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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 08 October 2015

Created: 08 October 2015

Last Updated: 09 October 2015

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This is an opinion piece written by Scarsdale10583 site founder and Greenacres resident Joanne Wallenstein.

The Greenacres School, while quaint and charming, was old when my oldest son began kindergarten in 1991 and it hasn't been improved since. I remember being puzzled by the fact that it had no cafeteria and learned that Greenacres was built at a time when children went home for lunch. Home for lunch? I was working in the city at the time and couldn't believe that the school had not caught on to the fact that many mothers weren't spending their mornings preparing lunch and ferrying their children back and forth to school twice a day.

The fact that the school lacks a driveway and a parking lot has caused years of drama when parents, and yes babysitters, attempted to deliver and retrieve the children. There are safety issues and frustration when drivers don't follow the rules. Then there's Huntington Avenue that runs between the school and the playground. This separation necessitates crossing guards, careful supervision and frequent traffic stops.

The school was crowded as well. As more homes were built in Greenacres, more children registered for school. My daughter's grade included the district's special needs class, requiring an additional classroom. Fifth graders were jammed into small classrooms on the upper floor that lacked air conditioning and were sometimes sweltering in June and September.

During Michael McGill's last year as Superintendent, concerned parents called him to attend a meeting at the school to address classes that had swelled to more than 24 students. In addition to the surge in enrollment, parents were very upset about the facilities and urged the district to address the needs of the soon-to-be 100 year-old school.

When the district planned the latest round of capitol improvements, Greenacres was left out of the $18.1 mm project. Why? Because it was determined that the school required more than modest renovation. Engineers found that the school has inadequate ventilation, chronic water issues, mold in the basement and mechanical systems beyond their useful life spans. The roof needs to be replaced and the classrooms are not large enough to meet New York State standards. Therefore, the administration recommended that Greenacres wait for a few years until another round of financing could be secured.

In the first half of 2015, in response to pleas from parents, the Board asked architects KG&D to make a preliminary survey of the Greenacres School and the site, and come up with some schematics on how the problems might be addressed. When the results were unveiled, some were unhappy with one of the options which was to tear down the existing school and build a new one on the field across the street.

Seeking to take this option off the table, even before it could be properly vetted, opponents organized, gathered signatures and printed signs to "Save the Field" that are now displayed on many Greenacres lawns.

Arguments for preserving the school remind me of the fight to save "The Shop Around the Corner" in the movie "You've Got Mail." Advocates for "saving the school" contend that School Board members have an agenda and have already decided to do away the building. When the building committee was formed, opponents attacked the methodology for assigning members. The latest struggle involves two seats on the building committee that were designated for representatives from the Greenacres Neighborhood Association. Angry residents demanded that the neighborhood association select representatives that were against the demolition of the school. However, the neighborhood association chose Bob Steves, a former Mayor of Scarsdale and former President of the Board of Education, as well as Lynne Clarke, a long-term resident and respected realtor to assume the two seats on the board.

Neither Steves nor Clarke have taken a position on the issue. They see it as their role to listen, convey the concerns of Greenacres residents and work with the committee to determine what would be the best solution for the entire community. Advocates to "Save the Field" now say that they are not being adequately represented and have gone as far as to call for the dissolution of the neighborhood association.

While those that wish to preserve the school have been highly vocal, others are wondering what it might be like to have Scarsdale's first state of the art elementary school in Greenacres. Forward-thinking educators are calling for flexible and collaborative learning spaces and design labs that can't be accommodated in the current school structure. What effect might a new school have on property values now and in the not so distant future?

The district's schedule calls for the Greenacres Building Committee to start meeting in October and provide their recommendation by December 2015. Perhaps the committee will find that re-districting is required, and that a certain portion of homes that are now in Greenacres will be considered part of a different elementary school district. Or they might determine that the high water table underneath the school will continue to pose problems in the future and that the portion of Huntington Avenue in front of the school should be closed.

There are many questions to be answered. In addition to recommending a building option that will best serve Greenacres in the future, administrators will need to consider what will happen to students during the construction? Will they go to school in trailers – or be bussed to other facilities?

Public forums will be held in January and February 2016 with a district-wide bond vote in May 2017. Every Scarsdale resident will have the right to vote for or against the bond.

There's a long road ahead and from what I can see, no decisions have been made. In my view it seems premature to close off any options until further exploration and analysis are done. The district is fortunate to have highly qualified administrators, savvy residents and advice from recognized experts in the field.

Let's permit them to do their work and determine what will serve Greenacres best for the next 100 years.

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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 15 October 2015

Created: 15 October 2015

Last Updated: 15 October 2015

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Following the discussion about the gravel amendment at the meeting of the Board of Trustees on Tuesday October 13, trustees passed resolutions on changes to the Committee for Historic Preservation, a new stairway on East Parkway, improvements at the library and subdivision fees for two lots in Scarsdale.

The trustees announced changes to appointments to the Committee for Historic Preservation. Architect Bana Choura resigned from the committee on September 28, saying " that there is a perceived conflict of interest in my serving on the CHP, especially after the July CHP meeting." She may have been referring to the application to demolish a home at 11 Carstensan Road, where she spoke on the matter but then recused herself from the vote because her name appeared on the application. Choura was then appointed to fill a vacancy on the Conservation Advisory Council that was created when Julie Weinstein stepped down from the CAC because she is moving to California.

CHP Chair Paul Diamond also stepped down, due to personal circumstances. He will be replaced by William Silverman who currently serves on the committee. The Village Board's Personnel Committee will actively recruit a new member to serve on the CHP.

Good news from the library where the Library Board has retained a fundraising firm called Plan A Advisors to raise funds for an ambitious plan to renovate the library. The Board also approved the acceptance of two gifts toward the library's capital improvement project: The Friends of the Scarsdale Library donated $42,168 and John and Marcy Harris of Marjory Lane made a personal donation of $10,000.

Construction of a stairway from East Parkway to the outbound platform of the railroad track in Scarsdale is in process. The Village retained Specialty Construction System, Inc. of Mt. Vernon to build the stairway at a cost of $248,715 and also authorized fees to purchase a permit from Metro North. Mayor Jon Mark anticipates that the stairway will be completed before the winter.

Gifts from neighborhood sports organizations will be used to make improvements at Hyatt Field. The Board of Trustees accepted $15,000 from the Scarsdale Little League to go toward the construction of a restroom at the field. A new backstop and dugout fencing will be funded with a gift of $2,000 from the Scarsdale Raiders Youth Softball Association.

Fees from subdivisions on Stonewall Lane and Rodney Road will be allotted for improvements to Recreational Facilities. The Trustees passed resolutions assessing $67,500 to Jospeh Yasgur for the subdivision at 12 Stonewall Lane and $37,500 to 21 Rodney Road LLC for the subdivision on Rodney Road. Both subdivisions were previously approved by the Scarsdale Planning Board who also recommended the amount of the subdivision fees.

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Written by Joanne Wallenstein

Published: 28 September 2015

Created: 28 September 2015

Last Updated: 01 October 2015

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This letter was sent to Scarsdale10583 by Mayra Kirkendall-Rodríguez, a Fox Meadow parent who is part of a group called The Mandarin Team, that is encouraging the Scarsdale Board of Education to widen language choice in Scarsdale schools.

Last week's Chinese President Xi Jinping's official state visit to the United States generated significant media attention, because of the numerous important trade, cybersecurity, and national security issues on the agenda. What was unexpected and generated less media coverage was that Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's CEO held a meeting with the Chinese president speaking entirely in Chinese. Speaking a foreign language can be taxing to most Americans, but speaking a language that bears no resemblance at all to English, especially to the leader of the world's second largest economy is certainly an admirable feat.

As the meetings with President Xi Jinping closed, President Obama launched an ambitious national initiative, '1 Million Strong,' a plan to increase the number of Mandarin speakers in the US to 1 million by 2020. Currently only about 200,000 students in the United States study Mandarin nationwide. In comparison, there are about 350 million Chinese students currently studying English.

As I analyzed the initiative's components, I could not help but wonder, whether Scarsdale can be part of the 1 Million Initiative. This US government initiative has the objective of creating a standardized and comprehensive national Chinese curriculum, but that would be flexible enough for local school boards to adapt it. The initiative will also promote language learning technology and online investment, promote investment in teachers colleges, and establish a consortium of governors to support learning in US public schools.

President Obama stated that 'if our countries are going to do more around the world, then speaking each other's language, truly understanding each other, is a good place to start.'
Understanding foreign cultures, especially that of the largest country in the world is certainly very important for Americans. Additionally, however, there is significant demand for foreign language speakers in the US. For example, Wanted Analytics, a recruiting company, currently has 85,000 job postings nationwide in a variety sectors of the US economy such as education, finance, healthcare, the military, retail, and science. About 40% of the demand is for Spanish speakers; the second most in demand language is French, followed closely by Mandarin, and subsequently in order by demand Japanese, Portuguese, German, Russian, Korean, Arabic, and Italian.

For Americans interested in working in the State Department, National Security Agency, CIA, select groups within all military branches or the FBI, languages that are of particular interest are Bahasa Indonesian, Farsi, Mandarin, Swahili, and Urdu.

Not only is there significant demand for foreign language speakers in the US, individuals who speak foreign languages can command a higher salary than those who only speak English. Albert Saiz, an economist at the University of Pennsylvania, and Elena Zoido, an economist at the consulting group LECG , published a study comparing wage premia for American college graduates who spoke Spanish, French, German, Italian, Russian and Chinese as a second language. Unsurprisingly, the laws of demand and supply reign. Because there are many more Spanish speakers in the US, speaking that language only added about 2% more to a salary than that earned in an equivalent position by a monolingual American. French commanded an average of a 3% premium, while German, Italian, Russian and Chinese were more valuable, translating into an average 4% higher.
I am very pleased that in October, the Scarsdale Board of Education will be sending out two World Language surveys to Scarsdale parents of elementary and middle school parents.

The first one will be focused on asking us what additional languages should be taught at the middle school level; presently students are limited to only taking one of two languages, French or Spanish. The second survey will ask us what languages should be added to the high school language curriculum, which presently includes, French, Latin, Mandarin, and Spanish. We cannot say that we have a World Language program in Scarsdale, when the emphasis is disproportionately on Romance languages and practically nothing from the other language families.

In Scarsdale we are incredibly lucky to have a high level of educated and committed parents, educators, administrators, and members of the board. I have no doubt that in the not too distant future, the next American who will speak Mandarin fluently with a high level politician, business person, or scientist in China could very well be a Scarsdalian.

Mayra Kirkendall-Rodríguez is a member of the Fox Meadow Multicultural committee and is in a group of Scarsdale parents, The Mandarin Team, encouraging the Board of Education to widen language choice in Scarsdale schools.