WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER 3,374,995 VISITS IN ONE YEAR—65,000 VISITS A WEEK BY 985,281 VISITORS

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WPCNR GREENBURGH GAZETTE. From Supervisor Paul Feiner. (EDITED” January 20, 2003:Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner announced that a meeting to develop strategy to persuade the NY State Legislature to repeal what Feiner describes as ” the cumbersome, wasteful & unnecessary” Wicks law has been changed to March 27th. The meeting had originally been scheduled for March l3th. The Westchester Municipal Officials Association is holding their meeting that evening.

There is also a fundraiser scheduled for the same evening –to raise funds for the effort to close down Indian Point. “We hope to involve as many elected officials and community leaders in our efforts to repeal Wicks (which results in governments overpaying for the cost of construction of municipal buildings by as much as 30%).

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. January 28, 2003: Dr. Linda Ochser, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources reported on the teacher selection in the City School District Monday evening at the biweekly Board of Education meeting. She delivered another in a Timothy Connors-inspired Board of Education-requested report on this vital process in District operations. What emerged was a detailed look at the rigorous hiring process White Plains puts teacher applicants through.

AN INSIDER LOOK AT HOW WHITE PLAINS HIRES TEACHERS: Dr. Linda Ochser begins her presentation Monday evening. The presentation made it clear the White Plains process picks many of “the best and the brightest:” In the 2002 “graduating class” of 50 hires into the District in 1999, 41 of 50 were granted tenure. In 2002-03, 28% ( 24) of the 82 new probationary hires are from minorities, compared to the national rate of 15.6%. Ochser said finding minority teachers is a growing problem for schools statewide because the most promising minority graduates are selecting fields other than teaching.
Photo by WPCNR News

Ochser reports that the District is beginning to advertise for new positions for 2003-2004, with an eye to interviewing candidates before the school year is over because of the thoroughness White Plains applies in selecting teachers.

In 2002-03, she reported the district received over 9,000 resumes, screening 6,000. From those initial screenings of paperwork, 150 applicants were chosen and reviewed by District Committees consisting of administrators, school supervisors, and teachers. The final 150, making the cut were then interviewed by the District committees which conducted 300 interviews with those 150 applicants, to decide on the 82 certified teachers hired for the 02-03 school year. An additional total of 14 part-time hires were selected from this group of 150.

She is Proud of the Affirmative Action Record.

Ochser said of the 24 minority applicants, 12 were Latino, 8 were African-American, and 4 of Indian descent. She said the district ability to find qualified minorities who want to teach in the White Plains schools, because the trend is for qualified minorities to select other fields than teaching as a profession. She said that of the 82 certified probationary teachers starting in September, 28% (24) were minorities, compared to the national record of 15.6%.

At the close of the meeting in response to a question by Michelle Tratoros of the Board, expressing concern that minority applicants recommended by minority leaders in the community were reportedly not considered, Ochser said that all applicants are acknowledged with a postcard. She said their application is reviewed, and they simply may not be qualified. Ochser said the district sends out recruiting information to high achieving black colleges, to metropolitan colleges in Boston, New York, Philadelphia, academic workshops, and other venues to attract qualified African-American minorities.

Earlier, Ochser commented that in a meeting with Richard Mills, New York State Department of Education Chancellor last week, the problem of finding qualified minority teaching candidates was a major statewide phenomena.

Shallow Talent Pool in Special Fields.

More disturbing to the School District in its search for the teachers of tomorrow, Ochser indicated, was that, “The quantity and quality (of applicants) is not as good. We are very lucky that we attract and retain quality applicants. But there is a diminishing pool of candidates specializing in mathematics, science, foreign languages and special education. This is why we advertise early and process efficiently.

You have to show your stuff.

Only the strong survive a White Plains screening, according to Ochser, because of the rigorous hiring screening, which, as a prerequisite, requires “Demonstration Lessons” observed by the District.

“This Demonstration Lesson is exceedingly vital in our process,” Ochser told the Board of Education. “We’ll not hire anybody without one. We also require a writing sample for finalists on the spot, to see how they (the applicants) write without the aid of a spell-checker.”

Ochser added that the district seeks references on their own, in addition to those supplied by the applicants. Fingerprinting, of course, and a thorough background check is conducted. Reference checks are thorough, and are done before the close of the present school year. All references need to be “outstanding,” according to Ochser, otherwise the applicant does not make the cut.

“Rigorous hiring yields outstanding staff,” Ochser stated.

The Tenure Gauntlet

“If they get past this process,” Ochser continued, “We need to observe and evaluate them,” and proceeded to explain how both tenured teachers and probationary teachers are evaluated.

Tenured teachers, she said, were evaluated once each year, and observed once. Probationary teachers are given 4 observations a year, consisting of 2 Annual Professional Reviews and 2 in-class evaluations. These reviews are prepared in narrative form with observers recording written commentary on 9 disciplines. It is not a checklist format, Dr. Ochser observed.

THE PROFESSIONAL REVIEW FORM for probationary teachers and tenured teachers consists of 9 categories, 7 such disciplines and definitions of competency are mandated by the New York State Department of Education. White Plains added two, one on Technology Abilities. Teachers are graded either, “Superior,” “Satisfactory,” or “Unsatisfactory,” with written “back-up”.
Photo by WPCNR News

Asked if efforts to improve teachers are made, Hugh McKiernan, Principal of Mamaroneck Avenue School, Head of the Administrators Union, said evaluations are extensively interfaced with Ed House. Efforts to enhance individual teachers’ skills are made through workshops, face-to-face mentoring, and candid discussion to bring the teacher up to standards. A Teacher Improvement Plan is developed with the teacher. Then Progress on improving areas of weakness is monitored, he said.

Teresa Niss, soon-to-be Interim Assistant Principal of Post Road School, concurred that “paper is flying everywhere.” Ocsher said that probationary teachers who do not get virtually all “Outstandings” by the end of the three yearts, are, usually not selected for tenure.

Board Member, William Pollak asked how often teachers were surprised that they did not receive tenure. Dr. Ocsher responded, noting the evaluation process and efforts to help teachers reach district standards through workshops and coaching, “They should not be surprised!”

She noted that of the 50 teachers hired in 1999, (“The 2002 Tenure Graduating Class”) 9 were not granted tenure. Of those 9, she recalled, 6 left before they were eligible for tenure, of their own initiative, and 3 were denied tenure.

Mr. McKiernan observed, “You have to be at least satisfactory in everything at 2-1/2 years. Some leave after counseling and voluntarily leave the system. They are not surprised.”

Ocsher said, “We never feel we are locked into a decision (on granting tenure).”

Parent Input Not Allowed in Contract.

Donna McLaughlin asked if parent input was considered, and Dorothy Schere added that “parents would like input with (the teacher’s) relationship with parents.”

At this point, Superintendent Connors explained that the teachers’ union, and the collective bargaining agreement with them “has a lot to do with what we can and cannot consider. I do not know of any contract in the state that gives parents that input, unless it was negotiated.”

Connors wryly noted that parents are free to tell administrators their feelings about teachers, and that they do.

Improving Tenured Teachers a Future Subject.

The discussion turned to District efforts at evaluating tenured teachers, when Ms. McLaughlin asked how the district handles teachers who are tenured who have lost their edge, asking “Is it possible they can be observed more than once?”

McKiernan said tenured teachers are observed and professionally evaluated, beginning in January. He said we must see “a preponderance of outstandings” on the Professional Review sheet, and if not, they are offered district-sponsored training and coaching to turn “satisfactories” into “outstandings.”

Ochser said all teachers attend mandatory workshops, and “are held accountable for being at them and informally modeling them.”

Asked by Ms. McLaughlin if the tenured staff takes advantage of the numerous professional improvement programs sponsored by the district, McKiernan said, 2/3 of the district’s teachers are currently taking advantage of the District’s Professional Growth Plan.

CONNORS CALLS FOR CONTINUING THE DIALOGUE: Mr. Connors said that the issue of tenured staff programs was of interest to the board, he wanted to bring Dr. Ochser back another day to present a similar report on how staff improvement programs operate.

Photo by WPCNR News

Unfortunately, Dr. Ochser’s report will not be televised on the White Plains Public Access Channel 77, the White Plains Public Schools Channel, because only the regular Board of Education meeting is televised, though a presentation of two science students which took place before Dr. Ochser’s presentation, was video-taped for future viewing.

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WPCNR WHITE PLAINS VARIETY: MORE THAN MUSIC at The Rochambeau. By John F. Bailey. January 26, 2003: Jim Brownold, the debonair tuxedoed emcee, did a perfect “Ed Sullivan” to supervise the Fort Hill Players traditional Raffle and from that moment on, More Than Music was on its way! All the way to the “our show is at an end” reprise of Those Were the Days the Four Stars of More Than Music premiering their new act gave over 150 enthusiastic theatre goers a “musical history tour” Saturday evening at The Rochambeau School Auditorium.

PREMIER WEEKEND FOR MORE THAN MUSIC
Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

Jim Brownold, Linda Hendrick, Patti Rome and Mark Snyder delivered 90 silk-smooth minutes of perfectly mixed nostalgia, sophisticated banter and ubiquitous vocalizing of the Twentieth Century’s greatest songs, commercials, and entertainer styles with every minute a charmer. It was a night that made you remember.

There is the champagne blonde Linda Hendrick, in her misty chiffon little blue dress, reminding you of those blondes of yesteryear, Doris Day, Dinah Shore and Patti Page at the start of the show. Ms. Hendrick combines with piano raconteur Mark Snyder in a delightful duet styling of Cole Porter’s Let’s Get Away From it All.

A little later, Patti Rome’s misty contralto voice recalls Judy Garland, Peggy Lee and Rosemary Clooney, especially when she performs an audience-pleasing , ingenious Snyder-arranged medley of Memories Are Made of This and You’re Nobody Til Somebody Loves You. The new fab four of Fort Hill, created by Mark Snyder last summer because he thought the three could put together an act, simply cruised through the evening.

A little Vincent Price, A Little Fred Astaire, A Jim Brownold at His Best

Dashing in between that ageless pianoman, Mark Snyder, (who makes his piano a fifth performer, whose virtuoso stylings backed up all the songs for the full 90 minutes), is the emcee, Jim Brownold.

Brownold created the sound effects for the radio show bits,( at his best on The Lying Lips of Laura Languine bit.) A voice-over specialist for commercials in real-life, he supplies the fastest most versatile announcer voice, and he sings, too.

Brownold, a tall, elegant goateed performer (whose tuxedo trousers have the sharpest creases I’ve seen), performs the sophisticated Irving Berlin hit, White Tie and Tails, with the same élan as Fred Astaire who sang it in the 1950s. Next time, perhaps Mr. Brownold will give us some Fred Astaire dance steps too, and add a cane.

Brownold is also featured in an ode to the joys of dating Dinner at Eight which your Broadway reporter has never heard, which he delivers with comic aplomb that we suspect he may have wrote himself

Musical History Tour

More Than Music is a ubiquitous and polished original show, written by Jim Brownold for the four entertainers’ talents. Song arrangements by Mr. Snyder. It blends musical styles cleverly, paying homage to old radio shows with original skits, and reprises fabulous old commercial jingles seamlessly.

Watching More Than Music unfold is watching a 1930s radio program on the air, a 1940s nightclub act at The Copa, and a 1950s television variety show, like The Dean Martin Show. It traces popular entertainment from the middle decades of the last century. Think of it as an original “special” that never drags, throws something new and unexpected at you, number after number.

Chemistry

The four entertainers have such engaging chemistry together, are so likable and have such great interplay with the audience, you eagerly anticipate each turn of the show.

So appealing were the 4 entertainers’ musical stylings of old favorites that the audience softly sang along with the numbers. This is something unheard of in hard-nosed , hard-to-impress White Plains audiences.

The leading ladies voices and appearances blend like a perfectly mixed whisky sour. Rome’s earthy and sensuous contralto compliments Ms. Hendrick’s frothy and bubbly soprano. The ladies recreate with unerring pitch the singing styles of The Andrews Sisters Sincerely, The Shangri-La’s Remember , The Chordettes’ Mr. Sandman. The Classic Brunette and the Incendiary Blonde combine to make wonderful Doublemint Twins (of Doublement Gum fame) singing the “double your pleasure” commercial and do a robust, perfect-pitched “My Beer is Reingold, the Dry Beer”.

City Center Dancers Set the Pace

Dina Giordano’s newly formed dance troupe, The City Center Dancers, performed different dancing styles from the decades featured in the show. The young ladies, all from White Plains are Dina Giordano, the organizer, Lauren Bernard, Charlotte Couzens, Amanda Culp, Stephanie Kaplan and Amy Schlinger.

The young ladies opened the show in style reminiscent of The Jackie Gleason Show, (It always opened with the June Taylor Dancers , remember?} The got the audience in the mood with switching dancestyles from The Lindy Hop to At the Hop, frugging to Surfin’ USA and actually twisting to Chubby Checker, doing costume changes on the fly, becoming 50s rocknrollers one number, to surfers the next in capris, and surprising the audience with the crisp choreography, mugging and synchronized arm movements in a very small stage space.

In a mellow, casual tone.

Next, Jim Brownold strode on stage and made some corny stage jokes while his partners in crime set up the stage, consisting of Snyder’s piano, 4 music stands and “On the Air” sign.

Simple as it sounds, it worked well and the theatre of the mind did the rest.

Throwing it up there: Something completely different

The show shifts from nightclub atmosphere on “stage left” back to the radio show on “stage right,” and the segues are not to be believed. Can you believe a medley of The Whiffenpoof Song/ Barbara Ann and Bye Bye Love? Well, they do it, and it works! They choregraph together well, and Brownold compliments the two young ladies with a martini-smooth tenor voice with which he does vintage 1950s doo-wop on Sincerely and Jordanaires’ style backup to the girls..

The shows and commercials thrill

The skits from Dick Shorts and Wanda Melons, Private Eyes to Ophelia Pain and The Lying Lips of Laura Languine could use better jokes, but this is satire. So we will cut Mr. Brownold some slack on the jokes and commend him for caputuring the nuances of those old time 30s and 40s radio serials.

The Dick Shorts detective skit has Dick (played by Snyder who never gets up from the piano, and perhaps does more than anyone in any show who sits for 90 minutes), and Wanda on the Case of the Alliteration Murders.

The alliterative script lines cleverly mock the scripts of those old radio detective shows, get the audience really chuckling with laughter and recognition. Ms. Rome as Wanda with a tough Bronx accent, plays off well to Snyder’s Bogart. Around me the audience was sitting and remembering.

Linda Hendrick, not only captures the vivacious wholesomeness of those songbirds of the 50s, but she has a good gift for mugging like the female comediennes Eve Arden, Kay Ballard, and Imogene Coca. Her turn as Laura Languine, in the Lying Lips episode recreates the seductive voice of a Bacall/Dietrich/Garbo. She is equally sexily sinister and adept as The Dragon Lady in The Adventures of Madame X, the Brownold radio take-off on Terry and The Pirates. Senior citizens in the audience you could see remembering the old style of that famous serial.

The Ophelia Pain Skit, recalls mentalists such as Kreskin involving the audience. The American Bandstand record review skit was appreciated by the audience, too. Jim Brownold’s “Moxy10” anti-acne commercial was a perfect, clever parity.

Commercial Recreations are Classic

The tireless crew brings back commercials you love: there is a cigarette medley of The Winston Tastes Good Song, and The Marlboro Song. You hear the wonderful Gillette “Look Sharp” song, with great bell work by Jim Brownold, sound effects creator extraordinaire, and the Robert Hall Song, just to name a few. The leading ladies Rome and Hendrick sing the old jingles wonderfully with loving sincerity.I liked their “Chiquita Banana” jingle the best. The banana headpieces on the girls were a great touch.

As if working together for years.

More Than Music comes off as if it’s been polished for years. The Fort Hill Four only started creating it in August. Saturday night it was paced just right. The adlib bits really appeared adlibbed. The attractive four obviously like each other. Their timing is good together. The likeable four have the gifts of the hosts of an old 1950s variety show. They make an audience feel magically comfortable with them, as if they are your old friends.

90-Minute Man.

Mark Snyder’s virtuoso piano-playing and intriguing vocals, recall George Burns and Jimmy Durante, with a voice a lot like Milton Berle’s, yet also brings to mind Noel Coward and what a piano man! He shifts easily from Cole Porter sophistication to George Burns/Milton Berle/crooner style. He is without doubt, the “Hoagy Carmichael of White Plains.”

Keep in mind that Mr. Snyder is always performing in this show. He has lines between songs, he accompanies the singers on the songs, shifts from rock to Bobby Short stylings effortlessly, and performs for the whole 90 minutes. He arranged all the songs for the singers’ talents. His treatments of the medleys and accompaniments to Ms. Rome and Ms. Hendrick are highly creative, the piano supportive and holding its own, without riding roughshod over the songbirds.

THE LADIES OF MORE THAN MUSIC: Patti Rome, left, and Linda Hendrick are stylists with styles of their own. They are seen rehearsing last week.

Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

Though Ms. Rome and Ms. Hendrick capture the nuances of many songtresses in the show, the ladies deliver songs their own way. Ms. Rome plays the classic torch singer who has been around, in her midnight blue hip-hugging evening gown and glamorous, lustrous, long dark hair. She delivers Someone to Watch Over Me in a sincere, torchy style that’s vintage Judy Garland. Ms. Rome flows into a song, builds it, gets comfortable in it and creates compelling emotion into her songs, hitting them right up the middle. It is trite to say it, but it is true, you feel as if she is singing to you.

Ms. Rome’s Memories Are Made of This/Nobody Til Somebody Loves You medley to close the show simply is the best number in the show. She has the audience really with her.

Ms. Hendrick is the spicy opposite to Ms. Rome, styling with just the right amount of innocence on You’d be So Nice to Come Home To and Catch a Falling Star. Ms. Hendrick articulates well, has a big voice for a little lady, and works well with Ms. Rome to harmonize splendidly. Ms. Hendrick’s voice floats the lyrics in cheery, wholesomeness that makes you want to wrap her up and take her home and sing to you every night.

Brownold is everywhere

Jim Brownold holds the show together in a very non-obtrusive way. He has a great talent for sounds with his mouth, imitating the tone of the “Emergency Broadcast System” splendidly, and the sounds of bubbles on the Double Bubble commercial parody for a big laugh, just to mention two of his funny bits.

The strengths of the show are the stylings of the singers, the reverence and tune-perfect recreation of the commercial jingles and styles, and the clever segues between skits and nightclub scenes.

As the show develops, the jokes in the skits will get better. Only two songs did not seem to belong: When Will I Be Loved and the Dinner at Eight song, though it was very entertaining, no one knew it. But it was still an entertaining number that engaged the audience.

THE PRODUCERS: Jim Brownold created the mock radio shows and the book. Mark Snyder arranged and plays the songs. The Dina Giordano City Center Dancers cavort to The Twist on stage at a recent rehearsal.
Photo by WPCNR Entertainment

The entertainers are entertained by each other.

This revue blends well. Because all four entertainers genuinely like each other. When either of the ladies are singing, or both. Or when one is doing solo, the others can be seen in the shadow, moving to Mr. Snyder’s accompaniment, and enjoying the talents of the other.

The audience thought so too, cheering with “bravos” at the finish, singing along, and being slow to leave. Theatre goers I talked to said it was “great,” another woman said, “I remembered them all,” another, “Great fun!”

Producer Joan Charischak staged this revue around the performers just right. Minimal set. Lighting that enhanced by David Ulman. And miking by Bryan Williams that picked up everything. The cordless mikes worked flawlessly and give the performers mobility and an ease of casuality that added to the intimacy of the evening. There were no glitches. The program could have, and should have included biographies of the stars.

Mr. Brownold wrote the show with Mr. Snyder who did the arrangements. The show has wonderful timing and pace, and unlike some reviews, it built, and got better and better. No dead spots. No drags.

The show has pep, vim, and verve, zing , zip and zinger.

I hope we see a lot more of More Than Music!

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WPCNR CITY HALL HERALD EXPRESS. From White Plains Media Relations. By Paul Wood. January 24, 2003: Mayor Joseph Delfino and Public Safety Commissioner Frank G. Straub today announced a new initiative designed to inform and update the city’s corporate and real estate communities on the issues of emergency preparedness and the threat of terrorism.

“The City is the County Seat and a recognized center of business and shopping. It’s the home of the U.S. Courthouse and a large number of corporate headquarters,” Mayor Delfino said. br>
“In addition, the city is currently undergoing a major economic development effort that will soon result in a large increase to our residential and daytime office and commuter populations,” he added. “It’s important to keep our business and real estate leaders apprised of the latest information concerning terrorism and public safety.”

Straub said the Federal Bureau of Investigation had recently indicated that Westchester County presented several viable terrorist targets and suggested that the county should remain on alert for possible attacks. In addition, he noted that both the federal government and the New York State Office of Public Safety were continuing to issue advisories an indication that terrorism remains a viable threat in the United States.

District Attorney Jeanine Pirro, representatives from the FBI and the New York City Police Department Counterterrorism Bureau as well as representatives from the city’s public safety department will be on hand to discuss these issues.

The seminar will be held at 5:00 pm on Monday, January 27 at Pace University Law School’s Moot Courtroom. Attendance is limited through invitation only and is open to the press.

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey January 24, 2003: Thursday, there were such a large contingent of White Plains Middle School musicians chosen for All-County Band this year that Laura Mazziotti, the Middle School Band director was able to rent a bus to take the talented 15 students to their first All County Rehearsals in Ossining.

BIG ORANGE MUSIC BUS –MUSICIANS RETURN THURSDAY NIGHT: White Plains Middle School Band Impresario, Laura Mazziotti, a resident of White Plains, leads the talented contingent of 7 Eastview Students, 7 Highlands Students, and 1 High School Student off the “Big Orange Music Bus” last night at 7:30 PM. The large number of music all-stars, chosen by audition countywide, gave testimony to White Plains reputation as one of the Top Ten music programs in the country. (The School District was ranked Number 7).
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