Statement by Timothy G. Kremer, Executive Director, New York State School Boards Association:

The tragic events of the last few days have shocked and paralyzed our state and resulted in this unprecedented day in New York State government.

But now there is hope on the horizon.

The ascension of David Paterson next week to the position of Governor disproves the notion that nice guys finish last.  Now, more than ever, we need Mr. Paterson’s steady leadership and friendly demeanor to calm the emergency situation in Albany, build consensus among diverse groups statewide and move New York forward in a thoughtful, ethical manner.

Mr. Paterson enjoys a reputation as a strong supporter of public education.  He now has to make key decisions, not just to appease a stunned populous, but to produce the best results for the people of New York.

The New York State School Boards Association, representing thousands of locally elected officials throughout the state, will do all that it can to support his efforts.

A new study in the Journal of School Nursing reports limiting soft drink and sugary drink consumption is key to reducing adolescent obesity. According to the study, soft drink consumption has increased by 300 percent in the past 20 years, and 56 to 85 percent of children in school consume at least one soft drink daily.

Since children spend a huge part of their day at school – being able to monitor what your kids are drinking – and eating – in the school cafeteria, where a lot of these calories may be consumed, is key. School lunches are an integral part of a child’s diet, but when children are offered Doritos or yogurt for lunch, or the option of skim milk or Gatorade, they don’t usually make the right choice. Schools are beginning to offer healthier lunch choices, but kids are not obligated to make those choices. MealpayPlus is helping parents in over 250 school districts make sure their children are making healthy choices at school.

MealpayPlus is an online prepayment system that also gives parents the opportunity to keep track of their kids’ food choices. With MealpayPlus, parents can view their child’s balance at any time, as well as check payment history. The history feature tracks students’ purchase choices for 30 days. Parents can log onto their child’s account and view what has been purchased on a specific day, and can see itemized lists of any snacks or a la carte items that have been purchased.

With the likelihood of child obesity increasing 1.6 times for each additional sugar-sweetened drink consumed beyond the child’s usual daily intake of the beverage, MealpayPlus is a great tool to open the lines of communication between parents, students and schools.

(Press release courtesy of Heidi Monroe Kroft/BLASTmedia; photo courtesy of The Journal News.)

Assemblyman Mike Spano (D-Ind-C, Yonkers) this week announced that the New York Conference of Italian-American State Legislators, of which he is a member of, is now accepting applications for four $1,500 scholarships to be awarded at their Annual Conference Weekend, held on the first weekend in June, in Albany.

“Today higher education is of the utmost importance,” Spano stated. “And with today’s high tuition rates, college bound students need every opportunity they can get for financial help.”

This year, the Italian-American State Legislators Conference will be awarding four $1,500 scholarships (two academic and two athletic) to four current or prospective college students in New York State. All applications must be received by 5:00PM on April 25, 2008.

If you would like to obtain a scholarship application or if you simply need further information, please contact Assemblyman Mike Spano’s office at 914-779-8805

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The Super Mega Awesome Radical Team Kidz of Kent Primary School overcame the obstacles and drove away with first place. A few months ago Rachel Vetterman, Samantha Wetzel, Jordan Sweeney, Caitlyn Long, Liam Carmody, Sean Terwilliger and Peter Mills formed their team and began their first journey together into the world of Destination Imagination. DI is the world’s largest non-profit volunteer driven organization devoted to helping kids gain practical life skills through interesting, entertaining and mind-boggling challenges.

The S.M.A.R.T Kidz, as they so aptly named themselves, signed up for the Central Challenge, Obstacles, Of Course! The team had to build a vehicle with an energy source and propulsion system, build an obstacle course and build obstacles. The vehicle had to move around the course and overcome the obstacles without any direct team member involvement and all within eight minutes. While these seven children were mastering this they also had to develop a non-verbal story based on the theme of the course. They would also perform this within the allotted eight minutes. If you think this seems difficult you are correct. Well, you say their team manager could help them, right? Wrong! All of the solutions and work had to come from the children and only the children. Their team manager, Patricia Vetterman, could only facilitate. She could not give technical or other assistance.

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Hendrick Hudson Schools Superintendent Dr. Daniel McCann announced that Blue Mountain Middle School Assistant Principal John Owens has been appointed principal of the school effective July 1, 2008.

“Following a lengthy process, involving many members of the community, John Owens emerged as the strongest candidate for the position,” McCann said. “We were impressed with his love for the school, his knowledge of middle level instruction, and his obvious respect for students and teachers.”

Owens was named middle school assistant principal last year. Before that, he was assistant principal at Hendrick Hudson High School. Owens has been with Hendrick Hudson since July of 2005.

Owens, 46, a resident of Poughkeepsie, graduated from Pennsylvania State University with a BS in General Arts and Science. He has an MS in Secondary Education/Social Studies from Long Island University.

He takes over from Dr. John Sieverding, who has been Blue Mountain interim principal since August of 2006.

“We thank Dr. Sieverding for his service to the Hendrick Hudson Schools, and specifically, to Blue Mountain Middle School,” McCann said. “He has, on more than one occasion, stepped up to assist us and provide us with his capable talents.”

(Press release courtesy of Hendrick Hudson school district.) 

This morning, we intended to post a preview clip of a song featuring the Springhurst Elementary School Harmonaires. The choral group sang on a remake of Burt Bacharach’s hit, “What The World Needs Now Is Love.” You can read the story here.

Well, what we need now is the song clip, which hasn’t been sent to us yet. Once we get it, we’ll put it up.

This weekend, the future leaders of the world will, well, act like world leaders.

Students from throughout Westchester will meet at Hastings High School for the 32nd annual Westchester Model United Nations Conference, a program designed to give them an understanding of how the world body debates issues and develops policy. Continue on to read the press release from the Hastings-on-Hudson school district. Read more of this entry »

Eighth grade students at the Anne M. Dorner Middle School learned how 9 million lemons can power a car during a “Lemons as Batteries” lesson offered by IBM researchers, who visited the school on Monday, February 25, in celebration of National Engineers Week.

Seventh grade students investigated how to build a bridge out of a single sheet of 8.5” by 11” paper. Groups of students whose paper bridges held the most weight received special items as prizes.

Over 200 students from 26 area high schools in Westchester and Putnam Counties will gather on Saturday morning at the Pace University Briarcliff campus for the much anticipated 8th annual Progenics – Regeneron – Siemens – Acorda Westchester Science and Engineering Fair.

Students will be showcasing their accomplishments in a competitive venue featuring individual and team poster presentations to be judged by local experts in the fields of math, science and engineering.

Student projects focus on a wide range of topics in all areas of science, math, engineering and psychology. The diversity of students’ interests is evident by the titles of their projects – from Breast Cancer tumor vesicle proteomics research to preventing diabetic blindness and monitoring declining Box Turtle populations in Westchester County. The majority of students in the fair are seniors who have honed their research skills over the course of their high school career. However, occasionally younger students are able to complete research projects; this year, one 9th grade team from Somers High School will be presenting their research aiming to improve reading comprehension in young children using audio books.

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Erik Olsson, an eighth-grader at Croton’s Pierre Van Cortlandt Middle School, has navigated his way to the New York State Championship Geography Bee competition, to be held in Albany on April 4.

He earned the honor by beating his peers in a school competition organized by teachers Mary Watson and Kira Herbert.

“As a little kid I liked to draw maps,” Erik explains. “And then I studied atlases.”

This is Erik’s second year competing in the NYS Geography Bee. This year, he says, “I’m definitely excited,” he says, “and much better prepared.”

The winner of state competition earns the right to compete on the national level in Washington, D.C.

The Center for Union Facts (CUF) today launched an aggressive national campaign, claiming that teachers unions protect incompetent teachers, demoralize good teachers, block reform, and ultimately hurt our public education system.

The million dollar advertising blitz features full-page ads this morning in USA TODAY as well as the New York Times, and a television commercial airing on CNN and Fox News.

The ad in USA TODAY announces CUF’s “Ten Worst (union-protected) Teachers” contest, which will be further publicized by a seven-story billboard going up in Times Square later this week.

Click here see view the advertisements.

The contest will allow anyone 13 and up to nominate the worst union-protected teachers in America.

Once CUF has identified the ten worst, it will offer each of them $10,000 to quit the profession forever. The purpose of the contest is to encourage teachers known to be incompetent to quit the profession because it is too difficult to have them terminated, according to a press release.

The ads also announce a new website called TeachersUnionExposed.com, which features original, previously unreported research about the union’s stranglehold on America’s schools. The site also highlights 20 cities for which we have obtained detailed information about how protections insulate against turnover despite poor student achievement, according to a press release.

“Teachers unions are failing children all over the country by protecting incompetent teachers and fighting to maintain the status quo,” said CUF Executive Director Richard Berman. “Worst of all, teachers unions hurt all of the amazing teachers in America by treating them exactly the same as incompetent teachers who shouldn’t be in the profession.”

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Five Long Island school districts incorrectly classified their attorney as an employee rather than an independent contractor and erroneously reported the attorney to the New York State and Local Retirement System, according to an audit released Friday by State Comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli.

“There are guidelines for school districts and municipalities to follow in determining whether or not someone performing professional services should be eligible for state pension credits,” DiNapoli said. “Mr. Reich’s work for the school districts we audited did not meet those guidelines. He was not an employee.

“Our audit determined that the school districts involved should send corrected retirement reports to the retirement system so my office can make necessary adjustments to Mr. Reich’s pension benefit.”

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In light of the Gov. Eliot Spitzer investigation, we’ve been asking around to see if teachers are going to be talking with their students about the news.

I can understand it’s a touchy topic for younger students, but current events must be discussed, no? And let’s be realistic here: the news has been all over television and these kids aren’t stupid. They know what’s going on.

What do you think? Should the Spitzer scandal be discussed even in elementary schools?

Lois Gordon, coordinator of social studies at White Plains High School, said classes would be discussing the Spitzer scandal, looking at issues such as the obligations of public officials and the succession plan if the governor either steps down or is forced to resign. But what will be stressed above all, she said, is that the news should not be sensationalized.

“In general, we don’t want kids to overreact to a sensationalistic story when we don’t have the facts,” Gordon said. “And that’s one of the things we like to teach our kids: to gather all the facts and then make an informed decision.”

One sixth-grade teacher told me this reminded him of how he had a tough time liking Bill Clinton back in the day because it was always awkward talking about the Monica Lewinski scandal in class.

Really, I was posting to the blog all weekend but the dog ate my entries before they got up!

Seriously though folks, sorry the blog went bare this weekend. I was out of town and off yesterday, unable to get to a computer to post any news. (To be honest, it actually was really nice being away from a computer for so long!) But fear not. I’m back and I’m feeling a blogging frenzy coming on — so check back often!

As always, thanks to everyone out there reading this blogging and posting comments. You guys make it worth all the effort.

ARCHDIOCESE OF NEW YORK ANNOUNCES ELEMENTARY SCHOOL CLOSURES AND MERGERS

Here’s the official press release:

March 7, 2008; New York, NY. — In an effort to strengthen its large elementary school system with a strategic redeployment of resources including enriched educational opportunities for students, the Archdiocese of New York announced today that six elementary schools will close at the end of this school year in June 2008 and four elementary schools will merge into two new schools to open in September 2008. As major reasons for this action the Archdiocese cited continuing challenges to the schools’ future including escalating operating costs and declining enrollment all set within the larger context of increased economic pressures on Catholic school families throughout the region, and the lack of both tax relief for those parents and government support for religious and independent schools.

The six elementary schools slated for closure are St. Pius V in the Bronx, Holy Rosary in Hawthorne, Immaculate Conception in Irvington, St. Lawrence O’Toole in Brewster, Immaculate Conception School in Stony Point and St. Catherine of Alexandria in Blauvelt.

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