Ardsley High School held its graduation ceremonies June 25.

Read on for the list of graduates or click here to view the Ardsley photo gallery. You can also commemorate this event by tagging yourself in our Facebook albums.

Looking for your friends? You can view the graduation lists or photo galleries for all local high schools and colleges by clicking on theses links!

Congrats to all!

Parents have until Feb. 12 to write to the superintendent regarding their child’s experiences with certain members of the staff who are eligible for tenure. 

The teachers and student support staff members include: Sheila Ahern, Daniel Barnett, Gina Cooperman, Sari Goldmeer, Victoria Lusk, Gabriela Muzzio, Kathleen O’Brien, Tiffany Rosenthal, Kristin Siegriest, Noreen Sullivan, Lisa Swift and Linda Zayac. 

Here’s all the official info:

Each year a number of faculty members complete their probationary period of employment with the district and become eligible to acquire tenure. According to the law tenure can only be bestowed upon a teacher with the superintendent’s affirmative recommendation to grant tenure and the school boards acceptance of that recommendation.

 

During a teacher’s probationary period they are each extensively observed and evaluated by members of the district’s administrative team. These administrators include building Principals, Vice Principals, Directors, the Assistant Superintendent and the Superintendent. Collectively, the administrative team has many years of training and experience in observing and evaluating the work of teachers and other professional staff. 

 

This process involves multiple observations of the probationary staff member’s work with students, parent and colleagues. The findings of those observations and evaluations are summarized in the form of observation and evaluation reports. These reports are regularly reviewed by members of the school board. By law, only staff members who are found to be competent, efficient and satisfactory according to the district’s standards are recommended for tenure.

 

Traditionally, the district has solicited the input of parents in the evaluation of teachers who are ending their probationary periods of employment. Parental input is one of many factors that will be considered before a final tenure recommendation is made. At this time we are asking parents to write to us regarding their child’s experiences with those members of the staff who are ending their probationary period of employment.

These teaching and student support staff members include: Sheila Ahern, Daniel Barnett, Gina Cooperman, Sari Goldmeer, Victoria Lusk, Gabriela Muzzio, Kathleen O’Brien, Tiffany Rosenthal, Kristin Siegriest, Noreen Sullivan, Lisa Swift and Linda Zayac. 

 

Please send your comments to me, Dr. Charles Khoury, Superintendent, Ardsley Union Free School District, 500 Farm Road, Ardsley, NY 10502. You can also e-mail your comments to me at khouryc@ardsleyschools.org. All submissions will be held in the strictest confidence and can only be considered if they include your name and signature (for mailed submissions). The deadline for submitting comments is the close of business on Thursday, February 12th. 

Thank you for your willingness to participate in this important process.

 

Charles V. Khoury, Ed.D.

Superintendent

Just got a bunch of good news from the Ardsley school district, from National Merit Scholarship results to NYSSMA qualifiers. Congrats to all the students.

•    Fourteen Ardsley High School Students have been named Commended Students by the 2009 National Merit Scholarship Program. They are: Laura Barber, Benjamin Barber, Julia Brady, Joseph Farber, Lindsay Lowry, Marshall Reifer, Joshua Rosenthal, Jeffrey Rovenpor, Nara Sandberg, Eric Shear, Adam Stein, Gregory Stein, Rei Suzuki, and Michael Swerdloff. About 34,000 Commended Students throughout the nation are being recognized for their exceptional academic promise. Although they will not continue in the 2009 competition for National Merit Scholarships, Commended Students placed among the top five percent of more than 1.5 million students who entered the 2009 competition by taking the 2007 PSAT/NMSQT.

•    Ardsley High School student John Roberts has been selected as a 2008-2009 Scholar in the National Hispanic Recognition Program (NHRP). This year, the NHRP is recognizing nearly 5,000 students selected from a pool of over 200,000 students who took the 2007 PSAT/NMSQT.

•    Two students will represent Ardsley High School at the 2008 NYSSMA All-State Music Festival and Conference in Rochester, New York this December. Sonika Raj, a soprano, will sing in the Women’s Chorus. Lauren Weisber, an alto, will sing in the Mixed Chorus. Thousands of students auditioned for this honor last spring at Solo and Ensemble festivals throughout the state.

•    Eight Ardsley High School students have been named as Semifinalist in the 54th annual National Merit Scholarship Program. The students are Victoria Barber, Max Brivic, Divya Chhabra, Eesha Dave, Alexa Fishman, Travis Lloyd, Sonika Raj, and David Schuman. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation (NMSC) names approximately 16,000 talented high school seniors from more than 1.5 million students nation wide who took the PSAT in October of their junior year. These eight students will now be eligible to continue in the competition for more than 8,200 National Merit Scholarships.

(Press releases courtesy of the Ardsley school district.) 

From the Ardsley school district…
An art teacher at Concord Road Elementary School in Ardsley, Patricia Balassi received a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities in Washington, D.C. This government organization seeks to strengthen the teaching, study, and understanding of America’s rich history and its founding principles. To promote this goal, forty high quality reproductions of our nation’s most significant artistic masterpieces and photographic images will be permanently installed in the halls of Concord Road School. These posters offer an opportunity for students to learn our country’s history and culture, its diverse people and places, and it triumphs and problems. This valuable resource will bring the past to life and enhance the art, reading, writing, and social studies curriculum at the school.

Most of us of a certain age certainly remember walking to school for the majority of our elementary, middle and high school careers, if we lived less than a mile from our schools.

With more and more cars on the roads, however, that’s become a pretty precarious situation for many children in our region. Especially in those areas where there aren’t sidewalks.

The state Department of Transportation today announced federal funds that would be distributed throughout the Lower Hudson Valley under the “Safe Routes to School” program.

The idea is to make “bicycling and walking a safer and more appealing transportation alternative.”

Here are the 13 communities or districts that will receive money under the program:

• Village of Kaser, Rockland County – $270,000 for sidewalks on Blauvelt Road
• Dobbs Ferry Union Free School District, Westchester County – $365,000 for outside stair improvements at Springhurst Elementary
• Village of Pelham Manor, Westchester County – $330,466 for pedestrian enhancements at Siwanoy and Prospect Hill elementary schools
• Village of Irvington, Westchester County – $228,723 for pedestrian and bicycle safety improvements
• Irvington Union Free School District, Westchester County – $115,958 for bicycle and pedestrian safety
• Port Chester-Rye Union Free School District, Westchester County- $25,125 for pedestrian safety education
• Village of Ardsley, Westchester County – $468,000 for Ardsley Middle School walk-to- school program
• Westchester County Department of Public Works – $150,000 for Safe Routes to School public service announcements.

• Town of Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County – $423,500 for sidewalk connections at Violet Elementary School
• Orange County – $410,000 for Newburgh / Union Avenue connection walkway
• Village of Chatham, Columbia County – $396,000 for pedestrian safety enhancements
• Town of Plattekill, Ulster County – $400,000 for sidewalks at Plattekill Elementary School
• Clare F. Ostrander Elementary School, Ulster County – $25,930 for bicycle and pedestrian safety

From the Ardsley school district…

The Ardsley Board of Education will begin the 2008-2009 school year by welcoming fifteen new faculty members to our schools. The Ardsley PTA will host a reception for the new teachers on Wednesday, September 10th, at 7:00 p.m., in the High School Commons. All residents are welcome to attend.

Please begin the evening by joining us for a tour of our school buildings at 5:30 p.m. The tour begins at the High School Cafeteria at 300 Farm Road and will end at the High School at 7:00 p.m.

The evening offers a good opportunity to get a first-hand look at our facilities and to meet and greet our new teachers. The regular Board of Education meeting will begin at 8:00 p.m. in the High School Cafeteria.

We anticipate an exciting and challenging school year as we look forward to welcoming the community on September 10th.

5:30 p.m.         Tour of Facilities
7:00 p.m.         New Teacher Reception
8:00 p.m.         Board of Education Meeting

The Ardsley public schools’ kitchens received the most unacceptable designations from health inspectors in the past two years out of 10 districts within the town of Greenburgh.

An analysis of county inspection reports from 2007 and 2006 revealed that the Ardsley schools received citations for improperly storing food and dirty conditions; Valhalla High School was twice deemed unacceptable for unsafe food handling; and the Greenburgh Central 7 district received multiple citations for dirty kitchen conditions.

The Journal News reviewed health inspection reports for 10 districts with schools in the town of Greenburgh as part of an ongoing analysis of Westchester County public school cafeteria inspections. The county Department of Health turned over the reports in response to a Freedom of Information Law request.

The districts include Ardsley, Dobbs Ferry, Edgemont, Elmsford, Greenburgh Central 7, Hastings, Irvington, Pocantico Hills, Tarrytown and Valhalla.

To read the entire story written by my colleague, Ernie Garcia, click here: 2 Greenburgh school cafeterias cited.

The Journal News also has produced an interactive database on cafeteria inspections, which contains 22 school districts in Westchester. The database can be found here: Cafeteria inspection reports.

This just in via e-mail from the Ardsley school district:

On Monday, July 28 th the members of the Board of Education of the Ardsley Union Free School District conducted public interviews of four of the five candidates who submitted applications to fill the vacancy on the Board.  The fifth candidate could not attend the public interviews due to a prior commitment.  The members of the Board were very impressed by the enthusiasm, background and knowledge of each of the candidates.
Last evening, the Board of Education met to conduct their regular business meeting and to hear public comments and reactions regarding the candidate interviews.  The Board of Education is pleased to announce that Mrs. Patricia Bova has been appointed to fill the vacancy on the Board caused by the June 2008 resignation of a Board member.  Mrs. Bova will serve on the Board until the next scheduled election in May 2009.
Mrs. Bova has been an active participant in the Ardsley school community for over 17 years.  Among her many school activities Mrs. Bova has served as a class parent for many of her children’s classes, PTA first vice president and president, a member of the school budget committee, PTA liaison, and in the past has been an active member of the Ardsley High School PPLT.  Mrs. Bova has four children who have graduated or are currently attending the Ardsley schools.
The Board would like to thank each of the candidates for volunteering to apply for this important position.  They would also like to thank the many members of the community who attended the meetings or who wrote emails and petitions in support of the candidates.

From the Ardsley school district…

Announcement:  Administrative Adjustments 2008-2009
With the appointment of Layne Hudes to serve as the Concord Road Elementary School Principal, a vacancy then occurred to find a replacement for the available position of Assistant Principal at CRS.  The District conducted an extensive search for viable candidates beginning soon after Ms. Hudes appointment (February of 2008).  This search ended without a candidate being brought forth by the search committee.  It was then determined that a second complete search would be undertaken commencing mid-April.  This search concluded by having one viable candidate being sent forth by the Elementary Assistant Principal Search Committee to the Superintendent for review.  The Superintendent determined that the candidate would be recommended to the Board of Education and they conducted an interview on June 18 th .  With the Board’s approval, an offer was made to this candidate, who then on June 20 th determined, for personal reasons, that he could not assume this position.
This left the elementary school without a viable assistant principal candidate to replace Ms. Hudes.   Given the late date, it was determined that an interim would be sought to fill this position.  Several contacts were made and we found a seasoned, former 24-year experienced principal who agreed to serve in an assistant principal position for the 08-09 school year.  At the same time, we became fully aware that Mr. Tom Holland, current assistant principal at the Ardsley Middle School, had extensive elementary school background.  Taking into account the total needs of our school district, we felt it appropriate to make another adjustment.
We have determined that it is in the best interest of the district to utilize Mr. Holland’s experience and background and therefore, will transfer him to the elementary school to serve as its’ assistant principal.   Mr. Gerard Finelli who will serve as an interim assistant principal will now take his extensive leadership experience and will fill the assistant principal position at the Ardsley Middle School.  We feel strongly that the ability of each of these individuals will be best utilized in this new configuration of administrative leadership.
The District intends to aggressively seek potential candidates from both within and outside of the school district for the position of Middle School Assistant Principal, 2009-2010.  We will do so by encouraging individuals who have either completed or are in the process of completing their administrative certification.  Utilizing administrative resources early in the next school year will, in our estimation, provide us with a wider and more extensive array of potential candidates.
Dr. Charles Khoury, our new Superintendent of Schools, has reviewed these adjustments and concurs that in the short term these changes will serve the District well.  We thank you for your understanding and cooperation regarding this matter.

Ardsley High School graduated its class of 2008 this evening.

Following is a list of all the graduates. Here’s a link to the home page for the photo galleries for all local graduations. Here’s a link to the Ardsley photo gallery.

Congrats to all!

From the school district…

June 23, 2008
In the event of inclement weather on Tuesday, June 24th, the Middle School graduation ceremony will be held in the High School gymnasium at the regularly scheduled time of 6:00 p.m.  We will be sending 4 admission tickets home on Tuesday with the graduates. The tickets will only be needed if the ceremony is held in the gymnasium. There will be overflow seating in the High School auditorium where we will provide a live closed circuit video feed of the ceremony.
If the High School ceremony, scheduled for Wednesday, June 25th, is postponed because of inclement weather it will be rescheduled for the next day, Thursday, June 26th, at the regularly scheduled time of 6:00 p.m.

Stephanie Marquesano, who resigned from the Ardsley Board of Education last night, requested that a statement be read into the record of the board meeting. Here is the statement, followed after the jump by a statement read by Joanne Sold, the board’s vice president. Both were sent to parents this afternoon by the school district.

Marquesano wrote: “I have deliberately chosen to stay quiet for the past week or so, each day I reflect on both the painful moments and the moments that continue to give me faith in the humanity of my neighbors. Why stay quiet you may ask when my words might provide answers? In the words of Thaddeus Golas, “The trouble with Evil is that it seduces us into trying to eliminate it,” and watching and hearing some of you in this community has convinced me that I simply should not take the bait.
I leave the Board proud of the many things that have been accomplished this year, and saddened that my choice will keep me from being a part of charting the course for the future of the Ardsley School District. Community service and volunteering have been a part of my life for all of my adult life, and there will be a void to fill. To the many people who have provided my family and me with much appreciated support and words of encouragement during a time that I would not wish on anyone, we thank you from the bottom of our hearts. I also want to thank my fellow Board Members and Administration for their guidance, cooperation, respect and friendship during my time on the Board.
Please remember, relying on rumors, distortions, half-truths or gossip, taking things out of context and using them as fact may be acceptable on a reality show, but we are a flesh and blood family living in this community. Just as important, not everything is always as it appears. No one is perfect, each of us has his differences, his flaws, his strengths and his weaknesses. No outsider can venture to guess where someone has come from and what he is doing to make it to the next place successfully.
For our own future…in the words of Robert Frost, “In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.” And ours will too.” Read more of this entry »

Ardsley Schools Trustee Stephanie Marquesano, who has been at the center of a controversy surrounding reported threats made by her son to students at the middle school, yesterday resigned her post at a board meeting.

In a one-sentence letter submitted to the Board of Education, Marquesano said she was resigning from the board because of personal reasons, Interim Superintendent Jason Friedman said this afternoon. The resignation is effective immediately, Friedman said, though the board won’t officially act on it until its next meeting in July.

Friedman would not comment further, but said the board will release a statement later today. Marquesano could not be reached for comment.

Marquesano’s resignation comes after a week of parental protests regarding what some saw as preferential treatment given to her son, a 14-year-old male student at Ardsley Middle School accused of threatening other students and the school.

The controversy began June 1 when Greenburgh police received a complaint that a 14-year-old male student reportedly had been heard saying that his “parents would be proud of him if he massacred the school.” He is also reported to have said that he would slit someone’s throat and take an ex-girlfriend and “drown her in a pool of weed” if she were to date someone else, according to the police report.

Some parents kept their children home from school over the next couple of days, angry that the officials did not immediately remove the boy.

“He was just given special privileges,” said Debi Fishman, who has children in the middle and high schools. “The community gathered together in reaction to threats that were made towards our children and our school. It was too much. That’s when the issue became unacceptable that the child was still allowed to remain in school.”

The middle school was also evacuated last week after students told administrators about threats made against the school on the Internet. A blog site entry on May 29, under the host name “ardsleysucks,” contained an entry titled “the-plot-to-bomb-ardsley.” Some parents believe Marquesano’s son is responsible for the posting, but Greenburgh police have so far been unable to identify the author.

After that incident, Marquesano asked that her son be allowed to finish out the semester at home, a request granted by school officials. At a special board meeting on Monday, parents said officials moved too slowly, endangering students. Several parents complained that their children had been the subject of bullying for years and at least one called for Marquesano’s resignation.

Nancy Barbato said she was one of 220 parents who signed a petition calling for her to step down.

“You have these images in your head of somebody walking on campus with a gun. Fourteen is not too young for this to happen,” said Barbato, a legal secretary who has children in the middle school and high school. “I have two children in the school I have to think about everyday.”

UPDATE: Barry Peek, a partner in Meyer, Suozzi, English & Klein and an attorney for Marquesano, called The Hall Monitor this afternoon to clarify that Marquesano’s son was not removed from the school. He said Marquesano asked that he be allowed to finish out the semester at home, a request he said was granted by school officials. This post has been updated to reflect that.

At a special board meeting last night, hundreds of parents packed the middle school auditorium to express their “lack of confidence” in the district’s leadership. Their anger extends from last week’s middle school evacuation and allowing a potentially dangerous student to remain in the school

Read our account of the meeting here.

The Ardsley Board of Education will hold an open forum tonight to discuss various issues surrounding the evacuation of the middle school last week and threats a student made against the school. Residents have been highly critical of the district’s handling of the matter. Read our latest account here.

The meeting will be held at 7:30 p.m. at the middle school, 700 Ashford Avenue. Read on to see the complete text of an e-mail the district sent to parents on Friday. Read more of this entry »