Teen Center Future in Peril and Other Budget Items Under Discussion

The Board of Education (BOE) discussed several budget items including the proposed emotional disabilities program at the High School as well as plans for a comfort station at the middle school tennis courts and spent a significant amount of time on The Center@862 (formerly known as the Scarsdale Teen Center) at their January 25, 2016 meeting. No funding decisions were made on any of these topics as the BOE continues its budget studies over the next few months and seeks input from the community.

Prior to the meeting, the BOE submitted a list of questions to The Center@862 on issues such as the District's relationship with The Center, rationale for continued funding, utilization numbers, financial information and long range plans. Representing The Center at the meeting was Ellen Tiven-Moore, Executive Director of The Center for the last 5 years, and BK Munguia, President of the Adult Board. Tiven-Moore opened with a statement about The Center that read in part:

"In its 17th year of operation, The Center@862 continues to fulfill its mission to offer the teens and tweens of Scarsdale a safe, substance-free place for them to socialize. The Center is a real life setting where they can practice the social skills encouraged by their families and school. The Center belongs to a network of organizations created over the years to ensure the well being of Scarsdale youth. The Center continues to provide the youth of this community with programs and activities that are fun and engaging and provide a supportive educational component."

She went on to describe many of the programs offered and organizations served by The Center including Escape the Room, Citizens Police Academy, Red Cross babysitting training courses, SAT & ACT prep classes, open mic nights, sports team-bonding nights, moving up parties for fifth graders, Young Men in Leadership activity nights, chess club tournaments, Mad Science workshops, Guiding Eyes dog training, fencing workshops, back to school events, Jack and Jill Club of Westchester events, and Soap Box Derby.

Following her remarks, BK Munguia, who has been involved in The Center since 2001, spoke about its current needs highlighting the following:

"In response to the decreased publicly funded dollars and the rising cost of operating over the past five years, the Center's Board has approved use of surplus funds to meet the shortfall. These funds represent over seventeen years of fundraising including contributions from the early Visions of Community event, state and county grants, and revenue generated from rentals and program and event fees. They are near depletion. Even if all operating costs remain flat, should public funding remain at the current 2015-2016 level, The Center will be hard pressed to continue to operate in 2016-2017. Loss of public funding by the School Board will make it impossible. "

District funding for the Teen Center currently stands at $65K (reduced from $87.5K five years ago). The other major source of public funding is the Village ($87.5K). The center runs a very lean operation relying on state grants, volunteers, private donations, and revenue from rentals and programs as described in Munguia's statement above.

The BOE's line of questioning both in their written request and follow up at the meeting indicates that they are seriously considering whether continued funding is an appropriate use of school tax dollars. While no one disputes the merit of the services provided to the community, as Board member Chris Morin said:

"I struggle with understanding the appropriateness of our funding something that functions the way you do regardless of how valuable what you do is. I don't see that we could make a grant to the United Way, for example, under our authority."

Several people spoke during the public comments period in support of The Center. Their were personal stories of how meaningful the place has been including one from Miriam Beveridge of Circle Road who spoke fondly about her son participating in team sports' dinners at the Center as well as performing in their haunted house. Beveridge, who is a Service Unit Manager in the Scarsdale/Edgemont Girl Scout organization, also talked about the critical role The Center has played in providing a meeting place for Girl Scouts as the Girl Scout House on Wayside Lane is shared by many troops and it's increasingly difficult to get space there.

Scarsdale resident Lisa Furgatch submitted a letter to Board President Maude that concluded with the following statement:

"The Center at 862 serves as a safe gathering place where young people enjoy positive experiences with their peers. It provides support for the social activities of adolescents, whether they are testing out a stand-up comedy routine in front of their friends or speaking out for a cause. Having a place to engage in positive actions encourages teens to strive toward a dedicated life rather than one of substance abuse or despair. I think the Center at 862 plays an important role in shaping our kids' futures and I hope you will continue to fund it."

In addition to whether or not it should be funding The Center there was some concern expressed by BOE members that even with District funding, The Center did not have the reserves to keep operating through the end of the next budget year. The Center's financial statements were distributed as part of the agenda packet for the meeting and can be viewed here. 

Comfort Station at SMS Tennis Courts

Another budget item discussed at the meeting was the proposed comfort station at the Scarsdale Middle School tennis courts. As background, it was agreed for the 2015-2016 budget that the District would contribute $50K to the project and the Village would also contribute $50K. The construction cost of the proposed facility is now estimated to require $65K from each entity and Stuart Mattey is proposing the BOE also include a $35K reserve for the project. Important to note is that although it was verbally agreed upon, due to an oversight the line item never made it into the budget for the 2015-2016 year. Therefore, the entire amount would be a new line item included in this year's budget. Further, the property on which the comfort station is to be built was thought to be Village property, but is actually District property. This means that State Education Department approval would be required necessitating additional time and regulatory requirements than originally anticipated when the project was first proposed and agreed to by the BOE.

Emotional Disabilities Program

Also raised for discussion was the proposed emotional disabilities program at the high school. This program had been presented by Director of Special Services, Eric Rauschenbach, and discussed at the January 13 BOE meeting. In brief, it would provide services at the high school for a select group of students identified with emotional disabilities who may have otherwise required placement outside of the District. The program calls for the hiring of a Psychologist and Special Education teacher to focus solely on these students. The Board did not have any further questions about the plan at this time. During the public comments period Leanne Freda, Chairperson of Children Having Individual Learning Differences (CHILD), read the following statement in full support of the program.

"CHILD supports the new initiative proposed by Eric Rauschenbach, Director of Special Education to begin a comprehensive, therapeutic intervention program for students suffering from Emotional Disabilities at Scarsdale High School. We applaud Eric Rauschenbach and the Administration for recognizing the trend that an increasing number of our middle and high school students struggle with these debilitating conditions.

The emotional disabilities that this program seeks to address are not the situational, short-term, emotional issues that most of us have experienced, but rather pervasive, excessive, overwhelming and long-term emotional issues that interfere with a student's educational performance.

The class of students with these types of emotional disabilities is not necessarily a finite or predetermined group. While research has demonstrated that many students with learning disabilities also develop some emotional difficulty associated with their learning struggles, they are not alone. As we have seen here in Scarsdale, students in honors and Advanced Topic classes can suffer from emotional disorders that will impact their ability to access their education and adversely affect their performance.

While we are aware that this new program requires the addition of two full time positions, a special education teacher and a clinical psychologist, and possibly a part-time teacher's aide, we ask that the Board be mindful of the ultimate cost savings to the budget by substantially reducing the need to send our students to an out-of-district placement in order to meet their emotional needs. We do not expect nor would we advocate for a complete elimination of the out-of-district placement which can sometimes be the only successful program for certain students and as always will have to be determined on a case by case basis. However, having a program such as this, would also make it possible for those students to transition back to their home school with the proper academic and psychological support this program would provide.

In addition to considering the financial consequences of this program, we ask that the Board also consider the impact that sending a child to an out-of-district placement has on an emotionally fragile adolescent. As one parent whose child was placed out of district said: "moving an adolescent out of their hometown and into a new environment can be traumatic. They already struggle socially and you are requiring them to make new friends in a new community".

Many other parents have responded positively to this proposed program as well.
When asked for feedback about this initiative another parent said: "This is wonderful. So many kids in our community need this. If your community can embrace a child with emotional needs, it is the best thing for that child – and for the community".

Thank you for this opportunity to address the Board on this budget issue and for considering this new initiative. CHILD enthusiastically supports this new program and we urge the Board of Education to include this new initiative for high school students in the 2015-2016 school budget. "

Other portions of this meeting include an overview of Scarsdale's educational vision titled Scarsdale Education for Tomorrow presented in the 7:00-8:00pm hour by Superintendent Thomas Hagerman with Lynne Shain and Gerry Crisci. Also, Bernard Josefsberg announced that he had received notice of 19 retirements effective at the end of the school year. Faculty names were not provided but were promised at one of the next two BOE meetings. The entire meeting can be watched on the BOE's Video on Demand site here. 

The Teen Center and the comfort station will be discussed at the next Board of Education meeting on February 3. Community members should let the Board of Education know their thoughts on these two issues. Scarsdale residents (adults and teens) who would like to get more involved in supporting The Center@862 at this very critical time should visit their website and/or contact members of Center's Adult Board of Directors.