District Mourns First Grade Teacher, Hears Comments on Cell Phone Ban and Explains New IRS Penalties

The Board of Education meeting on Monday April 7th, opened with the heartbreaking news that a beloved Heathcote first grade teacher, Julia Queck, unexpectedly passed away on Sunday April 6th, as a result of an accident at her home. In a recent email to the school community,

Superintendent Dr. Drew Patrick shared:

“Julia joined us in the 2023-24 school year as a special education teacher at Immaculate Heart of Mary, serving students who attend that school and receive services from the District. She began as an ICT teacher this school year as part of the first grade Heathcote team. Julia and her co-teaching partner, Deborah Rubin, provided a warm, nurturing, supportive environment for students as they have developed throughout the year. Julia leaves behind a loving husband and two young children. This is a heartbreaking loss for her family, and for our students, staff, and parents."

Before moving onto the business portion of the meeting, Patrick expressed, “We extend our deepest sympathy to Julia's family and her loved ones, to her students and her Scarsdale family.”

IRS Penalties

Addressing more routine matters, Patrick updated the community about two payment penalties the District received from the IRS. As he explained, “In November, we were made aware of an IRS penalty in the amount of 2% of payroll (worth $3,900.90) in the third quarter of 2024, imposed on the district due to processing the July 15 payroll federal taxes one day late. The late payment was a consequence of a misunderstanding in our business office of the Semiweekly Depositor Rule, [during a] temporary change in our process associated with the transition to Envision on July 1, we submitted our payments to the IRS according to the Semiweekly Depositor Rule…What we didn't realize was that, due to the amount of our taxes, this rule didn't apply. Rather, the Next Day Deposit Rule applied. Unfortunately, it took the IRS four months to notify us of this error. While we corrected our procedure immediately upon notification, we learned in February, the second payment from October, prior to the notification about the delay, was also one day late. This resulted in the second 2% penalty totaling $25,148.15. Again, the process was corrected immediately in November, but we did not realize the second late payment had occurred in October. In both cases, we immediately remitted the full penalty to the IRS as required, and filed the necessary paperwork to request a refund of these penalties, consult the tax counsel, and we await a response from the IRS.”

Reveal Math

During his Cabinet Update, Dr. Edgar McIntosh announced that at a recent Superintendent's Conference Day, administrators gave elementary teachers an anonymous, in depth-survey about Reveal Math resources. McIntosh explained that the teacher’s responses to the survey “will guide further adaptations, substitutions, professional development and parent communications.” He also acknowledged that the community has demonstrated a high level of interest in the curriculum and so in response, the district will also administer an upcoming elementary math focused, parent survey. The feedback from this survey will help to shape the content of parent workshops the district will hold this spring. An update about the elementary math curriculum will be given at the BOE meeting on May 12th.

Public Comments

The Public Comment portion of the meeting saw another robust turnout with a large number of community members sharing their concerns both in person and via Zoom. While there were a few comments in regard to issues like the proposed budget, Reveal Math, and about the process by which the BOE will select its new “student” member, the majority of speakers were there to voice their support of a cell phone ban in all schools. The new cell phone policy has been drafted but not adopted as yet. It was written in response to the Governor's proposed budget legislation requiring all school districts to adopt a policy prohibiting the use of internet enabled devices by students on school grounds during the school day.

One parent, Jessica Gallo spoke in support of the draft Policy 5695 - Students and Personal Electronic Devices which proposes to restrict cell phones during school hours. She argued that banning cell phones will decrease distractions, improve interpersonal skills, and reduce social pressures. Gallo emphasized the importance of a phone-free environment to foster focus and attention as well as the overall health and well-being of students.

Casey Hogan, a mother and teacher, emphasized the need for Scarsdale to do more for gifted students. She highlighted the importance of talking to kids and families through a strength-based lens, providing cross-disciplinary learning, and offering enrichment opportunities. She encouraged the district to investigate these pedagogical philosophies, which do not require major program overhauls or significant financial investment.

Howard Weinberg, representing himself and his company Green Jewels, discussed the high cost of the proposed electrification of school buses. The proposal costs $814,000 for an eight-year lease, translating to almost $5 per mile per bus, which he finds astronomical. Howard suggested that his company could provide similar services at a lower cost, as they obtain grants and incentives from the state. He offered to help the board understand the technology and answer any questions they may have.

Others who spoke in favor of the proposed policy echoed Gallo’s sentiments with one father adding that a clear policy about cellphone use in schools, will support teachers in enforcing the rules in their classrooms.

SHS student Sonja Xie advocated for mental health awareness and support. Xie, who founded Brain Waves for Change, emphasized the importance of early education, open conversations, and a school culture that prioritizes mental health. She also encouraged the district to create more opportunities to listen to student voices, equip all adults in the building to support students emotionally, and consider funding a school-wide mental health assembly. To Learn more about Xie and Brain Waves for Change see here.

School Budget

Later in the meeting, the Board voted to adopt the proposed budget for the 2025/26 school year which will be put forth to the community to vote on, on May 20th.

Before voting to adopt the budget, board members took turns relating the reasons they support this budget by reading thoughtfully prepared statements. Colleen Brown started the discussion by highlighting how this budget supports the “pillars of our strategic plan: Learning, Living and Leading. These are the foundations that allow our students to grow and thrive and leave us as global citizens, ready to tackle real world problems and have a positive impact.” Brown went on to discuss how the budget allows elementary school students to learn in small class sizes, middle school students to transition smoothly, and high school students to follow their passions.

Leah Dembitzer also conveyed her support for the budget and expressed her belief that preserving class size, a hallmark of our schools, is paramount. While she feels that this budget does that, especially at the elementary level, Dembitzer underscored the importance of monitoring the size of high school classes, specifically classes like AT statistics, to make sure that they're not overly large next year and in future years.

Dembitzer went on to remark on the tax cap saying, “While, in my view, it is important for the purpose of preventing major spikes in the annual tax levy and to compel fiduciary responsibility, it is also an arbitrary calculation that is not, in and of itself, reflective of the real financial needs of the district. In that way, it complicates budgeting over a period of time for our district. As is evident, educational needs have shifted over the past 10 to 12 years, especially since the tax cap came into being. For example, we now have a robust special education program and increased student mental health supports, safety and security additions and personnel, and now we have an electric vehicle bus mandate to manage and roll out further. We've become too reliant on the fund balance pulling from reserves in order to minimize the tax levy and also to pay for recurring expenses. This is not a sustainable practice, and in my view, it must end following this current budget cycle to the degree it has been going.”

Among other comments, Amber Yusef added, “The board balanced its commitment to our students with consideration for our taxpayers during the development of this budget. This budget continues to maintain our traditional values ranging from smaller elementary class sizes, a middle school house structure, and student choice at the high school. This budget also honors our commitments to every student by supporting the continuation of our special education students as they move from the elementary school to the middle school in our 812 program, and our middle school students to the high school in our 12:1:1 program.”

James Dugan, Bob Klein, and Suzie Hahn also contributed their thoughts to the discussion. To watch this discussion in full and to hear each of the BOE members statements, see here.