2020 Procedure Committee Invites Residents to Run for CNC
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The Procedure Committee invites Scarsdale residents to run for a position on the nonpartisan Citizens Nominating Committee (CNC). As one of 30 volunteers on the CNC you will interview, evaluate and select candidates running in the March 16, 2021 village-wide election on the nonpartisan slate for positions on the village board, including a new mayor and trustees.
A candidate for membership on the CNC must be a qualified voter (U.S. citizen and 18 years of age or older), and a resident of Scarsdale for at least two years. The filing deadline for two simple CNC application forms is Wednesday, September 30. The CNC election will be held by mail-in ballot (unless otherwise feasible at Village Hall on Tuesday, November 10, 2020 from 7 AM to 9 PM).
The CNC meets 5 or 6 times on weekday evenings beginning at the end of November. CNC meeting dates for 2020-2021 are: Monday, November 30, 2020 (Organization Meeting); Monday, December 7, 2020; Wednesday, December 16, 2020; Wednesday, January 6, 2021; Monday, January 11, 2021; and if necessary, Wednesday, January 20, 2021. If in person meetings are not feasible, the CNC will meet virtually on the Zoom platform instead.
For more information contact the Chair of the Procedure Committee, Sarit Kessel Fuchs, Quaker Ridge, at kesse17@hotmail.com or Vice Chair Becky Bach, Edgewood, at beckyhbach@gmail.com. The members of the 2020-2021 Procedure Committee, the nonpartisan group of Scarsdale volunteers who administer the nonpartisan election of a new group of 10 members of the CNC annually, are: Becky Bach – Vice Chair, Heedan Chung-Goh, Susan Duncan, Madelaine Eppenstein, Sarit Kessel Fuchs – Chair, Dan Gerardi, Sal Jain, Jon Leslie, Barry Meiselman, Michelle Lichtenberg, BK Munguia, Jeannie Rosenthal, Andrew Sereysky, Adie Shore, Greg Soldatenko, Peter Tesler, Gabrielle Wise, and Bob Wolloch.
The Only Constant Is Our Great Sense of Uncertainty
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- Written by Wendy MacMillan
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“What a long, strange trip it’s been.” Yes, it most certainly has and the words of Jerry Garcia and the Grateful Dead have never rang more true. It began in March when our schools closed, followed quickly by a full-blown lockdown, and right as we started to feel confident about re-opening, hurricane force winds wreaked havoc in our community and beyond ...Life, to say the very least, has felt like a roller coaster. Through all the ups and downs, the one thing that seems to have remained constant is a great sense of uncertainty.
Not that any of us needs an explanation of just how uncertain times are, but take for example my sister who lives in a small town in Northern California. After much back and forth and months of planning by their district, last week my sister sent her son to school for his first day of in-person learning. By the end of that day however, the county closed all the schools because of a rising number of Covid cases in the area. This week, after she rearranged their home and schedules for virtual learning, my sister was informed that they needed to evacuate their house because of encroaching wildfires. After packing up and heading out for a few days, she is now safely back home and considers herself incredibly blessed, especially while so many others are in a far worse place.
I couldn’t help but wonder, how is my sister managing to stay so positive in such a topsy turvy world? In her words, “These times call for flexibility...and gratitude for the things that matter most”. Indeed they do. But for some of us, remaining flexible and grateful in the face of stressful situations, is easier said than done. For many, a flexible state of mind is something that may need to be cultivated and practiced. So how does one go about cultivating flexibility? Read on for a few quick suggestions to start us on the right path.
One avenue to a more flexible attitude is through incorporating mindfulness into our daily schedules. Jon Kabat-Zinn, founder of Mindfulness Based Stress Reduction, defines Mindfulness as “paying attention in a particular way, on purpose, in the present moment, and nonjudgmentally.” By practicing mindfulness we learn to focus on what is happening in the present moment rather than forming expectations of things to come or worrying about situations that took place in the past. In turn, mindfulness makes it easier for us to focus on, and adapt to the current state of affairs. Daily practice of mindfulness also helps to strengthen the part of our brain called the amygdala which is responsible for our Fight or Flight response. When we strengthen this area of our brains we are able to put a pause between the stimulus of a situation and our reaction to it. In other words, rather than reacting angrily when we hear bad news, mindfulness training helps us pause and choose how to respond rather than react with the Fight or Flight response our amygdalas encourage us to do. Moreover, practicing mindfulness helps us strengthen segments of our brain that allow us to choose to remain flexible and adapt to ever-changing circumstances. For more information about mindfulness and for some easy exercises to try today, please click here.
Another way to gain flexibility is to regularly challenge ourselves to see things from another perspective. Whether it is working to understand another person’s point of view or trying to understand all the varying circumstances that led up to a particular situation. For instance, when we take a moment to contemplate why a person is behaving in a certain way rather than judging their behavior or reacting to their behavior, we begin to break down our own mental barriers and preconceived notions. When we begin to open our minds and our hearts, we can more readily adapt to ever changing conditions. Even if we are still upset by a given situation, trying to understand other perspectives, can help us soften our own rigid thinking and thus create space for more flexibility.
One last suggestion to encourage flexibility is to try practicing gratitude on a daily basis. As I have written about in another article for Scarsdale10583, “ gratitude is strongly linked to mental health and life satisfaction.” But even more than that, when we look for things to be grateful for rather than focus on the negatives or the things that upset us, we begin to realize that no matter what life throws our way, there are always things to be thankful for. From giving thanks before meals to journaling about your daily blessings before bed, the great thing about this practice is that there are just so many ways to be grateful!
So as the topsy turvy world and all the uncertainty continues to whirl around us, maybe a little mindfulness, considering other perspectives, and practicing gratitude will help us to remain flexible, adaptable and to, as Mr. Garcia would say, “Just keep on truckin."
Wendy MacMillan is a former teacher and a proud mom of two children. While her background is in psychology and education, Wendy was recently trained in mindfulness at Mindfulschools.org. She has long been passionate about wellness, and as an active member of the Scarsdale PTA, Wendy helped to bring mindfulness to her children's elementary school. In addition, Wendy helped establish and is an acting member of the school's Wellness Committee. For more information about mindfulness check out this site: mindfulschools.org or Watch the video of Jon Kabat-Zinn explaining what mindfulness is ... or contact Wendy MacMillan at wendymacmillan@gmail.com.
Day 3: 1,443 Customer Still Without Power: Con Ed Says the Lights Will Go On By End of Day Sunday August 9
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(Updated 8/6) As of the morning of August 6, the Con Edison outage map shows that 1,443 out of 6,230 customers in the 10583 zip code are without power. The message from Scarsdale Village says, "ConEd Incident Command advises that the target for restoring service to the vast majority of customers is Sunday, August 09, in Scarsdale; however, some outages in the region will continue into next week. Restorations continue hour-by-hour, daily. We are requesting more support.”
(From August 5) Here we go again. The power is out and Con Edison crews are no where to be found. As in previous storms, the utility is not staffed to restore power in a timely fashion. In fact, they are offering no timeline for restoration and say they are waiting for crews to arrive from other parts of the county.
As of 4 pm on Wednesday, there has been little progress in restoring power to Scarsdale. The outage map shows that 1,746 customers in Scarsdale remain without power – and that means no air conditioning, refrigeration and lights. With afternoon temperatures reaching 89 degrees, it makes for a very frustrating situation, especially since many are working, or should we say, trying to work from home.
At 12:30 pm today, Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner reported on a call municipal leaders had with Con Edison this morning and the news was not good. He said, “Municipal officials are angry,” and “ Con Ed is unprepared. They have not provided an estimated dates or times when power will be restored.
The utility said that 124,000 people in Westchester were out of power yesterday, and as of the morning of August 5, 94,000 remain dark.. Con Ed has 220 line personnel working and they are dealing with public safety and road closures.
Feiner reports that the utility was “short staffed yesterday and they are waiting for more personnel to come later today to help out. They expect to ask for crews to be sent in from around the country. Crews are working to assess damage and restore power after the storm caused widespread damage. They expect to prioritize 143 critical customers - nursing homes and hospitals for restoration. Over 400 roads have been closed.”
He said that this was the second largest outage since Hurricane Irene in 2011.
Feiner said that “Most officials were very upset with the news. As one official said "here we go again. Every time there is a storm we hear the same thing--crews are on the way. Why weren't resources put in place in advance of this outage?"
At 4:45 pm, Scarsdale Village Manager Steve Pappalardo echoed some of Feiner’s comments. He said, “During Con Ed’s regional emergency operations phone conference today, they advised that a system-wide restoration target would be announced late this afternoon. As of now, that target has not been released. We will update the community when we know more. In the interim, ConEd related that there are presently 28 “Cut and Clear” crews operating within their service territory, and for 230 Line Personnel, which restore electric service. ConEd has activated 156 mutual-aid personnel, and expects an additional 100 by this evening. Additionally they are presently negotiating fly-in support from other utilities nationally.
There are currently four Con Ed crews working in Scarsdale with reopening roadways currently closed due to downed electrical wires and debris, our priority. These include the arterial and collector roads of Route 125-Weaver Street, Palmer Road and Heathcote Road. Village personnel assist ConEd with priority identification and tree clearing and clean-up.”
What the utility is offering is free ice to those without power at the Cross County Shopping Center at 8000 Mall Walk in Yonkers. However, that will be little consolation to those who are now going to spend a second night in the dark.
Letter from Maggie Favretti: Resilient Communities are Resilient Because of Trust
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Maggie FavrettiThis letter was written by formere SHS teacher Maggie Favretti:
Help With Emergency Education
You didn't ask for my advice, but if you have 3 or 4 minutes, I might be able to offer some guidance from my resilient communities and "crisis education" learning and work.
I began my teaching career in Scarsdale in 1985. In 87 I went to VT, and returned in 1995. I retired in 2018, after one of the most positive professional and community experiences I could have imagined. A big part of that experience is the very teachers who spoke the other night in an unprecedented and powerful way. Reading the summary of their comments made me weep.
When people used to ask me why "everyone" wanted to teach in Scarsdale, I never hesitated to answer, and in one word. Trust. Parents entrusted their children to me, and I trusted the community to sustain an ecosystem of support for the teachers, the school, and for other people's children. I am grieving right now, along with my former colleagues, parents, and lifelong friends.
Since before I retired, I have been studying and working in "emergency education," or, resilient education in times of crisis. Resilient communities are resilient because of trust. That trust drives people to turn toward each other in disaster, and to stay focused on gathering expertise from all ages and sectors to develop consensus solutions. In her book, A Paradise Built in Hell, Rebecca Solnit describes how oftentimes disasters activate our better natures, driving us toward each other in neighborly compassion. Resilience is relational.
After working with superintendents, principals, teachers and families from school districts that have experienced all kinds of crises from tornados to landslides to fires, floods, suicides, water/air poisoning, hurricanes, earthquakes, starvation, extreme heat and COVID, I can say with certainty that you have the hardest and most essential job of all. Leadership plays a critical role in sustaining trust and unity. This trust in turn sustains you and makes it possible to succeed. The job of the leader in crisis is to ensure safety, facilitate consensus, bring people together with open listening, and build clarity of purpose. To protect the consensus by inspiring participation in a transparent process. To avoid giving in to the crush of urgency. To stay focused on the consensus (in this case) you spent the summer building, by working with the Restart Committees to address the remaining unmet needs and making the consensus plan be the best it could possibly be. Without this, trust is lost, and so is direction. If you lose both, trust and direction, you drown along with the community in urgency, fear and frustration, loss and pain.
Here are some recommendations, begging your forgiveness if you are already following these protocols:
1. Throw out the recent parent survey. That "binding decision" language is born from (your very natural) inclination to manage the situation, but raises anxiety in a time of crisis. This is particularly the case with well-meaning people who want to do what you ask but don't have enough information to begin to understand the implications of the options. Many parents opted for "in person" because they thought it would be easier for the district if they changed their minds to virtual at the last minute or once they understood the level of risk, but they have little appetite for endangering the teachers. After the remarks the other night, they are in a panic because they value the trusting relationship they have/had with teachers. Ossining asked for parental choice but also assured people they would be able to change their minds as the situation unfolded, and also asked parents to contribute ideas for addressing concerns about virtual and hybrid instruction. Things seem calmer there.
2. Be clear about what the District is realistically able to do with regard to "best practices" in safety. Enter that information into your risk matrix, with clear eyes about HVAC systems, available PPE, available funding, staffing realities and new needs (hall monitors?), adolescent psychology and behavior.
3. Listen to what teachers know and support them. They ARE the school. First, they need to know you take their safety and mental health seriously. Second, they need to be supported to do their job (which they love doing!) as well as they can under the circumstances. Online and in person instruction cannot take place simultaneously. And both socially distanced and virtual are novel methodologies for teachers and require significantly more time to plan. As you know, students take their cues about resilience and anxiety from their teachers as well as from their parents.
4. Be clear with parents about what the Restart Committee's plan is/was, as well as the current plan(s), and run them both (all?) through a standard decision matrix to determine both how well each meets the priorities of the community/District constituencies.
5. Establish clear and realistic (not aspirational) likelihoods and matrices about risk. To discern risk tolerance, consider predictable situations, in table-top exercises (if you haven't already). For example, some students will be vectors. Not all students will wear masks or social distance properly. Some teachers may be vectors. What will happen when...table-top exercises (simulations) also help to uncover what additional staff or expenses might be needed to keep people safe, and participation should be open to the public.
6. Stay focused on making the safest plan also the best and most equitable, as the safety of everyone should be the top priority. If the safest plan is to have students stay home, then we should spend the next weeks addressing the issues for the students and families for whom that creates hardship.
The anxiety around the "binding" parent survey, and the last-minute changes plunging the teachers and the community into an even deeper world of uncertainty and risk are compounding the already challenging mental health situation. This is a time when teachers and parents BOTH need compassion and clarity, and so do you. Choose the path safest for everyone and focus on keeping people together to create an equitable and inclusive implementation plan.
With deep regard,
Maggie Favretti
College Students Share Their Thoughts on the Fall 2020 Semester
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With the Fall 2020 semester just around the corner, most colleges and universities have announced their plans for the upcoming academic semester. Administrators have decided whether or not their students are allowed to return to campus, as well as what class format (in-person, online, or hybrid) will best fit their needs. When coming to a decision, every school had to consider the size of their student body, location of campus, and financial abilities of students, faculty, and the university itself. Here are four Scarsdale residents, now college sophomores, who shared their thoughts on their respective colleges’ plans for Fall 2020.
Sydney Albert, Cornell University (Me)
I am currently planning on returning to campus for the fall semester. The administration recognizes that students have had so much valuable time already taken away from their college experience, and does not want to further inhibit it. All students are invited to return to campus, given that most upperclassmen live off campus so it is much easier to accommodate the student body. Classes will start on September 2 and we will remain on campus until Thanksgiving, after which finals will be completed remotely. It has not yet been announced whether they will be in-person, online, or a hybrid of the two. If classes are in person, they will definitely honor social distancing guidelines. The administration has also set up a plan to ensure students are tested frequently for COVID-19. I think Cornell has done a great job thus far in making sure that students come to school healthy and prepared for social distancing.
I will be living in my sorority house.
The school waited a really long time before announcing plans, so the anticipation was definitely tough. I was so excited when I finally heard that we are allowed to reside on campus for the fall semester. That was the general consensus among other students too.
I am really excited to continue my time at Cornell. College still feels pretty new to me considering I only spent 1.5 semesters on campus, so I can’t wait for campus to feel more and more like home. That being said, I am nervous that we won’t make it until Thanksgiving, and that the administration will send us home early. My classes start relatively late compared to other schools, so it will be interesting to see how life resumes at other colleges before it is even time for me to return.
Michael Anderson, Georgetown University
Can you briefly outline your school’s plans for the fall semester (dates for return, who is allowed on campus, class format, and other general protocol)?
Freshmen, transfer students, and students with poor living situations at home are the only students allowed to return to campus on August 26. The rest of the students are expected to complete their coursework from an off-campus location, preferably at home. One of my professors thinks that not even the freshmen and transfer students will end up returning to campus, given what’s been going on with Major League Baseball.
Where will you be living during the fall semester?
I am leasing an apartment with friends off-campus in Georgetown. We have been advised to avoid going on campus.
What was the reaction among students when your school announced its plans? Overall, were you pleased or disappointed?
I honestly never expected us to go back for the Fall 2020 semester so I would say I am not surprised by Georgetown’s current plan. However, just because it was expected, doesn’t mean it isn’t disappointing.
If you are returning to campus, are you excited? Is there anything you are nervous about?
I’m really excited to see my friends and get to live with them in an apartment, but I am definitely worried that the fall won’t go smoothly. Living in DC could end up either being a positive and safe experience or a negative one, and right now it’s really unclear which it will be.
Mia Dell’Orto, Villanova University
Can you briefly outline your school’s plans for the fall semester (dates for return, who is allowed on campus, class format, and other general protocol)?
All students are allowed to return to campus for the Fall 2020 Semester, and I am moving in on August 14. Once I am on campus, I will take four of my classes online, and one in person. Social distancing is going to be strictly enforced all over campus and the administration has created many rules to ensure it will take place. Each student is assigned to eat at only one dining hall, wear a mask at all times, and stay six feet apart from all other students, except roommates.
Where will you be living during the fall semester?
I will be living in a dorm with one roommate.
What was the reaction among students when your school announced its plans? Overall, were you pleased or disappointed?
We are all just so grateful that we are allowed to go back to school. Although it’s disappointing that the social life at Villanova will change, I’m still excited to be back with my friends.
If you are returning to campus, are you excited? Is there anything you are nervous about?
I’m excited to see my friends, but not excited for how different from last year campus life will be. I’m nervous about the food and how dining halls will work. The thought of getting sent home early is also something that stresses me out.
Ben Lehrburger, Dartmouth College
Can you briefly outline your school’s plans for the fall semester (dates for return, who is allowed on campus, class format, and other general protocol)?
My school is adopting a “2/4” plan: two out of four classes are allowed on campus during a given term. Our dates remain the same as the regular school year, but classes will be entirely online and group gatherings will be virtually nonexistent.
Where will you be living during the fall semester?
During the fall I’ll be living about 20 minutes off-campus. There’s a cohort of rising sophomores doing the same.
What was the reaction among students when your school announced its plans? Overall, were you pleased or disappointed?
When school was initially canceled, everyone was devastated but understood that we were sacrificing ten weeks of school to potentially save lives. But when plans for the 2021 academic year turned bleak, people took it personally. It felt like the administration was stripping each student of their chance to get the college experience they worked so hard to attain. And students knew the administration wasn't using their resources resourcefully. Our endowment is massive and our school is adjacent to the largest hospital in the state, but they still cut five varsity teams and ruled out a hybrid learning program.
If you are returning to campus, are you excited? Is there anything you are nervous about?
I’m excited to see my friends and be around people my own age again (my family is great but they just won’t cut it). I think that even with everything that’s going on, we’ll find a way to create a niche college experience. That said, I’m worried for the College’s surrounding community, which has a high population of elderly residents. If an outbreak is unleashed, they would be severely jeopardized. I guess it comes down to what the community values more: elderly lives or youth education and economic sustenance.
