Drop by Drop You Make a River

On Monday, November 9 the Bronxville School is hosting a School-Family Partnership workshop from 7:00 to 8:30 PM in the auditorium. "One person can make a difference" is the organizing theme of the evening, based on the book Three Cups of Tea, by Greg Mortenson. Mortenson's book describes his vision, setbacks, and success in building schools in rural Pakistan and Afghanistan.

A panel of student speakers, moderated by Dr. Viji George, President of Concordia College, will use the book as a springboard for discussing their own experiences in service projects across the world. The evening, aimed at secondary school students and their parents, is part of a broader global education initiative, linked to a number of related activities throughout the school year. At the Elementary School students will read Listen to the Wind, a picture book version of Three Cups of Tea, and the High School Student Faculty Legislature is planning its third annual special event exploring global problems.

Board Affirms District Goals

Taking a multi-year perspective, the Bronxville Board of Education approved three District goals at last night's meeting:

• Conduct a comprehensive budget review that minimizes taxpayer expense. Budget options resulting in flat and lower taxes will be considered. This year’s budget process will include comparisons of Bronxville’s per pupil costs and an analysis of staffing levels and key programs and services at each school and the district.
• Continue the three-year program development plans for global education and 21st Century skills, integrating technology, and knowing and engaging students.
• Update the Long Range Facilities Plan.

In adopting these goals, the Board explicitly placed the highest priority on managing finances and containing costs in the school budget, but all three goals continue work that began last year - the three professional development strands, a more comprehensive budget review, and completing the post-flood restoration and recovery projects.

Activities related to the financial goals include concluding a Board/BTA study of health costs and benefits; completing negotiations with custodians, teachers, clerical staff, teacher’s aides and teaching assistants; pursuing resolution of outstanding construction litigation; and revising financial reporting formats. Activities related to the curriculum and instruction goals include updating the K-12 technology curriculum; designing and implementing student projects that reflect global awareness, critical thinking and problem solving, and technology as an essential tool for learning;expanding teacher access to student data as part of an evidence-based approach to improving learning results; forming a Board study group to identify “best practices” for board processes related to curriculum and instruction; and completing Tri-States evaluation of science curriculum.

Please Note Change in School Calendar

Because of a change in the New York testing calendar, Bronxville needs to change the date of the April Conference Day. The original school calendar called for Monday, April 26, 2010 as a no school day for students. However, this past July the New York State Education Department announced a change in testing dates, moving the testing period from March to late April, thus conflicting with our Conference Day. We must now use April 26 as a testing date to comply with the state schedule. As a result the Bronxville Board of Education has moved the Conference day from Monday, April 26 to Friday, April 30. There will be no school for students that Friday.

The revised calendar can be found here.

Launching the 2010 Budget: Elementary Review

Mindful of the need to contain costs and respond to the economic downturn, the Bronxville Board of Education launched the 2010 budget cycle with a comprehensive review of Elementary School programs and services. Superintendent David Quattrone introduced the presentation as follows:

"Tonight we resume a budget development process that began last year and is sure to continue over the next few years. Our goal is to establish a sustainable model of educational excellence that adapts our programs and services to economic realities. . . As we move from the technical fixes and trimming reflected in this year’s budget to more substantive changes, the decisions will be more difficult. We will need to determine if we are offering the right programs at the right scale, and whether or not some programs and services should be reduced or eliminated. As we go through this multi-year process we need to focus on two competing priorities – what we can afford and what adds the most value to student learning..."

The Elementary School presentation, delivered by Principal Tom Wilson and Assistant Principal Heidi Menzel, can be found here.