March 11, 2010

To the Editor,

The Bedford Central School District In Focus Committee would like to extend a sincere THANK YOU to all of our fellow community members for joining in the three community engagement forums this past week. 

Attendees represented many facets of our community from both the general public and from our schools. Each of the "interactive workshops" developed its own unique character as it got underway. An array of ideas and topics was discussed throughout the three sessions as we all listened to and learned from one another. The In Focus Committee is now working with Unicom Arc, the educational research firm, to cull the data and assemble all of the information that was collected. Going forward, this information will be used as the district makes near term and long range plans for the future.

The In Focus engagement sessions were part of a larger, ongoing process that included initial focus groups, telephone interviews of over 500 citizens and a survey that will be available online on Monday March 15th at the district website for the entire community's response. Please visit the district website, www.bcsdny.org, to participate in the online survey.

This was "first of its kind" for our school district and we are very excited to have participated in these initial forums for open dialogue about our educational priorities and goals in Bedford Central. We believe this endeavor was a great success and hope that this is just the beginning!

A formal presentation by Dr. Rod Wright, President of Unicom Arc and the In Focus Committee will be made to the Bedford Central School Board on March 24th at 8:15 pm in the Little Theater at Fox Lane Middle School. Please join us there or tune in to Channel 18 or Live Streaming Video on the Bedford Central website, www.bcsdny.org.

We look forward to seeing you.

Paul Alcorn

Marianne Delaney

Suzanne Grant

Chloe Le Comte

Mary Kay Barton

Paula Desperito

Barbara Grossman

William Sandoval

Alison Boak

Susan Elion Wollin

Peter Haskell

Amal Shady

Suzanne Burger

Kathleen Feeney

Jere Hochman

Ezra Siegal

Robert Cooper

Luz Flores

Carole LaColla

Adam Yuro

Joe Damore

Zbynek Gold