Tenure for Scarsdale Teachers Announced

The Scarsdale School Board met on Monday night May 23 and welcomed new members Lew Leone and Suzanne Seiden. Leone, who filled the seat vacated by Joel Gurin immediately took his place at the Board table, while Seiden observed from the audience and will take Blatt’s seat after his last meeting in June.

School Board President Barbara Kemp expressed her thanks that the 2010-2011 School Budget was passed and assured the community that their sentiments about spending and tax rates would be considered.

On the agenda was a .25 per hour salary increase for seasonal grounds workers who maintain the grounds but do not receive benefits. This passed by a vote of 6-1 with Blatt objecting to the raise.

Representatives from STEP, the Scarsdale Student Transfer Education Plan made their annual presentation to the Board. Village Historian Eric Rothschild provided a history of the program , that brings a high school student from a disadvantaged area to Scarsdale for their Junior and Senior years. He told the group about Queen Esther Booker, one of the earliest students to come here in the 1960’s. She was the daughter of sharecroppers in Georgia and the first in her family to get a higher education. She was an excellent student who volunteered to tutor other students in the Math Center at SHS. She went onto Harvard and the Wharton School of Business and still maintains her ties with Mr. Rothschild and the community.

David Bougard, the current Scarsdale STEP student from Memphis addressed the Board. For the past two years he has been living with the Hunerson family and has done well in school and played on the Scarsdale Basketball team. His experience here gave him a greater appreciation for education and has empowered him and his family. He thanked everyone and told the group that he has been admitted to Lehigh on a full scholarship.

Keith Martinez a Lakota Indian from the Pine Ridge Reservation has been selected as the next STEP student and the organization is currently looking for a host family. If you are interested, please email Michelle Lichtenberg at michelle.lichtenberg@gmail.com

Gerald Crisci the District Director of Technology gave a wonderful and informative look at the district’s use of technology and how it enables student learning and a Scarsdale education for the future. He ended the presentation with a short video time machine on the district’s adoption of technology – beginning back in the days when students learned to use keypunch cards.  It’s worth watching on Scarsdale Cable – so see if you can catch the 5/23 Board meeting on Channel 77.

The next Board meeting will be a joint meeting between the Village and School Boards on Thursday night 5/27.

Those receiving tenure are as follows: