Sound Shore

Rye city officials have declined so far to respond to allegations in this very interesting article about a whistleblowing employee who said his superiors made him hide the fact that a Jan. 25 council workshop had been videotaped.

City Manager Scott Pickup told council members during the meeting and afterward that it was not recorded. Andrew Dapolite, an employee for Rye TV, said his superiors deliberately withheld the recording from the public and council—and that when the recording was eventually posted on Rye’s website, the audio levels had been lowered. Thursday’s Rye Sound Shore Review quotes from a letter he sent to the council this week.

Dapolite said he tried to resolve the situation internally with Rye TV Access Coordinator Nicole Levitsky before writing the letter. “It is my understanding that the actions exhibited by Mr. Pickup and Ms. Levitsky, by withholding the recording of the meeting, lying to city officials and members of the public, placing expectations on me that challenge good ethics and morals, is in direct conflict with the code of ethics,” he wrote. (Read the full text below.)

Council members were meeting Jan. 25 on the sensitive issue of Fire Department restructuring. The videotape wasn’t posted until Feb. 7.

Pickup and Levitsky declined to respond to Dapolite’s claims when contacted today. Mayor Doug French called the allegations a personnel matter. Council members Joe Sack, who had a heated public exchange with the mayor recently over French’s property problems, and Catherine Parker, the council’s lone Democrat, said the allegations were serious and need to be investigated. It’s unclear how that will happen.

Rye Corporation Counsel Kristen Wilson said she will advise the council on what steps it may take. As attorney for the city and its boards, her involvement may end there, and she declined to comment. A Journal News request to her to provide a copy of Dapolite’s letter went unanswered Friday afternoon.

Update: Dapolite agreed to release the letter after seeing that it was obtained by another media outlet. The text of the letter is below.

Joseph Longobardi, principal of Pelham Middle School, will retire in June after a 39-year-long career in education. He was hired as the district’s first special education teacher and went on to hold several administrative positions before being appointed Middle School principal in 1992. District Superintendent Dennis Lauro described him as “an outstanding educator and a wonderful leader.” Longobardi said, “I feel extremely blessed to have had the opportunity to be part of this community for all these years.”

Assemblyman George Latimer brought the school budget discussion straight to the students today at Port Chester middle school and high school, acknowledging that this is not foremost on their young minds. “It’s not talking about Jeremy Lin,” he told them. “It’s a little harder, it’s less cool, but it’s important.”

The students needed no convincing, it turned out. A Q&A with the state lawmaker ventured freely into the challenge of unfunded mandates, the needs of immigrant students and the injustice of an education system funded mainly by property tax, and therefore riddled with inequities.

Latimer made references to the wealth of neighboring Rye as he argued for more state aid to high-need districts like Port Chester. “To have the same opportunities – that’s what’s at stake here,” he said. District and state representatives have encouraged a grass-roots show of support for state aid that would alleviate cuts being contemplated to meet the new state tax cap.

Students questioned why budget cuts always seem to threaten programs they care about most – sports, for example, and the renowned marching band. That prompted a discussion over mandated vs. discretionary expenses.

Senior Elizabeth Vincento, who plays clarinet in the band and is vice president of the student senate, said she can’t imagine school without such programs and the socializing they provide.

“The school bond wouldn’t be there as much, without everyone getting together and interacting,” agreed Chris Mott, the student senate president. Chris said the budget conversation reminded him of what it will mean to become an eligible voter when he turns 18 in July.

The option of exceeding the 2 percent tax levy cap through a 60 percent override by the public didn’t even come up in the discussion. Chris and Elizabeth were not surprised, noting the local voting dynamic. “You’re pushing the envelope. There’s only so much you can do,” Elizabeth said.

“In Port Chester there’s a lot of people who can’t vote, and a lot of people who can vote (tend to) vote the opposite way of what you want them to,” Chris said. “A lot of the old people with no kids, they’re not going to vote to pass this. They don’t want the increase in taxes.”

“Maybe if we have a town meeting,” he added. “I don’t know if that’s even in the cards. A town meeting?”

The Port Chester school board, for its part, plans to read a letter today a forum being held by Latimer in New Rochelle, pressing for state aid. The text is posted below. (more…)

Blind Brook schools chief William Stark tonight outlined a $40 million draft budget for the 2012-13 school year that stays within the statewide tax cap and avoids any major cuts. The plan raises the tax levy by 1.71 percent and marks a 1.23 percent increase over the current year’s budget. It would not require an override of the 2 percent state tax cap (which would require a 60 percent majority vote by the public on May 15). But any additions in expenses, without equivalent cuts, would change that equation.

With only 6 percent of revenue coming from state aid, the district is shielded from some of the impacts that other districts are facing this year. Health and retirement benefits costs are not rising as high as anticipated, easing the need for cuts that had been explored earlier, administrators said. (Earlier projections would have cost the equivalent of about eight full-time positions.) Under the plan going before the school board for review, class sizes and staff levels would stay about the same.

Among the changes:

Three full-time positions would be cut: An elementary school teacher, due to declining enrollment in the lower grades; one of two foreign-language instructors at the elementary level, reducing the frequency of those classes; and one school psychologist, whose responsibilities for students with disabilities in a category known as “Section 504” would be transferred to the guidance department.

Added positions include a one special education teacher, one middle school teacher and two high school teachers.

The budget presentation and documents will be posted tomorrow on the Blind Brook website.

The Port Chester school community is bracing for a budget that could bring layoffs, a switch to half-day kindergarten and the loss of benefits and full-time status for aides and nurses.

No announcements have been made yet, but presumably the 2012-13 budget will conform to the 2 percent statewide tax cap and make some serious cuts in the school program. A draft 2012-13 budget was due for release Thursday night, but the school board said it was still reviewing the options and awaiting decisions on state aid. Students and parents have been enlisted in a lobbying push, which now focuses on  $250 million in state funding that could go toward districts in need. Or not.

Rather than announce a plan for budget cuts, the board heard a presentation by Port Chester High School Principal Mitchell Combs that was decidedly more cheerful.

Combs gave an update on efforts to create an International Baccalaureate program that could eventually replace Advanced Placement. (See an online presentation here.) He also charted several years’ worth of improvements in the high school’s graduation rate, numbers of college-bound graduates, AP enrollment and other benchmarks. The high school, where 13 percent of students are in some form of ESL studies and many students come from low-income households, has been a focus of the board for years.

Some highlights:

The percentage of graduates with a Regents diploma went from 82 percent in 2004-05 to 94 percent in 2010-11.

The four-year high school graduation rate went from 67 percent among the class entering in 2001 to 84 percent among those entering in 2006.

Overall, Combs described the state of the high school as “strong.”

Superintendent Edward Kliszus will release a draft 2012-13 budget March 8. Residents vote on the board’s adopted budget May 15.

Black History Month celebrations around the region are listed in this Journal News article. Below is a list of community events in Port Chester.

During Thursday’s Black History celebration at Port Chester Middle School, where this video clearly had an impact on the students. John Legend sings U2’s “Pride (In the Name of Love)” in memory of Martin Luther King Jr.:

John Reavis, president of the local NAACP chapter, presented the school board later in the day with a set of books on African-American figures in history.

Here are other scheduled events:

Friday, Feb. 17:  Movie/Discussion for After School Program students, Port Chester Carver Center, 400 Westchester Ave., 4 p.m.

Sunday, Feb. 19: “Moments In Black History’, presented by Martha Bell at St. Frances AMEZ Church, 14 Smith St., Port Chester, 11 a.m. services.

Tuesday, Feb. 21: “Rosa Parks/Civil Rights Movie” and Open Discussion On The Rye Town Black Cemetery led by Dave Thomas and Tom Kissner, Rye Town Hall, 10 Pearl St., 7 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 29: Port Chester Carver Center’s Black History Program including  “Moments in Black History” 400 Westchester Ave., 7 p.m.

School budgets are likely to get lots of attention and scrutiny this year, and here’s another way to keep up in Blind Brook. The board of education meetings will be broadcast live, starting Monday, Feb. 13, when the superintendent is scheduled to discuss a proposed 2012-13 budget.

Blind Brook meetings have been available on video, but now they will be televised live on Cablevision Channel 77 and Verizon FIOS Channel 27.

The district may begin live-streaming the meetings via Internet in the next few weeks, depending on the success of the broadcast.

The website keeps budget documents on this web page and the next agenda here.

Parents coming in for teacher conferences at Port Chester Middle School today can see the results of seventh grade science experiments, which are on display for Young Scientists Day. The public was also invite to a morning assembly for Black History Month, showcasing the achievements of African Americans, with accompaniment by the school’s jazz band and chorus.

Christian Perez showed what became of his experiment to see whether plants grow faster when given coffee.

The healthy one on the left was given only water. The other grew faster, but then deteriorated. A short-lived caffeine high? Coffee apparently affected the roots, Christian said, and stopped the plant from growing. The displays will be up through Friday.

The Ursuline School this morning released its second statement on the suicide of a 14-year-old student earlier this week. The school’s statement is apparently in response to the Yonkers police department’s own press release last night.

Here’s the statement, attributed to Principal Eileen Davidson:

The Ursuline School has lost a wonderful young member of its close-knit community of students. Our grief is overwhelming. Eira Maghuyop loved our school and was fully engaged in Ursuline’s campus life. Our staff continues to take care of our students as they mourn, and we pray for Eira’s family. Those are our priorities.

Unfortunately, our grief has been compounded by the erroneous reports on the Internet and among some news organizations that Eira’s death was in part the result of bullying at Ursuline. We are reassured by the Yonkers Police Department statement that their investigation “has not revealed any evidence to support that bullying was a factor in this incident.”

We thank the community, our alumnae and friends for the outpouring of support. We continue to offer our students counseling, peer mediation, a personal development program, and peer ministry. We will also continue our chapter of Teenangels, a nationwide program of specially trained teens who promote Internet safety and cyberbullying awareness and prevention.

The Blind Brook school board is formally rejecting the recommendation of a fact-finder in its negotiations with the union representing 83 non-teaching employees—teachers aides, clerks, custodians, nurses and others. The contract expired June 30, 2009, and the two sides arrived at an impasse. The board criticized the finding as ignoring the strains caused by the economic crisis and the state tax cap.

(Update: The union says the district is rejecting fair compensation for its members “while providing generous increases in salary and benefits to its highest paid Administrators.” President Deirdre Smithies’ statement is below.)

After hearing from both side, PERB-appointed fact-finder Martin Ellenberg recommended a four-year contract with retroactive pay increases of about .4 percent for 2009, 1.7 percent for 2010, 2.8 percent for 2011 and 3.3 percent in 2012, along with “step” salary increases of about 3 percent a year. His finding on Jan. 23 also advised the district to come up with specific proposals in its stated goal of a merit-based pay plan. The board argued against raises other than the step increases. (Update: The  district sought to have no retroactive salary increases, but proposed to set aside $114,000 per year for merit pay and allow for a cost of living increase in the latter two years, according to the fact-finding report.)

This leaves the process at an impasse.

Blind Brook is in ongoing negotiations with the union covering its 140 teachers, whose contract expired June 30 of last year.

Read on for the board’s full statement today: