KL Board Buzz

Letters: Support Jeff Holbrook for K-L School Board - Bedford-Katonah, NY Patch

Jeff Holbrook is not only well-informed about the KLSD and its educational issues and priorities, but he also brings relevant human resources and management experience to the school board at a time when this skill set is desperately needed. 

via bedford.patch.com

Breslin Changes Careers, Reflects On School Board Service - Bedford-Katonah, NY Patch

The former employee benefits specialist is now a financial representative in the city of White Plains with Wunder Financial, a small financial planning practice housed within Northwestern Mutual. His Vista home is now on the market, and he and his wife Liza plan to move there.

Patch caught up with Breslin and to ask him about his new job and his time with Katonah Lewisboro schools, before he steps down from the board in June.

via bedford.patch.com

Nice piece.Good luck Peter. Thanks for your service on the BOE. I have no doubt your new career will be a big success.

Lewisboro-Katonah School District Petitioned To Take Action | The Lewisboro Daily Voice

LEWISBORO, N.Y. – The community movement known as “Forward Together KLSD” is campaigning to enlist all stakeholders in the Katonah-Lewisboro School District (KLSD) in a collaboration to find fiscal solutions for the KLSD and other New York State school districts.

Speaking for “Forward Together KLSD,” Sara Weale said, “Since there is a long history of contentious relationships between KLSD stakeholders, we are concerned that they are not coming together on solutions for the sake of students, employees and taxpayers. With all three union contracts expiring on June 30, now is the time to collaborate for the future of the district.”

via lewisboro.dailyvoice.com

Holbrook joins school board race | Lewisboro Ledger

Incumbents Mark Lipton and Dr. Peter Treyz will compete with newcomers Richard Stone of Cross River and Jeff Holbrook of Pound Ridge for the three spots that will be voted on by the public on Tuesday, May 21.

via www.lewisboroledger.com

Kat-Lewisboro Schools Honored With Westchester Earth Day Award | The Lewisboro Daily Voice

Altshulers bring the arts to Shady Lane | Lewisboro Ledger

Mr. and Mrs. Altshuler moved into the former Katonah-Lewisboro school district headquarters on Shady Lane in Lewisboro hamlet last month and are busy setting up their living quarters, a studio and office space on the first two floors of the vintage Victorian house. The district left that property in August 2011, when it moved into a wing at Increase Miller Elementary School.

via www.lewisboroledger.com

Watch video explaining new state tests - The Hall Monitor | The Hall Monitor

State Education Commissioner John King has a new video explaining the Common Core learning standards and how they relate to the new state tests (3-8, math & ELA) debuting this month.

via education.lohudblogs.com

New Yorkers getting STAR rebate must re-register for school-tax breaks | The Journal News | LoHud.com | lohud.com

ALBANY — New Yorkers receiving the STAR property tax rebate will have to re-register for the local school tax breaks because of reports of widespread abuse and fraud.

The law concerning the $3 billion New York State School Tax Relief program is part of the state budget bills now being passed in Albany.

Homeowners will have a year to re-apply for the program, with a deadline of April 1, 2014.

New York homeowners who make less than $500,000 and live in their property are usually eligible. STAR exempts the first $30,000 of the full value of a home from school taxes.

New Yorkers 65 and older may qualify for the enhanced STAR program. That exempts the first $63,300 of the full value of a home.

via www.lohud.com

School board passes budget | Lewisboro Ledger

The superintendent’s budget for the Katonah-Lewisboro school district has passed its first hurdle unscathed and has been adopted by the school board.

“It is about as good a budget as I’ve seen us provide,” board member Janet Harckham said at the meeting on Monday, April 1.

The board passed the proposed budget of $114,879,543, a 1.67% increase from this year’s budget and under the state’s tax cap, by a vote of 6-1.

Board member Dr. Peter Treyz stuck by his repeated calls for a 0% budget-to-budget increase and voted against it.

via www.lewisboroledger.com

Briefing Book: Sandy’s Woody Allen politics | Lewisboro Ledger

If you want to know who’s been doing the work and who’s been digging up the dirt, compare and contrast the public profiles of two public employees — schools Superintendent Dr. Paul Kreutzer and teachers’ union leader Sandy Grebinar.

via www.lewisboroledger.com

Richard Stone in the Running for K-L School Board - Bedford-Katonah, NY Patch

As a finance committee member, Stone helped to create the first Finance Advisory Committee Expenditure (FACE) report, which provides a five-year history and five-year financial forecast for the district. He also participated in the committee's per-pupil spending analysis, which indicated that Katonah Lewisboro spends 6.7 percent more than comparable districts on education.

via bedford.patch.com

Congrats to Rich for stepping forward. He was a thoughtful observer when I was on the Board. I hope two more throw their hats in the ring before the petitions deadline of April 22.

Frustration grows in district | Lewisboro Ledger

The infighting in the Katonah-Lewisboro school district continued at the Mar. 21 school board meeting and was highlighted by former board president Michael Gordon, who shared a “fable” amounting to a lightly veiled mockery aimed bluntly at Katonah-Lewisboro District Teachers Association (KLDTA) President Sandy Grebinar.

via www.lewisboroledger.com

Public Agencies, Needing Money, Give Up Land and Buildings - NYTimes.com

Government-financed agencies, seeing a way to raise hundreds of millions of dollars in a weak economy, are looking at the land right under some of their own institutions and offering it to the best bidder, who will build new, modern libraries or schools in the base of new developments. In the process, they will also erase the stout civic buildings now there, in effect leveling public facilities to make sure the agencies are financially secure.

via www.nytimes.com

More teachers are grouping kids by ability

New findings based on more than 20 years of research suggest that despite decades of controversy, elementary school teachers now feel fine placing students into "ability groups."

via www.usatoday.com

K-L Parents Petition District Over Budget Crisis - Bedford-Katonah, NY Patch

The group's members also expressed frustration with the fact that local residents shoulder a bigger school tax burden than comparable school districts, and cited the work of the district's finance committee in analyzing the district's per-pupil expenditures.

Former school board members Eve Hundt and Mike Gordon both signed the petition and left comments.

"Two years ago, the board agreed to a contract with the teachers that made minimal change—with the idea of creating the time, environment and opportunity to address the enormous challenges facing the KLSD district," Hundt noted after her signature. "A series of meetings were required. What has been the result of these meetings? Has there been any progress? The community deserves to know."

Gordon applauded the grassroots advocacy of the petition.

"The only way we stand a chance of solving these problems is by pressure from the taxpayers and the rank and file KLSD staff," he said. "We don't need rancorous, divisive and antagonistic rhetoric from either side. We need thoughtful and persistent grass roots advocacy from individual taxpayers and individual teachers and support staff."

via bedford.patch.com

I signed it.

Briefing Book: ‘Shut up!’ the liberals explained | Lewisboro Ledger

To make their case, Lewisboro’s liberals offer three unpersuasive arguments. First they argue that brokers believe location and price are the most important factors in real estate. The flaw in that reasoning is that location and price are not the only factors in a house purchase. Because most buyers must qualify for a mortgage, most lenders look at whether buyers can afford the mortgage payments, which inevitably means looking at — you guessed it, young Jedi — the real estate taxes. High taxes, like high prices, limit the universe of buyers and consequently the universe of sellers. That is simple economics, a subject about which, judging from the size of the federal deficit, liberals know little.

via www.lewisboroledger.com

Pardon The Reality: Real estate values, taxes and schools | Lewisboro Ledger

In the DEP study, “brokers who actively market residential property in Westchester County” were asked to rank eight parameters that might influence purchase decisions, including: “price-to-value ratio”; “geographic location” (how close to job centers); “quality of schools” (measured by factors like test scores, teachers’ salaries, percent of college-bound students); “amenities” (like parks and libraries); “proximity to commuter railroads and highways”; “real property/school taxes”; future “resale value”; and “general quality of the community.”

“Among these parameters,” the report states, “the quality of schools emerged as the predominant site selection…by far the most predominant issue…

via www.lewisboroledger.com

NYSUT: New York's tax cap is unconstitutional - The Hall Monitor | The Hall Monitor

ALBANY—New York State United Teachers, the state’s largest teacher’s union, said it is filing a lawsuit against the property-tax cap signed into law in 2011.

The tax cap has been a hallmark of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s tenure, and it limits the growth in property taxes to 2 percent a year.

But the teacher’s union has railed against the cap since it took effect in 2012, saying it creates inequities in schools districts because wealthy schools would be more likely to override the cap. It takes 60 percent of the school budget vote in May to override the cap.

via education.lohudblogs.com

I'm not sure I would bet on the success of that one. I think the "super majority" requirement in other states. Stay tuned.

After Newtown, Astorino Works to Combat Westchester Violence - Bedford-Katonah, NY Patch

If one of Westchester's towns or cities ever has to face a tragedy on the scale of Newtown, CT, the response protocols are in place.

via bedford.patch.com

A good role for county Govt.

McIntyre proposes complete security system inspection at all Knox County schools » Knoxville News Sentinel

Knox County Superintendent Jim McIntyre wants the security systems at all of the district’s 88 schools to be reviewed by the end of the summer.

McIntyre, in presenting his proposal Monday night to school board members, said the work would cost about $50,000 and would be done in two phases. SimplexGrinnell, the current security contractor for the district, in the next several days would begin with 27 schools, including Hardin Valley Academy and Powell Middle School. The security at those schools is at the middle of controversy after an independent audit found a host of problems linked to a former contractor.

via www.knoxnews.com