Superintendent Says the District is Listening to Concerns About the Rolling Gradebook

Oftentimes a Board of Education meeting can last hours, while members present and discuss all of the important matters that affect our school district. Though the BOE meeting on Monday, September 9th wrapped up before the clock struck 8pm, members still communicated a lot of meaningful information. Some of the highlights of the meeting include a Staff and Enrollment update, a statement addressing concerns about the Rolling Gradebook at SHS, and information about the Food Services Program.

New Law Requires School Boards to Appoint a Non-Voting Student Member

Before delving into cabinet updates and the public comment period, BOE President Suzie Hahn described a new law recently signed by Governor Kathy Hochul, which requires  school board to appoint at least one student ex-officio member who may participate in all public meetings and sit with the other board members. These student members will be non-voting and will not be entitled to participate in Executive sessions or any other non-public proceedings. Ms. Hahn explained that while the Board has always valued student feedback, she looks forward to developing a process for implementing this change by this coming July. To learn more about the new law see here.

Rolling Gradebook

During Public Comment, Fox Meadow resident Jennifer Zola expressed concerns that she shares with other parents in our community about the Scarsdale High School’s Rolling Gradebook. Zola began her comment by thanking the District for all of their hard work but then related that she feels that the Rolling Gradebook, which was implemented as a pilot program at SHS last year, could be thought through a little more thoroughly to ensure that the original objectives for implementing the new grading systems were being met. Among other concerns, Zola expressed she worries that some of the detriments of the current system are not fully captured by the data collected including impact on seniors applying to college, students self-assessment of interpreting grades as a reflection of course achievement and the negative impact of feedback not returned in a timely / constructive manner with the flexibility that rolling gradebook affords courses. She also implored the BOE and Administration to please keep our community informed of how this grading system will evolve this year and what the timeline is to expect feedback on that process.

Dr. Drew Patrick took the opportunity to respond to Ms. Zola and shared a statement that should hopefully work to ease some concerns:

“We have received a lot of feedback about the rolling grade book along with practices that impact grades in other ways too, not just that particular policy. I think the feedback has begun to coalesce around a series of important themes. One such example includes the juxtaposition between the quarter grade and the rolling grade and the potential benefits to students of knowing both. Mr. Bonamo has indicated that the high school assessment committee will be working to consolidate these themes and share them with the community, essentially indicating what they think they’ve heard, and asking stakeholders to agree or disagree, and identify anything missing.

Generally, the number and nature of the questions we have received suggests there is a level of discomfort about this practice. I would suggest that this as a sign that we've opened up a meaningful conversation about a practice that's been in place a long time and that we're working through it deliberately. Overall, the message I want our community here is we are listening, the high school is listening, and has a plan in place to digest the feedback and make good sense of it. I don't think anybody questions that the intent of this change is to support our students in the best ways possible. Now, we have to determine if the intended benefits are being realized or not. If not, we need to course correct in some fashion, and I am confident that those recommendations will be made. In the meantime, we will be working to address the questions raised and we will keep the community informed as to progress made.”

Staffing and Enrollment Update

In her Staffing and Enrollment presentation, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, Meghan Troy first made clear that when discussing staffing and enrollment numbers, it is important to consider the needs of our Special Education structure and the District’s commitment to small class sizes at the elementary school level.

She went on to explain that student enrollment for the 2024-2025 school year has remained fairly consistent with the increasing trend of the last five years and that our demographer produced a fairly accurate assessment of projected enrollment numbers. Through several slides, Troy laid bare the student numbers at each school. You can see those slides and the full report here. 

In summary of enrollment numbers Troy shared the following:

When detailing the District’s staffing numbers, Troy explained that the District has added 3.1 FTEs over what was originally budgeted. The additional hires are due in part to enrollment demanding an additional ICT classroom at Heathcote, and because of the newly added position of Athletic Director at the high school. The staffing highlights can also be found in the slides of Troy’s report here. 

Auditorium

In his update, Assistant Superintendent for Business, Mr. Andrew Lennon reported that the auditorium project at the high school remains on schedule partly because workers have been able to continue some “quiet work” during daytime hours. Lennon assured the Board that a plan is in place to mitigate all disturbances and that if the work becomes at all disruptive, the crew will have to switch to working only in the evening hours. Lennon also assured the Board that all demolition was completed before the start of the school year and all air quality tests were passed.

Food Services Program

In regard to the Food Services Program, Mr. Lennon explained that Nutrislice, the District’s meal ordering system, will no longer take payments from the District’s point-of-sale software My School Bucks. Lennon said that because this would cause a disruption to how parents order their children’s meals and could cause additional fees, he heavily pushed back on this new policy, but to no avail. Lennon and Director of Dining Services, Tara Cook are looking into the best way to move forward and in the meantime, he announced that the District will waive Nutrislice’s ordering fees for the months of September and October. Lennon offered a humble apology for confusion caused by poor communication and promised to do better going forward.

In his welcoming remarks at the beginning of the meeting, Dr. Patrick wished everyone a “Happy New Year” and once again offered his gratitude to “incredible staff for their hard work this summer preparing our classrooms, hallways, cafeterias, outdoor spaces, fields, bus routes, and instructional technology. Our facilities, technology, food service, transportation, human resources, and business office teams do monumental work over the summer to get ready to welcome our students and faculty back to a new school year.”

He went on to detail a special ribbon cutting ceremony that took place earlier in the day at the new Greenacres playground. He noted, “The property the playground sits on is school district property that has long been shared with the Village to provide younger children in the neighborhood with a place to play, especially during the day when our students are using school equipment. This is a good example of the many shared arrangements we have with the Village with the goal of supporting the entire community. On Wednesday of this week, we have our first 2x2 meeting of the year which includes the Village Manager, Mayor, Deputy Mayor, School Board President, VP, and Superintendent. We look forward to another year of strong collaboration on behalf of the residents of Scarsdale.”

The meeting also included details about a new English textbook, a brief update about the new hires in the Special Education Department, and information about two upcoming events hosted by the SAFE Coalition in recognition of Domestic Violence Awareness Month in October. On October 2nd, from 12:00-1:00 p.m. they will host a virtual event: Behind Closed Doors, facilitated by Darlene Reda, Esq.. On October 29th at 7:00 p.m. the Safe Coalition will host a virtual author visit: Sticks and Stones, by Emily Bazelon in conversation with Valerie Abrams.

To see the meeting in its entirety please see the video here.