This just in!

For Immediate Release

MAHOPAC – February 20, 2008

MAHOPAC BOARD TRUSTEE RESIGNS

On February 20, 2008, Dr. Sandra Calvi submitted her resignation to the Board of Education President Penny Swift.

In accordance with the law, Mrs. Swift has given the letter to the Board of Education Clerk, Dorothy Gilroy, for filing.

The Board of Education will discuss the vacancy at it’s next board meeting.

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Submitted by: Dorothy Gilroy, District Clerk to the Board of Education

Click here for the full story.

In the story chat, someone mentioned that Muscente won by “quite a landslide” during the 2006 school board elections. Here are the results from that election (top three won seats on the school board):

Vinnie Trinchitella: 1,391

Ralph Ankier: 1,301

Sandra Muscente: 1,406

Michael Pontillo: 960

Christopher Tassa: 813

I’ve proudly donated a total of about 35 bucks over the past few years to mine—New York University. Yeah, pretty cheap. I know. But I promise, once this blog takes off and I’m rolling in the big bucks, I’ll give more!

It turns out alumni nationwide have cut back on donations, according to a survey by the Council for Aid to Education released today.

Nevertheless, overall charitable giving to colleges nationwide went up to nearly $30 billion. That number includes gifts from national and family foundations, corporations, individuals, fundraising, etc.

Click here for today’s story.

Fundraising Leaders:

• Stanford University: $832.3 million total, down 9 percent

• Harvard University: $614 million, up 3 percent

• University of Southern California: $469.7 million, up 16 percent

• Johns Hopkins University: $430.6 million, up 14 percent

• Columbia University: $423.9 million, up 12 percent

• Cornell University: $406.9 million, up 0 percent

• University of Pennsylvania: $392.4 million, down 4 percent

• Yale University: $391.3 million, down 10 percent

• Duke University: $372.3 million, up 12 percent

Not much, apparently: Check out this story.

A Massachusetts mayor has drafted an ordinance to bar high-risk sex offenders from entering or coming within a certain distance of numerous public places — such as libraries, video arcades and playgrounds. (Click here for the full story in the New York Times.)

I personally have written about numerous sex offenders who have moved into local school communities, and each time parents are concerned — which I’d say is a natural reaction.

Don’t get me wrong. I do believe people deserve a second chance in life. But not when it comes to sexually abusing children. This one is black and white in my book. If you’re found guilty of this, you need to pay the consequences, even if it means limiting your future whereabouts. Why would a sex offender need to be hanging around a playground anyway? Even if the person is with his or her own children, the temptation is all around. I gotta give the old “Sorry, chip!” in this case.

Feel free to argue.

Click here for the NYS Sex Offender Registry.

A California meat company this weekend issued the largest beef recall in history and the Department of Agriculture announced some of the beef was used in school lunch programs.

Click here for the full story in the New York Times.

The Carmel school district last week issued the following letter after the Department of Agriculture and the New York State Education Department placed a hold on the beef…

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS—Debbie Ashley, who teaches Entrepreneurship in the Cosmetology department at The Tech Center at Yorktown, has been selected as a 2008 Teacher of the Year by the National Foundation for Teaching Entrepreneurship (NFTE).

“My students learn about marketing, business structure, start-up costs, insurance – everything it takes to run a successful business,� says Ms. Ashley. “Many of my students do go on to run their own businesses. In fact, last year one of my students, Laura Cote from Yorktown, competed on the national level with NFTE with her business called Kidz Cutz, an in-the-home hair-cutting service for children.�

Ms. Ashley, who also teaches AP Environmental Science at The Tech Center, will be honored at NFTE’s 15th Annual Salute to the Entrepreneurial Spirit Awards Dinner in NYC on Wednesday, April 2. Among her awards are a $1,000 grant and a scholarship to NFTE’s Advanced Teacher Forum professional development workshop this summer at Columbia University Business School.

(Report courtesy of Chris Heath/BOCES.) 

A Mahopac school board member and assistant principal of an Elmsford high school was arrested over the weekend for allegedly assaulting two family members at a Mahopac school gym.

Sandra Muscente, 38, was charged with two misdemeanor counts of third-degree assault, following the altercation at Mahopac Falls Elementary School Saturday afternoon, Carmel police said.

Lt. Brian Karst said that police responded to a report of a physical altercation between several people at the Myrtle Avenue kindergarten school shortly before 4 p.m.. The two victims sustained physical injuries to various parts of their bodies, he said. Karst would not release any other information about them.

The incident apparently occurred during basketball clinics for second-graders being run that day by the Mahopac Sports Association at the Falls school. Larry Keane, MSA’s basketball director, said he was not there but heard the altercation involved adults.

he was arraigned Saturday and released without bail.

She was elected to the Mahopac school board in 2006 and is the assistant principal at Alexander Hamilton High School in Elmsford. She goes by Sandra Calvi on both those school district Web sites.

(Report courtesy of Marcela Rojas/The Journal News.)

This is a random post that has nothing to do with education. But I just have to put this question out there: Is there any cereal that makes a louder crunching sound when eaten than Kashi’s GOLEAN Crunch?

I’m sitting here chomping away and I admit I’m making quite a ruckus! Thankfully the newsroom is not a quiet place. Otherwise I might be getting those “Are you serious?” sort of stares.

And I thought Cap’n Crunch was loud? Sheesh! El Capitano ain’t got nothing on GOLEAN!

(And no, Bernard Schneider, I do not have any advertising connection with Kashi!) 

Those in the Hastings school district know there have been a series of threatening messages found in the building complex of Hastings High School and Farragut Middle School. One of the messages — a bomb threat — resulted in a recent evacuation.

In response, school officials approved the installation of surveillance cameras and said they would consider extending the school day to make up for lost instructional time.

It turns out the person allegedly writing these messages was a cafeteria employee, 26-year-old Pedro Dulcio.

Seriously, man. Do you really have nothing better to do? Grow up!

Click here for the full story and read on for letters sent to the community by Hastings schools superintendent Robert I. Shaps.

Do you think schools are spending too much time and energy on state tests—at the expense of more creative endeavors?

This is a complaint I’ve heard plenty of times throughout the course of my reporting, and yet there still are many fun and creative programs that go way beyond “teaching to the test.” Over the next several weeks, I’ll be highlighting a few of them.

The first stories ran this weekend and have raised some interesting comments:

No Child Left Behind debate rages as law misses reauthorization goal.

Kids’ schoolwork dream come true?

And please let me know if your school has any programs that you feel go above and beyond the tests. Thanks.

DEKALB, Ill. (AP)—The gunman who killed six people in a Northern Illinois University lecture hall before committing suicide was identified Friday as 27-year-old former student Steven Kazmierczak, according to Florida authorities and a university official familiar with the investigation.

Click here for the full story, videos, photos and more information. 

The Washington Post today reports that a Virginia congressman has asked Georgetown University to explain how it used a $20 million donation from a Saudi prince.

Apparently Rep. Frank R. Wolf® sent a letter yesterday to university President John J. DeGioia expressing concern over the donation and asking whether the university’s academic center for Christian and Muslim relations has ever produced reports critical of Saudi Arabia.

I would hope that Georgetown — and all other great institutions of learning — wouldn’t be so easily bribed. And I deeply doubt that they have been. I mean, just imagine how outraged professors and students would be if they were ever told to censor their studies. It just flies in the face of what American higher education is all about. And I really hope that day never comes.

That being said, however, I’m not so naive to think that money doesn’t have huge sway in higher education. Just look at the admissions records for children of parents with deep pockets. But that’s a whole other story…

DEKALB, Ill. — As many as 15 people were injured today after a gunman opened fire in a lecture hall on the campus of Northern Illinois University.

Click here for the official campus alerts. 

Click here for more news about the shooting.

Amid a widespread tightening of credit, some student lenders predict college loans will be harder and more expensive to come by for the fall, according to a report in today’s Wall Street Journal.

A higher percentage of students in public high schools are taking and passing Advanced Placement exams, according to a report issued yesterday by the College Board. The gap between the performance of black and white students, however, remains large. Click here for the full story in the New York Times.

I took a bunch of AP exams when I was in high school, but never really scored very highly despite the fact that I got high grades in the courses. I think the highest score I got was a 3 in calculus. (Granted, I never took an AP English or writing test, which I probably would have scored better on than the math and science tests…) But whatever. I couldn’t honestly care less about what I scored on those tests. In fact, the only test that really stands out to me today is my AP European History test — which I think I only got a 2 on. The reason I still think about this test from time to time is because my best bud (who will remain nameless…) used his little blue essay book — which was supposed to be used to answer the essay questions — into a cartoon flip book! Of course I loved it! But needless to say, our teacher did not. She was absolutely furious when she saw it!

My friend and I recently discussed this incident and he brought up a good point — isn’t it against the rules for a teacher to be anywhere near the tests? Hmm….

UPDATE: Turns out New York leads the nation in AP results…