WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From WPHS Guidance Center. October 9, 2008 UPDATED October 10, 2008: Lesley Tompkins, Director of Guidance and Counseling for White Plains High School delivered a report on Advanced Placement Programs (enabling students to obtain college credit based on successful passing of Advanced Placement Exams) Monday evening to the Board of Education showing the number of WPHS students taking the courses accelerated at four times the rate of  the rest of the state. White Plains students also scored higher than the New York State Average in the passing score range.

Ms. Tompkins, speaking with WPCNR Thursday, said that with 67% of the 416 students taking Advanced Placement Exams in 2008 passing with a 3,4, or 5 score that meant 278 of them received some level of college credit. She explained that the total college credits for these passing scores depends on the school.

 Between 1993 and 2008, the report shows, White Plains increased from 116 students taking 154 exams in 1993 to 416 students taking 716 exams in 2008, an increase of 259%.  By contrast the number of students taking AP tests state wide increased only 145%. (A total 46,231 New York State students took69,386 exams in 1993 grew to 113,368 students taking 193,014 exams in 2008)

Ms. Tompkins said “The AP program in White Plains is thriving. Depsite the significant increase in the number of students taking APs and the number of APs offered, when you examine the reference tables, there is not a significant decline in the percentage of students scoring a 3,4 or 5 on the exams. In many of the tests we consistently score higher than the global averages in this range of scores. In 2007 when scores of all students in New York are considered 67% of White Plains students scored a 3,4,or 5 on the exams, while 65% of all New York students was the average. In seven of the past 11 years, White Plains achieved at a higher level than the New York State average in this score range.”

Advanced Placement Courses are usually taken in the Junior year, however Ms. Tompkins did not have the advanced placement students  broken down by class.

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. October 6, 2008: Donna McLaughlin, Board of Education President, called for the board to “get involved in early with the way we do the budget” this year, saying a good way to start would on the finance committee working with the Superintendent of Schools and Assistant Superintendent for Business, Fred  Seiler, and finding what components go into making up the budget. Paying close attention to “line item involvement” and “what makes up the budget.”

The Superintendent appreciated her concern, but  said that the district first had to watch and interpret what the state was doing first and be aware of what it means for the district, and what “may reoccur so we do things that make sense.”

The Superintendent made no statement on the status of negotiations with the White Plains Teachers Association. Kelly Broderick, the President of the union told WPCNR after the meeting was over, there was no progress in her meeting with the district today: “It (negotiating) is going to be a long process,” she said. The union is seeking a two-year contract and is seeking a wage increase to offset a 17% increase in the health premiums the teachers pay, which the union feels has taken away much of last year’s 3.5% wage increase. Teacher salary and health benefits currently take up 75% of the $184.4 Million budget.

In other action...

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. October 6, 2008: The Board of Education meets this evening at Education House at 7:30 P.M. Highlights of the agenda include a report from Hazard, Young and Attea, the Superintendent of Schools search firm, on the qualifications they will be looking for in any candidates; there will be a report from the White Plains Foundation for Public Education to the Board, and recent certiorari refunds will be approved.

The agenda:

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. October 2, 2008: The White Plains City School District is holding back the $24 Million in municipal bonds it has plans to float to complete its district-wide renovation of the rest of its elementary, Middle and High Schools, and its anticipated certiorari tax refund payments, Assistant Superintendent for Business Fred Seiler advised WPCNR today.

He said the district has to underwrite the bonds between January and June 2009 to keep the project moving and meet expected certiorari obligations.. Previously the $50 Million the district borrowed for the capital project was costing the district an average 4% interest, ranging depending upon maturity from 3-3/4% to 4-1/4%. He said with New York City having to pay interest of 5-3/4% recently to attract buyers for  New York City bonds that he hoped the rates would come down from the current highs. He said the markets were too unstable now to float an issue. He said the district would keep evaluating the situation with its underwriter.

Should the district be forced to pay 6% interest, for example, this higher rate would increase school bond payments above the $10.3 Million in debt service expected in 2010-11. Typically, Seiler said they might have an interest payment in June, and no principal payment on the new $24 Million issue until January 2010. He said he could speculate at this time how much higher the debt service would run should the district interest rate be driven up to today’s 6% levels.

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey.September 24, 2008: Kerry Broderick, President of the White Plains Teachers Association, currently without a contract with the school district and negotiating, said the teachers and the district are not at an impasse. She told WPCNR the teachers have scheduled talks October 6 with the Superintendent of Schools. Broderick told WPCNR the negotiations were centered on salary only and that the district has agreed to negotiate a two year contract with salary details not decided.

The sticking point, she said were the increases in premiums paid the district health care provider the teachers have had to pay out of their salaries the last year and increases in the co-pays. She said the teachers are seeking to make up those costs.

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS.  By John F. Bailey. September 23, 2008 UPDATED 5:55 P.M. EDT WITH LEADERSHIP PROFILE ASSESSMENT you can send in plus EXCLUSIVE PIX: Councilperson Emeritus Mary Ann Keenan commented at the close of the last public gathering held Tuesday morning by the School District,( the purpose to gather “public input” on what the city would desire in a new Superintendent of Schools), that  White Plains teachers earn an average $95,000 in the school district and district principals  and administrators make an average of $145,000,  saying “That’s pathetic. Anyone would say White Plains teachers are well-paid. In picking a trait (in a new Superintendent of Schools) frugality would be Number One.”

In the four meetings so far, 171 persons have appeared, 100 alone at the Centro Hispano edition (held after church). A total of 36 showed up at Bethel Baptist Church last week, 26 Monday evening at the high school and 9 this morning. Keenan ((first on left, background of picture),and another resident Tuesday morning were just  two of five persons who noted the inexorably increasing school budget as an issue for any new Superintendent. John Chambers, of Hazard, Young and Attea the  Superintendent search consultants chairs the meeting on far right.

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. September 22, 2008: The City School District and Deborah Raizes of Hazard, Young  and Attia, will hold the third of community input sessions tonight designed to determine an ideal profile of the kind of executive White Plains parents and citizens want in considering whom to select for the 2009-2010 Superintendent of Schools. (Present Superintendent Timothy Connors is retiring in June 2009, after seven years.) The community session will be held at White Plains High School at 7:30 P.M. in building B-1.

Superintendent Profiling Taking Place at Bethel Baptist Church last week. Session three is at the High School this evening. All welcome.

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. September 3, 2008 UPDATED 7:05 P.M. E.D.T.: White Plains schools open Thursday morning, expecting a projected enrollment of 7,123  students from Pre-K through high school, 5% ahead of previous long term projections for 2008-2009.  The enrollment level of 7,000 students was not anticipated to be approached until 2010-11, according to school projections in 2005, when it was estimated by Bishop Associates to be 6,914. Now White Plains has bypassed that level three years earlier than expected

WPCNR notes that previously issued long-term district projections predicted the White Plains District as having 6,775 students in 2008-2009, as follows – 2,800 in k to 5, 1,400 in Middle School and 2,000 in the high school, and 575 in Special Education.

The projection for 2008-2009,  according to the school calendar just published shows  the population of K Through 5, Middle School and High School  running 5% ahead of that projection, in the grade schools, Middle and High Schools at 6,620 plus 215 enrolled in alternative programs, 198 in PreK and 90 in Out-0f-District programs for a total of 7,123. This is a 5% increase in enrollment from previously projected  – the bulk of that coming in Pre-K, or course.

Three years ago (2006-2007) the White Plains enrollment was 6,784 students. Last year, the total was 7,041, an increase of 4% in enrollment  and the projection for 08-09 is 7,123, a 1.1% increase. 

A slight worry.

If the district continues to miss its previous projections by a 5% margin the enrollment in the White Plains Schools will reach 9,543 students by 2014-2015, raising the spectre of the need for one new elementary school, in addition to the new Post Road School now being built, and perhaps another addition to the high school if the projections of the school continue to be 5% off.

 The projection for 08-09 was 6,775 students which was reached two years ago in 2006-2007. The projection fo 2014-15 by the school projections assumes flat growth in enrollments at Middle School and High School, with an increase of 300 students at the elementary level to a total of 7,400 students by 2014-15. 

Actual enrollment figures will not be available until October, according to Michele Schoenfeld.

So far this year,  elementary Schools enrollment is up by 42 students (1.3%). High School enrollment is down by about 11 students. Middle School is down by 16. Alternative Program, PreK and Out-of-District Placement students is up by 16 students.

By now all parents should have received their school bus notifications from the district. Bus transportation is provided up through eighth grade. The cost per one way trip by bus to the high school has increased from $1.25 to $1.50 per trip, with a 20 “One Way” trip booklet available for high school students for $23, up from $20 last year.

            WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From Michele Schoenfeld. August 26, 2008: The White Plains Board of Education has announced a schedule of community meetings to develop a profile of the new Superintendent of Schools who will be appointed in the coming year.  The  public is invited to meet and provide input to representatives of Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates,  Ltd., the consultants leading the search.  The same organization conducted the search which led to the  appointment of Superintendent Timothy P. Connors, who will retire in June, 2009.

            Members of the public are encouraged to attend one of the following sessions:

Monday, September 22nd, 7:30 P.M., White Plains High School B-1 Room

            Tuesday, September 23rd, 10 A.M., Education House Assembly Room

            Sunday, September 14th, 12:30 P.M., El Centro Hispano (St. Bernard’s Church Chapel Hall)

            Monday, September 15th, 7 P.M., Bethel Baptist Church

            In addition, the consultants will meet with groups of staff members, students, PTA representatives and others in September.  Hazard, Young, Attea & Associates will report on the resulting profile at a public meeting of the Board of Education on Monday, October 6^th, 7:30 P.M., at Education House.

            To facilitate the information-gathering process, the consultants have developed a questionnaire which may be obtained online at www.whiteplainspublicschools.org.  These should be completed and 

brought to a public meeting or returned to the consultants as indicated on the questionnaire.

            For further information, contact Michele Schoenfeld, District Clerk, at 422-2071.

• Statewide, almost 69 percent of the students who started 9^th grade in 2003 had graduated after 4 years, by June 2007. This is almost 3 percentage points higher than for students two years before.
• For the first time, the State Education Department is able to collect data showing graduation rates in August. Statewide, 71 percent of the students who started 9^th grade in 2003 had graduated by August 2007.
• A fifth year of high school makes a difference for many students. Among students who started 9^th grade in 2002, 73 percent had graduated by 2007, an increase of six percentage points or 13,000 more students during the fifth year.
• The 4-year graduation rate of African-American students increased from 45 to 51 percent between 2005 and 2007, although it remains far too low and far below the rate of white students. Also, more Black students are staying in school.
• The 4-year graduation rate of Hispanic students increased from 42 to 47 percent between 2005 and 2007, although it also remains far too low. Also, more Hispanic students are staying in school.
• A fifth year makes a significant difference for Black and Hispanic students. About 10 percent more graduated in the fifth year.

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS.  July 23, 2008: The Board of Education approved paying $800,259,000 in certiorari refunds to commercial properties on Mamaroneck Avenue and in immediate adjacent vicinity in the city last night. The payout showed how, for every $1 the city agrees to give back in tax refunds, primarily due to the equalization rate, according to city and school district officials, the school board gives back $4.

In other action, the Board approved a new floor for the Post Road School Gymnasium; also approved installation of a new scoreboard at Loucks Field, and a new contract with their public relations agency. Summer School Attendance across all grades was announced as 1,500 (21% of enrollment).

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. Official Statement from State Education Department Communications Office. July 16, 2008: The State Education Department data transferral of student graduation rates statewide was inaccurate, resulting in the eight-week delay in posting individual School District Report Cards for 2006-2007, according to a statement released exclusively to WPCNR Wednesday from John Burman a spokesman for the Communications Office. Here is his statement:

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. July 16, 2008: Two weeks ago, Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors said that the State Education Department Report Cards were expected to be available "in two weeks," and that the district wished to see the complete report cards before commenting in more detail on test scores. Connors did say test scores in the district had improved tremendously

Today, the State Education Department website (currently in a state of revamping), still had not posted the reports. A Press Spokesperson said the 2006-2007 Report Cards dealing with the test scores last year, would not be posted until the end of July. This is a sharp contrast to previous years, when the reports were on the SED website the first week of June. The NYSED Department Communications is issuing a statement to WPCNR on the cause of the delay.