- October
- 26
The first full day of the New York State School Boards Association has been derailed, as conferees have been evacuated due to smoke in the lobby.
Staff Writer Alice Gomstyn reports from the scene:
“The evacuation left conference attendees gathered in bunches on the sidewalk outside the Sheraton Hotel and Tower at 7th Avenue and 53rd Street.
I spotted Lakeland Superintendent Kenneth Connolly and Garrison school board member Marilyn Palefsky. They were lamenting the fact that the evacuation happened in the middle of a session on contract negotiations.
Contracts will be up in Lakeland at the end of the year. Garrison is currently in negotiations with teachers.
“It’s always an important topic,” Palefsky said. “It’s not just about contracts, it’s talking about dealing with people.”
Still, the two didn’t seem too crushed about being outside. Neither did Michael Lockwood, a board member for the Croton school district.
“At least it’s not a bad day,” he said.”
Posted by Lanning Taliaferro on Friday, October 26th, 2007 at 9:36 am | 
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- October
- 25
Surprise, surprise. The cost of college continues to climb.
The College Board this week released its “Trends in College Pricing 2007,” which found tuition and fees on average have increased:
• 6.6 percent at in-state, public four-year institutions
• 5.5 percent for out-of-state students at public four-year institutions
• 6.3 percent at private four-year nonprofit institutions
• 6.2 percent at for-profit institutions
In addition, federal loans to undergrads did not keep up with inflation in 2006-07, and borrowing from private sources increased by 12 percent in inflation-adjusted dollars. Private loans made up 24 percent of total education loans in 2006-07, up from 6 percent a decade ago.
Posted by Diana Costello on Thursday, October 25th, 2007 at 5:04 pm |
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- October
- 24
A very miffed-sounding reader left me an anonymous message this morning noting that there had been a vocabulary error in today’s story about rats at Clarkstown North. It was in the following sentence: “Keller-Cogan said she appraised parents of the issue in a letter dated Friday.”
Did you find the goof? It came in the form of an errant “a” — add the letter to the word “apprising” and it turns into the word “appraising.” Whoops.
For the record, here are the definitions of the two words, courtesy of Webster’s New World Dictionary, Third College Edition:
apprise: to inform or notify.
appraise: 1. to set a price for; decide the value of, esp. officially; 2. to judge the quality or worth of.
If Keller-Cogan had actually appraised parents, that would have been a whole other story. Many thanks to the anonymous English lover who spotted the error!
Posted by Alice Gomstyn on Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 at 5:32 pm |
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- October
- 24
The Byram Hills Board of Education yesterday announced
that Jacquelyn Taylor would be the district’s next superintendent, effective July 1, 2008.
Taylor has served in Byram Hills for 11 years, most recently as deputy superintendent for curriculum and personnel.
The school board voted unanimously in support of Taylor, lauding her energy, enthusiasm and effectiveness.
She will take over for Superintendent John Chambers, who is set to retire at the end of the school year.
The Ossining school board also took the route of hiring a district veteran when they named Phyllis Glassman as superintendent, effective this past September. She has served the Ossining district for the past 16 years now.
In both instances, hiring from within helps the new leader to hit the ground running, not having to waste precious time getting to know the district.
Best of luck to Taylor in the new position.
Read on for the district’s full press release.
Read more of this entry »
Posted by Diana Costello on Wednesday, October 24th, 2007 at 3:00 pm |
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- October
- 23
My colleague Stacy Anderson tells me some teachers were offended and upset by the Human Rights Commission event at Pleasantville High School last Thursday.
You can read about the event and its context here. The first session was for school staff from Pleasantville, Briarcliff and Pocantico Hills. The evening session was open to the public and held at Briarcliff High School.
Stacy said Elliott’s remarks at the noon event ranged from comments about homosexuality — that the slang word “straight” embeds a derogatory image of gays — to President Bush, Lorena Bobbitt, religion and 9/11.
She used a lot of shock-jock talk to get people’s attention before making points about diversity and tolerance, Stacy said.
” I don’t mind being called a bitch,” Elliott said. “You know what bitch stands for, it stands for Being in Total Control, Honey.”
One teacher who contacted Stacy said she thought Elliott was biased against whites.
The auditorium was full to capacity. If you were there, please tell us what you thought.
Posted by Lanning Taliaferro on Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007 at 9:56 am |
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