The picture you see attached to this letter is a picture of my car. My 23-year-old babysitter was driving that car Monday evening. She had put her signal on and slowed down to turn left in to my driveway, when she was rear-ended by a driver who, as a witness told the police, must have been going fifty miles an hour. The force of the impact spun the car around and sent it into my neighbor’s lawn; for some reason, the car went in to reverse then (maybe her arm hit the shift knob), and drove backwards across the street. Somehow, my babysitter had the presence of mind to turn the car off before it crashed through the fence and down on to the baseball field.
Look at that car again, and now think about this: My nine-year-old son was sitting in the back seat.
I’ve gone through all the what-ifs since then... what if my babysitter had tried to turn the car to avoid getting hit; what if there was an oncoming car; what if, what if, what if. Both she and my son, by some miracle, seem to be fine, though she’s very sore, and my son has an enormous bruise on his face from the seat belt. They were both terribly shaken by the accident, of course. But you can look at that picture and know what I know. They could both be dead.
Let me tell you something else about that accident. It was a straight-on hit; there is no evidence the driver behind my car was trying to turn (and there’s a big shoulder to the right of the street, going downhill). There is a skid mark, right behind where my car got hit, that is about three feet long. Three feet.
To the fifty-something man from Edgewood who was driving the SUV: Be honest with yourself. Why were you driving fifty miles an hour down that road with a car in front of you? Why were you unprepared for a car to slow down in front of you, and unable to control your own car? Why didn’t you hit the brakes or turn right to try to avoid my car? What did you think, that my babysitter was going to do a donut and zip in to my driveway?
And with a three-foot skid mark, here’s the worst, and inevitable, question: Did you even see the car in front of you, or were you looking down at a phone?
My babysitter is an au pair from Germany, where kids have to save thousands of dollars for the privilege of getting a driver’s license. That money pays for many hours of mandatory instruction and supervised practice. She’s an exceptionally careful driver. When she came here, I told her, it’s not your driving I’m worried about -- it’s the people driving around you. They drive too fast, in very big cars, and they’re always late getting somewhere so they get right up behind you to make sure you know they’re serious. Plus, this has to be the nation’s capital of distracted driving. Try this sometime: Watch the drivers approaching you next time you run to the supermarket, and count the number you see looking down. You’ll be amazed. I constantly am. We get emails from our elementary school pleading with us not to text and drive at pickup and dropoff. Seriously. I know, I know... you only check at stoplights, you read but don’t type, you have to look at the directions, you’re just dialing a number and that’s okay because you’ve got Bluetooth. Everyone’s really good at typing and driving, until they’re not. Why would you even take the chance?
Some free advice, and it’ll even save you money: Check out www.idrivesafely.com. That’s one of many sites where you can take an online defensive driving refresher course. You’ll be reminded you’re supposed to keep three car lengths between you and the car in front of you, so you have time to adjust if something happens you didn’t predict. The few hours you spend taking the course will knock ten percent off your car insurance payments for three years.
In the case of my car, well, I have no more car. The other driver’s insurance company already paid off my lease... they stopped counting at $21,000 worth of damage. I’m a full-time working mother who now has to go buy a new car with what little free time I have this weekend. I will absolutely take that deal because I still have a child to come home to, and I don’t have to make a horrible call to a mother in Germany about her daughter.
But I’m left with the reality that, as I sit here and type this letter, I can hear cars zoom past outside. Happens all the time… and I’ve had cars tail me, too, the way that man was tailing my babysitter that night. There’s a big sign that says 30mph on it, but just like typing and driving, few people seem to think it applies to them. Why anyone would drive faster than that, anywhere in a residential neighborhood, is completely beyond me.
With respect, I would like to ask the Mayor, the Village Manager, the Board of Trustees, and the Scarsdale Police Department to please consider steps to make Boulevard and Grand Boulevard safer for the families who live alongside it. You could put stop signs at the intersection of Potter Road and Boulevard -- that would end the problem immediately, because it would no longer be possible to gain the kind of speed people seem to enjoy driving down that hill. You could reinstitute an occasional speed trap near Hyatt, so people think twice before NASCAR racing alongside a little league field. Will you please at least discuss the issue?
And to my friends and neighbors, please just take a look at that picture of my car one more time. Think about the fact that my son was in the back seat. And think how it would feel to be reading a letter from a mother who’d lost her son in that car, begging you to drive more carefully as a tribute to him. Will nothing short of a child’s death get everyone to pay attention to how they drive around here? The people of this town are smarter than that. And we’re better than that, too.
Sharon Hoffman
March 16, 2012
Scarsdale Scientists, Artists and Thespians Excel
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Good news from the schools, with young scientists taking first place at a regional science bowl, artists' work on display in Katonah and Cinderella en route to the Scarsdale Middle School. See the details below:
SHS Scientists Take First Place:
The Scarsdale High School Science Bowl team won first place in the Regional Science Bowl Competition at CUNY (City College). Jessica Lam, Andrew Guo, Brian Chieu, Roger Pellegrini, Elliot Liskin are going to nationals in April to compete again!
Art Students Display Work at Katonah Art Show:
The Young Artists Exhibition at the Katonah Museum of Art opened on March 4th. The work of tweleve students from 
Scarsdale High School were included: Connor Bodine, Rachelle Gage, Rebecca Hallac, Rikako Harada, Claudia Heitner, Jonathan Hendler, Juliette Jacov, Hannah Katz, Valerie Keating, Celia Lowenthal, Alyssa Marcus, and Eric York. The show will run from March 4- 11. Visit the museum's website to get museum hours and directions.
Shown here is Rachel Gage with her work titled "Distorted Perception."
Cinderella at Scarsdale Middle School:
The SMS players comprised of 8th grade Scarsdale students will be presenting Rodgers's and Hammersteins's G2K version of"Cinderella." The performances are Saturday night, March 17th at 7:30 pm and Sunday, March 18th at 2:00 pm and will be held in the Middle School auditorium. The costumes are beautiful, the sets amazing, and the actors sing favorite songs including as "Impossible" and "In My Own Little Corner."
Over the years the show has become a fundraiser for charities that help children. Once again, we will be donating any proceeds to THE FEED ORGANIZATION which works both in the US and abroad to give children a hearty and healthy breakfast which is sometimes their only meal of the day. Besides ticket sales, chocolate bars, lollipops, and flashing wands will be sold during the time of the ticket sales and at intermission the days of the performances. Tickets are being sold from 11:00 to 1:00 in the Great Hall, the cost is $10.00 and all seats are reserved.
Trustees Agree to Consider Ways to Reduce Tax Increase
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The Village Board covered much ground on Tuesday night March 13 when they approved the preliminary Village Budget as well as the funding for the first town-wide revaluation in 44 years.
At the Finance Committee before the Board meeting, trustees heard a presentation of the proposed 2012-13 Village Budget from Village Manager Al Gatta, subsequent to filing it with the Village Clerk on March 16th. Changes can be made to the budget until April 24th. The preliminary budget will be posted on the Village website for the public to review, available at the Scarsdale Library and copies can be requested from the Village Treasurer.
Gatta highlighted the following points:
The numbers:
The proposed 2012-13 Village budget is $48,899,129 which represents a 4.14% increase over the adopted 2011-12 Village Budget
The tax rate will increase by 5.49%
Though Trustees voted to override the tax cap, the proposed budget is only $419,000 or 1.3% above the allowable increase.
What’s included:
The Village budget includes $3,451,000 for the library, which is an increase of $91,000 or 2.7% over 2011-12. The line would have been even higher, but the library will use some of their reserves.
$48,000 is included for the older adult program at Scarsdale Edgemont Family Counseling and $242,175 for their youth programs. In addition, financing for the Teen Center is maintained at $87,500.
The proposed budget includes debt service on the $1.1 million that will need to be borrowed to do the village-wide revaluation.
There is $762,500 in the budget for road repair and repaving. Any surpluses from this year’s Village budget will also be added to this budget line. Due to the mild winter, the Village saved considerably on salt, equipment use and overtime so there should be surplus funds available for roadways.
In addition:
Fees: The annual fee for parking at the Christie Place Garage will increase from $1,250 to $1,450 and fees at Freightway Garage will go from $840 per year to $890 per year. Water rates will also go up.
Funding for the Fox Meadow storm water project was included in the 2011-12 budget and the work is expected to begin in April. Design work is currently underway for a similar project to alleviate flooding along the Sheldrake River.
Before the close of the meeting, Trustee Bob Harrison proposed two ways to decrease the 5.49% tax increase for Village residents. He suggested that the Village delay the bonds for the revaluation as this will be a multi-year process and the funds to pay the vendor will not be required immediately. He also suggested that the Village’s funds balance, now at $6.1 million or 14% of the total budget could be reduced. He suggested a contribution of $200,000 to $300,000 from the fund balance to the operating budget to reduce the tax increase. In response, Trustee Steves said he did not find “either of these proposals objectionable” and Trustee Mark said, “these are worthwhile suggestions.” The Trustees appeared to favor his proposals and will review them at a March 19th meeting.
Art History, Fitness and Movie Afternoons at the Scarsdale Adult School
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The Scarsdale Adult School is offering a stellar line-up of courses beginning this month. You can learn more about Gertrude Stein’s Salon and visit the exhibit at the Met with an art historian, get in shape with yoga, pilates or golf, and attend movie matinees at the Scarsdale Library. Prices are reasonable and you can’t beat the location. Sign up now!
The Stein Family Legacy
The Scarsdale Adult School is offering a guided tour of the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s “The Steins Collect” Exhibition on Saturday, March 10, 2012, from 9:45 a.m. until noon at a cost of $75. Elizabeth Thompson Colleary, art historian and teacher at SHS along with Pamela Kroll, English teacher at SHS, will lead the group through this extraordinary gallery of Parisian avant-garde artwork. The collection reunites approximately 200 works that the Stein family had amassed in the first decades of the twentieth century.
To enhance the experience, bookend the tour with Pamela Kroll’s two-session Thursday evening course entitled “Gertrude Stein’s Salon: Two Perspectives.” The class examines Stein’s legendary Parisian atelier through an examination of “The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas” and Hemingway’s “A Moveable Feast.” The class will also discuss the relationship between Gertrude Stein and some of the painters she hosted, including Picasso. The evening class meets from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Scarsdale High School on two consecutive Thursdays, beginning March 8, 2012, at a cost of $60. To register, visit www.ScarsdaleAdultSchool.org. Call (914) 723-2325 with any questions.
Lecture Series on American Art in the Met’s New Wing
The Scarsdale Adult School is offering a 2-session class about the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s newly renovated galleries that house one of the most comprehensive collections of American art from the eighteenth to the twentieth centuries. The lecture series runs for two consecutive Monday evenings, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at SHS, beginning March 5, 2012; tuition is $55. Taught by Elizabeth Thompson Colleary, consultant for the Whitney Museum of American Art and SHS art teacher for the past thirteen years, this course will provide insight into some of the most iconic paintings in American history, including Emanuel Leutz’s “Washington Crossing the Delaware” as well as works by Gilbert Stuart, Winslow Homer, and John Singer Sargent. Sculptures by Augustus Saint-Gaudens, such as the Farragut Memorial and the equestrian monument honoring William Tecumseh Sherman will also be studied. To register, visit ScarsdaleAdultSchool.org or call 723-2325.
Conditioning Classes for Commuters
For the commuter who craves a stress-relieving activity in the evenings, the Scarsdale Adult School offers fitness and exercise classes tailored to the work week.
Vinyasa Yoga meets at Yoga Station near the Hartsdale Train Station from 8 to 9 p.m., beginning March 5, 2012. Basic Yoga meets on Wednesdays, starting March 7, 2012, from 7 to 8 p.m. at Westchester Reform Temple. Mat Pilates for the beginner or intermediate student meets on Thursday evenings, starting March 8, 2012, from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. at the Susan Marlowe Fitness Center. Tuition for any of these six-week classes is $105.
Golf for the beginner or advanced student is scheduled for Tuesday evenings starting March 6, 2012, from 6 to 7 p.m. at the Westchester Golf Range. This six-week course is $175.
All of the above classes have new start dates staggered throughout the semester to allow for seasonal or continuous enrollment to suit your schedule and preferences. Visit ScarsdaleAdultSchool.org to register or for additional information.
Movie Matinees at the Scarsdale Public Library
Marilyn DeRight, adjunct professor of English at Iona College and veteran instructor of literature, film, and drama at the Scarsdale Adult School for many years, will return this March to debut a new film course at the library. Entitled “Fabulous Food Films,” this 7-session course will focus on films that use food as a narrative device. The act of cooking and the revelations that often occur during mealtime gatherings serve as metaphors in the movies to be discussed. Films under consideration for viewing and critique are: “Eat Drink Man Woman,” “Chocolat,” “The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie, “Ratatouille, “Felicia’s Journey,” “Babette’s Feast,” “Like Water for Chocolate,” “Tampopo” and “Big Night.”
Classes meet for screenings and discussion on Tuesday afternoons from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Scarsdale Public Library, beginning on March 6, 2012. Tuition for the course is $135. To register, visit www.ScarsdaleAdultSchool.org. Call (914) 723-2325 with any questions.
