Happy Rosh Hashanah

We wish our Jewish brothers and sisters Shana Tova and hope the millions observing this sacred day in America and around the world have a blessed start to the High Holy Days.

School Board Terminates Superintendent Contract, Looks To Do More

The last five years in the Greenburgh Central School District (GCSD) have been extremely tumultuous under the failed leadership of Superintendent Tahira Chase. She was hired to replace her boss, Superintendent Ronald O Ross, after charges of racism, harassment and abuse forced his termination. It appears that Trustee Terry Williams intervened to help Superintendent Chase be recommended to the professional search firm hired by the Board. There may have been others participating as well. Superintendent Chase then pulled her ex-mentor out of retirement and hired him as our as Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction. All this set the stage for five years of “lipstick on a pig” programs and numerous sideshows, such as the Mansion “emergency” evacuation in August of 2019. Meanwhile, our buildings continued to crumble and our kids’ performance on standardized tests continued to be sub-standard.

 

Let us not forget that it was this Superintendent who also led a failed Consolidation Bond effort. The “Roadshow” to sell $200 million of debt to build new school buildings was publicly spearheaded by Superintendent Chase, Assistant Superintendent for Business Mary O’Neill, and Trustee Terry Williams. The resounding 2-to-1 defeat of the Consolidation Bond in 2019 awakened the stakeholder sleeping giant to send three very clear messages. First, running our school buildings into the ground and then asking for the largest bond in the history of Westchester County to build new ones is unacceptable. Second, student achievement should take precedence over new buildings and is a condition for stakeholder bond approvals. Third, the residents of GCSD are not interested in developing a brand or legacy for the Superintendent and a few long-serving Trustees!

 

The Board of Education election in 2019 brought two newcomers to the Board, Ashley Pineda and Tanya Dragic, finally ousting Lloyd Newman after 18 years on the Board. We are still “served” by Terry Williams who is in his 15^th year, and David Warner who is in his 13^th year on the Board. So much for term limits! However, it seems that the new faces were enough to bring about some change. The current Board President, Antoinette Darden-Cintron, recently sent out a message from the District stating, “The Superintendent's contract expires on June 30, 2021. The Board has determined not to extend that agreement or negotiate a successor agreement and we have begun the process of seeking a new Superintendent of Schools.” (See below document for the entire text). We applaud the Board for taking this action. We also applaud the Board’s hiring of Dr. Corey Reynolds as the Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum earlier this year. We believe that a new, professional and dedicated leadership is a first step to helping our kids learn.

 

HIGHLIGHTS OF SUPERINTENDENT CHASE’S PERFORMANCE:

 

The 2020/21 school budget:

The development of the 2020-2021 budget demonstrated that Superintendent Chase, supported by Terry Williams, remained deaf to the needs of the community, while trying to please a small group of supporters, such as the Friends of Greenburgh (FOG). The first draft of that budget started with an increase of over 4% from the previous year! Repeated pleas to curb the budget due to the economic devastation of COVID19 were ignored until a few days before the Board of Education had to vote to accept a budget. It was the behind-the-scenes intervention of certain community members with the Administration that brought the increase down to 1.3%. When asked about her personal salary increase in the budget, Superintendent Chase responded that it was “contractual”.  Same for the Assistant Superintendent for Business. Teachers, however, were asked to forego their contractual increases in order to save money for the district. What hypocrisy!

 

Wasteful Spending

In August of 2019, Superintendent Chase blindsided the Board at the beginning of their summer retreat by saying that the Mansion was unsafe and required immediate evacuation. The Board was not given ample time to react properly to this announcement. The Early Childhood Program (ECP) was promptly relocated to the Lee F Jackson school. The staff however, remained there for another month until the Superintendent’s new office suite was constructed in Woodlands MHS. The cost to move the administration from the mansion was over $250,000. Almost a year later, we learned from the condition report a month later that the mansion did not need a complete evacuation. Now the superintendent is trying again to manipulate a condemnation of this building by playing up the findings of an essentially benign air-quality report. Her shenanigans are a slap in the Board’s face and an affront to taxpayers. 

 

Where are the COVID 19 savings?

Everyone knows that the school year was truncated in March because of the COVID19 pandemic. What happened to unutilized funds for student transportation, after school programs, summer school and special programs from mid-March through August? Some transportation money, but not all, went for food distribution for eligible, needy students.  In addition, the district spent money for technology to support on-line instruction and for cleaning and disinfection, but where is the accounting for the money that was spent as well as the savings?

 

What about academic programs?

Multiple educational programs, such as iReady, Eureka Math, Science Fusion and Naviance have been purchased and then abandoned, wasting taxpayer dollars. Students did not have access to an advanced Physics Program during the 2019-2020 school year, and our very first cohort of IB kids was instructed to retake Chemistry! This glaring deficiency makes a mockery of our calling GCSD, “a world class school district” and undermines the alleged excellence conferred by participation in the International Baccalaureate program. 

 

Public allegations were anonymously raised in Fall 2019 regarding attendance problems and falsified grades of high school students. Results of the subsequent investigation have been withheld from the community. The excuse we're always told is, "This is a personnel issue and cannot be discussed publicly." Perhaps, but an outside agency was contracted to do this investigation for nearly $100,000 of our money. The taxpayers footing the bill have a right to know the results of an investigation that they paid for!

 

What about behavioral problems?

Are the schools, especially Woodlands MHS, a safe learning environment? Concerns have been raised by the community and parents about the lack of student discipline in the high school, including videotaped fights and violence against teachers. Questions have been raised about the accuracy of DASA reporting (Dignity for All Students) to the NYS Dept. of Education by the aforementioned anonymous allegations. There is no evidence that these concerns have been investigated and addressed.  

 

Teacher hiring, retention and morale 

During 2018/19, concerns were raised about the Early Childhood Program being a hostile work environment but the Director of that program remains in her position to this day. Highly qualified teachers are resigning from the district rather than enduring a hostile work environment. A large number of teaching staff have been mysteriously placed on “home assignment”, generating both staffing and supervision issues and fiscal concerns.

 

What’s our future?

The Board of Education must change! Those Trustees who have been in their positions for years are a big part of the problem. School Board elections will be coming around soon. It's time to clean house and elect more new blood, bringing in fresh thinking and fresh ideas to the Board. That’s how we'll get A Better Greenburgh School District.

GCSD Announcement: 

Village of Elmsford’s Sept 11 Services

 

Happy Labor Day

 

Electric Rates - Con Ed vs. ESCO

 A Message to All:

The Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations (CGCA) Executive Board is providing you information documenting the kWh cost for electric supply paid for the last eighteen (18) billing cycles by those who “Opted Out” of the contract with the ESCO Constellation in which the Town Board enrolled almost 12,000 residential and small business owners.

As the below table shows, the latest cost (mainly for the very warm month of July) was 5.9 cents per kWh to five households that “Opted Out” versus the 7.709 cents per kWh that those still in the ESCO are paying.  Air conditioners use a considerable amount of electricity, and this mere 1.8 cents per kWh cost difference has added up to a substantial sum of money saved for the month of July.

The current two-year contract expires in December.  At the August 11, 2020 Town Board work session, Dan Welsh from Westchester Power discussed a meeting he held earlier that day with about 20 participating municipalities regarding a new contract to purchase electricity from an ESCO.  The decision was made to go out to bid once again for a “fixed rate” contract with a starting price of 7.65 cents per kWh.  That is a bit less expensive than the current contract.  At the meeting Supervisor Feiner mentioned the CGCA opposes the current “Opt Out” provision.  Mr. Welsh noted an “Opt In” option wouldn’t work and recommended that going “green” solves a lot of problems.  Although the cost would be a couple of dollars more each month to each resident, the green option addresses climate change, reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and environmental injustice.  Mr. Welsh noted low income residents could receive savings through the Community Solar program.

Stay tuned for what the Town Board decides.

Stay safe and well.

Ella Preiser, CGCA Secretary

Community Action Alliance Request

 

A Memo from The Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations

Starting January 2019, the Greenburgh Town Board enrolled all residential and small business owners for a two year contract with the ESCO Constellation at a cost of 7.709 cents per kWh of electricity.  Meanwhile, Con Edison variable rates have been at historic lows over the life of this contract to date.  

The Council of Greenburgh Civic Associations has been keeping track of the cost per kWh of some residents who “Opted Out” of this contract.  They have been saving money each month.  Visit the CGCA website and view the posting of July 27th which includes a table showing the cost per kWh that these “Opted Out” residents have been paying. https://cgca.info/news

Contact the CGCA if you need help understanding your Con Edison bill.

cgca1955@gmail.com

Don't Fall For This Scam

Apparently, we need to prepare for these phony phone call scams as there are many going on right now, especially utilizing Covid19 Virus. 

The phony phone call will go something like this: 

Caller: “Good morning, According to our system, you are likely to have been in close proximity to someone who has tested positive for COVID-19. This means that you now need to self-isolate for 7 days and take a COVID-19 test.”

You: “OK. Can you tell me who that person was?”

Caller: “I'm not able to tell you that. That is confidential information.”

You: “Right. Um... so ....”

Caller: “But you do need to be tested within the next 72 hours. So can I just get the best mailing address so that we can send a kit to you?”

You: “Ok (gives address)”

Caller: “Thank you - and I just need to take a payment card so that we can finalize this and send the kit to you.”

You: “Sorry - a payment card? I thought this was all free?”

Caller: “No - I'm afraid not. There is a one-off fee of $50 for the kit and test results. Could you read off the long card number for me, please, when you're ready.”

You: “No - that's not right.”

Caller: “I'm afraid it is. Can you give me the card number please - this is very important, and there are penalties for not complying.”

Please just hang up! Don’t allow them to trick you into giving your credit card information to them.

This is how scammers work. And vulnerable people will fall for it.

Don't fall for it! Please share this information with your family and neighbors.

Hartsdale Neighborhood Association Announces Change

Fellow Community Members,

We are writing to inform our community members, leaders and partners that our President Stacy Fisher has moved out of the area and will no longer be able to lead HNA. We wish Stacy well and thank her for the great work done under her leadership.  Moving forward for the remainder of the year, past President Eric Zinger has graciously accepted the role of HNA President after being unanimously voted in by the Executive Committee.

The mission of the HNA remains unchanged, we are committed to fostering neighborhood awareness and engagement and driving community led solutions. 
.
We are always looking for engaged volunteers to help drive HNA priorities and initiatives. If you would like to be more involved in the HNA please email us at info@hartsdaleneighbors.org.  We have a number of committees that need additional volunteers, and we are also interested in hearing about issues you think deserve attention and would be willing to help HNA work on.  And please feel free to forward this communication to all interested Hartsdale residents and small business owners. 

Like our FB page at https://www.facebook.com/hartsdaleneighbors  for frequent updates.

Best regards,
Diane Ueberle, HNA Communications & Engagement 

Happy Birthday America!

The Fourth of July—also known as Independence Day or July 4th—has been a federal holiday in the United States since 1941, but the tradition of Independence Day celebrations goes back to the 18th century and the American Revolution. 

On July 2nd, 1776, the Continental Congress voted in favor of independence, and two days later delegates from the 13 colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, a historic document drafted by Thomas Jefferson. 

From 1776 to the present day, July 4th has been celebrated as the birth of American independence, with festivities ranging from fireworks, parades and concerts to more casual family gatherings and barbecues. The Fourth of July 2020 is on Saturday, July 4, 2020.