Sound Shore

Scarsdale, Harrison and Putnam Valley were named  some of the best communities for music education in the United States by the NAMM Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing music and music education.

In all, 176 communities out of 237 that submitted surveys were recognized, including 166 school districts and 10 schools, according to NAMM’s website.

For the full list and more information, go to http://www.nammfoundation.org.

 

Dennis Lauro, superintendent of the Pelham School District, will retire at the end of the 2012 calendar year.

Lauro, 68, has served as superintendent since August of 2008. He was hired by the district in 1996 as director of Curriculum, Instruction and Personnel.

In a statement released by the district, Lauro said an invitation to his 50th high school reunion sparked thoughts about moving on.

“I knew it was time to change paths and begin to look at my life differently,” Lauro said. “I believe Pelham is in a very good place at this point, both educationally and financially. This is in keeping with the fine legacy of strong, effective leadership that has allowed the Pelham Schools to flourish.”

The Board of Education has yet to announce its plans for seeking a replacement.

More on this story to come at LoHud.com and in Thursday’s pages of the Journal News.

A Port Chester High School teacher who teaches a small-business curriculum created by the Network for Teaching Entrepreneurship is being recognized by that organization this month as an “Enterprising Educator.”

The 25-year-old network and its approach are the topic of this BusinessWeek story.

The Port Chester school district says:

Mr. Josephson has taught economics and history at the high school since 2003 and has been teaching NFTE’s entrepreneurship curriculum for the past two and a half years.  “Teaching is a rewarding career because you get the opportunity to refine and improve your effectiveness,” he says. “I enjoy teaching economics and business concepts to my students and always look for creative ways to teach their concepts.”

An experienced entrepreneur who ran his own company for many years, Mr. Josephson shares with his students real world anecdotes from his years as a businessman.  He stresses the use of spreadsheets as an essential tool.  He also integrates technology as often as possible in his classroom – using web sites including Facebook, Zipskinny and Surveymonkey, as well as unique interactive games, software and even Flip video cameras.

“I always had my Econ classes build a business plan,” said Mr. Josephson, “but the resources provided by NFTE make the experience that much more meaningful for my students. For example, I’ve had the former CEO of Snapple present to my students numerous times since my affiliation with NFTE.”

Port Chester had another long, emotional discussion tonight about school budget cuts. This time parents spoke against the planned layoffs of as many as 14 teachers who provide reading assistance in classrooms across the district. Those cuts are envisioned as a preferable alternative to the  earlier plan to cut back to half-day kindergarten—an idea that brought out equally passionate protests at a meeting March 8.

The latest cut is smaller in terms of money and layoffs; but it’s costly to the academic program, said parents and teachers during a board meeting at the middle school. They questioned the effect it would have on test scores, special-needs children, and older students who need reading skills to learn advanced subjects. The school board members and administrators blamed the tax cap and Albany politics for putting the schools, and schoolteachers, in the desperate situation of having to cut into the academic program. Board member Carolee Brakewood, describing reading teachers as the current victims of the budget crisis, said it was like having to choose which body part to cut off.

Children spoke out too, including Jonathan Cisneros, a fourth-grader at John F. Kennedy Magnet School who went to that school’s Early Learning Center for kindergarten and first grade. Jonathan (pictured at left, with his mother Carla Espinoza) is an avid reader of Harry Potter and Greek mythology, and he delivered a very elegant speech. Some of his comments:

Good evening. I’m Jonathan Cisneros … I have loved this school since the beginning when I studied in the ELC program in kindergarten. This school has taught me many things, but one thing stands above all others. This school has taught me to love learning. Everybody in the school has helped me, encouraged me and taught me to read the best that I can.

He spoke about being in school “before this catastrophe started” and worried about whether others would have the opportunity to learn in their native language of Spanish, as he did.  “Also, what about the kids that need extra help?” he said. He worried whether his teacher would be laid off, saying, “this is her first year and maybe her last.”

So please, hear my voice, I’m asking you, I’m even begging you to help us. I thought you were supposed to help the kids. Because if you are, right now has got to be a good time to start.

 

The Port Chester school district just announced that the teachers union has declared an impasse in their labor negotiations. The contract for about 350 teachers expired on June 30, 2011.

Here is the news release:

*

At a time when the Port Chester-Rye Union Free School District is facing a multi-million dollar income shortfall due to the new New York State property tax levy cap law and insufficient state aid, its Board of Education and Port Chester Teachers Association (“PCTA”) have reached an impasse in their labor negotiations.

The PCTA unilaterally declared impasse and the District then joined in selecting a mediator who will assist the parties in trying to reach agreement.  PERB recently appointed Louis Patack to serve as mediator based upon that joint request.  In responding to the declaration of impasse, Board President Blanca Lopez said: “We value our teachers.  They are dedicated and work very hard to ensure an excellent education for our students.  The District and the PCTA have been engaged in collective bargaining for a new agreement since 2011, meeting on a regular basis since July 30, 2011.  The Board has always wanted to reach a fair and equitable settlement with the PCTA, while taking steps to deal with the massive reductions in funding that have been imposed upon the district.  Unfortunately, the economic conditions have made this agreement difficult to settle.”

Under the state’s Taylor Law Triborough Amendment, teachers continue to receive salary increases under the terms of their expired contract.

Budget analyses clearly show that wages and benefits are by far the largest expenditure for any school district.  The district recently concluded negotiations with its administrators’ bargaining unit and its CSEA bargaining unit upon terms that are reflective of current budgetary constraints and that included significant cost savings in the area of health insurance benefit costs.

“The PCTA is privy to financial data that lays out both the short and long term financial challenges facing the District,” said Ms. Lopez.   “Given the limited resources of our taxpayers and the considerable challenges resulting from the new tax levy cap law and reductions in state aid, it is critical that teacher wage and benefit cost increases reflect a sustainable pace.”

“We have a responsibility to balance the economic needs of our educators with our obligation to provide an excellent education for our students,” said Ms. Lopez.  “While the Board and the PCTA are still far apart, we are working hard and are hopeful that we can find a fair and just result for all concerned through the mediation process.  We look forward to having mediator Patack join the process to help the parties reach a mutually agreeable settlement,” Ms. Lopez concluded.

“As the new Superintendent of Schools for the district, I have been very impressed with the quality and professionalism of our teaching staff” said Dr. Edward A. Kliszus.  “We hope to resolve this contract as soon as it is practicable to do so under the circumstances.”

Port Chester school officials are restoring full-day kindergarten to the budget plan for next year, after threatening a switch to half-day to meet the tax cap. The district has found alternative savings for 2012-13 in the form of a health-insurance change for civil service employees. It will also scale back on non-mandated reading assistance throughout the district, a change that will require up to 14 teacher layoffs.

Parents and teachers have been pushing to save full-day kindergarten and avoid a shutdown of the Early Learning Center, a building for kindergarteners and first-graders and a part of the John F. Kennedy Magnet School. The lobby effort has included a letter-writing campaign for more state aid.

The district’s CSEA employees – 154 teacher aides, custodians, clerical employees and nurses – will receive only one health plan at current reimbursement rates instead of a choice of three. The administrators union has agreed to the same change under its new contract agreement.

Thursday night’s meeting starts at 7:30 in the Port Chester Middle School auditorium.

Students in the diverse Port Chester school system do not have to go far to practice Spanish. But an exchange program with a school in Spain, now in its fifth year, aims to broaden the middle-schoolers’ horizons through a cultural immersion.

Twenty Port Chester Middle School students traveled to Spain earlier this month. Their counterparts are now visiting from I.E.S. Gerardo Diego, a middle school located in Pozuelo de Alarcón outside Madrid.

The visitors are getting the grand tour of NYC, including the Empire State Building, Ellis Island, Chinatown and Little Italy. I spoke with both groups Friday before they headed for Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and asked them to share their impressions.

Eva Mazario Garcia, 13, (in the photo at right, seated at lower left) was trying to absorb the American sense of scale —from real estate to food portions. “The houses are like a big palace,” she said. “The food is very, very big.”

They had arrived the previous day, and had yet to travel to the city. “For me, the houses made of wood surprised me a lot,” said Julia Perez-Nievas de la Riva.

Michael Bansey, a 14-year-old Port Chester student (in the photo at left, standing in back at the center), said the overall atmosphere in Spain made a strong impression. It was his first trip to Europe. “In America we sort of lose our religion and our traditions along the way,” he said. “They eat dinner together and they spend a lot of family time together.”

The two groups bonded through music, and stayed in each other’s homes. On Thursday, they will have a “multicultural dinner” with members of the community.

“Hopefully they can create a bond in the future,” bilingual teacher Esteban Guijarro said.

Frank Alvarez, school superintendent in Montclair, N.J., will become Rye’s next schools chief, the district announced today. The board will approve a five-year contract Tuesday. He replaces Edward Shine, who is retiring after leading Rye schools for a full 16 years.

Alvarez has 18 years’ experience as a superintendent, the last nine in Montclair and previously in River Vale and North Caldwell, N.J. He began his career as a teacher, and later headed the Urban Initiative: Operation School Renewal for New Jersey’s Department of Education. He has master’s and doctorate degree from Columbia University Teachers College.

Alvarez is the latest in a wave of New Jersey educators to come to New York, along with Superintendent Edward Kliszus in the neighboring Port Chester district.

For more information read the news release on the Rye schools website.

Alexa Melnick, left, hugs teammate Justin Johnson, both 13 with Pelham Middle School, while being awarded second place in the junior group documentaries at the 21st Annual Lower Hudson Valley History Day Competition at Saint Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill on March 17, 2012. The theme was titled “Revolution, Reaction, Reform in History,” and winners qualified to compete at the state competition in Cooperstown in April.( Xavier Mascareñas / The Journal News )

See more photos from the 21st Annual Lower Hudson Valley History Day Competition at Saint Thomas Aquinas College in Sparkill in an online gallery, and go to Lohud.com for the story.

The Mamaroneck school board and the teachers union are at an impasse in their labor negotiations and will move into a mediation process. The board announced today that there are substantial differences over wages, pension and health benefits, work schedules, and “phasing out a retirement award that provides 25% of salary at retirement.”

Here is the letter circulated by the board:

March 16, 2012

Dear Community Members,

As many of you are aware, the Board of Education and the Mamaroneck Teachers’ Association (“MTA”) have been engaged in collective bargaining for a new agreement for almost a year. The current agreement between the parties expired on June 30, 2011. Since last April, the District negotiating team has met with the MTA nearly 20 times.

The Board approached these negotiations with the goal of reaching a fair and equitable settlement.  We reviewed the relevant financial data with the administration and counsel to understand both the short and long term financial needs of the District. Our review indicated a critical need to slow down the growth of the single greatest factor impacting the District’s budget: teacher wage and benefit costs. Addressing this cost factor is essential to enable the District to achieve a sustainable model of compensation into the future.

Despite the parties’ best efforts, the Board of Education and the MTA have mutually concluded that continued “face to face” negotiations at this time will leave the parties no closer to a deal. At this point we are still far apart on issues relating to wages and slowing down the growth of salaries, on contributions and changes to health and prescription drug coverage, on phasing out a retirement award that provides 25% of salary at retirement, and on time/scheduling issues that would allow the District to make efficiencies and increase student contact time with teachers. As a result, the parties have jointly filed for impasse and will seek the assistance of a New York State appointed mediator.  The mediation process will begin early next month.

(more…)