Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Images from the Bronxville School




Thursday, June 13, 2013

Elementary School Launches University Partnership with LIU-Hudson

Bronxville Elementary School, with the help of a $79,000 Foundation grant, has launched a new partnership with LIU-Hudson. The partnership brings five graduate students to the School, serving as interns who will work closely with grade level teams and serve as highly qualified substitutes throughout the year.

In addition, a university professor will be on site to work with the interns and offer seminars on topics of interest to the faculty.  Each intern will be affiliated with a grade level and attend team meetings regularly. The interns will not only fulfill their student teaching requirements but also be fully integrated into the District's lesson study initiative. The lesson study approach, a validated best practice, involves collaborative observation of teachers at work. Peer observation leads to improved lesson design and classroom strategies, and the interns will be a key resource in making that happen.

Interim Principal Heidi Menzel stated that "This will be a huge win-win for us, and I know of no other school in the area that is incorporating both of these best practices -- lesson study and university partnerships." She closed by expressing her gratitude for Foundation support.

Quattrone Describes APPR Challenges

At the June Board of Education meeting Superintendent David Quattrone reported that the Bronxville Teachers Association and he have agreed to extend the current teacher evaluation plan for the 2013-14 school year. The Annual Professional Performance Review plan (APPR for short) was negotiated last year and approved by the Board of Education. As required by state law and regulation, all public districts in New York must implement a teacher evaluation system that combines state testing results, local testing results, and teacher observations. The system must adhere to certain requirements about approved measures  and how the various components are weighted. (Bronxville's plan is posted here.)

"We are at the early stages of this approach," Quattrone said. "We haven't even gone through a complete cycle yet, so it is difficult to know its impact and what we might want to change. The challenges of implementation have been daunting. For example, the number of required teacher observations doubled this year, making it difficult to meet deadlines. Anecdotally, principals report that with the new categories of effectiveness, their discussions with teachers have focused more on ratings and less on improvement strategies.

"This year," he continued, "we wanted to make sure that the establishment of formal Student Learning Objectives did not detract from teachers' willingness to innovate.  I think we have been largely successful on that score, but we still need to work on how to make sure these objectives and their measures are well understood and meaningful to the faculty." He added that a new assessment put into place at the Elementary School, the NWEA MAP, is providing teachers with useful information about student growth and their learning needs.

"It is not clear how the state model is helping a district that already has ample evidence that students are college ready," he said, "but as we move into next year we will examine what's going on around the state and identify opportunities to improve."

Quattrone will ask the Board to endorse renewal of the APPR plan at the July reorganization meeting.

Phase II of Field Project Moves Forward


On June 6 and June 13, the Bronxville Board of Education accepted donations from the Bronxville School Foundation that allowed the district to move forward with the long-awaited Phase II of the Chambers Field Project. This phase encompasses construction of a new concession stand, installation of new bleachers, and a press box.  The Board awarded contracts for this work to Caladri Development Corporation, who honored the bids placed last fall.

Although Phase II was conceived as an extension of the original turf project, there were design issues, low budget estimates, and high bids that led to postponements of the work.  The grants from the Bronxville School Foundation made it possible to carry out the entire scope of work.  Like the turf field, Phase II is entirely supported by private donations.

The Foundation made an initial donation of $72,000 in 2009, adding to the $170,000 balance remaining in the turf field project account.  The recent grant of $82,000 bridged the gap between the budget estimate and the actual bid for the concession stand/restroom. The additional $200,000 gift accepted in June allows the bleachers and press box to be included in the scope of work. Construction is expected to begin in the near future with an expectation of completion by the fall.

Other Facilities News:

In order to advance the schedule of the auditorium/science lab renovations, the District's design team obtained early approval and waivers from the labor department to undertake an attic abatement project in the summer of 2013.  This work will alleviate pressure on next year's schedule and make it more likely that the science lab renovations can be completed with minimum disruption.