Students at Roosevelt High School in Yonkers launched a rocket this morning. Not an actual rocket, but a small replica, in a ceremony to honor Ron Garan, a former student at the school who is now part of the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery that will blast off into space tomorrow.

From the school’s website: [...]

Over the past school year, students at William B. Ward Elementary School in New Rochelle have been working to raise money to help build water wells in the drought-stricken Kibwezi region of Kenya, Africa. Through the “Wells of Love and Hope” project, a partnership with the United Nations NGO International Public Policy Institute and Solace [...]

Fred Smith, a veteran educator in Westchester, has been named the new superintendent of the Pocantico Hills School District.

Smith, who is currently the assistant superintendent of pupil personnel and curricular services in the New Rochelle School District, will be the first African-American superintendent in the district’s history. He will assume his new position on [...]

Continuing our look at science research programs in the Lower Hudson Valley, Kristen Gardner tells The Hall Monitor about her research, which looks at preventing toxic blooms in aquatic environments. She is one of three Byram Hills High School students named Intel Science Talent Search semi-finalists this year. Read our original story about science research [...]

We will be posting a few more Young Einstein videos next week. The videos showcase the research conducted by students in science research classes throughout the region, focusing on those chosen this year as semi-finalists and finalists in the Intel Science Talent Search. Read our story here.

Also on the kid genius front, Rye High School [...]

It was the moment for which hundreds of students waited a whole school year: the principal-pig smooch.

This morning, Doug Berry, principal of Springhurst Elementary School in Dobbs Ferry puckered up for Daisy, the pot-bellied pig. Last fall, Berry agreed to kiss a pig if his students read 20,000 books by May 1. Apparently very [...]

Springhurst Elementary School principal Doug Berry’s date with Daisy is tomorrow. Berry will kiss the female pot-bellied pig in two morning assemblies at the Dobbs Ferry school because his students met a challenge to read 20,000 books by May 1. They read nearly 28,000. (That’s Berry in the pig costume).

Read the story about the [...]

In today’s paper, we write about local districts who are continuing their criticism of Newsweek’s annual high school rankings. Read it here.

While many school districts are critical of the ranking methodology – which looks at the ratio of students taking advanced courses – others welcome their placement on the list. Indeed, the Edgemont school district, [...]

Dobbs Ferry has joined several other local districts in asking Newsweek magazine to no longer rank their schools in its list of top high schools. The districts say any system that ranks schools based on a single indicator, including the percentage who take advanced courses which Newsweek uses, is flawed.

We’re running down the story, [...]

Getting back to the geniuses, part of our look at science research courses in the Lower Hudson Valley, Adam Lanman of White Plains High School explains a little bit about how groups of students form in the hallways. It’s interesting, if not a tad hard to follow, to hear the math that could explain how [...]

Eason Hahm of Spring Valley High School was named an Intel Science Talent Search semi-finalist this year for her research aimed at developing new ways to grow cells for bone replacement therapies. She is one of several students we spoke to for our look at science research programs at schools in the Lower Hudson Valley. [...]

As part of our ongoing look at science research courses and students in the region, today we feature a video of Niki Tsamis, a Dobbs Ferry High School student who spent years studying RHOBTB, a gene that is a known tumor suppressor in breast cancer. She began the research to determine if the gene could [...]

Greg Brown, a senior at Pleasantville High School, is hoping to combat identity theft. The research he conducted in his science research class focused on improving the accuracy of “cancellable” fingerprint verification systems. These systems do not permanently store your fingerprint information, but aren’t in widespread use because they aren’t as accurate as systems that [...]

In today’s paper, we take a look at science research courses in the Lower Hudson Valley. (See it here). The intensive programs allow students to choose topics that interest them and study them independently for three to four years.

These are not like the science projects you remember from school, such as connecting wires to turn [...]

Is this the delivery of state aid for local school districts?

No, it’s not. But it could be. The state Legislature just approved a final budget for 2008-09 that provides $903.1 million in aid for school districts in Westchester, Putnam and Rockland, 10 percent higher than last year. Statewide, the aid package is tagged at $21 [...]