Julie Allongue for Greenburgh Central School Board

 My name is Julie Allongue, and I am running for a seat on our Greenburgh Central School District Board of Education. 

I am a proud mom of an RJ Bailey School student and am serving the RJ Bailey community as PTA President in my second term. I seek the board trustee position because I believe it will take our town to launch our children into the futures they dream of and desire with the best tools we can provide. I feel an urgency to make this belief a reality, and we need more than talk to continue progress. I hope my choice and actions will serve as an example to our students of civic contribution and community engagement. 

With a career in product management, I bring experience in making tough decisions, balancing priorities with budgets, and managing goals and profit and loss statements—additionally, the ability to communicate and collaborate across fields of expertise. Lastly, the Allongue household is bilingual, and I have a brother who has battled hearing and speech impairment since childhood. Due to this, I respect the value of meaningful and accurate communication.

I will roll my sleeves to work for our Greenburgh Central students and community. Join me as you vote for me and in supporting our students with your vote on May 17th. 

Lies and Misdirection Continue From GCSD

Our Greenburgh Central School District just can’t seem to help itself. Between misdirection with maintenance of our schools, unnecessary evacuations of the mansion, investigations of Superintendent Chase, the firing of the old engineering firm and the hiring of a new one, promised dates missed for reports, attempted consolidation, a 3.96% tax increase to the 2020-21 budget, the Coronavirus cancellation of school and a waste of $300k to evacuate the Mansion, it’ll be a miracle if the public ever sees our dysfunctional school district function properly and actually educate our kids. Let’s dive in.

Consolidation

We’ve written about this extensively. About a year ago the Greenburgh Central School District (GCSD) Administration put forth a bond referendum in order to consolidate the multiple Greenburgh schools onto one campus. Effectually, they wanted to jettison the Highview School (Central Park Avenue behind Presser Park/Webb Field) and the RJ Bailey School on Hillside Avenue. The administration went to extremes to prove how dilapidated these structures were. Admittedly, there was some lack of maintenance and neglect with these buildings because we were told the Board made a conscious decision to allow the buildings to be neglected in order to not lay off teachers. 

When we began to dig into the numbers, based on the facts and figures we were fed, the numbers simply didn’t add up. We learned that we were being lied to by the administration when we pressed them to explain what the bond principle plus the interest would be. They continued to maintain it was only $114 million dollars even though the NYS Board of Education information showed the interest to be almost as great as the principle. The real figure would have exceeded $200 million dollars! The school administration planned to sell the two schools to offset the loan amount. They gave an inflated approximation of what each school should fetch in the open market. A commercial real estate broker even said at a meeting that these buildings, at best, might fetch up to $3 million dollars each – a far cry from the $10-12 million we were being told they were worth.

Maintenance

We’ve already mentioned the Board made a conscious decision to allow the buildings to be neglected to not lay off teachers. Perhaps we can give them the benefit of the doubt for trying to save jobs? However, money was always included in the budget for maintenance and repairs – just not enough for the serious work that needed to be done. Responsibility for the failure to accomplish the necessary repairs falls right into the lap of the long time Board of Education members specifically and the Board as a whole. Was their goal to allow the schools to degrade to such a point that they became uninhabitable? Yes, we know it was.

The community Bond referendum meetings were preceded with slick mailers and superfluous information from the District to all of the Unincorporated resident taxpayers. The first two meetings brought out many residents. There were also a large number of administration members and teachers with their children present who spoke in support of the consolidation. Then taxpayers starting asking hardball questions. When Superintendent Chase was unable to provide them good answers, she reverted back to, “Don’t we want the best for our kids?” Of course we do. That’s why we pay Dr. Chase a $250k salary plus benefits. While not an issue until now, many of us are now being hamstrung by the Coronavirus. Many residents have lost their jobs and are now faced with paying annual federal and state income, Town, fire AND school taxes. Thankfully they are not dealing with the huge tax increase that would have resulted from passing the bond!

Budget and Tax Increase

It’s becoming apparent that trying to sustain the $73 million expense to educate fewer than 1,600 K-12 students is becoming more and more unrealistic. The budget that was presented on February 27th called for a budget increase of 3.96% ($2,801,301). Funding this amount calls for a 4.25% tax increase. So, while Mr Feiner is bragging about having no tax increase this year for the Town residents, that success will be eliminated by the School budget if this proposed budget should pass. During these fiscally uncertain times, it’s imperative that the School Board reduce this year’s budget (through attrition and perhaps a hiring freeze), repair our buildings and make sure there is NO tax increase for residents. After all, with students scoring 35% in both English and Math skills, something is beyond amiss in the GCSD. 

The Sky Is Falling

After a 3-month summer hiatus and literally days before school was scheduled to start in September, Dr Chase ambushed us with the news that the Mansion was uninhabitable. She called for the immediate evacuation of the facility which houses the administration, maintenance, three Early Childhood Programs and a Special Needs classroom. The ECP and special needs classes were relocated to the Jackson School. A month later the administration employees were moved out. Not moved out were the maintenance people. Why would they be allowed to continue to work there if the building was unsafe? 

The School Board appeared to sit on their hands until January, finally bringing in a company to do an evaluation of the building (another expense). While we were told the damage was caused by roof leakage, no provisions were made to seal those areas with tarps or anything else. The Board finally hired BBS Architects, Landscape Architects and Engineers (BBS) to evaluate the Mansion and the groundskeeper’s residence. At the last Board meeting we learned the building was not in danger of collapse and with $869,000 of repairs, it would be safe to return. It turns out while moving the kids in order to be safe could be appropriate, moving everyone else for the cost of $300,000 was not. That money, which could have been used for maintenance and repairs, is gone. After wasting all that money, time and effort building a new suite for Superintendent Chase in the Woodlands High School can she and her staff actually be going back to the Mansion to work?

Where We Are Now

The Mansion will require $869,000 for repairs not including the roof. The roof will cost about $1.5 million. However, $1.3 million dollars had been set aside and already authorized to be expended for those repairs. We’d like to know what is causing the holdup? By the way, $1.3 million plus $300,000 dollars equals $1.6 million dollars. The $300,000 spent to move out of the mansion would have made up the necessary shortfall to repair the roof.

Currently there’s talk that after spending close to $300k to move everyone from the Mansion to the other schools on the Warburg Campus they didn’t actually all need to move. There’s also talk that the Administrative staff and Superintendent will move back into the Mansion as there was no risk of collapse as we had been told by Superintendent Chase. These are the kinds of actions and frankly lies that make the public distrust the Superintendent, the Administration and the Board. The kids in the classrooms will remain where they are currently located and Principle Matt Smith will get his office back from Dr Chase. Where was the Board during this knee-jerk reaction and why weren’t they controlling the narrative instead of the Superintendent? She works for them!

The Board is also required by law to hold public hearings for the budget. How and what will transpire with the budget approval process? Will hearing dates be allowed to change to accommodate its public hearing requirement and vote?

Another issue were the online accusations made against Superintendent Chase and Principal Smith. Several months ago, unidentified persons writing under the email monikers of Watchdog For Greenburgh, Greenburgh Free Press, and several others wrote to a group of residents and ABG alleging questionable or illegal activity by the Superintendent and Principal, (referencing several topics that we will not post as we could not verify or corroborate them). Our understanding is that an investigation took place by the School Board utilizing an outside agency that will not be shared because they are a “personnel matters”. Convenient.

With Coronavirus blanketing our neighborhoods, schools everywhere are closed. Budgets may not be voted upon or passed for various reasons and contingency budgets may need to be adopted. Our guess is that schools may not reopen this year. If they do, it will not be for the entire in-school season. Should this prediction come to fruition, repair work for the mansion should begin as soon as possible as it could take several months and the repairs can be done through the summer. If that’s not possible, repair what can be repaired and get these buildings back in good operational shape.

We’ll see you at the budget hearings – eventually.

→Guest Editorial←

A year ago the Greenburgh School District began a campaign to push a bond whose total cost would have exceeded $200,000,000. There were several factors in addition to the excessive costs that contributed to the bond not passing. Please keep in mind we usually vote with the education of our children as the primary goal in mind. Education is the best investment a parent and a community can make.

If you are one of the residents who found their tax dollars disappearing without an adequate explanation, the information we’ve ascertained and included in this article should provide clarification.

Over the years, the Greenburgh school district has neglected the buildings that house the staff and the students. Sadly, on the first day the GSD staff was to report to work for the 2019-2020 school year, the Warburg mansion was declared unsafe for staff and children to occupy. The district had the entire summer to deal with building maintenance, but neglected to do so, hence, the week before school begins we found the sky is falling and so is the roof.

The slate roof which was known to be left in disrepair, was not covered, or protected, nor was there any effort to preserve it. The leaky roof now has contributed to “structural damages” yielding the building uninhabitable. Paint and plaster has fallen onto the floors and the mansion is no longer usable. Although the district is aware of the need to repair the building, as of this time plans to repair the mansion are not yet in the works. The slate roof sits uncovered, exposed to rain, ice, wind and further deterioration. To anyone who owns a car, if you do not change the oil, the life of the car is always shorter. Is this punishment for voting “NO” on the bond: no action to preserve, nor maintain? 

We were told repeatedly that the district didn’t have money for maintenance, but they suddenly have a quarter million dollars to fund a move into the high school. The locksmith costs are $34,577.40. for high tech security locks for the new offices. Other expenses the public should be aware of includes wiring for phones and computer system ($26,300) and shades for the director’s office ($8,652). The list is long and may eventually exceed $300,000!

In the interim, the administrative staff has moved to Woodlands High School. This is supposed to be a temporary move, but a price tag so far of $267,346.79 makes us question the fiscal responsibility of making this a temporary move. How can the district find money to repair the roof? Has the school district been spending money in this reckless manner all along, instead of maintaining the buildings?

As a taxpayer eager to support the education of our children, I find the lack of maintaining the district office and surrounding schools appalling. Let’s stop the wasteful spending.

School Board Questioned On Spending, Denies Tenure

At a previous Greenburgh School Board (GSD) meeting, there was a discussion of temporary construction fixes that would be needed at the Woodlands High School for those staff members who moved there from the Mansion. The operative word is “temporary.” In fact, GSD Board members asked the administration and Michael Falcone, the Director of Facilities, for a tour of the Woodlands High School. They wanted to see for themselves how $247,000 was being spent on “temporary” fixes.

Two School Board meetings ago, the public had been inquisitive. By asking the right questions, we learned that there was quite a bit of unused funds available for repairs that could be moved and used for repairs. Once the discovery of funds was broached, the Board decided to go to Executive Session.  

With a walk-through finally scheduled on December 13, 2019, about a dozen or so Board members and members of the public were escorted through the high school and were shown various spaces that were to be used for “temporary” occupation by the staff that relocated from the Mansion and mostly to the high school. 

During this temporary move tour, Assistant Superintendent Mary O’Neil repeatedly stated that as a temporary location, they couldn't know how long preparation could take. Each instance that was mentioned about the temporary move, prompted Ms O'Neil to seemingly add more time to the length of time the administration would stay in the high school, stating it could take up to two years before the Mansion, vacated under Superintendent Chase's say-so, could be remediated and returned to use. Most of us got the impression that they were not discussing anything as temporary.

At the most recent School Board meeting, one taxpayer/resident stated that since there were adequate funds within this years budget to fund the move out of the mansion, the budget should be frozen at the current level and that same amount of money should be devoted to capital repairs in next years budget. It’s interesting that there was enough money to fund the move but during the entire Consolidation Bond push by Dr Chase, Terry Williams and David Warner we were constantly told there was no money to do repairs. Then we learned that there was money! Why the subterfuge?

Another resident questioned how they could have spent $247,000 dollars moving the Administration staff out of the mansion? The same resident asked why it cost $7000 to paint the Principals office. Finally, Mr Falcone was asked if the Mansion has been adequately winterized so the pipes don’t freeze? Mr Falcone responded that the cost to paint the principals office included eight rooms and was done by a contractor who is paid by the hour. It seems contractors are used for almost everything that is done at the schools – probably the most expensive way to go for repairs. Mr Falcone did say the Mansion has heat and is okay in that regard. Are we are fully heating an unoccupied building and for how long?

In fact, in questioning Mr Falcone about a maintenance staff, we learned that there is only one person in that position and he could use more people. He also stated that he is teaching this person the various systems. Consequently, he can only get so much done during the course of a day. If Mr Falcone, and more importantly the District schools, need maintenance people, why is the School District not hiring them? 

Also at this same meeting, another resident brought to light that during the Consolidation Bond initiative the public was told of the horrible conditions of our school buildings. After the bond was defeated, the public is still waiting to learn of the plan to proceed with repairs to those buildings. Rather than be forthcoming and address that, Dr Chase sought to dramatize the need to move out of the mansion because of a leaking roof, stating it was unsafe and uninhabitable. Yet after jettisoning the Early Childhood Classes to the Jackson School, the staff continued to work in the Mansion for another month! So what is the real condition of the Mansion, how badly does it need repair and why is nothing – once again – being done to retard further deterioration and repair the building? 

One resident asked for several clarifications. The first was of a rumor that Dr Chase was under investigation and if so, for what? The second was why are there signs in RJ Bailey School instructing students not to drink the water? Third, how many meetings has Dr Valenti missed as he was presented for tenure that night was not present? We’d think that for such an important milestone he would have been present! Fourth, when were the roof repairs going to be done? Finally, and most importantly, what is the plan for improving the low scores of our students based on the middle school assessments?

A PTA President asked why has the PTA been asked to help fund school field trips? The resident asked because there appears to be grant monies available that only the district can access. Is there a budget for school field trips? And why is there junk behind one of the schools? The common theme here is that so many questions are being asked over and over again by residents without concrete answers being provided by either the Superintendent or those elected to represent us. While the Superintendent and some on this Board still mistakenly believe that they Bond failed because they failed to adequately present their consolidation case to the public, that’s definitely not the case. The residents spoke very clearly but they still aren’t listening. It’s important to understand what the Boards actions, not words, are showing us.

The Government Relations Committee reported that they will draft a letter to Paul Feiner regarding the need to avoid removing any taxable parcels of land from the tax rolls when the Police Headquarters and Town Court are moved. Removing a large parcel from the tax roles would have a negative impact upon taxes received by the school district. What they are really saying is that the proposed bond that Mr Feiner will be pushing soon to replace the Police Station and Courthouse for $49 million dollars will have a negative impact on the community. But they didn’t have any qualms about proposing the $114 million dollar Consolidation Bond, did they?

There were other items discussed at this latest meeting. But between the High School walk-through and the the Board meetings, we see more duplicity than honesty. For instance, a large band rehearsal room is to be converted into a new office for the principal so he can meet with students and families privately. Mr Falcone said they would be building several walls to divide the space. A resident asked why folding walls would not be used since this was a temporary solution? We were told the Principal needs soundproof walls for privacy. During our walk-through, we saw many rooms that could be set up and used for meetings, temporarily, if privacy was truly the goal. Or, he could ask another employee to adjust their schedule to permit their office to be used for a meeting. Again, this is temporary fix, isn't it? When asked to see plans for this temporary office, Ms O'Neil said the process is that it goes out to bid, plans are drawn up and then the process continues. It was suggested that they have it backwards. Draw up plans (non-architectural would be fine), present it to the public, and then proceed. Perhaps there‘s a resident who is an architect and willing to donate plans at no cost to the district?

What we were being shown was not a temporary fix. No timeline or proposals for repairs have been offered. There was some good news at the last School Board meeting. In one very significant and positive move, the Board voted three to two against granting tenure to Dr Valenti. This Board and the Administration that works for them may be starting to listen to the residents and taxpayers. This vote against tenure for Dr Valenti is promising, a sign that necessary changes are starting to occur. This Board has to change or be changed. Only then will we get A Better Greenburgh School District.

Using Deceit To Advance A Vision

In trying to follow the Greenburgh Central School Board’s efforts, we go to the district website that houses the agendas and minutes for the Board’s meetings. While some information can be gleaned from the site, there seems to be more missing than included. For instance, when we read the minutes of the Treasurer’s report, it simply says the treasurer’s report was accepted without any dollar figures provided. This is but one example of the information missing from the minutes. As we were seeking to confirm something we had heard and posted in a March 24th article (soon after the school bond’s defeat), we began digging for information on Superintendent Chase’s and the Board’s desire to look into floating another bond referendum for a new grades 3-8 building and school campus consolidation. We could not find the information we sought other than they believed they incorrectly communicated the plan to the public and that’s why it was defeated. If they meant that they lied by omission, left pertinent information out and contradicted the NYS Board of Ed website’s information, then they were finally correct. Simply, it was way too much money for the District taxpayers to afford!

When we reported our concern about another bond referendum, that concern was quickly dismissed as untrue. But in the April 11, 2019 minutes, it was right there in black and white. See the red arrow in the image below pointing to David Warner, who detailed their next move to hire and work with the company ThoughtExchange(com). ThoughtExchange is a well-established company that provides an on-line platform to obtain opinions from the community. They have been known to facilitate planning leading to success of large bond offerings. In discussing this company, a staffer referred to them by saying, “It sounds more like Thought Control.” Make no mistake, this appears to be the strategy of Dr Chase, Terry Williams and David Warner after the overwhelming 2-to-1 defeat of the school bond consolidation referendum in March. Is this part of the reason the District continues to retain a Public Relations company?



Suddenly, two days before school was scheduled to start, Dr Chase informed the School Board that the Mansion, the Administrative Building, which also housed the Early Childhood Program classes on the Warburg campus, was uninhabitable and structurally unsound. And the causes we were told that made the building unsafe? Roof leaks. General maintenance that either was not performed or proposed as a bid and offered by a bond to the taxpaying community appears to be done as a matter of routine.

How is it possible that this dire emergency was not discovered during the summer months while the building had minimal personnel and no children using it? How could the condition of the roof and subsequent internal damage have gone undetected and uncorrected prior to the need to declare the building unsafe? This declaration seemed to be more sensationalism than fact. And talking about sensationalism, wait until we start talking about the costs associated with the move out of the building and relocation into others!

In discussing the building’s issues with professional property managers, we were told that a competent engineer would state the problem, identify the causes and more importantly, identify the solutions. In this situation, it was Dr Chase who provided the solution by stating everyone who in the Mansion would be relocated to other district facilities. The three early childhood program’s classes were immediately moved. The staff proceeded to work there for another whole month. In fact, when we visited the facility the day after Dr Chase’s declaration of the emergency evacuation, we found two workers in one of the classrooms. When asked why they were in an unsafe building, they said they were just “following orders.” How unsafe could it be?

So, who else is just following orders? The roof can be repaired and the leaks stopped, but we never hear or see a solution proposed from ANYONE on the Board or in the Administration, just the ever-increasing “the sky is falling” mantra and the call to sell/destroy/consolidate these buildings. Each time we’ve tried to talk to Mr Falcone about any buildings, he always seems to have someplace to go or a phone call to take. We’d like to think this is genuine but perhaps he’s also under orders to stay mum? But we will continue to reach out and talk to people in the district about the schools.

We recently learned of a girl doing home schooling because the physics classes she needs are unavailable to her at the school. Asking around, we were told that a temporary Physics teacher was offered a reduced salary and subsequently turned down the position. How many other students are suffering from this malady? We understand that they’ve suspended Mandarin language instruction for a lack of teachers. Then we learned that there were disciplinary incidents reported the NYS Board of Education. When we dug further, we found that the reporting and classification system has been changed and that the number may be much higher than we’re hearing! We also heard that Resource Officers (school-speak for guards) and numerous teachers have left due to hostile work environment complaints. Our difficulty however, is finding someone who will speak with us on the record. If there truly are more disciplinary actions taking place at the high school, is it wise to consolidate the lower grades to the high school campus? Doubtful.

A flurry of anonymous emails were circulated to district residents starting in early October which discussed issues in the schools. They continued for a month or so. The first email seemed to challenge the replacement of supposedly outdated equipment at the school, specifically, the Smart Boards that are used now instead of old-fashioned chalk boards. These emails questioned the fate of this soon to be replaced equipment and if sold, what of the money raised and how would it be used? Then robo calls started asking community members to participate in a demonstration at the Board of Ed meeting. The robo calls and emails began making demands to investigate Dr Chase and one of the school’s Principal. While we received these emails and robo calls, attempts to verify them could not be made so we have not published them. But some interesting questions were posed. So much so that Dr Chase sent a letter to school district residents bemoaning all of what was being said. Perhaps there is some truth in it...

Most School Board meetings contain a public comment portion. The Board always adjourns to Executive Session to discuss “personnel issues”. These executive sessions typically last for two to three hours after which the Board returns to conduct other business – mostly approval of those items discussed in secret in Executive Session. Why is the majority of their discussion conducted out of view of the public? Is it because their leadership is incapable of running a good meeting or is it because of a need to keep their deliberations out of the public eye? What would be the sentiment of the taxpaying community if these deliberations were held publicly? We’ve been critical of the conduct of the meetings in this manner. We believe Public Comment and all other business should be discussed openly first and Executive Session should be last to accommodate the public who attend these meetings to learn what is going on with their school district and their schools. That would also allow the paid district staff who record the meetings to get off work (they get either overtime or compensatory time for these late-night meetings).

Things need to change with the School Board, the School Superintendent and administration that answers to them, the public with an increased involvement and more transparency. That’s how we’ll get A Better Greenburgh School District.

School Board Swamp Needs To Be Drained

As ABG got more and more entrenched with the School bond debacle, we learned that certain members of the school board may be secretly working to re-introduce all or part of the consolidation bond. This time, the illusion and the scene were cast when Dr Chase made “headlines” by claiming the school district’s engineers deemed the building was not safe for occupancy. And yet, she allowed her staff to remain at risk as they continued working in the building, thus either ignoring the directive that it was uninhabitable or proving that this declaration was a hoax perpetrated two days before school started for effect! Why had the entire summer passed without adequately addressing some of these issues?

We’ve recently learned from our sources that all is not well with many operational considerations. Recently several teachers who were instructed to report to the Mansion for staff training voiced a concern for their safety. (We purposely are not giving much info as to not cause these teachers any additional stress). 

So the question remains, why are people still occupying the Mansion if it is unsafe? And how unsafe is it really? Is the engineering firm that furnished the report on the building condition the same company that would be contracted to oversee the repairs? Can you say conflict of interest? Or how about collusion? We can continue but you get the idea. Is the Consolidation Bond issue that Dr Chase, Trustees Terry Williams, Lloyd Newland and David Warner all favored still a game plan for them as their legacy? The legacy should be about education, and improved metrics for the students. The Board should have learned something when the bond was overwhelmingly defeated – and not only that they poorly communicated with the taxpaying public. Are they trying to better understand what the taxpayers, including those with children in the school, were trying to tell them by voting against the bond.? Fix the existing schools, don’t sell them or move them!

A hypothetical question was raised at a recent neighborhood meeting we attended. The question was, “What is the first thing(s) that needs to be done to start improving the school buildings?” The answer was resounding, “Fix the roofs at each of the schools.” It was also asked, “Why wouldn’t they just do that anyway?” The answer was stunning: “Because it wouldn’t allow them to continue with their narrative that the schools are falling apart and need to be jettisoned while new buildings were constructed at Warburg.” The crowd was in disbelief. 

Here’s a couple of questions raised for which we need answers to from the Board. First, Why did the staff remain in the mansion for roughly a month if the conditions were as dire as Dr Chase insisted? Second, has the Board considered having the building evaluated by an engineering or architectural firm that is a disinterested party with nothing to gain by championing a campus consolidation? Third, has the Board already moved to initiate roof repairs? Fourth, once roof repairs are made what will be the next round of repairs and will they be made in stages of seriousness? Fifth, what is the next bond offering going to cover? Will it be for major, minor, all or some repairs? Most well run districts float bonds every couple of years so that major maintenance, such as roofing, can be done in a timely and scheduled manor. Why does our Board insist on ignoring necessary periodic maintenance bonds? Trustee Williams insisted during the Consolidation Bond presentation that the taxpayers in the past had always defeated the bonds. Why do you think that happened?

This Board, (except for its two newly elected members) and this Superintendent have not given the public the confidence that they need to be assured that the right decisions are being made for our property where we send our children to learn. The fantasy that was purported during the Consolidation Bond forums was that the children would learn better in brand new buildings, with state of the art smart boards, lights and other peripherals. What was also mentioned was that we have great teachers. Great teachers can teach under a tree if they are truly great. We’re not saying they should all adjourn to the great outdoors to teach. But instead of worrying about speaking Mandarin or having a press booth on the football field, let’s worry about teaching and learning in a productive environment. Fix the roofs. That’s a start – it needs to begin somewhere. It’s the first step to make A Better Greenburgh School District.

Meeting Unites Community

A meeting arranged by Civic Leader Patricia Weems took place inside the RJ Bailey School as she had hoped. You’ll recall that getting the proper paperwork in order had threatened to force the meeting to be held outdoors, which fortunately did not happen. There were about 30 to 40 people in attendance, including numerous community group leaders. The mood was somber but positive.

The evening’s discussion was moderated at Ms Weem’s request by Bishop Dr Wilbert Preston of the Christ Temple in White Plains. After a opening statement by Bishop Preston, to which he humorously lamented that as a preacher, he had to remember he’s not in church and to control his preaching. He introduced himself and some of the people in attendance: Patricia Weems; Solomon Schechter School’s Director, Michael Kay and Principal, Eric Bassin, a Woodlands graduate and GCSD Trustee David Warner, to name a few.

Once Ms Weems was given the microphone, she opened the discussion explaining she and others  were dismayed over what had transpired with a student from the RJ Bailey School at a recent Purim event at the Solomon Schechter School on W Hartsdale Avenue. While she had been somewhat vague, she stated unequivocally that this was not about anything the children had done. She also mentioned that the Greenburgh Schools Superintendent told her this trip was routinely signed off on and that there was no active participation from the Bailey principal.

Someone in the audience asked for an explanation of what had actually happened? Ms Weems explained that an RJ Bailey student participating at the Purim event had gone to a face-painting “booth” and requested his face be painted by a Solomon Schechter 11th grader as the Marvel (Spiderman) character, Venom. After painting the 4th grader’s face black, he finished by painting his lips red. Again, Ms Weems stressed this was not about what the child had done but questioned where were the adults supposedly supervising this? And, that it was insulting to all. When the youngster got back to Bailey, a teacher pointed out that this was wrong.

Solomon Schechter Director Kay requested the microphone and proceeded to explain the Purim event to the audience and that they have been doing this every year. While he admitted that with the number of students there, both visiting and their own, and the amount of booths they have set up for this event, it was difficult to monitor all of the booths. He said they realize in retrospect that they need to do a better job of monitoring the event and plan to do so in the future.

Director Kay also gave an example that had a child asked to have a yellow star painted on their face that they would have found that distasteful and unacceptable and intervene as they would be particularly sensitive to that. He admitted that after this event that they need to do a better job of chaperoning this. It was his hope that this event could be used to not only be a learning moment for them, but moving forward he was hoping to invite the administrations of the various area schools to their location and begin a dialog that allows everyone to get to know each other better. He was happy to offer the Solomon Schechter School for this initial meeting.

Recently re-elected Greenburgh Central School District Trustee David Warner was in attendance. He commented that no one initially saw the mistake and that everyone recognized the youngster as Venom, the character, and it was only after a teacher pointed it out did they realize what was wrong. To his credit, he said they would address this as the Board and looked forward to working with others to make sure this never happens again. With two new Board members, Tanya Dragic and Ashley Pineda to help him, we hope to see more inter-school interaction.

The meeting started out on a negative note but ended with a positive outcome. Others in the audience pointed out different groups in Greenburgh that deal with different issues such as Armed Services Veteran’s suicides, Holocaust and Human Rights and others. The point here is that Ms Weems opened a dialog with some of the people that should be able to continue moving the equation forward and make some long-lasting progress. It will only help to make A Better Greenburgh.

Vote Budgets and School Board May 21st - Interesting Week -updated

This week promises to be interesting if nothing else. This story has been updated.

First - Racism Alledged

Amid charges of racism, was a field trip by a fourth-grade class from the Bailey School that has been happening every year with the Solomon Schechter School to celebrate Purim. One definition we found online of Purim is: the jolly festival of Purim is celebrated every year on the 14th of the Hebrew month of Adar (late winter/early spring). Purim 2019 begins on Wednesday night, March 20, and continues through Thursday, March 21 (March 22 in Jerusalem). It commemorates the salvation of the Jewish people in ancient Persia from Haman’s plot “to destroy, kill and annihilate all the Jews, young and old, infants and women, in a single day,” as recorded in the Megillah (book of Esther).

This year would prove no different as exposure to other religions, schools, and people seem to exemplify multi-culturalism. Here, a 12th grade Schechter student, part of the 12^th grade class hosting the Purim event, face-painted a Bailey 4th grade student as the Marvel character Venom. An online search showed numerous depictions of what the character Venom might look like. The charge is not that the youngster was painted in black-face with red lips by one child to another. Rather, neighborhood activist Patricia Weems maintains that the teachers were derelict in properly supervising the children and that public school kids should not be going to a Jewish school and participating in a religious event. We don’t know if this was billed as a religious event or a festival that obliges the Schechter students to practice their faith while maintaining a carnival-like atmosphere for the younger kids?

Update: We discussed this issue again with Ms Weems and she clarified her position. Apparently there were too few teachers present and not properly supervising the kids. Ms Weems felt the Superintendent, Principal for RJ Bailey and the teacher supervising the event were at fault and should be held responsible. During our discussion, which lasted about an hour, we discussed this being a teachable moment and that we could effect a change with this type of event specifically. She maintained that the school personnel should know better. 

Agree or disagree, there is a meeting  tentatively set for Monday night, the 20^that the RJ Bailey School on Hillside Avenue. Ms Weems requested Mr Feiner’s help. Mr Feiner should stay out of the Greenburgh School District’s business for three reasons: one, he offers no solutions; two, he was convicted of discrimination in the Fortress Bible Church case that we are still paying for; and three, he swept a discrimination complaint against Edye McCarthy under the table several years ago. https://abettergreenburgh.blogspot.com/2014/04/selective-racism-condoned-by-supervisor.html

The Bailey school event will be held outdoors if Ms Weems is unable to secure permits to hold the meeting indoors. 

Second - School Budget & Candidates

School Board elections and school budget elections are taking place this Tuesday, the 21^stat the Woodlands High School. This election cycle is for the $70 million budget, not to be confused with the bond that was previously proposed and shot down in a two-to-one vote by taxpayers, and for three new School Board members. There are two incumbents running whom we believe are no longer performing to expected standards and should be replaced. Tenure, while unspoken but oft-practiced in Greenburgh is not serving the public well. It does, however, effectively make the case for term limits.

Then there is the lack of information coming in a timely fashion from the District. We received a brochure from the school district last week that has cursory information about the budget but does have all of the candidates pictures and bio included. We think this might be helpful to voters. However, we weren’t the only ones dismayed by the late arrival of this information. One reader, whom we'll refer to as Bob, wrote to School District Superintendent Chase and we quote:

“We received a letter from you today, Feb. 6, 2019, regarding the Greenburgh Central School District Public Vote. The date of your letter is January 23, 2019. Your letter outlines a schedule of  Public Meetings regarding the 2019 Capital Project. The schedule dates are:

-Jan.24,Jan.29, Jan.31, Feb. 7

Clearly, the timing of your letter is not appropriately calibrated to sufficiently provide Taxpayers and Community Constituents with appropriate notice to attend these meetings. Your letter is dated the day before the first meeting! And, given realistic mailing times, it would be impossible to expect Taxpayers to receive your letter in a timely way to attend these meetings.

Would strongly suggest that you establish an additional series of these meeting, as well as discuss appropriate lead time planning for these types of communications with whoever is responsible for them. ” To which Dr 

Chase replied:

“Thank you for your message. Unfortunately, our postal system has not been too kind to district mailings. Knowing this, we added additional meeting dates to ensure all community members have the opportunity to participate in at least one meeting. Please open the attachment. I hope you are able to join us for one of the meetings. ” 

Really? The Post Office is at fault? This is akin to my dog ate my homework which would be unacceptable at every level by any teacher in any school. Why does Dr Chase feel this is an acceptable answer? It’s this type of cavalier attitude toward the taxpayers that make what’s being shoveled our way difficult to tolerate. Finally, Bob responded:

“Today, Friday May 17th, we received a newsletter from you and the Greenburgh School District that outlines details about the 2019/2020 School Year Budget and the vote for this budget on this coming Tuesday, May 21st. 

It is unacceptable for constituents to receive information of this importance to our community with virtually no notice to review and comment on the details in advance of a vote. 

This is not the first time that this has happened. In February, we wrote to you about virtually the same issue with respect to the Bond issue. 

I can tell  you from a "preliminary" review of the proposed budget today that we have multiple issues, and suggestions, about the composition of the budget and the positioning of the overall budget. Unfortunately, unless this vote is delayed, it is doubtful that you will  receive the type of feedback and input from Greenburgh constituents that is appropriate. 

I would like to understand why Greenburgh cannot send this vital information to voters / constituents in a more timely way (see below) so that appropriate consideration and diligence and review can be applied to this vital progress before we are asked to vote on one of the most important issues facing our community. 

Thank you, ”

The four other candidates that are running seem to hold more promise for the Greenburgh taxpaying stakeholders and our kids. We have previously written about the ones we feel will perform better for us. Let it also be said that spending taxpayer money is not a big part of our consideration when we chose. Read more about the candidates here: http://abettergreenburgh.blogspot.com/2019/05/greenburgh-school-board-forum-offers.html

Third (Could be Part One-b) - More Racism Alledged

We are also sure that Town Clerk Judith Beville will be in attendance. She has contended that she is being pushed out of the Town Clerk’s position by the Town Board. In a recent meeting with Ms Beville, she told us that she is the victim of racism against her by the Board and specifically Town Councilman Francis Sheehan. While we are unable to corroborate her accusations, given the history within the Town administrations from Mr Feiner on down, we believe there could be something to what she is saying. 

We have been critical of Ms Beville in the past as she sits on the Town Board work sessions and monthly meetings. Our criticism is that she constantly interrupts the proceedings with her own comments and opinions. Regardless of the validity, as the Town Clerk she is there to record the session, offer information when asked and work the ridiculous timer to keep residents from participating in their government meetings under three minutes. Since she is no longer on “Team Feiner”, it can only wonder what she did to force Mr Feiner to drop her from the ticket.

Being dropped from the Feiner ticket has happened before. We refer to it as being Sonya’d. For the uninitiated, Sonya Brown was a Town Board member originally supported by Paul Feiner until she stepped away from the Feiner reservation and was shunned while she completed her term and then tossed aside for Ken Jones in the subsequent election. So, no Board member is willing to give up the position simply by doing the right thing or going against Mr Feiner and risk being “Sonya’d”. Icing on the cake if you’re on “Team Feiner”: Mr Feiner pays for all campaign costs for candidates on his ticket with his campaign fund war chest.

Alfreda Williams, the former Town Clerk who was dropped by Mr Feiner for Ms Beville, went on as the hand-picked successor of Lois Bronz for County Legislator. While her effectiveness as County Legislator is unknown, Ms Williams performed adequately as the Town Clerk. Ms Beville touts a number of improvements that she’s initiated during her tenure. She claims many innovations, but while she stakes claim to expanding open government for example, Dial Democracy still doesn’t work (for years) under her control. 

She also claimed that she has hired professional staff. Here’s where it gets a little dicey. She had to hire replacements because several in her office didn’t like working for her and either transferred or quit. That was one of the reasons Francis Sheehan got involved with her staff, ultimately giving someone from her office a different position within the Town administration in order to not lose her skill-set. And while this person remains in the Town’s employ, Ms Beville disclosed the employee’s medical information to the public at a Board meeting. All of the Town Board members and the Town Attorney were telling her to stop because she was violating HIPAA guidelines as well as personnel matters which should not be disclosed to the public.

There are other things happening but let’s kick back and see what shakes out with budgets, the School Board changes and the upcoming year. Next up, November elections. Please get out and vote on Tuesday, May 21st. It will make for A Better Greenburgh.