Board Re-Elects Maude and Natbony and Ponders Decision-Making Process for Greenacres

In an unusual move, the Scarsdale Board of Education re-elected Lee Maude and William Natbony to serve second terms as President and Vice President of the Scarsdale School Board for the 2016-17 school year. In nominating Maude, School Board member Art Rublin said she would "provide continuity" for the Board as they continue to implement the transition plan outlined by Superintendent Hagerman in 2015. Similarly, Board Member Scott Silberfein endorsed Natbony for Vice President saying he "has proven to be a valuable leader." Both were re-elected unanimously.

Lee Maude announced that the Board had signed a 4-year contract with Superintendent Hagerman, ensuring his continuity as well. She said, "We completed an annual assessment of Dr. Hagerman and gave him a "highly effective" rating. We are very excited and look forward to the next four years with Dr. Hagerman."

Though the discussions behind these decisions are not public, several factors may have contributed to the decision. By many counts, the board had a very successful year. In May, the proposed 2016-17 school budget, which required a very minimal tax increase, received resounding support from the community. In June, the Board announced that they had agreed on a 4-year contract with the Scarsdale Teacher's Association that provided for reasonable salary increases and more teaching time. Though there were many contentious discussions with residents during the school year about Mandarin and the Greenacres School, Maude managed the conversations and kept the community on track.

This coming year, the Board will face decisions about building projects approved in 2014 that have come in over budget, will evaluate a district-wide facilities master plan and come to a decision on whether to renovate the existing Greenacres School or build a new one on the field across the street.

Given that Maude and Natbony have the most seniority, perhaps the consensus was that the existing team was in the best position to manage another year.

The Board also made key appointments and welcomed new board member Nina Cannon and the newly hired Assistant for Personnel, Drew Patrick to the table. Treasurer Jeff Martin, who had been out for several months, was also back at the table.

Greenacres:

During a discussion about additional funds needed to renovate the central district office, it came to light that the funding request also included money to buy classroom furniture for Greenacres and Heathcote Schools where additional sections were needed to accommodate increased enrollment.

Though details were not provided, it sounds like the third grade at Greenacres will go to four sections, leaving the school short one classroom. Emily Cohen, who taught second grade at Fox Meadow will move to Greenacres in the fall to teach the additional third grade class. Mattey said that there are plans afoot to craft a classroom out of a portion of the library. The fifth grade already includes four sections, and two grades have inclusion classrooms to accommodate special needs students from all over the district. Undoubtedly Greenacres will be very crowded this fall. We are waiting to find out how much of the library will be lost, if the temporary classroom will have windows and if an additional section will pose challenges for scheduling lunch, gym, art and music. Stay tuned for more information.

Lee Maude said that prior to the meeting she "polled the board independently to ask if they wanted to have a discussion about Greenacres today." Since there was no new information, she said that this summer the Board would "look at Greenacres with respect to the rest of the district and the needs of all the buildings."

Stuart Mattey said they will put together a list of the level of need at each building and will prioritize some of them before handing it off to the district-wide building committee. About Greenacres, he said he got a list of the field conditions yesterday and is awaiting a third party analysis of the costs.

Both Bill Natbony and Chris Morin asked if there was a way to quantify the future savings from a new building vs. an old one. He wanted to have a better sense of cost savings there might be for Option C1. Mattey said the district's fiscal advisors might be able to help with this. Chris Morin said, "We need an analysis of the present value of both options so that we can do a comparison."

At the conclusion of the meeting, Lee Maude said, "We have sent questions to KG&D and are waiting for a response from them on the model program. We will follow up on the cost savings, terracing and other questions."

Several people spoke at the meeting, for and against various building options for Greenacres.

Madeline Hauptman of Brewster Road said, "My house backs onto the field.... I am an artist and I work from home. The trees in my yard are important to me. There is a line of trees separating my yard from the field. It will be a tremendous disservice to take down those trees." She continued, "If you implement this design there will be a tragedy. There is no sidewalk on Brewster Road. Kids will walk between the cars. There will be fumes. My daughter says that people who live near idling cars get ill from the fumes. There will be one drop off point where now there are three. Coming down Brewster without sidewalks is dangerous." Referring to the rendering of Option C1 presented by the architects, she said, "The artist rendering is fake. That rendering looks like the field is 12 acres – but it is in fact 2 acres. It's a third of what is there now. The drawing is deceptive. I think you need to look at what it will be like – not some artist's rendering."

Barbara Wenglin said that after two years, the majority of residents still prefer option B1. She concurred that the renderings were misleading and complained that the "Pro C" group used "nasty rhetoric." She said, "We appreciate civil discourse." She said, "Yes I live near the field. Open green space is to be preserved ..... we must maintain it."

Gay Seuss of Kingston Road said, "My property abuts the field. I was outraged to see the plan to build a road on the field. The road is outrageous."

Meredith Gantcher of Brewster Road, said, "At the end of the day we all share similar goals for a first class education. We all know that it's teacher-student ratio, and quality of the teaching staff that matter. Infrastructure is critical but it is not the ultimate goal.... The latest C1 design demonstrates how awkward it is to build a school in our neighborhood. It squeezes the design and compromises gym and cafeteria spaces. There is only one entrance. Now you have budget convertible space. You will have kids smacking into a wall. If you believe that spending the money is worth it, then go design that school...you tried to come up with a compromise solution, but you can't have it. The highest and best use is as it exists."

Rachel Krisberg from Greenacres Avenue said she is a former teacher with a child going into kindergarten and a three-year-old. She said, "As a parent I think that C1 is the best option. I can't imagine teaching when a renovation is going on and being exposed to the noise, the construction and risk. If we are putting the children first, putting the kids in a building with a renovation going on is a risk."

Leslie Shearer of Brewster Road favored Option B1. She said it retains the green field and said, "If we spend $40 million renovating we'll get essentially a new building. The entire town benefits from the decision." About the construction she said, "Disruptions happen! Sometimes SHIT happens. In the end you will benefit from a reconstructed building."

Paulina Schwartz of Oakstwain told the board she had reviewed the architect's chart outlining how much of the model program is met by Option B1 and Option C and found that the calculations are off for classroom sizes in grades K, 1 and 2. She said these rooms are too small and there is no flex space. She also noted that Option C1 has an extra classroom for years where there is an additional section. She said, "I think C1 is a great compromise. There are things that can be tweaked. But we get everything that we deserve and meet the model program.

In additional business, the Board agreed to retain two consultants:

Assistant Superintendent Lynne Shain announced that the district had been unable to find a suitable replacement for World Language Chair Sarah Wittington who retired in June. In the interim, they have hired a teacher to assume her instructional duties (.6 position) and will retain Wittington as a consultant for the coming school year to manage the department, participate in discussions about changes to the foreign language program at the middle school and supervise and evaluate world language teachers at the elementary schools. She will work up to 4 days per month at $835 per day.

Stuart Mattey said that the district would retain security consultants to develop a district-wide safety and security plan to ensure uniformity across all schools. He said, "though each building works well on its own," the consultants would, "make sure we use best practices and meet all the mandates" and be the "go-to person for security issues." The consultants will meet with the building principals to do an assessment of where we are now and work on training for all situations. Mattey recommended the Altaris Group because they have "an understanding of school culture, are cognizant of how our buildings operate and don't come at this from a military perspective." The Board approved spending $41,800 to retain Altaris.