Sixty-five local teens participated in summer computer camps this year as part of the “Westchester Scholars” program that awards free computers to low-income youth throughout the county.

“Having access to a computer and the skills to use one can make a big difference in the educational life of a child,” said County Executive Andy Spano. “Westchester Scholars was designed to provide these important tools and help level the playing field for these young people.”

The program was created by Spano in 1999 to give low-income students the opportunity to benefit from the same technology as their more affluent peers.

As part of the program, low-income students in grades 7-11 receive a computer, free Internet service for one year and one week of computer camp at a local college.

In addition, students are invited to participate in enrichment programs throughout the year such as SAT preparation. The program is a private/public partnership with the Generoso/Pope Foundation.

The unique Westchester County program is designed to bridge the digital divide between students throughout Westchester. Lower-income students, who are not as familiar with technology, attended computer training camp on June 29, 30 and July 1, 2 at one of three local colleges.

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS – Two students were recently awarded the Spirit of Service Scholarship by the Regional Youth Leadership Organization (RYLO). Suzanne Molino (Briarcliff High School) will apply the scholarship toward her studies at Northeastern University, where she plans to participate in the Doctor of Pharmacy program. Daniel Kupferschmid (Somers High School) will apply his scholarship to his studies in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of New Hampshire.

RYLO, comprised of high school students from 19 area high schools, is … Read more of this entry »

YORKTOWN HEIGHTS – Some students at Pines Bridge School have received a new challenge – to become teachers as well as students. A group of 12 special-needs students attending Pines Bridge, located on the Yorktown Heights campus of Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES, have teamed up with students at the Regional Alternative High School at Fox Meadow.

Teachers of the two classes hope the collaboration will encourage the two groups to help each other. The classes met for the first time in May … Read more of this entry »

CAMBRIDGE—Children exposed to domestic violence not only have more disciplinary problems at school, they perform considerably worse in math and reading than other students.

They also have a negative effect on their classroom peers, resulting in decreased test scores and increased disciplinary problems, according to a new study by economists Scott Carrell of the University of California–Davis and Mark Hoekstra of the University of Pittsburgh, published in the summer issue of Education Next.

Carrell and Hoekstra find that adding one troubled student to a classroom of 20 students decreases student reading and math test scores by more than two-thirds of a percentile point and increases misbehavior among other students in the classroom by 16 percent.

The researchers found that troubled peers have a large and statistically significant negative effect on the math and reading achievement of higher income children, but only a small and statistically insignificant effect on the achievement of low-income children. The pattern is opposite for disciplinary outcomes. The presence of troubled peers increases problem behavior of low-income children, but does not significantly increase the disciplinary problems of higher income children.

Teachers, and students alike at the BOCES school in Yorktown come together to Fill-the-Bus a campus wide effort to help the Brewster Community Action Project (CAP) an anti-poverty program that helps struggling families in our area with basic needs.

The food pantry has seen an increase in the people it serves from 225 families last march to 405 this year. They are not expecting any new grants from the regional food bank until July.

BOCES has collected  soup, canned goods, and toothpaste for the food pantry, and have even donated over $600 in cash.

Ms, Micolo the BOCES director of human resources and administration services said that the project grew from conversations within the wellness committee to everyone filling up boxes and pitching in.

Every BOCES building had a Fill-the-Bus representative, and participated from Pines bridge, to walk. Students sent more the 500 letters to the members of their communities urging people to donate to this cause.

The African American Men of Westchester and United Way of Westchester and Putnam today presented Dr. Martin Luther King Legacy Youth Awards to a group of local students whose charitable efforts exemplify King’s community service principles.

• Lisa Bridgman, a senior from Scarsdale High School, received the Social Action award for creating an after-school reading and study resource program for children.
• Daniel Saroza’s work to combat youth violence earned the White Plains High School sophomore the Peace and Non-Violence award.
• David … Read more of this entry »

Hendrick Hudson High School students traveled to Guatemala this summer as part of the Safe Passage program, providing aid to the country’s neediest children.

Here is an account of the trip from the school district…

Hundreds of vultures swirl over a huge Guatemala City garbage dump and then perch themselves on trees creating a silhouette of gloom, while below in their shadow more than 4,000 of the world’s most impoverished people scavenge the mountains of trash to survive each day.

This one of the surreal scenes of human suffering that greeted ten Hendrick Hudson High School students who traveled to Guatemala in August to help out the children of these struggling people as part of the Safe Passage program.

Safe Passage works with the poorest at-risk children of families working in the Guatemala City garbage dump. Within a safe and caring environment, the program provides a comprehensive and integrated program that fosters hope, good health, educational achievement, self-sufficiency, self esteem and confidence. Safe Passage’s primary focus is on creating opportunities and dignity through the power of education.

The students brought $15,000 in contributions raised through the many events they hosted such as Transforming Poverty through Music Concert, the SUCA (Students United for Cultural Awareness) Cultural Night, a $5000 Entergy grant, many bake sales and raffle ticket sales.

A judge last night adjourned the case against four Mahopac educators accused of child endangerment until next month.

Allegations against the educators, who worked in the former Bridge Program for special-needs students at Mahopac Falls Elementary School, range from using degrading nicknames for the children to forcing them to eat and causing them to choke, among other claims of mistreatment.

It has also been charged that the head teacher assaulted a student by causing him to fall to the ground and injure … Read more of this entry »

By Timothy O’Connor • The Journal News • September 25, 2008

The lawyer for families of autistic children suing the Mahopac school district says that allegations of sexual misconduct by staffers already raised might only be the tip of the iceberg.

Since four staffers of the district’s Bridge Program were arrested in May 2007, the seven children have exhibited behavior that has parents worried that more might have happened than has already been charged, lawyer Michael Sussman said.

“What’s been troubling me is that some of the children have been showing radically sexualized behavior,” he said yesterday. “There appears to be no other explanation for it other than what went on there.”

In papers filed in U.S. District Court in White Plains, Sussman asked a federal judge to deny an attempt by Mahopac Schools Superintendent Robert Reidy and Principal Carol DeAlleaume, to dismiss the civil rights lawsuit filed in June by parents of the students. Sussman’s papers contain a footnote that says that some of the children, who were 5 and 6 years old at the time of the alleged misconduct, have become obsessed with penises and women’s breasts and have exposed themselves to others.

“There is a reasonable possibility that discovery … will reveal additional and perhaps even more disturbing sexual misconduct,” Sussman wrote.

A lawyer representing the school district declined to comment. “To me it sounds like posturing,” lawyer Paul Millus said.

The lawsuit filed against the district, administrators, one teacher and four staff members charges that Bridge Program workers engaged in sexually charged behavior in front of the special-needs students. The suit says that speech pathologist Joyce Spiegel exposed her breasts to the students. It also claims that teachers aide Joseph Levy slapped the buttocks of teacher Tammy Card, engaged in sexually explicit conversations with fellow aide Lorrie Reynolds, and grabbed the breasts of aide Sherry Streitas – all in front of the children. The suit also claims Levy and Reynolds took photographs of the children’s genitals.

John Brennan, a lawyer for the staff members, did not return calls seeking comment.

Students throughout the district will have access to four new upright pianos and expanded math, reading and environmental programs through grants recently awarded by the Dobbs Ferry Schools Foundation.

The group awarded more than $87,000 in grants, which will also be used to provide training opportunities for teachers. Among the funded programs:

Springhurst Elementary School had eight grants approved for $61,593, including the largest grant, in the amount of $38,000, for the purchase of four new upright pianos for use by the music teachers, one of which will be used for public performances.

Dobbs Ferry Middle School/High School: Abantu Mu Buntu – This troupe consists of twelve, 10 to 18-year-old Ugandan performers who will be in Dobbs Ferry in October to present tribal dances, songs, music and folktales from their home in East Africa. The performance is meant to be interactive and students will have the opportunity to sing and dance with the performers as well as share lunch and social time with them after the program. This is a day-long program.

Read on for the complete press release detailing the grants. Read more of this entry »

The Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES board recently approved tenure for several teachers and instructors. They are:

• Karen Carey of Mahopac. She began as a medical assisting teacher and has been a school counselor since 2006 in the Career and Technical Education program.

• Patricia Gallo of Brewster. She’s worked her way up to health teacher in the CTE program.

• Abigail Kapps of Cold Spring. She’s a cosmetology teacher at The Tech Center and a teacher in the BOCES middle school-level summer Beauty … Read more of this entry »

OK, not really. I mean, we know Jackson Pollock is dead.

But Putnam-Northern Westchester BOCES’ Walden Learning Center School channeled the spirit of the departed artist and created this painting:

It was unveiled last week in the school’s entrance hall.

Through the National Endowment for the Humanities’ Picturing America program, a whole slew of local schools and libraries (among 26,320 nationally) will receive 40 reproductions of great works of American art for educational purposes.

Here’s a copy of the press release from NEH; that’s followed by a list of the schools and libraries from the Lower Hudson Valley to receive the awards: Read more of this entry »

Students from Grimes Elementary School in Mount Vernon have created African, Chinese, Inuit and Venetian masks as part of a culture bridging program. The school received a grant from the Westchester Arts Council to create the masks. The students from third to sixth grade, also spent weeks learning about each of the groups. The masks will be on display at the school for two weeks.

View more photos of the art in the flickr gallery … Read more of this entry »

Purchase College reports that  Jon Esser, Associate Dean of the Purchase College School of the Arts, has received a $16,000 grant from the Dana Foundation’s ArtsBridge America program, via Lawrence University. The grant will fund four School of the Arts students to be ArtsBridge Scholars, teaching the arts to children in underserved schools through residencies.

Here’s more from the school: “The scholars will each be selected from one of the four visual and performing arts disciplines on campus, via a competitive … Read more of this entry »