At the BOE: Update on Bond Projects, Blue Ribbon School Announcement and Comments from Parents on the Rolling Grade Book

Though board members at Monday night’s Board of Education meeting had a fruitful discussion about a timeline for future bond projects and heard brief updates about curriculum and safety and security, perhaps the most exciting news of the evening came when Superintendent Dr. Drew Patrick announced that Scarsdale High School has been recognized by the US Department of Education as a 2024 National Blue Ribbon School. He explained that Scarsdale High School is one of only four to receive the honor of exemplary high performing schools in New York State, and one of only 54 nationwide. Patrick added, “This designation is presented annually to some of the best schools in the nation, affirming the hard work and dedication of students, educators, families, and the community to exemplary teaching and learning. Congratulations to the SHS community for this distinguished achievement.”

Earlier in the day on Monday, SHS Principal Mr. Kenneth Bonamo sent a letter informing the parent community of this remarkable achievement. Mr. Bonamo shared a quote from the U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona who stated, “This prestigious recognition highlights schools that excel in academic performance or make significant strides in closing achievement gaps among different student groups. ‘The National Blue Ribbon Schools Award is a testament to the exceptional achievements of students and educators at each of these schools,’ said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. See Bonamo’s letter here:

BOE Coffee Meetings

BOE President Suzie Hahn announced the dates of the BOE’s Community Coffees, designed to create more opportunities to engage with, and garner feedback from the community. They hope that these more relaxed settings will inspire folks to feel more comfortable speaking up and sharing their concerns. There will be at least two BOE members in attendance and the first two coffees will take place on:

-Wednesday, October 30th at 10:00 a.m. in Room 170-172, Scarsdale High School
-Wednesday, November 6th at 7:00 p.m. in Room 170-172, Scarsdale High School

Hahn and Patrick discussed a meeting with the Scarsdale Teachers Association that took place earlier that evening. Dr. Patrick said, “There are a number of collaborations planned for this year that are the result of last year’s contract negotiation with the STA. These include a committee to look at school:home communications, as well as a committee to examine our Annual Professional Performance Review, among other priorities. We also had the chance to discuss our Off and Away practice, and gaining teacher perspective continues to be helpful.”

Curriculum Update

In his Curriculum Update, Dr. Edgar McIntosh announced that the focus of this year’s Education Reports will be on assessment and how the District “measures our students, our programs, and our progress as they align with the goals described in our strategic plan. These reports will lead us to a May Tri-State visit in which we will ask the Tri-State team to benchmark the experiences and assessments we provide, and how they fulfill our vision where learning, living, and leading is at the center.”

The first Education Report of the year will be held on October 21st and will include a review of the District’s state standardized test scores. As in years past, this presentation will consider test results, how we compare to similar districts, and metrics used in relation to college access. As a meaningful addition to the traditional presentation, McIntosh announced that this year’s report will feature feedback from high school students enrolled in the new Financial Literacy course. These students will join Dr. McIntosh’s presentation to “share their experiences and provide insight into the impact of authentic, integrated, and meaningful learning beyond standardized testing.”

Also noteworthy, McIntosh shared, “Subsequent educational reports will be more frequent than in the past, continuing a focus on assessment. We will review curriculum changes, evaluating progress through assessments and firsthand feedback from teachers and students. We anticipate providing updates in ELA, math, and science, and highlighting new courses. And while we will certainly highlight our innovations in assessment and program, we will also spend time reviewing progress on adopted curriculum.”

School Safety and Security Update

Director of Special Education, Mr. Rauschenbach gave a brief update on the District’s Safety and Security Emergency Management saying that the fire and lockdown drills are going well and because of the good weather, they remain on schedule. Rauchebach also explained that there is a new state regulation that requires the District to email parents to announce upcoming lockdown drills within one week of, and twenty four hours before a lockdown drill.

He said that The District Emergency Response Teams (DERT) have met and reviewed recent, unfortunate events from Georgia to see if there is anything to learn from it and continue to have ongoing discussions about safety practices with the Scarsdale Police Department.

Public Comment

First to speak during the Public Comment period was Mr. Yung on behalf of Scarsdale Volunteer Fire Fighters. Mr. Yung urged the BOE to adopt a New York State tax exemption bill (that recently passed with overwhelming support), for volunteer first responders. Mr. Yung explained that the act grants a 10% property tax deduction to active volunteer emergency service workers who have completed at least two consecutive years of service and a lifetime exemption to those who have twenty years of active service. Mr. Yung expressed that adopting this bill would align Scarsdale with many of our neighbors in Westchester County.

Three other people took the opportunity to address the BOE about their concerns with the Rolling Gradebook program at SHS. Some of the concerns shared include:

* It has not met its intended purposes - in fact it has contradicted them causing more stress, overloading assessments at the same time and not permitting a student to truly ever know where his /her grades are since there is no way to no how many points are available for the remaining part of the year (even during the last week of the year)

* I want to point out that year-end grades are not always the same, and I can provide you with a spreadsheet showing this mathematically.

* The rolling gradebook actually does not benefit any student. It stresses out and hurts students emotionally and academically who are inconsistent and need to raise a grade or who risk having a grade drop without realizing it.

* It can be detrimental to a senior who might want to provide an improved grade for third quarter to show resilience and grit to an admission officer at a college where they are waitlisted. With RGB there are no quarter grades to show.

* The lack of quarter grades with RGB is also deflating and de-motivating. With RGB a student cannot have a great quarter after having a terrible one. An A in the second or third quarter is highly motivating for a student who did not succeed during first quarter.

* I would also like to ask you to reassess the policy followed by some high school departments of not returning assessments for students to keep. Students who want to learn from their mistakes and improve are not always able to do so if they cannot look at their assessments at times that are convenient to them when they need to study for the next test or a final exam. I appreciate that teachers make themselves available for parents and students to come in but that is not always feasible. Please consider abandoning this policy.

* I also understand that the assessment committee is assessing the rolling gradebook. I also request that you re-assess the composition of the assessment committee to put members of the BOE, PTA and parents on it instead of only teachers who would benefit from feedback and consequences of RGB and other assessment practices to do right by SHS students.

* Please, please consider repealing RGB, requiring all departments to return tests for children to keep and adding community representatives to the assessment committee.

Bond and Facility Projects

Later in the meeting, Dr. Patrick gave a detailed presentation in which he and Andrew Lennon first gave an update on the 2024-25 capital projects which are funded by our current budget. These projects include the high school auditorium which continues to remain on schedule, in addition to some District wide exterior repairs which have already been completed. Lennon also discussed ongoing storm water mitigation, sustainability, and health and safety projects. To see the presentation on the 2024-2025 capital projects see here or for slides from the presentation see here. 

In the next part of the presentation, Dr. Patrick asked the Board to consider a “proposed process that would lead to the adoption of a capital projects bond for public consideration in advance of the 2026-2027 school year, and at some time thereafter. The presentation outlined a series of steps and a proposed timeline as a framework for discussion and contemplation.”

Dr. Patrick expressed that he felt it is important to begin this process now so as to provide transparency to the community and so that the BOE has ample time to put forth a thoughtful proposal. The presentation further outlined one of the main goals as to “Support and participate in the planning and development of a bond proposal that addresses the current and future needs of our school facilities and programs, while accounting for the anticipated decline in debt service following the 2026-2027 school year.”