I don’t have any particular problem with New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson sending his kids to summer camp at the Rye YMCA. Rye is a beautiful town with nice shops and restaurants. I had an apartment there on Purchase Street next to the Square House. When I got married in 1986, my wife moved in. We loved it.
The only thing that strikes me about this is the way Noam loves to preach about how much he loves New Rochelle and how everything is so great in New Rochelle. I recall his response to a Journal News article on the “North-South” divide back in 2008. He wrote an Op-Ed declaring his love for the New Rochelle school systems and proudly noted how he went to the public schools in New Rochelle and his own kids would be going to the public schools in New Rochelle.
The only problem with the Op-Ed was that the article was about how the South End parents feel short changed by the South End public schools. Noam failed to mention that he grew up in the North End and went to North End schools or that he now lives in the North End and his kids would also be going (and now to go) to the North End Schools. It reminds me of Bill Clinton and Barack Obama preaching about the wonders of public schools for everyone…except their own kids. I guess Noam is disappointed there is no Sidwell Friends schools in New Rochelle.
The City of New Rochelle offers many great summer programs. Our own Parks & Recreation Department program has some wonderful summer programs including ones held in our North End schools. The YMCA has programs and other schools have programs. So what’s wrong with New Rochelle, Noam?
I don’t mind Noam sending his kids to a day camp in Rye, I do mind be lectured to by someone who does not practice what they preach. Seems Noam never learned you are judged not by what you say but what you do.
Have a nice summer in Rye! Let us know when you decide to come back slumming in New Rochelle.
I really don’t think it’s North vs South
I lived on the South End for 10 years. Myself and MANY of my neighbors chose to not use the local public schools, but sent our children to parochial schools instead. This had nothing to due with feeling the schools weren’t well run. We simply wanted to ensure our children were around other children who were being parented in a similar fashion.
Now i live on the North End, and these schools still do not offer what many of us want, since they are NOT solely comprised of our North End neighbors. Most of us I think realize it’s a reflection of where we chose to live, a CITY, with people from all walks of life and beliefs. There are pro’s and con’s to this.
You really need to take the parenting and home environment (friends, siblings, etc) of students into account when trying to understand why not all students do so well in school. There is only so much a teacher can do. I grew up and attended school in the South Bronx, and this was pretty apparent. It all starts and ends at home.
South vs. North
The New Rochelle Schools seem to have good curriculum, teachers, facilities, etc. The same holds true for the summer camp. But metrics and teacher-student ratio’s only tell part of the story.
In the end, no amount of money will change the fact that the student body is a reflection of their parenting and home environment.
Correcting these realities will be difficult it but can be done
While the Mayor can wax eloquent about the schools, he can’t talk about inequities in them without some facts. Everyone knows how students in the south end schools have lower acievement averages. There are other conditions, e.g. bullying and lack of administrative concern about the way children in the south end are treated by the personnel in the building. In the July 7, 2011 issue of The Journal News there was a story, “Mt. Vernon Schools Tout Safety.” According to the article the Mount Vernon Schools have improved test scores, and attendance. Why have a prepondersance of student injuries reported in New Rochelle Talk of the Sound been in the south half of he City? The Mount Vernon school system’s emphasis on sutdent safety has produced better student acheivement because their Superintendent’s emphasis on safety has produced these results. If Mount Vernon can do it, so can New Rochelle.
Is this the letter by Noam Bramson you are referring to?
Allegations of favoritism harm pupils Journal News, The (Westchester County, NY) – Thursday, August 14, 2008 Author: staff, Noam Bramson
Re “North-south divide untrue,” an Aug. 7 article about purported inequalities among New Rochelle public schools, as alleged in a new blog, “New Rochelle Community Pulse,” http://www.nrcommunitypulse.org:
As a mayor, resident, graduate of the New Rochelle public schools and parent who will soon proudly send two children to the New Rochelle public schools, I write to express my concern about the journalistic judgment that produced your recent article on supposed north-south disparities in the New Rochelle school system.
A prominent front-page article in The Journal News, particularly one focused on a subject of such great sensitivity and importance, should have some basis in objective fact, beyond the assertions of personal opinion in a blog.
All the available evidence suggests that the New Rochelle schools distribute financial, human and programmatic resources in a fair and appropriate fashion, aimed at providing each child in every part of our city with academic enrichment and an opportunity for success.
The false narrative of geographic favoritism is especially harmful to the fabric of our community. Most residents of New Rochelle are grateful for our remarkable diversity, recognizing that it contributes to the richness of our lives.
But diversity also brings with it a vulnerability to divisive appeals. While an honest discussion about fairness in the delivery of services is always appropriate, stoking resentments, to the point even of branding a particular street as our “Mason-Dixon line,” is playing with fire.
All of us in New Rochelle, whatever our differences, are bound together by a common set of public institutions, a common economy, a common environment and a common civic image. We are going up or down together, and have a responsibility to forge our future in this spirit.
The writer is mayor of New Rochelle.
Yep, that’s the Op-Ed
I was thinking of this graph:
That should have read:
Or something like that.
Does Bramson have the guts
Since Mayor Bramson has challenged “the journalistic judgment that produced your recent article on supposed north-south disparities in the New Rochelle school system” in the Journal News, I think the Bramson’s should enroll their children in Columbus Elementary School in an attempt to prove Noam’s point. It’s high time someone holds Noam’s feet to the fire and challenges him to practice what he preaches. Let’s see if Bramson has the guts!