Sign Up For Halloween Window Painting Now!
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Pull out your paint brushes and put on your thinking cap .... it's almost time for the Halloween Window Painting Contest in Scarsdale. The Scarsdale Parks and Recreation Department will hold the Annual Halloween Window Painting Contest and Parent/Child Halloween Window Painting program on Sunday, October 23rd from 9:00 am – 4:00 pm. All youths who reside in or attend public or private schools in Scarsdale in grades 1 – 10 are eligible to participate in this event. Register online at http://reconline.scarsdale.com before the deadline on Wednesday, October 12th.
In addition to the window painting programs, there will be a Costume Parade held in the Village streets by Chase Park. The parade line up begins at 2:45 pm in front of Chase Park. The parade will start at 3:00 pm. Special entertainment and refreshments will be provided after the parade. All pre-e and elementary School children are welcome to participate in the costume parade.
For questions, call the Recreation Department at 722-1160
Scarsdale Welcomes STEP Student
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The Keltz family of Greenacres welcomed a new school year and a visiting student into their home this September. Alisa Studway from Memphis, Tennessee will be living with the Keltz family while she attends Scarsdale High School for two years as a STEP student. STEP, which is celebrating its 45th anniversary, is the Scarsdale Student Transfer Education Plan, an independent community program that identifies promising students of color and enables them to attend Scarsdale High School for their junior and senior years. The program offers qualified students access to Scarsdale High School's strong college preparatory program and extensive extracurricular activities, as well as the cultural and recreational resources of the New York metropolitan area. While in Scarsdale, each visiting student lives with a host family and is encouraged to become an integral part of the Scarsdale community. By offering students exposure to a different and challenging environment, STEP prepares them to take positions of leadership and responsibility in a multi-cultural society.
Scarsdale's STEP program was founded in 1966. Its original goal was to share the educational opportunities at Scarsdale High School with students from segregated Southern schools of limited resources. Since that time, STEP has expanded its recruitment base to include students of color from areas throughout the United States. Graduates of the program have matriculated at colleges and universities such as Carnegie Mellon, Emory, Fisk, Harvard, University of Pennsylvania, Ithaca, George Washington, Williams, Washington University and Yale. Many former STEP students have continued their education at the graduate level, pursuing law, medical, business and Ph.D. degrees.
The latest STEP student, Alisa (call her Lisa) ,heard former STEP student, SHS grad and 2009 Lehigh sophomore David Bougard speak about STEP at her high school. She immediately looked up STEP, filled out an application and submitted it. She came to Scarsdale in April with her mom for an interview and the entire STEP board was impressed with her composure, determination and poise.
Lisa says that SHS doesn't seem much different from her old school, just bigger. Her STEP sister, Sarah, runs cross country at SHS and convinced her to join the team as well. She has never run before but now is part of the cross country team. She's exhausted but enjoying it. She is benefitting from the new peer counseling group run by Dean Nancy Thompson and Youth Outreach Worker, Lauren Pomerantz. They meet every Monday for the first half of the year and Keith Martinez, the returning STEP student who is a senior, is an advisor for this group. The STEP Club at the high school has organized a few get-togethers with Lisa; lunch at Metro after the first day of school and dinner at Italian Village on Saturday night, the 10th.
Her host family includes Lynn Buckvar Keltz and Martin Keltz, and their three children, Sarah, a SHS senior, Robbie, a SHS 
freshman, and Jonathan, in sixth grade at SMS. They expressed interest in becoming a host family a little over a year ago. Sarah is a good friend of Will Hunerson, who hosted another STEP student. She brought the idea of hosting a student to Lynn and Martin who say that their kids were the inspiration for them to welcome a STEP student to their family.
STEP held their Welcome Dinner and Board meeting on Wednesday, September 14th at the home of Beth Ehrich. The organization is celebrating its 45th anniversary this year with a cocktail party on November 5th where they will honor Eric Rothschild, one of the founder's of the program. They expect a number of former STEP students and host families and all are welcome.
This year Elizabeth Gruber is the senior co-chair of STEP with Ilyse Tretter serving as the junior co-chair. This year, SHS has two STEP students in school. STEP student Keith Martinez returned to Scarsdale in time for football practice on August 17th after spending time at home in South Dakota. Earlier in the summer, he went to a college preparatory program, College Horizons, at the University of Rochester and also attended football camp at Franklin and Marshall with the SHS football team. He came back "home" to his Scarsdale family, the Steiners, and fell easily into his routine as a SHS senior. Former STEP student David Bougard is doing well as a sophomore at Lehigh University.
Interested families who would like to learn more about participating in the program should contact STEP at P.O. Box 278, Scarsdale, NY 10583 or email STEP at info@scarsdalestep.org
Pictured at Top: Lisa Studway and Keith Martinez
Pictured Above: Nicole Steiner, Mara Steiner, Keith Martinez, Lisa Studway, Lynn Keltz, and Brandon Steiner
Kinderangst
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There were a flurry of emails and texts last week in my little world. Most of them went like this: "How was the first day? Great! She loves her teacher. You? Great. No tears from either of us! I’m so happy. I just wish this rain would stop." And, "How’d it go? Good. I like the teacher. There are like 5 Max’s in his class. I wonder how that’s going to go. But otherwise, he’s really happy."
My daughter and her friends started kindergarten last week. It’s a really big deal. How could it not be? Kindergarten.
I know a lot of parents can’t believe it when their little ones hit a milestone like this; shaking their heads saying it feels like yesterday their child was a just a little baby. Not my girl. It feels like she’ll be applying for a driver’s license any minute.
Kate has always been brave, full of sass and ready for anything. “Kate’s a champion,” my husband says when she does something amazing- which in our minds- is often. She stuck her head under water in her first swim lesson when she was three. She’s kind and polite (usually) when we stick her in new situations with adults, which is probably too often and not terribly fair. Born a month early and weighing only 4 pounds, she was the smallest baby in the nursery at Tisch Hospital that week. No NICU. No extra days in the hospital. Tiny and tough. Champion, indeed.
That’s why I was a bit overwhelmed- ok- I freaked out- when Kate had a bit of a hard time adjusting to school. The first day went well. She instantly liked her teacher after she complimented Kate on her shirt and told her that she liked fancy things too. Kate took her hand and walked into the classroom. There were no tears. Mike and I beamed with pride as we walked out the door. This was going to be great.
Pick up was fine too. Since it was raining I took her and her brother to the mall for a lunch and something special to celebrate her first day (apparently heaven to a little girl is a Claire’s store). Then, the meltdown. She pitched an epic kicking and crying fit for everyone at the Westchester to see. Ok. Fine. It was a big day, I can’t say I was all that surprised by the outburst.
But this was the tip of the iceberg of meltdowns, cries and dark moods, we experienced last week. While the weather forecast perpetually had a chance of a thunderstorm last week, we lived under a perpetual chance of tantrum. I was floored. I kept trying to ask and engage her to see if something happened at school or I would try a different tact and only speak in positives.
“So, what was your favorite part of your day? Who is your favorite girl or boy in class? Want me to see if I can set up a playdate?”
The answers were as negative as a 15 year-old’s:
“Nothing. No one. Why can’t I just stay home and play with you?”
I explained that home schooling isn’t really my thing.
Drop offs were fine. No drama there. Pick-ups were ok. While the other kids were playing in the playground for a few minutes after school, Kate would often ask to go home. She missed her friends from nursery school. Each night she’d ask if she had to go back. I was beside myself. I’m a nerd. I loved school. I got married in September because I love this season so much. How can my daughter not love school? And I wished I knew what was making her so unhappy.
Friday it was sunny and her teacher went outside while the kids played. I tried to appear casual but I’m sure came across like a total pain in the neck parent she dreads:
“So, how’s it going?”
“Fine”.
“Really?”
“Yeah. She’s fine.”
Great. Now she thinks I’m a nut.
The weekend was good, Kate was back to acting like herself. I told myself that she just needed time to adjust, but come Monday morning she was nervous again. She was silent as we walked to school. But then we walked in the door she smiled and ranoff with barely a wave good-bye. Oy. I don’t get it, I thought to myself.
I emailed my friend who I consider an expert because she has a second grader about the situation. She emailed me back reminding me of some of the troubles she had in the past with her daughter who in my mind is all but perfect.
“Get plenty of sleep and drink heavily,” she wrote at the end of the email. The woman is a sage.
Then the back-to-school picnic came. Kate ran right in and I don’t think sat down for a second. Kate was thrilled to see friends and her teacher. This time I leveled with the teacher. I knew the picnic wasn’t the place to talk about it, but I had to know what was going on at school. This time, she swore Kate was fine and promised she’d tell me if there was a problem and this time I believed her. Kate played and played until the rain came. We ran all the way home.
“I didn’t want to leave. I love school.” Suddenly the skies cleared. I don’t think we’ve seen the rain since.
Jen Geller is a freelance journalist who has covered the economy and markets for over a decade at a major financial news outlet. She lives in Scarsdale with her husband and 2 children. Jen has yet to bake a successful batch of cookies.
Cub Scouts Welcome Event
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Scarsdale Cub Scout Pack 440 is having its annual “Klondike” kick-off event welcoming new boys and existing cubs from all Scarsdale and nearby elementary schools in grades 1 - 5. Build a campfire, participate in team-building activities, meet parent leaders and learn about this year’s exciting activities. The event is on September 25 from 4:00 – 6:00 PM at Hitchcock Church (6 Greenacres Avenue – entrance near parking lot). Newcomers please come 15 minutes early. Cub Scouting is non-sectarian --- all are welcome. More information: call Tod Cooperman (722-0116) or click here :
Pictured at top: Scarsdale’s George Primoff (left) and Noah Cooperman (right). At a June Boy Scouts camp out.
Class Size Update
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After many heated discussions last Spring about a potential change in policy regarding class size, some of you may be wondering just how many children enrolled in Scarsdale’s elementary schools this fall. Last March, scores of parents attended the Scarsdale Board of Education meeting to press the Board to maintain class size caps of 22 students in grades K-3 and 24 students in grades 4-5. Though the Board had not discussed lifting the caps, they were considering allowing one or two additional students beyond the capped number to join elementary school classes if additional students moved in during the summer. The Board anticipated that having this flexibility would prevent them from having to hire an additional teacher to accommodate one or two children. Parents objected loudly and ultimately the Board opted to maintain their current policy.
So, now that it’s September, where does the District stand? Did we have to hire additional teachers to accommodate enrollment? Apparently not. According to School Superintendant Michael McGill, the District did not need to “use all the (teaching) positions we had budgeted and we are two sections below the maximum (number of classes) we planned on. (The district) budgeted 108 (elementary school) sections and we have 107. This is fairly typical. We agonize in May, then find out things are different from what we thought they'd be.”
However, the big bump in enrollment was projected to be at Scarsdale High School, where 13 teaching positions were eliminated through attrition. Scarsdale10583 does not have any information as yet about class sizes for the older students which some feared could be as high as 30 students in some sections.
