John Jay Film Fest Tonight
Academy-award nominated filmmaker James Spione is the keynote at tonight's festival which showcases 23 student films.
Katonah Lewisboro Schools
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Friday, May 18, 2012
Thursday, May 17, 2012
K-L District Recommends New Science Curriculum
Administrators recommended to the board of education the adoption of a program called Science and Technology Concepts.
The Katonah Lewisboro school district has proposed the adoption of a new elementary science curriculum that administrators say is aligned with national and state standards and provides student experiences that mirror that of real-life scientists. The new curriculum would replace "Discovery Works," the elementary science curriculum in place for the past 15 years. "The program is inquiry based," said Kerry Ford, principal at Increase Miller Elementary School, who presented the recommendation along with Alice Cronin, assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction and Carolann Castellano, principal of Meadow Pond Elementary School at a recent school board meeting. "That means that students construct meaning through hands-on …
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Thursday, May 10, 2012
Letter to the Editor: Elect Marjorie Schiff
Submit your letters of support for school board candidates to LisaB@Patch.com through Sunday night at 5 p.m.
Dear Editor, As most of you are probably already aware, the school board has two vacant positions and four candidates vying for those two positions in the upcoming May 15th election. I am writing in the hopes that you will join me in voting for an outstanding candidate and my good friend, Marjorie Schiff. She has a first grader at Meadow Pond and a child in nursery school too. She truly cares about our children and the future of the KL school district. She is passionate, thoughtful, considerate, intelligent, sincere and is the kind of person we would want to see representing us and our families on the school board. I encourage you to check out her stance on certain issues and read more about her here. I hope you will consider voting for …
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District Leaders Make Final Push for Budget
At the state mandated budget hearing and during a sit down interview with Patch, Superintendent of Schools Paul Kreutzer and school board President Mark Lipton advocate for the passage of the 2012-13 budget.
Considering rising expenses, declining revenues and a property tax cap environment not just for the next academic year, but for the next several years, changed the way the district approached budget development for the better, Katonah Lewisboro district leaders told Patch last week. “I can already start to get a picture of next year and see how we’ll be OK,” said Mark Lipton, school board president. Lipton said it was the first time the district had looked at the budget in a multi-year fashion, which helped them address the challenges of the “structural deficit”—where the district’s spending exceeds the money that can be raised through taxes—and stay below the property tax cap. On Tuesday, locals will vote on the board’s spending plan, …
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Friday, May 4, 2012
K-L School Board Candidates, In Their Own Words
The four Katonah Lewisboro school board candidates introduced themselves to the community at Thursday night's meeting.
On Thursday night, the Katonah Lewisboro school board and district community heard directly from the four candidates in the running for two seats on the board of education. Those seats are being vacated by Mike Gordon and Warren Schloat who are not seeking re-election. Rich Delin, Stephanie Tobin, Marjorie Schiff and Mindy Yanish all had the opportunity to make three-minute statements at the outset of the meeting. Each of those statements is posted with this story. (Approximately the first ten seconds of Delin's statement, in which he introduced himself and shared some biographical information, is missing. Click here to read that information.) Patch will be posting candidate profiles on each individual next week. The election and budget …
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Wednesday, May 2, 2012
District Lays Out Hiring Plan, Seeks Community Input
Superintendent Paul Kreutzer will host a "listening session" Thursday night.
The Katonah Lewisboro school district plans to involve a variety of stakeholders in the hiring of four high-level administrators—including other administrators, teachers, parents and school board members. Officials have advertised for the positions in the New York Times, among other publications, and hope to pre-screen applicant resumes, conduct phone interviews and invite potential candidates to the district to meet with hiring committees, which will vary by position, said Superintendent of Schools Paul Kreutzer at the April 24 school board meeting. In addition, Kreutzer has agreed to host a forum at which he'll receive input from members of the school district community on the searches for the positions: Assistant Superintendent for …
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Letter to the Editor: Support K-L Budget on May 15
The Katonah Lewisboro Parent Council writes in support of the budget and
On Tuesday, May 15th, the community will have the opportunity to vote on the proposed 2012-2013 school budget and a proposition authorizing the expenditure of funds for capital projects. The Katonah-Lewisboro Parent Council supports both propositions. Parent Council fully supports the 2012-2013 Board of Education Proposed Budget. The proposed budget maintains the integrity of the educational programming and minimizes teacher reductions, while enhancing technology education and staff development, despite the many challenges the District faced in creating it. These obstacles included a state imposed property tax cap, additional unfunded state mandates for implementing new programs (APPR and RTI), and salaries and benefits which taken …
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Thursday, April 26, 2012
Some District Voters Say K-L Spending 'Excessive,' Survey Finds
Officials say the survey was intended to provide a benchmark of public opinion on the district.
Nearly two-thirds of a sampling of registered voters in the Katonah-Lewisboro school district believe the cost of a K-L education is excessive, according to the results of a recent phone survey. The survey included 300 members of the district community—just over half of respondents did not have children in the schools—and solicited answers to an array of questions ranging from educational quality and costs to district leadership and communications. A second survey where 346 community members who were not interviewed by phone opted to answer questions online revealed similar results. The majority of the self-selected population—over half of whom were parents of children in the district—also felt district spending was "excessive and …
Lisa Buchman
9:17 am on Thursday, April 26, 2012
We used the word "some" the headline because 300 individuals polled in a phone survey is a small sampling of registered voters in the towns of Katonah and Lewisboro. According to county elections data, in Lewisboro alone there were 8741 registered voters in 2011. more ›
Thursday, April 19, 2012
K-L School Board Race Heats Up
Four candidates are running for two vacant seats on the K-L school board.
The deadline passed on Monday, and the field of candidates for the Katonah-Lewisboro school board now includes four residents running for the seats vacated by Michael Gordon and Warren Schloat. Patch reported Tuesday that Mindy Yanish, a Katonah resident and owner of Offerings, a contemporary American crafts store in Katonah, and Marjorie Schiff of South Salem, who has 14 years of experience in higher education, filed their petitions by Monday's deadline, officially joining the race. Read interviews with Rich Delin and Stephanie Tobin, who declared their candidacies last month. Yanish was not available this week for comment but but cited her website as a source of information about her candidacy, begun from her desire to "find new ways to …
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Search Process for New K-L District Administrators Underway
The process will be outlined at the school board's April 24 meeting.
The process for hiring a new principal at the high school will involve administrators, teachers, staff and community input, school officials said this week following the news of Ellen Doherty's acceptance of a new position as principal of White Plains High School. "Generally when we hire at this senior level—and we consider the John Jay principal almost a 'fifth cabinet' position—we solicit feedback from across the district and cast a wide net," said Mark Lipton, school board president. He said the board expected Paul Kreutzer, superintendent of schools, to outline the process in more detail at the next board of education meeting on April 24. Doherty will remain in the position until June 30, she told Patch. She said her reasons for …
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Ross Revira
6:18 pm on Thursday, May 17, 2012
I want to commend K-L for recognizing our country needs for more scientists . I think we already have enough investment bankers and lawyers. more ›