What happened at this week’s Board of Ed Meeting?
Didn’t want to sit through the meeting? Don’t feel like an outsider, just read the Insider.
2025-2026 staffing recommendations
Proposed 2025-2026 school calendar
No cell phones in school?
Plus more
BY DEBORAH SKOLNIK
Monday evening’s Board of Education meeting looked mostly to the near future, as the administration rolled out its staffing recommendations for the next school year. “This presentation tonight reflects the administration’s request for the staffing believed to deliver programmatically the educational experience which is reflective of our mission for goals of our mission and goals for our students, as outlined in our strategic plan,” said Board President Suzie Hahn. She noted that a more detailed financial analysis of how these staffing requests fit in with the overall budget is scheduled for next Monday.
A vision and a mission
Superintendent Dr. Drew Patrick spoke next, introducing a slide that described both the school’s vision statement and its mission statement.
Have a look Superintendent Drew Patrick outlined our district’s ideals and hopes.
A subsequent slide illustrated the essential work and organizational structure of the school district. “The three spheres communicate the critical functions of our work, with students and student learning situated in the center of it all,” he said, praising the community’s commitment to establishing an instructional program that meets our children’s needs.
Spheres of influence A simplified illustration of how our district is organized.
Dollars and sense
Dr. Patrick soon after provided insight on how the budget process unfolds, from initial deliberations to the final budget and vote.
Right on the money Superintendent Patrick gave an overview of the budget process and a timeline of key discussions (above and below).
Talk it over. Budget discussions will continue through March, with the Board of Ed adopting the budget on April 7th.
Assistant Superintendent for Business Andrew Lennon (give title) picked up the thread of the conversation. “The budget is essentially an estimate of the funds necessary to operate our schools and all of the related programs that go along with them. Ultimately, we must present the community with a balanced budget that matches the estimated costs with the fiscal resources available to use,” Mr. Lennon said.
A balancing act The district isn’t remotely teetering on the edge of insolvency, but must spend prudently.
For fiscal context, Lennon explained that a 1% increase over the 2024-25 school budget would work out to roughly $1.85 million more dollars of funding needed. A 1% increase in the tax levy would equate to $1.7 million raised through property taxes. At present, the administration is estimating the tax cap will be between 3.1% and 3.6%, representing a permitted levy growth of $5.3 million to $6.1 million.
Unsurprisingly, the largest parts of the district’s budget is staff salaries and wages, followed by pension benefits for non-certified and certified staff, estimated to increase by $250,000 and $425,000, respectively. Another expense related to staffing is the self-funded health insurance plan. Other factors that may impact budgeting is negotiations with managers and district staff as well as the clerical unit, since the district’s agreements with them will expire at the end of this year.
Fortunately, Governor Hochul’s new budget proposal for the upcoming year, there will be a minimum 2% increase to foundation aid to all districts, which works out to roughly $75,000 extra funding coming Scarsdale’s way.
What’s your rationale?
Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources Meghan Troy spoke next, to share the staffing recommendations. First, she gave an historic overview that showed a gradual increase in district-wide staffing over the years while enrollment has remained steady. In addition, she showed current staffing levels and how they compared to the numbers the district had budgeted for. She also explained the thinking behind the new staffing recommendations: [They] are supported by proposals that answer key questions about the rationale…we ask our principals and district leaders to think deeply about what they’re requesting and what the impacts are both financially and on other programs,” Troy said. “These rationales also involve many conversations with the administrative council and leaders…”
Staff stuff. The upper portion of each bar shows how the number of staff at oiur schools has increased over the last 10 years. The lower portion, signifying students, indicates that enrollment has remained steady during that time.
Troy then began to show a series of slides, including an overview of the district’s anticipated elementary staff based on enrollment and other factors. Among the key data was that the administration anticipates needing an additional special education FTE at both the middle and high schools. In addition, the administration is requesting an additional 0.5 mathematics FTE at the high school, plus a 1.0 teaching assistant to support an additional ICT program at Heathcote, along with a 0.5 teaching assistant at the high school to help recruit and attract candidates for the 0.5 math position. “This was 1.5 FTEs over budget for teaching assistants,” she said, “And looking ahead at the high school a request for an additional teaching assistant at the middle school. “So in total, we would propose 27 teaching assistants to support our programming K through 12.”
Don’t ever change! Staffing at the elementary school level is predicted to remain the same overall, with the addition of a Special Ed instructor and a Teacher on Special Assignment, and a slight reduction in spending in music and other expenditures.
On the way up Staffing at the middle and high school would increase slightly due to more special ed and math instructors.
Pennywise Staffing up Special Ed at the middle school pays off, the administration contended. It will save up to $95K per Special Ed student vs. outplacement to programs beyond the district.
Next, Troy showed a slide summarizing the full recommendation of staffing for the 2025-2026 school year. Staffing increases for special ed students moving up to the middle school would be money-savers, as the students would otherwise be placed out of district at a cost of $75K-$95K per student. “We believe this program is aligned with our mission…to keep Scarsdale students in Scarsdale with their peers and community members,” she said. The administration would also like a special ed teacher for the high school, to accommodate students who started in the bridge program at Quaker Ridge some 7 years ago.
Troy noted that the new math staffers wouldn’t only teach math, as they can also teach in the STEAM department. The school also has 279 students enrolled in one or more math classes simultaneously. “This is being seen in students’ junior and senior years, and has proven to be a challenge when balancing class sizes, managing teachers’ course loads, and offering courses our students find appropriately challenging,” Troy said. “Our math classes are growing in enrollment, with 20% of them having more than 25 students…another example of growing demand is our AT statistics sessions [which] frew from 5 to 7 in order to accommodate student requests.” Dr. Edgar McIntosh reiterated the need for the additional math department staffing.
More social workers needed
Eric Rauschenbach turned the conversation to the schools’ two social workers, contracted through Scarsdale Edgemont Family Counseling Services. “Those social workers have provided a much needed and appreciated support to our elementary school students and families. Our elementary administrators and psychologists have seen the tremendous impact these social workers have had in the support of our children and families. However, the challenge of only having two social workers across five buildings is obvious…we would like to expand these services…if we are able to find offsetting finances within the budget, we would like to add an additional contracted social worker, which would be roughly $75,000…” he said.
School social The Administration requested two additional social workers to support elementary school students and their families.
The Board had questions
Board Member Leah Dembitzer asked when an actual budget book would be produced, and was told it will happen sometime between the first and second budget study sessions. Board Member Amber Yusuf commented on how the numbers of high school students taking statistics classes in particular has risen, and whether the trend continued. The Administration explained that there is a lot of flux in the math department currently, and they will keep an eye on it.
Yusuf also questioned the need for a second math coordinator at the elementary level; McIntosh explained there are already two coordinators for the ELA program, the additional math staffing will be beneficial to the results of performance-based student assessments. “That’s really about getting a depth of understanding and knowledge and being able to demonstrate it in a way that goes across the different disciplines as well,” he said.
Board Member Colleen Brown questioned whether there would need to be additional construction and capital fees to accommodate additional staffing and programs. Superintendent Patrick said that aside from possibly needing some additional furniture, no construction nor capital expenses would be necessary at this time. Board Member Ron Schulhof noted that the increase in recommended staffing is significant. “I want to deliver everything, but there are the tough decisions we’re going to have to make,” he said. “There’s a lot of asks before us right now, and the community will ultimately have to support these.” Later, Board and administration shared optimism that several tuition-paying students from outside the district will enroll.
Size L There are more than 4,600 students in the Scarsdale School District.
Down to business
Shortly before and during the business-meeting portion of the evening, the Board and administration community announcements were shared:
The next board coffee, to which all members of the community are invited, is at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, February 11th, in room 170-172 at SHS.
A new school communication to parents launched last week. The Friday Five will share brief, digestible updates on school goings-on, such as upcoming events, announcements, calls for community input or participation on various school-related matters, and good news.
After-school childcare might be coming to our schools! The first Friday Five included a survey on this topic, which is being studied for feasibility. If the plan works out in alignment with busy parents’ wildest dreams, the elementary schools would be opened to after-school childcare for kids from K-5th grade by a licensed provider (not the schools themselves). The decision will be made before the start of the 2025-2026 school year.
So long, cell phones? Governor Hochul 2025-2026 executive budget includes a proposal that would require all public and charter schools to adopt a policy prohibiting the use of “internet-enabled” devices on school grounds during the school day. (“We think she means smartphones,” Superintendent Patrick said, since obviously some students take their laptops to school.) The district is waiting to see if the proposal becomes a law, and so far has one cost estimate from a vendor for phone storage solutions.
Happy Lunar New Year! Last Wednesday marked the first statewide school closure in observance of the holiday.
A solemn remembrance. Dr. Patrick noted that the BOE meeting day coincided with Holocaust Remembrance Day, marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz concentration camp.
Freedom Day Saturday, February 1, marks National Freedom Day, commemorating Lincoln signing the 13th Amendment, which abolished slavery. The date also marks the start of Black History Month.
Concerned community member
During the public-comments portion of the meeting, Scarsdale resident, Claudine Gecel, a CFA, took the podium. She said she’d recently heard that the budgeting process “is starting to go off the rails a little bit,” and expressed concern about a possible operating-budget deficit arising in future years. She noted that the schools’ reserves have already been drawn down somewhat, and that the last available set of data predicted the reserves will be cut in half by the 2027-2028 school year. “Since everyone in this room is a fiduciary, I just want to point out that this using up of the fund balance is not going in a good direction…and New York State suggests a capital reserve and a repair reserve, and we don’t have either of those,” she warned.
It’s a date
Shortly after the Board passed the consent agenda, Superintendent Patrick presented a draft of the proposed school calendar for 2025-2026, below.
Day by day Superintendent Patrick rolled out a draft of the school calendar for next year.
Students would return to school on September 2nd, which is the Tuesday after Labor Day. December break would begin after a half-day on December 23rd, with students glumly sliding behind their desks once again on January 5th. February break would begin on the week of the 16th. Spring recess will start a little early, on March 30th, and end on April 3rd. “The one unusual thing you will notice is a five-day weekend, or short week the week of Memorial Day, with two holidays that week,” Superintendent Patrick said. High school graduation is anticipated to be Thursday, June 18th.
Soon after a brief discussion of other matters, including gifts of $260.10 to Heathcote for indoor recess games, $5,898 for ski equipment and $13,650 for a competition mat for the wrestling team, the meeting concluded.
For a complete list of slides presenting at the meeting regarding budget deliberations, click here.
If you’ve read to here (kudos!) and still have BOE FOMO, you can watch the entire meeting by clicking on this link.