Schools to Assess Interest in Mandarin Among Incoming Sixth Graders

The Scarsdale School administration surprised the community by reversing their decision on the inclusion of Mandarin in the middle school curriculum. At a morning meeting on Wednesday February 3 the administration announced their recommendation to survey the parents of incoming sixth graders on their children's language selection for sixth grade. The survey will offer a choice of Spanish, French or Mandarin. If at least 48 students say they will sign up for Mandarin, the school will hire a Mandarin teacher for the 2016-17 school year. Furthermore, if the program is a go for this fall, the school will commit to hiring a total of three teachers in the future to teach Mandarin for sixth, seventh and eighth graders.

There will be no leveling of instruction – meaning there will be no advanced Mandarin language instruction offered. In addition to adding Mandarin, the sixth grade language program will be changed so that language is taught everyday, rather than everyone other day in the spring semester. This will give students more time to speak, listen and practice their language skills.

Following the administration's recommendation, the Board voted on the measure. Everyone voted yes with the exception of Chris Morin who asked how the decision to hire three language teachers would impact the districts' hiring of faculty for the STEAM initiatives and coding program. Upon learning that the district's language coordinator was leaving he asked why it would not be up to the new hire to evaluate the district's language program and recommend changes.

Commenting on the decision Mayra Kirkendall-Rodriguez said, "The Mandarin in the Middle School Initiative Team thanks the Scarsdale administration for its leadership, flexibility, and willingness to listen to the Scarsdale community. The academic literature supports the cognitive and math benefits to taking Mandarin. There is significant demand for Mandarin speakers in the US government, defense, national security agencies, education, and in all parts of the private sector. We are thrilled that Scarsdale will be able to help the United States meet that demand. We urge fifth grade parents to consider signing up their children to take an enriching language as is Mandarin."

Teen Center:

Following the discussion at the previous meeting the Board was asked to decide if they wanted to continue to include $65,000 in funding for the Teen Center. Funding for the Teen Center is now split between the Village and School Boards. In the discussion Board members said that they felt it would be better if the Teen Center were funded through one board and could be accountable to one, not two boards. Some felt it should be under the aegis of the Recreation Department. Board member Suzanne Seiden said that the Teen Center "was founded 17 years ago to provide a safe, drug-free, alcohol-free place for kids to feel safe from academic pressure and stress." She continued, "We have a history of supporting programs that support a small number of children, and I support it."

Bill Natbony expressed his ambivalence about the program but voted to include the funding in this year's school budget. Morin voted no, saying, "I don't fee that it falls under the jurisdiction of the schools.... I believe it would be a great benefit to the teen center to have it supported by a single entity."

The balance of the board voted in favor of the funding and it will be included in the first draft of the school budget.

Comfort Station at Middle School Tennis Courts:

Though Mandarin instruction and the Teen Center gained approval, plans for bathrooms next to the tennis courts at the middle school were nixed by the board. The original plans for the comfort station called for $50,000 in funding for the bathrooms from the School Board with an equal contribution from the Village Board, who would manage the construction. However, it later came to light that since the comfort station would be located on school property, plans would need to be approved by the State Education Department and managed as part of the school's capital project plan. The revised estimate is $65,000 from the school board with an additional $35,000 contingency fee.

In discussions about the $100,000 allocation to the school budget for the comfort station, several school board members said they were in agreement with spending $50,000, but that $100,000 was too much. They discussed the need for a bathroom in the Choice building and concerns about adding this project to the long list of capital projects requiring management from the school administration. In addition, Board members expressed a desire to evaluate this project in the context of other needs and not have it "jump the line."

They ultimately voted to eliminate funding for the comfort station in the upcoming budget.

2016-2017 School Calendar

Superintendent Hagerman then presented the proposed academic calendar for the 2016-17 school year. He said, "We receive more calls about this than anything else."

The proposed calendar meets and exceeds requirements for a minimum of 180 school days and the required number of instructional minutes. School will begin on September 6, the Tuesday after Labor Day. It will be closed on October 3 and 4 for Rosh Hashanah and on Monday October 10 for Columbus Day and Wednesday October 12 for Yom Kippur. There will be a half-day on Wednesday November 23 before Thanksgiving.

Schools will be closed for just 6 school days at Christmas, from Monday December 26 through Monday January 2, reopening on January 3. There will be a winter recess from Monday February 20 to Friday February 24 and an April break from April 10 through 14. Graduation will be held on the last day of school, Friday June 23rd.

There are additional days off for Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, Martin Luther King Day, Memorial Day and Conference Days.

Check out the proposed calendar below:

Special Education:

Eric Rauschenbach, Director of Special Education alerted the board to the potential need for two special education Kindergarten classes for September 2016, rather than one. He said the district may have more kids than in the past coming into kindergarten with special needs, including international students and out of district placements. These classes are capped at 12 students, and since some move from regular to special classes after the school year begins, he recommends starting the year with extra space to allow for this.

Sustainability

In the public comments portion of the meeting, Ron Schulhof of the Conservation Advisory Council said, "The sustainability aspects and signage developed for the ECO Comfort Station at the Scarsdale Middle School can be used in other school building projects. Signs were created for many sustainable building aspects by Scarsdale High School that can be used to highlight these sustainable building designs."

The Board will hold their first budget study session on February 8 at 6:30 pm in the Board of Education room at Scarsdale High School.