KL Board Buzz

District video on referendum...

Language for resolution...

The following is the resolution that will be voted upon by the community on Tuesday, December 8, 2009 from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.:

 

Shall the Board of Education be authorized to expend out of the Capital Reserve Fund, established and funded on March 17, 2009, a sum not to exceed $3,128,927, for the purpose of installing a new synthetic turf field, natural grass field (ex. Softball Field), backstops, players’ areas, and a restroom/storage facility, on the AP Farm Athletic Fields, renovation of the existing baseball field at the John Jay High School (including but not limited to field grading, and improvements to field drainage systems); renovation of the HVAC system in the performing arts area of the John Jay High School to include air conditioning; installation of storage casework for musical instruments and related band/orchestra items; all of the foregoing to include all labor, materials, equipment, apparatus and incidental costs, and further providing that the detailed costs of the components of the above-referenced projects may be reallocated among such components if the Board of Education shall determine that such reallocation is in the best interest of the District.

Federal Researchers Find Lower Standards in Schools - NYTimes.com

A new federal study shows that nearly a third of the states lowered their academic proficiency standards in recent years, a step that helps schools stay ahead of sanctions under the No Child Left Behind law. But lowering standards also confuses parents about how children’s achievement compares with those in other states and countries.

via www.nytimes.com

Not encouraging.

Many Regents exams to be cut by next year

Bolting right out of the gate on some of the major changes in its long-range plan, the Katonah-Lewisboro school board decided on Tuesday, Oct. 20, to eliminate two Regents exams — physics, and algebra and trigonometry — immediately, with six more to be cut by the end of the following year. The exams are to be replaced with assessments that are designed to better prepare students for the work they will be doing in college, according to John Jay High School Principal Ellen Doherty. This move will leave the district with only those five Regents exams that are mandated by the state.

via www.acorn-online.com

Great move!!! All the great private schools seem to do fine without the Regents. Hey, maybe we could eliminate the regents themselves and save a few dollars in Albany.

Teach Your Teachers Well - NYTimes.com

Our best universities have, paradoxically, typically looked down their noses at education, as if it were intellectually inferior. The result is that the strongest students are often in colleges that have no interest in education, while the most inspiring professors aren’t working with students who want to teach. This means that comparatively weaker students in less intellectually rigorous programs are the ones preparing to become teachers.

So the first step is to get the best colleges to throw themselves into the fray. If education was a good enough topic for Plato, John Dewey and William James, it should be good enough for 21st-century college professors.

via www.nytimes.com

Pop Quiz - Language Arts - NYTimes.com

If you were stuck on a desert island, could you write a message in a bottle — or a term paper — without an assist from Google’s “Did you mean . . . ?” Spelling has become something of an extinct art: of 2,500 adults tested recently by Whitesmoke, a writing-software company, 40 percent couldn’t spell “questionnaire” and 38 percent “accommodate”; 15 percent put the “i” before “e” in “receive.”

via www.nytimes.com

Handwriting and spelling are becoming lost arts. Oral communication may be replaced by texting too!

Fields go to a vote-Ledger

After hearing from a parade of student athletes and the occasional parent, the Katonah-Lewisboro school board on Tuesday officially adopted “Plan B” — a proposal to spend nearly $3.13 million of the district’s capital reserve to build a synthetic turf rectangular field and natural grass softball field at the AP Farm Athletic Fields across from John Jay High School, to renovate and rebuild John Jay High School’s baseball field to be section-playable, and to install instrument lockers and air conditioning in the school’s music department. The resolution, which was approved 6-1 with board member Dr. Peter Treyz opposing, will now go before the voters in a referendum on Tuesday, Dec. 8.

via www.acorn-online.com

Class sizes likely to increase in 2010-11 budget

“We know we’re edging into territory that makes us uncomfortable,” Dr. Roelle told the school board. “We will need to leave our comfort zones.”

Dr. Roelle’s projection would involve the reduction of 3.5 teachers from this year, a small part of a likely large number of district layoffs in the upcoming budget. Dr. Roelle pointed out that, in order to achieve a nearly flat budget this year, about 40 positions were eliminated. While the board is not constrained to aiming for no increase to the budget, if the budget is voted down twice, it must adopt a contingency budget that is likely to be flat.

via www.acorn-online.com

It is great to be starting the conversation in October. It will be a tough budget.

Op-Ed Columnist - The Quiet Revolution - NYTimes.com

When Obama and Education Secretary Arne Duncan came to office, they created a $4.3 billion Race to the Top fund. The idea was to use money to leverage change. The administration would put a pile of federal money on the table and award it to a few states that most aggressively embraced reform.

Their ideas were good, and their speeches were beautiful. But that was never the problem. The real challenge was going to be standing up to the teachers’ unions and the other groups that have undermined nearly every other reform effort.

via www.nytimes.com

Great column! Thanks for sending Brent!

State education aid may be cut this year

Katonah-Lewisboro may have escaped them last year, but New York State Gov. David Paterson has, for the second year in a row, proposed to cut state aid to the school districts halfway through the year as part of a plan to eliminate a budget gap of $3 billion for this fiscal year, and $5 billion over two years. The proposal, which has yet to be approved by the state legislature, would cost Katonah-Lewisboro $581,667.

via www.acorn-online.com

Op-Ed Columnist - The New Untouchables - NYTimes.com

Last summer I attended a talk by Michelle Rhee, the dynamic chancellor of public schools in Washington. Just before the session began, a man came up, introduced himself as Todd Martin and whispered to me that what Rhee was about to speak about — our struggling public schools — was actually a critical, but unspoken, reason for the Great Recession.
...
A Washington lawyer friend recently told me about layoffs at his firm. I asked him who was getting axed. He said it was interesting: lawyers who were used to just showing up and having work handed to them were the first to go because with the bursting of the credit bubble, that flow of work just isn’t there. But those who have the ability to imagine new services, new opportunities and new ways to recruit work were being retained. They are the new untouchables.

via www.nytimes.com

I am a big Michelle Rhee fan...good column. Tks Brent for sending.

Op-Ed Contributor - Little Restored Schoolhouse - NYTimes.com

Mr. Kaine saved local taxpayers millions in this $20 million renovation because Virginia has a 25 percent state historic rehabilitation tax credit, on top of the 20 percent federal tax credit. Other states have their own special incentives, and more are now considering them. In Virginia, when the various financial factors are taken into account, the tax credit approach greatly lowers the costs to local taxpayers — by as much as 33 percent — when compared with the conventional approach of financing construction through school bonds.

via www.nytimes.com

What a great idea! Private sector stimulus. It probably makes too much sense to get to the starting line.

No problems in technology audit

An internal audit of the Katonah-Lewisboro School District’s technology infrastructure and security found no problems — a first for the district’s internal auditors, Accume Partners. David Moran of Accume presented his report at a school board meeting on Thursday, Oct. 8.

“This is the first time we’ve had this for an IT audit,” Mr. Moran said. “There were no ‘needs improvement’ or significant issues.”

via www.acorn-online.com

Way to go techies!

Speyer Legacy School Opens in New York for Gifted Pupils - NYTimes.com

He was 5 months old when he said his first words, and at a year and a half, he knew the alphabet, colors and numbers from 1 to 10.

via www.nytimes.com

A very good article on the the topic. It reminds me of our study of our "Sleuth" program in Elementary school where there was no clear path for inclusion. Politics and parental pressure seemed to be a significant factor in the who was in and who was out. This article describes a path that ends up with only the off the chart gifted which is the way a good program should work. DBS

Teachers' Union Shows Flexibility

I like Arne Duncan!

WSJ.com Mobile Reader user dbscott@gmail.com wanted you to see this:

"Teachers' Union Shows Flexibility"

A showdown between the White House and the powerful teachers' unions looks little less likely after the 1,600-member union in Connecticut agreed to changes widely resisted by unions elsewhere.

Politics and Policy

Reading this on your Blackberry? Try the WSJ.com Mobile Reader now by clicking http://wsjmobilereader.com.

Contingency school budget would be flat - Ledger

Kudos to the BOE for having this discussion on October, seven months before the budget vote.

According to Mr. Jumper, the budget increase associated with a contingency budget is limited to the lower of 4% of the budget or 120% of the change in the national annual average Consumer Price Index (CPI-U). And because the CPI-U is unlikely to top last year’s level this year, a contingency budget would be limited to a 0% increase, aside from some expenses that are exempted from the limit. “It is a big hammer,” school board President Michael Gordon said. “It’s a real reality check in terms of how we set our budget up. ... If we don’t get it right, there’s quite a negative repercussion.”

Contingency school budget would be flat.

It’s a Fork, It’s a Spoon, It’s a ... Weapon? - NYTimes.com

NEWARK, Del. — Finding character witnesses when you are 6 years old is not easy. But there was Zachary Christie last week at a school disciplinary committee hearing with his karate instructor and his mother’s fiancé by his side to vouch for him.

via www.nytimes.com

Amazing!

Brewster Central School District Passes Fields Bond Vote

News & Media Bond Voting Results October, 2009:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE PROPOSITION

1: H.H. WELLS MODERNIZATION - PASS YES: 1,321 NO: 1,084 PROPOSITION

2: ATHLETIC FIELD/BHS - PASS YES: 1,256 NO: 1,118

ScreenTime.org

Robert Kesten addressed the board about this organization last night. I don't have his contact info. Seems like a great idea to turn off the tubes and focus on other things. It is interesting to note that two of JJ's recent valedictorians did not have TV's in their homes.

With thanks to Jeffrey Johnson who brought this new study to our attention.  The study confirms other studies about background television and its impact. Parents might know that sitting children in front of the television...More

via www.screentime.org

Kat-Lew ponders playing field proposals | LoHud.com | The Journal News

The second option includes all the elements of the first proposal except it would not renovate the existing softball field, and it would still leave $50,000 in the capital reserve. School board President Michael Gordon preferred the second option. "It lets us take full advantage of our brand-new fields. It lets us renovate our existing baseball field," Gordon said. "We've got money set aside for cultural arts, but it doesn't spend every penny in the pot."

Lewisboro Ledger Kat-Lew ponders playing field proposals | LoHud.com | The Journal News.