The Notorious RGB? Not so Much. How Rolling Gradebook Might Help Make SHS The Opposite of Loneliness
- Details
- Written by Wes Phillipson
- Hits: 1785
(The following was written by Wes Phillipson, SHS English Teacher) It was April or May of 2003 when I eased my forest green Honda Accord into that spot by the big tree overlooking the brook in the Yearbook picture above. Some epic R&B was playing. I was floating. It was the first time I’d seen Scarsdale High School in all its ivy-league-edifice glory. The only second-hand knowledge of SHS I had came from a middle school computer teacher whose son I taught in Rockland County, and my former colleague and friend Eileen Kelly who has since retired. Eileen told me she was - essentially - chained to her desk at SHS - but nothing could dissuade me from crossing the Hudson.
My first season at SHS ended with a major challenge that nearly ended me: a senior had failed my English class by not completing their research paper in the fourth quarter. Coming up on 22 years later, I’m still here, coming off what I feel is my single-best year of teaching, but I sincerely wonder: what if Rolling Gradebook had existed in 2003? Perhaps that student would have graduated on time, instead of scrambling to enroll in a G.E.D. program, resentful if not forlorn.
In 2021 I found sophomore Alex Ben-Gera staring back at me over a rumpled face-mask in Room 207: Peak Covid days, remember them? He looked younger than his age, and he seemed anxious — on high alert. It surprises me now that Alex helped do some initial background for this article you’re reading, as he was not a “writer” at that time. It lights me up that his Senior Options internship was spent at the headquarters of this storied publication (10583). His first essay for English 10 was (by choice) an opinion piece about Tom Brady’s irrefutable greatness. It didn’t work out. We collaborated on a new topic, this time about Alex’s relationship with Eli Manning and how watching Giants’ games with his father was transformative. That essay had the kind of legs that could match Dorsett or Henry’s 99-yard rush. To push that metaphor further, RGIII — the NFL QB — has rather fitting initials here: RGB = Rolling Gradebook. Once Alex shook off his imposter syndrome, found not just his legs but his voice in our English class, he was off and running. Even from the cheap seats, it’s clear that - had Rolling Gradebook been in effect for Alex’s first quarter - he wouldn’t have felt the direct hits that come with risk-taking, experimentation, and just getting things wrong the first few times in any class.
Alex’s final project was a video essay on the intersectionality of Inception’s antagonist Dom Cobb (DiCaprio), the title character from Macbeth, and a song lyric from a now-canceled rap star who shall remain nameless. Comparative analysis was not something Alex would have been comfortable attempting in September or October, but it just felt seamless - perhaps even effortless - in the spring. And while he doesn’t ever return to read his mash note to Tom Brady, he does watch his visual argument about the smokescreens that cloud reality whenever he needs creative inspiration for school or life.
For academic year 2023-24, I wasn’t certain if it would be “The Notorious RGB” (a menacing grading system that failed to reflect academic “truths” about my students), or more “RGB = Red, Green and Blue” (the primary colors that would allow me to paint the “truest” portraits of my classroom charges).
It was the latter.
And in one specific way, the “old gradebook” was akin to how some viewed the progressive R.B.G. (the late Supreme Court Justice) — maybe it, too, had overstayed its welcome, or had just hung on far too long.
In my senior English elective course Words & Images (it’s just like it sounds: we talk about words, we unpack images), I found some solace in RGB’s very existence. RGB was kind of my conscience when it came time to enter semester grades. My hallucination was that I’d always “aired on the side of the student,” but this time I had a license (if not a directive) to do so. In English classes (and - perhaps - the soft sciences), grading is largely subjective. What is an “A” on an essay, anyway? It’s not scientific, but grading is an art that I ask my students to participate in. My “rolling gradebook” - for the past 10 years or so - has been: grade it with me. Come to my office, sit down on my velvet tufted, faux mid-century chair next to me and let’s talk about this essay. Let’s read it aloud together. Let’s make sense of why you wrote this. Then let’s put a grade on it.
Now, will we always agree on the grade? No. But we get to have a conversation about it. It’s a discussion about standards. It’s a chance for the student to understand what I value, and that I grade (and put weight on) those things. It’s a chance for me to understand the person who (hopefully) wrote those words, who developed those ideas, and who made the form choices that they did.
I don’t think a science or math teacher can do that. In fact, I know that they can’t.
But that doesn’t matter: Rolling Gradebook can be, has been, and will be “the great leveler” for all students, and all disciplines. Or, at least it can play a role in creating parity.
Wellness at SHS has been “a thing” for quite some time now. I don’t know when it began, you could ask my friend and colleague Jennifer Rosenzweig who has been a great champion of students getting their heads on straight.
Much of Wellness within Scarsdale has the aftertaste of oxy-moron or cognitive dissonance for obvious reasons that I won’t go into. But RGB? That’s meaningful wellness. When we did away with summer reading, or prevented teachers from assigning homework over breaks, it’s not clear that that - inherently - boosts serotonin levels. But it’s likely that not having an academic quarter be put in quick-dry cement, or engraved (forever) like a grotesque tableau by Hogarth, is a sound idea that has been implemented by the administration at Scarsdale High School.
From the point of view of an SHS veteran teacher, who lived on Garth Road for 2 years long ago, and who even married a woman who grew up in Scarsdale, I think that our High School is (to borrow a term from Marina Keegan who died immediately after her Yale graduation), “the opposite of loneliness.”
Despite how massive and compartmentalized the place is, I never feel alone here.
It’s possible that RGB will make us all less lonely. Sounds strange? Well, I can tell you that there is just ONE set of faculty here that have nothing to do with grades, yet everything to do with grades: The Deans.
The Deans are entirely exempt from the phenomenon of: “The honeymoon is over.” Deans don’t grade their students. Teachers grade their students. Grades change relationships. There’s no avoiding that. Ask any student if they feel differently about a teacher after first quarter report cards come out.
Perhaps RGB will de-emphasize grades, allowing teachers and students to focus on building (and strengthening) esprit de corps, long-term rapport (independent of grades), and collaborators.
I have zero interest in grading students’ work in isolation, by my lonesome. I do - truly believe - that our HS is the antidote to loneliness. I do, however, want to build students who feel and believe they have a stake in the company. At least, they’re shareholders. I want to produce learners who dismantle the myth of gradelocking once and for all. For how can one be gradelocked if they hold the key?
Early on in all of my English classes this year I shared an essay that I wrote that articulates my singular educational goal: I want to be your producer. Jack Antonoff doesn’t “grade” Taylor Swift. He brings out the best, creatively, in Tay-Tay. Mark Ronson doesn’t “grade” Bruno Mars. He unleashes BM. If you don’t believe me - just watch.
And RGB has the power to help me, and to help my students simply focus on making some beautiful music together so we can dance like no one’s watching, and stop criticizing each other’s footwork. Wanna lead?
Free Street Trees for Scarsdale Residents-First Come, First Serve
- Details
- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
- Hits: 1351
Scarsdale Village plants new street trees in our neighborhoods every year. These are planted within the Village “right of way”, which means within the first 13 feet of your yard from the curb. If you want one of these trees planted in your front yard within 13 feet of the curb, please email Matse Jenkins at mjenkins@scarsdale.com immediately. There are only about a dozen remaining and they will be planted on a first come, first serve basis.
The Village will plant these trees at no charge and water them once per week during the hot summer months. They remain Village owned trees and the Village is responsible for maintaining them over their lifetime.
These trees should be planted in the next week or two before the summer heat sets in. The Village will need to have the utilities come to your property to mark the utilities, which is always done for your safety before digging to plant a tree.
Trees of taller stature when mature are planted on the side of the street without power lines, while trees of shorter stature will be planted on the side with power lines to avoid conflicts. Each year the species are changed in order to promote a healthy diversity of tree species in our community.
The Village plants trees native to our region to support our local ecosystem. These trees absorb gallons of stormwater, provide shade and oxygen, store carbon and will definitely increase your property’s value.
If you have questions, please call Matse Jenkins at Village Hall at (914) 722-1150 or contact resident volunteer, Cynthia Roberts, at CynthiaVroberts@gmail.com
Letter: Consultants Need to Analyze the Causes of Flooding Before Proposing Solutions
- Details
- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
- Hits: 1044
This letter, outlining concerns about the proposed new building code, was written by Scarsdale resident Cynthia Roberts.
Scarsdale Village Board of Trustees Meeting May 28, 2024
Dear Mayor Arest and Scarsdale Village Board of Trustees,
I appreciate the effort you are taking to use the Moratorium period to gain further insight into the factors that currently threaten Scarsdale’s housing market.
As we all know, families come to Scarsdale seeking excellent public schools. What they may find are distinctive, well-designed homes in a bucolic, leafy setting in some neighborhoods. But increasingly in Scarsdale they are finding new cookie cutter “mcmansions” with scant space for landscaping and trees. While the high price paid for one of these oversized generic homes may thrill the developer, the fabric of our neighborhoods is ultimately cheapened.
There are many issues that threaten Scarsdale’s housing market.
Of greatest concern is the flooding of homes that never flooded before now. Current residents now experience property damage, expense and anxiety with regularity. They wonder whether in the future they will be able to sell their homes, often their largest single investment. Their financial security, as well as the physical and emotional safety their homes once provided, are sinking in stormwater. Once the word gets out that Scarsdale housing stock is waterlogged we have a big problem.
What are the causes of Scarsdale’s run-away flooding? This question should be posed to BFJ Planning. They need to identify the specific causes of the flooding and the magnitude of contribution of each cause in Scarsdale, in order to recommend effective solutions.
The lot coverage of new homes and additions has increased. How does BFJ quantify this trend such that solutions can fit the problem?
This covered land can no longer host plants and trees that would slow and absorb rain. It would be easy for BFJ to compare the lot coverage per square foot of a site on projects approved in the last two years with the lot coverage allowed and built ten years ago.
Scarsdale has lost at least 1,000 trees per year, most of which are not replaced. The small number of newly planted replacement saplings are unable to compensate for the loss of mature canopy trees capable of handling thousands of gallons of stormwater per year. How does BFJ quantify the loss in stormwater mitigation from our diminishing tree canopy?
Without quantifying what is occurring in Scarsdale, how can BFJ predict that expanding the side yard setbacks by 2 feet on each side of a home will substantially alleviate flooding? How do they use these 2 feet to account for expanded lot coverage, significant tree loss, and a rising water table?
There is no disputing that the water table has risen in many areas of Scarsdale. Before a new home or an addition is proposed to our Board of Architectural Review our Engineering Department appropriately requires essential data from both deep soil testing and what is known as percolation testing.
This is one of the key pieces of information that must drive the amount of land that is allowed to be covered with structures and hardscape. This key deep soil and percolation testing information also drives the requirements for drywells on the site. If these tests indicate that the water table is high, a drywell will be of no use in stormwater mitigation.
To ensure the tests are appropriately done and the data appropriately recorded, these tests should be witnessed by either our Village licensed engineer, or licensed engineers hired by Scarsdale to witness the testing done by a developer’s contractor. Other Westchester communities hire licensed engineers to ensure this data is as accurate as humanly possible. They know that this data forms the basis for the appropriate lot coverage that a particular piece of land can accommodate without resulting in flooding the new house, the neighbors, or the neighborhood. Scarsdale owes our residents this safeguard.
BFJ has suggested that gravel and porous asphalt should be considered impermeable surfaces and I applaud this suggestion. Unfortunately, BFJ also suggests that “porous pavers” should be considered a permeable surface. Please ask BFJ how the regular maintenance of “porous pavers” and the soil quality and type into which they are installed impacts whether they should be considered permeable long-term.
In order to better understand the current flooding crisis in Scarsdale, BFJ should be provided with the minutes of the Planning Board meetings regarding the proposals for 46 Lincoln/101 Carthage and for 80 Garden Road. Scores of Village residents are literally pleading for help from our Village government.
Finally, it would be helpful if BFJ were asked whether the two new homes built at the corner of Crane Road and Church Lane on Church Lane would have been permitted under BFJ’s proposed code changes. Only in this way can the Board and the residents start to understand the proposals.
Thank you very much.
Cynthia Roberts
15 Autenrieth Road
What Does Scarsdale Value in 2024?
- Details
- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
- Hits: 1912
(This article was submitted by Cynthia Roberts)
The effort to protect a spectacular Black Oak tree in the historic Old Scarsdale neighborhood poses the question to our community leaders: What does Scarsdale value most in 2024? In an effort to protect a unique, historic and massive Black Oak tree from root damage and therefore premature death, Friends of the Scarsdale Parks, Inc. (FOSP), a local not-for-profit community organization has nominated the Black Oak tree at 21 Autenrieth Road for Heritage Tree designation pursuant to Scarsdale Village code. Heritage trees are given special protections by our tree code.
The tree is located in the front yard of 21 Autenrieth, a stunning brick 1910 Georgian revival home that was bought by an investment group developer to be flipped. It is notable that neither the neighbors pleading with the Board of Architectural Review (BAR) to protect this tree, nor FOSP, has objected to the developer’s proposal to build an addition expanding the living space of the house. Neighbors have merely requested that rather than placing a new garage and new driveway in the front yard of this home next to the oak tree, thereby damaging its roots, the developer use the existing driveway and one of the two existing garages. The neighbors have also supported a viable alternative presented to the BAR by the developer’s architect to place a new garage in a location a safe distance away from the tree.
More than a dozen neighbors have given up their evenings to attend multiple BAR meetings, pleading for respect of this iconic tree, a symbol of Scarsdale’s “Village in a park.” This oak tree was already growing in Scarsdale before the American Revolution, according to the expert arborist’s estimate that it is 275-325 years old.
Neighbors hired expert arborist Bill Logan, President of Urban Arborists, Inc., longstanding faculty member of the New York Botanical Garden, and a Visiting Professor of Landscape Architecture at Pratt Institute. to examine the tree and submit a report. In his report, Mr. Logan emphatically warned about the need to preserve the “green infrastructure” functions of this Black Oak tree, which serves critically important services to human health and the environment: “This oak is an extraordinary specimen, among the largest oaks in Westchester County. It is almost 5 feet in diameter at breast height (57.5” DBH). Such a tree represents an incalculable benefit, not only to the people who can see and interact with it daily, but also to the thousands of mammals, birds, insects, spiders, and other macroinvertebrates that live and/or feed on and in it, as well as to the billions of bacteria and fungi that inhabit it. It is part of the intact ecosystem that characterizes Scarsdale yards and gardens. Its loss would be very serious, not only aesthetically but also ecologically.”
Neighbors are also greatly concerned about flooding from the loss of the stormwater uptake of an oak this size, which is over 10,000 gallons in one year according to i-Tree, a tool of the USDA Forest Service for assessing the benefit of individual trees. “How will the Village protect us from water in our basements after the developer has flipped the house, killed the tree, and left town?”, asked one neighbor.
The consent of the owner of the property is required for Heritage Tree status consideration by the Board of Architectural Review (BAR). And, as was explained to the developer, should a future owner so desire, our code makes provision for a tree to be un-designated by the BAR.
Neighbors and FOSP had hoped that the developer would respect the longstanding value Scarsdale places on our historic trees and consent. But after hearing nothing from the developer for two weeks, there is little optimism that the developer will join our community in protecting our trees.
It is hoped, however, that our own BAR will represent our community’s values and recognize the enormous positive impact this tree has on the character of Autenrieth Road. The Bar can do so by requiring that the developer protect the tree as per the detailed instructions provided by expert arborist Bill Logan.
Over 1,000 trees are cut down each year in Scarsdale and at best, only one third are replaced. To allow this extraordinary Black Oak tree to become another statistic would be a huge loss for Scarsdale and will tell us clearly what Scarsdale values in 2024.
Massive Tree Splits on Tompkins Road
- Details
- Written by Joanne Wallenstein
- Hits: 1689
Neighbors were awakened on Friday morning at 5:40 am when a large historic oak tree split and half of it fell to the ground in a thud. The weather was calm and there did not seem to be any immediate cause for the sudden fissure of the tree, that was rumored to be 200 years old and to date back to the Civil War. Before it fell, the tree appeared to be healthy.
The branches covered the yard and Tompkins Road in Fox Meadow.
After it fell, neighbor Tara Greco reports that she saw two deer emerge from the woods and head down Kensington Road to Butler Road. She thinks they may have been scared out of the woods by the loud noise from the buzz saws.
Crews from the Village took several days to cut up the fallen piece and take down the rest. You can see the logs here.
Photo credit: Tara Greco
