Community Members Speak Out: "The Pipeline Begins in Our Elementary Schools"

Good evening. My name is Marina Fried and I have two children at Lewisboro Elementary School, one in 3rd grade and one in 1st grade. I grew up in Armonk, NY and I attended Byram Hills High School. My husband and I have 6 Ivy League degrees between the two of us and I have been the Associate Director of Admissions at Cornell University responsible for Metro, NY for the past 10 years. I review applications from all across Westchester County, NYC, Long Island, Putnam and Rockland. I know and understand good education and I appreciate the value we all place on education.

We have an excellent school district here. People know that, people understand that, people value that and people move here specifically for that. We do not have an educational problem here in the Katonah Lewisboro School District. By closing Lewisboro Elementary School you run the serious risk of disrupting the educational model that has made us a top notch school district year after year. The pipeline to achieving successful graduates begins in our elementary schools. We are all here for the superior education this school district offers our children.

A proposal of change must emerge and be driven by a compelling reason. There are two reasons you would consider disrupting the current educational model; 1) if our district were in dire financial need (which we are not and many have touched upon that already) or 2) if the education of our children was being compromised in any way and we felt the quality of the education was diminishing. This is not the case. Our current system is effective and successful.

Our high school graduates are exceling. Last year 97% attended four year colleges, which is at or above our peer schools, Greeley noted 95%, Byram Hills 98% and Fox Lane 81%. The list of colleges our graduates are attending is also quite impressive and expansive. John Jay High School offers 19 AP courses, similar to our peer schools too, Greeley offers 18, Fox Lane offers 19 and Byram Hills offers 20. These are two key components we consider when reviewing applications and determining how academically rigorous a school is.

In the past 5 years, 127 John Jay HS students have applied to Cornell and 41 of them were admitted, about a 32% admit rate which is over double our overall admit rate of 14%. We are doing it right here. Our schools of excellence speak for themselves and are the sole motivating factor attracting families here.

It seems logical that even schools of excellence continue to look for ways to better themselves, especially in light of possible new financial gains. With the possible addition of $1.5 million from a school closure coupled with the savings from the new health care system and the new teacher contracts, I was expecting to hear a variety of new and exciting possibilities on how the Board planned on enhancing our children’s education, at the last BOE meeting.

Besides the implementation of full day Kindergarten, no other academic priority was put on the table, because the board stated they are not interested in adding anything academic to the budget because they did not want to incur any recurring expenses. So, the result.. a fully functioning system that is currently producing knowledgeable, successful individuals in a high quality educational environment coupled with no plans to additionally enhance or benefit our children’s education.  

As Mr. Day stated, “We are a top school district by any measure.” He goes on to say, and I quote: “This is the year where we want to highlight just how good our schools are and how we are going to keep them at that level.” You do not accomplish that by disrupting your current educational model and closing your top performing elementary school. LES is vital to the educational model that has helped this school district become such a success.

We expect more than efficiency. Our children and our children’s education is worth more. We expect greatness and we have greatness here. Our children receive an absolutely wonderful education and to risk jeopardizing the overall quality of their education and the reputation of this district by closing Lewisboro Elementary School without a single compelling reason to do so at this time, simply does not make sense. 

Let’s highlight our schools. Let’s be proud of this high achieving district and let’s continue our stellar execution of delivering a top notch education.  Thank you.

For more information or to sign the petition, visit  www.saveKLschools.org.