NEW YORK (AP) — Lay teachers set up picket lines outside the New York Archdiocese headquarters and a Roman Catholic school Friday, hoping to call attention to their contract dispute during Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the city.

“The pope’s theme is hope and we want hope that we can get a contract,” said Charles Chesnavage, [...]

The Weekday Nursery School of Christ United Methodist Church in New Rochelle spent this week highlighting the artist talents of the 2, 3, and 4 year olds who attend. The exhibit in its halls was planned to coincide with the national celebration called “The Week of the Young Child.” The art exhibit will remain through [...]

Students at Valhalla Middle School last week raised $3,392 at a volleyball event for Operation Smile, which sends volunteers around the world to repair childhood facial deformities. With another $1,000 from Axa Equitable Life and an agreement by the Annenberg Foundation to double the amount raised, that brought the grand total to $8,784, which principal [...]

Julia S. Chung has been appointed as a new assistant principal at Rye High School. She’ll start July 1 and replace Wayne Matteis who is retiring after 16 years in the position.
Chung most recently has served as Assistant Principal at South East High School in South Gate, California. Among the highlights of her work [...]

Richard Leslie, a journalism student at Purchase College, sent us this report and picture from Monday night’s student-loan forum at the Westchester County Center in White Plains:

Attorney General Andrew M. Cuomo and Westchester County Executive Andy Spano held a public forum at the Westchester County Center Monday to address concerns and options of paying for [...]

Students at Mark Twain Middle School in Yonkers will get a chance to hear from authors, journalists and critics at the school’s first ever Writers Day tomorrow. The event is part of the school’s celebration of National Library Week, and will include panel discussions, individual classroom presentations by the writers, and a “Meet and Greet” [...]

Results for the 2008 International Contest in Mathematical Modeling are out, and Concordia College has had its best showing in six years of participation.

Two teams, including one with member Steven Hom of New Rochelle, attained honorable mention status; a third team made up of Sunit Khadge of Yonkers, Joyce Lo of New York City, and [...]

Kerry Lynn McCarthy of White Plains, a junior at Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pa., is the recipient of a 2008 Morris K. Udall Undergraduate Scholarship. The award is billed as the most prestigious undergraduate award in the fields of conservation and the environment.

McCarthy, a French and environmental anthropology major, was among 80 students from 64 [...]

Proud advisor Eileen Multari from Mamaroneck High sent us this dispatch recently:

The Mamaroneck Chapter of the Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) attended their New York State Leadership Conference from April 7 – 9. I am proud to announce that our chapter won FIRST PLACE in the Chapter of the Year competition – out [...]

The state Education Department has approved a plan by Concordia College to offer an Accelerated Bachelor of Science degree in nursing, the college announced today.

The program is a 15-month, 61 credit post-baccalaureate course of study for college graduates with a degree in a major other than nursing.  Graduates will be prepared to take the licensing [...]

Purchase College has released details of its planned commencement May 16. It will take place at 1 p.m. on the West Lawn.  Degrees will be awarded to approximately 876 undergraduates and 72 graduate students.

Honorary degrees are expected to be awarded to playwright Tony Kushner and international economist Jeffrey D. Sachs.  Distinguished Alumni Awards will go [...]

JoAnne Ferrara, chair of Curriculum and Instruction at Manhattanville College, sent us this dispatch:

Students at the Thomas A. Edison School in Port Chester will be visiting Manhattanville College on April 17th for a “Career to College Day”. The purpose of this visit is one attempt to help to close the achievement gap by exposing “hard [...]

The College of New Rochelle is holding its first Sonia Kovalevsky Day for High School girls this coming Saturday. The event is aimed at encouraging young women to continue on with their math studies in college, and will include courses on topics like cryptography as well as career advice.

The keynote speaker is Dr. Maryam Hastings, [...]

The Sallie Mae Fund, in partnership with the Commission on Independent Colleges and Universities, is offering a free college financial aid workshop tonight in Yonkers.

A $500 college scholarship will be awarded to one participating high school junior or senior.

Workshop presenter Arnold Hernandez grew up as the youngest of seven in a migrant farmworker family, and [...]

The Rye High School Chorus will be having an Exchange Concert with the Huron Heights Secondary School Chambre Ensemble and Wind Ensemble from New Market, Ontario, Wednesday night at 7:30 in the RHS Auditorium. Admission is free.

Before that, the chorus—along with the Vocal Ensemble and Handbell Choir—traveled to Toronto to visit the Canadian school, [...]