Current school board member Jerome Smith will be competing against at least two first time candidates for the New Rochelle Board of Education.
At the school board meeting at Albert Leonard Middle School on March 23rd, Valerie Orellana of 12 Belleview Place announced her intention to run for school board. At the most recent school board meeting at Trinity School, Lianne Merchant of 99 Cortlandt Street announced that she intended to run for school board. The three candidate are all from districts that send students to Albert Leonard Middle School, Smith is from Webster District and both Orellana and Merchant are from Ward District.
Currently, 7 of the 9 members of the school board are from one elementary school district – Ward. If both Orellana and Merchant were to win, that would make 8 of 9 board members from the Ward District with one from the Trinity District.
Currently, the elementary school districts of Jefferson, Columbus, Lincoln, Davis and Barnard have no representatives on the school board and if Smith loses Webster would lose its only representative. Most of these district have not had board representation in many years. In a very real sense, the school district is run by a super-version of the Ward PTA.
Not surprisingly, there are wide disparities between programs, services and outcomes for children attending school where these board members reside and where their children attend school, as was made clear in our 2009 report on the “North South Divide in New Rochelle Schools”
View the slide show presentation of our report on the “North South Divide in New Rochelle” here:
There is no small irony that a group of people that nearly breaks an arm patting itself on the back for its enlightened “progressive” policies and supposed love for diversity has effectively shut out representation from the largely black and latino elementary school districts, while overseeing a catastrophic decline in graduation rates for minority students (the third lowest in Westchester, Putnam and Rockland Counties ahead of only Mount Vernon and Yonkers) while creating expensive showpiece programs such as the PAVE arts program and a Mandarin Language Immersion Program designed to primarily benefit children from the North End.
The deadline to file nominating petitions at the office of the school clerk at City Hall is Wednesday, April 28, 2010, 5 p.m.
Petitions must be signed by at least one hundred persons qualified to vote on May 18, 2010. There are two positions available for election this year for five-year terms each (from July 1, 2010 through June 30, 2015). Candidates run at-large.
Malfetano, for the record, is a south end resident
Malfetano ran well in the south end of the district winning in schools in this area including Columbus and Jefferson. However, the high turnout in other sections of the city took its toll on him or any other candidate who has run from this area. Registered Republicans have an even greater difficultly winning here and city-wide. So this intractable problem is difficult to resolve. Malfetano would have brought much knowledge about education to bear on the School Board if he had won.
Coincidence?
First let me state that I respect everyone’s right to run for any public position and especially an elected volunteer position which is responsible for educating our children and levying 68% of New Rochelle’s tax bill. That said it is interesting though not surprising that the vast majority of members/candidates reside north of Eastchester Road. What I also find interesting is that of the eleven members/candidates nine are registered democrats and two are NON’s (not affiliated with any political party) according to 2009 Board of Elections records.
Lacher DEM
Watkins DEM
Deutsch DEM
Richmond DEM
Polow DEM
Smith DEM
Petrone DEM
Merchant DEM
Orellana DEM
Hastie NON
Reddington NON
I’m not claiming any conspiracy theory but one must admit the breakdown defies the law of averages and makes another strong argument for representation by council district to have city-wide representation. While election by districts won’t guarantee political change it will allow candidates that couldn’t buck the existing system to consider a more attainable election. If you don’t believe me check the list of contributors to the campaigns. What’s indisputable is that elections by district guarantee city-wide representation.
North End Schools v. Eastchester Road
A point of clarification:
When I say that a person resides in a home that sends kids in that residence to a “north end” school I mean they live in Ward, Webster, Barnard/Davis. I know Eastchester Road is used euphemistically to mean “North End” but since Eastchester Road only runs part away across the City it is not the neat dividing point that is implied. In fact, several people on the list are “North Enders” but live near Fifth Avenue or Beechmont. Those areas are “south” of Eastchester Road but the kids who reside there are in the Ward district.
Candidates should be affiliated with a party!
What a great idea and I don’t know why we’re not doing it now. At least the general public would have an idea of where a canidate stands, left or right, and then make a determination. As it stands now, we have no idea what most of the canidates stand for and obviously we’re loaded with too many liberals on the board. Where are the fiscal conservatives? Thats what we need.
school board election
Bruce of course you are right — orellan and merchant have every right to declare and perhaps they have the background requirements to make a contribution. Sure could use a contribution and the recent significant board members — sara, chritine, jeff are a significant cut above the board norm.
I don’t at all think bob had anything in mind other than disproportionality of representation. perhaps his “surprise” is even a ironic statement that no one below city hall seems to take much interest in running for the board.
but your have the bully pulpit on wvox and you could consider expressing your views on changing the process. Your views are very close to those I have uttered in the past — each council district should have their own representation with “at large” appointments coming out of city hall. this is pretty close to the way things were done in the paduano years although i have not seen the council display any appetite for stepping in on any issue involving education and the district around here.
wouldn’t hurt to post your views on this blog as well. cox has done more than his share on school board issues. i have tried to be positive. we could use another voice.
warren gross
Wait a Second
You cannot criticize people for wanting to run for office no matter where they live. Are these candidates Polow Protégés? Is their agenda already known? Let them speak and then we will decide before you brand them “North End Clubbers”
Before I go on I am in the Webster School district so of course I want to see that school represented but the shocker here is that no else from any part of town has declared. Where are the howls for such “lack of interest” in the children’s schooling? Of course I jest by that comment but really is it so far off?
Last year it was Hasty – North End, Dr. Wagner – NE Vince Malfatano (not sure where he lives but I know not in the NE) and The other guy who’s name escapes me but I believe was an NE too.
I do not want to see a school board dominated by Ward school parents but if they are going to be the only choice…..
What you should be championing here is Vince Malfatano’s idea of splitting the board into districts with each school district getting a representative and having the other seats as an at large bid.
That is your answer, Start shouting that from the rooftops.
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Eliminate At-Large Elections?
Bruce,
I might be more prepared to take your seriously if you did not begin with one misrepresentation after another.
First, I have not criticized people for “wanting to run for office”. No where in this article have I done so.
Second, I have not branded the 2 newcomers as “North End Clubbers”. In fact, beyond identifying them I have said nothing at all about them.
Third, on a smaller point, your notion that the “idea” of election by sub-district is Vince Malfetano’s is a curious one. The idea is hardly a new one and it was being discussed on this site long before Vince declared his candidacy last spring.
As someone who has attended almost every board and budget meeting for the school district since 2008 I am going to rely on my judgement much more than someone who has never, to my knowledge, been to a Board of Education meeting — at least since 2008.
As for changing how board members are elected, the school board would have to pro-actively move to eliminate at-large elections. Can you seriously imagine those who benefit from the current system voting to change it?
How about term-limiting board members and cutting down the length of their terms. 5 years? Three members of the board with 20-30 years on the board. Think about that! 2 or 3 decades? It is a sick joke.
I can offer a number of reasons why New Rochelle has 7 of 9 board members from 1 of 9 elementary school district and 8 of 8 from the North End but what’s the point? The facts speak for themselves. A corrupt and broken system that serves the interests of the union and the real estate industry at the expense of the children, the families, the tax payers.
If we were getting such great results from this little North End Club then maybe it would not be so bad but unless you missed we have the 3rd lowest graduation rates in Westchester, Rockland and Putnam counties, we have the absolute worst health inspection safety record of any district in Westchester.
This board has overseen a policy bent on shiny baubles like PAVE, Mandarin Immersion and an Arts and Culture Museum while failing its students. Sure, if you are white and live on the North End and can reach the high school via Albert Leonard Middle School all is well but the data in the state report cards are quite clear that the kids coming through Isaac are, as a whole, simply not being prepared for high school, performing poorly and then not graduating.
You want to scream something from the rooftops?
How about that 45% of black students in New Rochelle fail to graduate on time? How about that 49% of latino students fail to graduate on time. Those numbers are both staggering and sick making yet entirely predictable given the disaster that is the thoroughly corrupt administration of the Isaac Young Middle school, a school run by a man who could not run a Burger King let alone an educational institution.
Consider the high level of performance at Albert Leonard Middle School. Now consider the ethic and racial make up of the two middle schools. Now think just how bad the high school graduation rate is for minority students if you break out that number by middle school of origin.
It is precisely for this reason that Schools Superintendent Richard Organisciak made a materially false statement to the New York State Committee on Open Government in denying my appeal for the “Smith Report”. That report examined the performance of students at the high school based on middle school of origin. If New Rochelle residents ever get to see just how bad those numbers are you might actually see crowds with pitchforks descend on the Board of Ed offices.
The irony, of course, is the way in which members of the school board love to profess their love for “diversity”.
They love it so much that in a school district that is close to 70% minority students you can count on one hand the number of senior level administrators of color in New Rochelle.
BTW… Warren…you need to hit REPLY below…below…below…the comment you are responding to!!!!
Let’s assume it is a North
Let’s assume it is a North End Club for a brief minute. What is wrong with this as maybe the idea’s that seem to be working up North for the most part can be spread like a wave of Educational Excellence.
When the parents of school children black or white, North or South get involved in their childs education the results can only get better. Open their back packs, look at what they are learning, get involved in the process and roll up your sleeves.
When parents don’t do this they are allowing the School Homing that you previously wrote about.
In general the New Rochelle Schools are what you make of it. Its not great but if you desire you can get to some pretty high levels. I have 2 in the system and I have had to send 2 to private so I know the deal. North, South, Black, White means zero.
Children don’t raise themselves nor do the educate themselves. The parents who are not parenting are the problem as the school district has many cracks for those children to fall within. Other than that these are just more so social issues, not geographic nor are the Racial.
you are correct…
…on an individual basis.
But I am referring to the aggregate data from the NYS Report Card which breaks out data along racial and ethnic lines. What that data shows is a marked contrasted between white students and the black/latino students. I am going beyond that to say that if you slice the data also by “north/south” or IEYMS v. ALMS you will see the performance gaps widen considerably.
Of course, any individual child can have a good or bad experience for a wide variety of reasons but when talking about policy decisions I believe only the aggregate data can form the basis for the discussion. To do otherwise is to base policy on anecdotes.
I can understand WHY you would write “North, South, Black, White means zero. Children don’t raise themselves nor do the educate themselves. The parents who are not parenting are the problem as the school district has many cracks for those children to fall within.”
I do not agree with it at all.
It seems to me the logic of the argument is that the school district has zero responsibility for what goes on in the school and by extension the reason that black and latino students perform poorly is not because of anything that school does but because the parents are somehow deficient.
We might have something to agree on where you mention cracks in the school district. What cracks do you mean and whose responsibility is it fix those cracks? The kids? The parents?
To me this is a lot like blaming Toyota customers with the “sudden acceleration” problems for crashing their Toyotas because good drivers know how to shut down the engine before they drive 90 miles per hour into a tree. Yes, that may be true and maybe many of the reported crashes of these defective vehicles could have been avoided if Mario Andretti had been behind the wheel but that does not let Toyota off the hook for designing and manufacturing a defective product.
Further, your argument only explains a DISCREPANCY in performance, it does not explain the massive drop in graduation rates over the past couple of years for minority students unless you believe that minority parents suddenly 10-20% less interested in their children’s welfare since 2008, which is how much graduation rates have fallen.
As for parents being involved with their kids, have you BEEN to any schools when the school board meets there. The turnout at Columbus was the highest of any school. The kids have excellent math scores at that school. Yet they get to Isaac and their performance drops like a stone. Your theory breaks down when you look at the actual data.
The school district is a
The school district is a petry dish to enable growth of learning. We can debate how well they do this as I know you have issues with them and frankly having sent 2 children to private I certainly do also.
That said just as government can not do everything for its citizens nor can the schools do it all for their students. We can question the effort of specific schools and specific educators but I venture to say when some of these low performers take responsibility for their education in fact the scores and results would improve. We have created generations of parents and children who expect everything done for them. When they fail its never their fault the system failed them.
We got what we asked for.
Why is it either/or?
Can we at least agree that the school district should not permit altering test scores to create the illusion that kids at Isaac Young are performing at about the same level as kids at Albert Leonard? This is an obvious farce, supported by data I obtained from LHRIC which is the organization that receives the scantrons answer sheets and provides the grades for the test.
Can we agree that the district should not falsify VADIR reports to create the illusion that NRHS and IEYMS are safe schools when they likely ought to be classified as “persistently dangerous” schools?
I want to start with an honest accounting of what exactly is going on in these schools before we start talking about who is to blame or what solutions may be worth considering.
You might also consider that your analysis is more than a bit simplistic. I have encountered MANY parents who very much want to advocate for their children and be involved with their school and find themselves shut out.
Ask Trinity parents how welcome they feel to come to the school during the school day.
Ask a Spanish-speaking parent how easy it is to process information when they attend a meeting at the school where the information is provided only in English.
Ask the parents of kids at IEYMS how they feel about their child attending a school where it is now policy to avoid at all costs suspending a student in order to keep the numbers down and make things appear to be improving?
Ask a single mother, working two jobs, how easy it is to take time off to bake cupcakes for the class or join the kids on a field trip to a museum or spend time in the evenings helping their children with their homework.
Ask a family from Mexico where the father works 16 hours a day and the mother has a 6th grade education how easy it is to help their child complete work on a science lab or a take-home project in higher level math.
It would seem to me that your frame of reference for parental involvement is a child with two parents in an affluent, highly-educated, English-speaking household. Those are children that going to be very likely to succeed in any school system. The whole point of the theory behind public education is to create “common schools” where people from all backgrounds mix and have an equal opportunity to succeed. You can say that this is the case IN THEORY but anyone who has spent time in these buildings would tell you that Board of Ed Spin aside, there is a great deal of self-segregation going on at the high school and that kids coming from IEYMS are far less likely to graduate on time.
I would note you elected not to respond to my point — the logic of your argument that parents are to blame for any failure to learn at the school is that the school district has no responsibility whatsoever.
Is that what you believe? That the district is faultless? Does that also mean that the district is not responsible for any success that a student may have? Is that all only because of the parent?
In my experience, the teachers in the district are generally good to very good to excellent. Further, if you are in certain schools and/or on certain tracks within the schools the teachers tend to be far better and the class sizes smaller and discipline stricter. For those not so fortunate, the district is often warehousing kids.
Even the school board concurs with me to some degree because they have directed the Superintendent to come up with a set of recommendations on how he attends to address the abysmal graduation rates in New Rochelle. His report is supposed to be delivered on May 4th. Maybe you should come that night.