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Published: 14 December 2013

Created: 14 December 2013

Last Updated: 14 December 2013

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These remarks were given by Scarsdale's Art Rublin at the meeting of the Board of Education on December 9 in response to comments made earlier in the evening that can be viewed here: Good evening. Arthur Rublin, Donellan Road: Like Mr. Labick, whose comments on the tax cap tonight I sincerely appreciate, I would like to applaud Friday's Inquirer letter to the editor from one of the signatories of the Scarsdale Declaration of Fiscal Independence presented at the last meeting, Richard Toder, joined by four other former Board Presidents – Jackie Irwin, Barbara Jaffe, Michael Otten, who spoke earlier, and Evelyn Stock. I was very pleased to see that the letter, with the headline, as Mr. Labick noted, "Let the board of education do its job," made the case that the Board should balance educational value and fiscal prudence irrespective of whether the resulting Budget is above or below the tax cap. The former Board Presidents stated, quote, "Please continue the discussion referencing relevant and unbiased data and facts about educational value and fiscal prudence, not the cap."

Speaking of educational value, as Board Trustees likely know, the latest results in the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA, which Mr. Lewis just referred to, were released last week. PISA compares how 15 year-olds in 65 cities and countries can apply math, science and reading skills to solve real-world problems. As Tom Friedman noted in yesterday's New York Times, the most recent PISA results were, quote, "not pretty for the home team." The results showed the U.S. losing substantial position to other countries. This past summer, Dr. McGill wrote in the Inquirer that one reason why a progressive approach to Scarsdale education is important at a time when, in Dr. McGill's words, some voices are demanding that public schools do more with less, is because, quote, "....Other nations are re-inventing their schools, emphasizing critical thinking, innovation and entrepreneurial enterprise." I would submit to the Board that the latest PISA results are the latest support for Dr. McGill's case for a forward-leaning approach to supporting Scarsdale schools, through the budget process and otherwise.

I will also note, apropos of the earlier discussion tonight, that Tom Friedman cited the expert who manages PISA, Andreas Schliecher, as saying that, "The highest performing PISA schools all have 'ownership' cultures – a high degree of professional autonomy for teachers in the classrooms, where teachers get to participate in shaping standards and curriculum and have ample time for continuous professional development. So teaching," Friedman observes Schliecher saying, "is not treated as an industry where teachers just spew out and implement the ideas of others, but rather is 'a profession where teachers have ownership of their practice and standards, and hold each other accountable."

The reference to "continuous professional development" resonates following the Report we heard tonight about the elementary schools.

Thank you very much.

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Written by Isabel Klein

Published: 02 January 2014

Created: 02 January 2014

Last Updated: 02 January 2014

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On Wednesday, December 11th the walls of Scarsdale High School were lined with colorful posters with catchy slogans as candidates made speeches in front of the whole school in preparation for the school government elections. Candidates were vying to be elected as school president, vice president, secretaries (there are two positions), and treasurer.

The process of running for one of the positions in school government requires the candidates to post flyers around the school and give a short speech to the rest of their peers and faculty. Generally, these flyers and speeches are funny in nature.
For example, often posters will include pop culture references or pictures of celebrities with the candidate's own picture photo-shopped in place of the celebrity's face.

After a school-wide vote, the winning candidates were announced. The newly officers are:

President: Amanda Shuster
Vice President: Matt Mandel
Treasurer: John Kaspers
Secretaries: Leah Kashar and Lindsay Kim

Here are interviews with the new school president and vice president.

President Elect: Amanda Shuster

Grade: Junior

Campaign Goals: "I tried to keep it simple and I just wanted to get my name out there. For my posters and flyers, I basically just kept it clear and wrote "Vote 4 Amanda".

Government Experience: "Last year, I was the house representative and I really enjoyed being involved in the school."

Privileges: "I don't have that many privileges as president that the other government members don't have because we all work as a team. As president, I will have to lead the government meetings once a month, and meet with faculty and administration or anyone else who wants to have an event at the school."

Goals: "We're still in the transition period between the old and new government members so we haven't had much time to discuss many new ideas. But, in the one meeting we did have so far, we did discuss working on a spirit week for the school and developing different community service events for the school. "

I am looking forward to accomplishing our goals for the year. This seems like a solid team of new government members that will help to make positive changes in the school.

Vice President Elect: Matt Mandel

Grade: Junior

Campaign Goals: "Elections at the high school are generally won by candidates with comic appeal so I tried to give my fliers and speech substance with humor. I tried to involve movie reference in my fliers. For example, in one of my fliers I played off the quote from Mean Girls, "On Wednesday we wear pink" by writing, "On Wednesdays we vote for Matt" in an attempt to relate to students."

Government Experience: "I've been in government for four years, including middle school as well as freshman and sophomore year. I really like government because I think it's a good opportunity to give back to the school by creating events people will enjoy. I want to have an influence on projects around the school."

Privileges: "As a privilege, I get to come to school an hour earlier on Tuesday every month for a government meeting." [Laughs]

Goals: "We had our first meeting today, and we discussed some projects the old government wanted to fulfill before they left, and those are going to be the first projects our government undertakes. For example, in the fall we had a very successful spirit week so we want to do that in the winter for winter sports teams leading up to the boys and girls final basketball games."

"I am really excited to be vice president to be working alongside Amanda, Lindsay, Leah, and John. The old government members were great role models and I hope we will be as successful as they were."

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Published: 04 December 2013

Created: 04 December 2013

Last Updated: 04 December 2013

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SHS Alumni and Executive Director of PEN Suzanne Nossel will speak at the Scarsdale Forum's second Sunday Speaker Series at the Scarsdale Woman's Club on Sunday, December 15 at 3 p.m. Suzanne Nossel, who just received a Distinguished Alum award, will be speaking on "The New Free Speech." As always, the series is free and the public is encouraged to attend.

Nossel was named Executive Director of the PEN American Center in January, 2013. Her career has spanned government service and leadership roles in the corporate and non-profit sectors. Prior to joining PEN she served as Executive Director of Amnesty International USA where she led a strategic reorientation of the organization to focus on building the next generation of human rights activists, strengthened the organization's financial base, and increased its profile and impact through augmented advocacy, campaigning and media outreach. Her work led to successful passage of the Afghan Women and Girls Security and Promotion Act of 2012, and drew attention to the chilling climate for free expression in Russia through the case of imprisoned punk band Pussy Riot.

Before joining Amnesty Nossel served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations at the U.S. Department of State, where she was responsible for multilateral human rights, humanitarian affairs, women's issues, public diplomacy, press, and congressional relations. At the State Department, Nossel played a leading role in U.S. engagement at the U.N. Human Rights Council, including the initiation of groundbreaking human rights resolutions on Iran, Syria, Libya, Cote d'Ivoire, freedom of association, freedom of expression, and the first U.N. resolution on the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons.

Prior to that, Nossel was Chief Operating Officer for Human Rights Watch, where she was responsible for organizational management and spearheaded a strategic plan for the global expansion of the organization. During the Clinton administration she served as deputy to the ambassador for U.N. Management and Reform at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations, where she was the lead U.S. representative to the U.N. General Assembly negotiating a deal to settle the U.S. arrears to the world body. During the early 1990's Nossel worked in Johannesburg, South Africa, on the implementation of South Africa's National Peace Accord, a multiparty agreement aimed at curbing political violence during that country's transition to democracy; she has also done election monitoring and human rights documentation in Bosnia and Kosovo. Nossel is the author of a 2004 article in Foreign Affairs magazine entitled "Smart Power" and coined the term that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made a defining feature of U.S. foreign policy.

In the private sector, she has served as vice-president of U.S. Business Development at Bertelsmann Media Worldwide, vice-president of strategy and operations for the Wall Street Journal and a media and entertainment consultant at McKinsey & Company.

Nossel is also an accomplished author who has published hundreds of blog entries, op-ed pieces and numerous scholarly articles. She is the author of Presumed Equal: What America's Top Women Lawyers Really Think About Their Firms (Career Press, 1998), the founder of the blog www.democracyarsenal.org, and has served as a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, the Center for American Progress and the Council on Foreign Relations. Nossel is a regular contributor and commentator on human rights issues for major news outlets including CNN, MSNBC, and NPR.