Sound Shore

Port Chester’s village board meets tonight with an agenda that includes a discussion on group homes, a proposal for a new baseball field at Lyon Park and next year’s village election. The public session starts at 7.

Group homes: The village has received a plan to build a home for developmentally disabled adults on vacant land next to 51 Betsy Brown Road. The formal notice and hearing have been delayed, but the board set a hearing to talk about the relative number of group homes in Port Chester. Trustee Bart Didden wants the state to set more criteria on the location of such homes.

Baseball field: The Port Chester Youth Baseball League will propose a new T-ball/Rookie League field in Lyon Park.

Elections: Village board elections in March 2013 will put all six trustee seats up for a vote under the new cumulative voting method, and will coincide with the mayoral election. The trustee election system – under a legal agreement with the Department of Justice – includes an unusual provision that allows people to vote at one polling spot the week preceding Election Day. The board will discuss whether to ask the DOJ to allow the same provision for the mayoral race, which was not part of the landmark DOJ lawsuit that yielded the new election system.

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.

Flags were half-mast today in Port Chester after the death this morning of former Mayor Peter Iasillo. He was the dominant figure in local politics for more than a decade and stayed involved well beyond his 1980-93 mayoral term.

Friends and family were remembering him as a jovial figure – some thinking back to the sight of him in a nightcap and gown for the annual charity “bed races.”

The funeral Mass is set for 9:15 a.m. Saturday at Corpus Christi Church. Visiting hours are 4 to 8 p.m. Friday at Craft Memorial Home. Read more in our story on LoHud.com.

At left, Port Chester-Rye Brook Public Library employee Chris Hernandez, 27, lowers the American flag to half staff today. “My family’s been here since the 50s,” Hernandez said, adding his family’s involvement with the Republican Party led to him meeting Iasillo as a youth. “It’s sad, he’s definitely one of the best mayors we’ve had.” (Photo by Xavier Mascareñas / The Journal News)

Mamaroneck town officials are exploring the scenarios that could result from a possible dissolution of the nearby Rye Town—including the adoption of about 7,600 new residents.

The neighborhood known as Rye Neck—about 1.4 square miles—would become an orphan of sorts if Rye town decides to go out of existence. A study is under way to determine whether taxpayers would save money by doing away with Rye town or by merging municipal services in some other way.

Rye town envelops the villages of Port Chester and Rye Brook along with Rye Neck, a separate fragment of land that belongs to Mamaroneck Village.

The Town of Mamaroneck is a bystander in the study, but has a serious stake in the outcome.

“It’s an interesting, but very complicated issue,” Supervisor Nancy Seligson said this week as the town board ventured into a discussion on the matter.

If Rye Neck becomes part of the Town of Mamaroneck, it would still receive most services from the Village of Mamaroneck. But Rye Neck residents would no longer pay a slight premium for town recreation services like Hommocks pool, for one thing. But their town taxes might rise, according to one former study on the question. Under a second scenario,the Village of Mamaroneck would secede from the town, taking Rye Neck with it and becoming its own “town-village.”

Mamaroneck Town Administrator said he report to the town board by April with a look at the potential impact from the two alternatives. Any change in the municipal map would require a referendum.

The Rochester-based Center for Governmental Research is conducting the study for Rye Town and the villages of Port Chester, Rye Brook and Mamaroneck through a state grant. Information about municipal services and videos of the related public forums are online at www.cgr.org.

A group of Port Chester High School students called on the village board this week to ban smoking at local parks. Armed with a PowerPoint presentation on local ordinances and a survey of their peers, they said smoking is keeping residents away from the parks and setting a bad example for young people.

Village trustees welcomed the presentation by Kyle Thomas, Andrecarol Davila, Maria Ayala and Joanna Cruz, members of the youth committee of the Port Chester Cares Community Coalition. The board referred the idea to the parks and recreation commission.

The coalition has been working since 2007 to prevent drug and alcohol abuse and promote health in the community. It spoke out against a local gas station’s use of an old ice-cream truck to sell cigarettes just across the Connecticut border, and helped educate students on the danger of texting while driving.

In March, it will sponsor another “Family U” workshop series at the Middle School. Details here.