The Carmel Board of Education expects to appoint Dr. James M. Ryan as the new schools superintendent tonight. He will take office on July 1, 2008.

Tonight there will be a conference meeting between the Putnam County District Attorney’s Office and the four educators from the Mahopac Bridge Program charged with child endangerment. (Click here for some of the back story.)

While the case initially was scheduled to go to trial in November, the election of new District Attorney Adam Levy, well, complicated things. You see, he was a partner at in the firm representing one of the defendants, Lorrie Reynolds, and so when he came into office, he was conflicted out of the case.

Two options now being debated are whether to send the case to another county or hire a special prosecutor to argue the case.

Kimberly A. Einzig, an attorney representing defendant Tammy Card, said the issue is still “a little unclear” because this sort of thing doesn’t happen too often.  She hopes a decision will be announced tonight, although it is still uncertain as to what will actually happen.

“Tonight’s a check to see where the DA’s office stands,” she said this morning.

Needless to say, stay tuned to the Hall Monitor for updates. Thanks.

Another survey found that the No Child Left Behind law has led many elementary schools to spend more time on reading and math at the expense of social studies, science, art and recess.

The Center on Education Policy’s survey of 349 school systems across the country found that about 62 percent of school systems have added time for math or English instruction in elementary grades since 2002. On average, about three hours of math or reading were added each week.

Of the schools that added time for math and reading and trimmed other areas, more than half cut at least one hour and 15 minutes a week from science instruction.

Harrison High School will celebrate the reopening of its renovated auditorium at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

Parents, faculty, school supporters, and education and elected officials have been invited to the event, which will feature performances by students in the music and dance programs followed by a reception.

The cost of the facility, now called the Harrison High School Performing Arts Center, was covered by a $1.2 million grant from the New York state EXCEL building-improvement program and a $215,000 donation from the Harrison Educational Foundation.

Renovations included new acoustics, seats, sound and lighting systems, and accessibility for handicapped people.

To add another level of training for students in theater operations and management, technical operations for any use of the center will be run by the HHS Performing Arts Center tech crew, which will make its debut at the gala event.

Brown University is eliminating tuition for most students whose parents earn less than $60,000, according to the school’s Web site.

Brown also announced plans to increase tuition by 3.9 percent for the 2008-9 academic year to $36,928. With room and board, the costs are $47,740 for one year, according to the New York Times. 

White Plains Councilman Glen Hockley is trying to start an SAT camp for “at risk” students — and he wants to pay the kids to attend! He got the idea from Greenburgh councilwoman Sonja Brown, who is trying to do the same thing there. The two will hold a meeting to discuss the idea at 7 p.m. Tuesday in the Thomas H. Slater Center, 2 Fischer Ct, White Plains.

Paying students to learn isn’t new. I remember when I was a student and I first heard Newt Gingrich talking about paying kids to do well in school — I thought it was the most brilliant idea ever! And NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg is into the idea, too.

OK, bribing students isn’t necessarily the most idealic solution. But it is a realistic one. I mean, life is all about incentives, no?

The turmoil continues in Elmsford as parents mount plans to call for the resignation of Sandra Calvi Muscente, an assistant principal at Alexander Hamilton High School. Calvi was recently arrested for assault in Mahopac. Over the years, she has developed a reputation in Elmsford for being verbally abusive. If you’ve been following the comments in our forums, you know parents have strong feelings on both sides of this issue

Some Elmsford parents say the arrest vindicates their position that Calvi is unfit for her job, while others say she is being unfairly smeared. Here’s an update I posted on today’s announcement of Calvi’s leave of absence. We’ll be following this story closely in the coming days so please come back often.

ELMSFORD – A high school administrator recently arrested on assault charges has requested a leave of absence for an unspecified period of time.

She resigned her position as a trustee on the Mahopac Board of Education on Wednesday and is due in Carmel Town Court on the charges Tuesday evening.

It appears as though the Mount Vernon school district may abort the K-8 pilot program it launched this school year at Pennington Elementary School.

The issue will be discussed during a PTA meeting at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Pennington, 20 Fairway.

Click here to read comments from Mount Vernon principals regarding the K-8 model.

The K-8 model has been praised elsewhere — including Yonkers — as benefiting students, especially those who otherwise would have gotten lost in the traditional middle-school setting.

Parents I’ve spoken with say the K-8 model wasn’t given enough time to grow, nor was it given adequate support.

Here’s Paul Herrick, president of the Mount Vernon Educational Foundation:

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To prove to dad that I’m not a fool.” (Ahhh, classic.)

Hundreds of adults will get to experience the best of Williams, Columbia, Brown and Mt. Holoyoke — without leaving Westchester County.

It’s thanks to “One Day University,” an adult education series that gathers acclaimed professors from the nation’s top schools to deliver their most popular lectures.

The event will take place from 9:30 a.m. to 3:45 p.m. March 1 at the Doral Arrowwood Conference Resort, 975 Anderson Hill Road.

Registration is available online at www.onedayu.com or by calling 1-888-ONE-DAYU.

Here’s the class agenda…

I’ll try to keep you entertained with blog posts throughout the day, since work is always slow when the snow comes down… Check in often and holler back with some comments to keep me entertained. It gets lonely out here in the blogosphere with no one to talk to but myself!

By the way, why am I sitting at my desk right now instead of ripping up the slopes?? And why are YOU?! Seeing fluffy snow like this is torture! I swear, I’m one step away from moving out West and becoming a ski bum. Who’s with me?

Please welcome our newest Hall Monitor education writer, Ben Rubin! I personally am elated to have him on board. You can reach Ben at bfrubin@lohud.com or 845-578-2420.

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Acute observers may have already noticed that The Hall Monitor staff is down to three, after losing editor Lanning Taliaferro and writer Alice Gomstyn.

Sorry for leaving everyone hanging as to their whereabouts…

Alice jumped ship and is now writing for ABC.com, which is great for her. She was a tireless education reporter covering Rockland County and her amazing sense of humor is especially missed here on the blog. Obviously I wish her the best.

And Lanning, as some of you out there already know, has given into the dark side (Yep, I said it!) and is now doing public relations for the Harrison school district.

Lanning’s departure was a big loss not only to the newsroom, but also to me personally. She was my first editor here when I was just an intern, and she had been my boss for the past 3+ years on the education beat. Let me tell you, any organization would be hard-pressed to find an editor with as much knowledge and experience in the field as Lanning brought to the job. She is passionate about education and is passionate about journalism. Harrison’s lucky to have her on board — and she wasted little time pitching stories! Within a week of her start, she had already gotten me out to cover an event. Now if I can only get her to start commenting on the blog….

(Photo courtesy of Gannett Photo Networks.)

Dena Medhat and Hila Turkienicz appear like any typical pair of friends, laughing and chatting away as they walk to class together on the picturesque campus of Manhattanville College. Yet in reality, these two young people come from two completely different worlds.

No, seriously. Check ‘em out.

Wait! Keep reading! This actually has something to do with education!

I didn’t catch the episode last night, but apparently there was a case where a woman sets out to sue a high school for causing the death of her daughter. The argument was that the girl crashed her car and died because she was sleep deprived due to a heavy school workload.

I thought this was interesting because I definitely remember being up until all hours of the night, er, morning, doing homework in high school. It was ridiculous.

Granted, the late hours were partially due to the fact that I always was playing sports after school and didn’t get to start my homework until at least 8 or so, the earliest. But that’s life in high schools these days. If you’re not doing something after school — whether it be a sport, club, volunteering, whatever — then your college application is going to suffer. And we already know how competitive it is to get into colleges today.

Yet to blame a high school for a fatal accident? Seems like a stretch to me. I mean, the kid could have just gone to sleep and copied the homework the next day before class. Isn’t that what study hall is for anyway?