THE WORLD READS WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER — 8,324,077 VISITS IN ONE YEAR | 2,905,611 VISITORS VISIT 8,324,077 TIMES 3 TIMES EVERY DAY IN ONE YEAR. HIGHEST ACTIVITY IN WPCNR HISTORY.White PlainsCitizeNetReporter lifted its worldwide visits from unique visitors to wpcnr.com to 8,324,077,a 1,306,419 increase in visits in one year from 7,017,658 visits to the site last year which covers White Plains and Westchester County. The 8,324,077 visits were made by 2,005,611 unique visitors who visited wpcnr an average of 3 visits a day. ON JULY 20- -2026 visitors have accessed wpcnr and made 3,072 visits an average of 1.6 visits. In the last week 33,495 individual vistors made 54,458 visits, averaging 1.6 visits. In the last month, 152,940 visitors recorded 229,338 visits (1.5 visits)

EDUCATION DEPARTMENT AWARDS PREPARATION OF NEW GRADE 3-TO-8 ASSESSMENT TESTS TO QUESTAR–TAKES IT AWAY FROM PEARSON THE INTERNATIONAL TESTING GIANT

Posted on July 9, 2015 by John Bailey

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From the New York State Education Department. July 9, 2015:
The State Education Department Thursday announced that Questar Assessment, Inc. will be awarded the contract to develop the State’s grades 3-8 ELA and mathematics assessments. The contract with Questar, Inc. must still be approved by the Attorney General and State Comptroller. The new contract, valued at approximately $44 million, will run for five years and include a district option to administer the tests on computers.

“Our students deserve the best, most accurate assessments we can give them,” Board of Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch said. “Teachers and parents should have clear, practical information to help them help their students learn. Our goal is to continue to improve the assessments to make sure they provide the instructional support parents and teachers need to prepare our students for college and careers. This new contract also recognizes how vitally important it is to have New York State teachers involved in the test development process.”

“New York State teachers will be involved in every step of the test development process,” State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia said. “Teacher input is critical to building a successful state test, and that’s why the new contract emulates the collaborative process used to develop the Regents Exams.”

“Questar, Inc. will also provide computer based testing (CBT) platforms that will help reduce the need for stand-alone field tests, and more importantly, help make our assessments even better instructional tools.”

The new contract has two components.

Component 1 is for the development of grades 3–8 ELA and mathematics assessments and an operational bank of test items.

Component 2 is for the development of CBT (Computer Based Testing) capabilities for administration of grades 3–8 ELA and mathematics assessments.

The vendor must provide test administration and test delivery platforms that can be used by computers at New York State’s public, nonpublic, and charter schools. The vendor will move toward embedding all field test multiple-choice items in approximately 22-28 computer delivered operational test forms per grade level.

Under the terms of the contract, New York State teachers will be instrumental in the development of the assessments at several stages in the process.

Questar, Inc. is headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and has offices in Brewster, NY. Questar, Inc. was awarded the contract through an RFP process. Four firms bid on the contract. The original RFP can be found at: http://www.p12.nysed.gov/compcontracts/15-008/home.html

PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE DAY: MAYOR ROACH, LOUIS CAPPELLI DEDICATE NEW PARK BETWEEN THE RITZ AND GRACE CHURCH. CAPPELLI ANNOUNCES MEDITERRANEO RESTAURANT COMING TO WP

Posted on July 9, 2015 by John Bailey

New Park Completes Renaissance Square, Dresses Up Grace Church. The View of the new park from Mamaroneck Avenue

Councilman John Kirkpatrick, Milagros Lecuona, White Plains Mayor Tom Roach, Louis Cappelli of The Cappelli Organization , Rector of Grace Church Richark Kunz at the opening of the new park built for the city by The Cappelli Organization. Workers for LRC Construction completed the last sidewalk pieces early this morning.

The view from the open terrace of BLT Steak, revealing the inspiration of old Grace Church and providing a breath of natural beauty to the White Plains downtown. The told WPCNR the hours of the park have not been set yet but felt it would probably be open to the public until 11 P.M.

The Mayor said in his remarks that the completion of the park showed what a vibrant downtown White Plains has, and the Mayor also said a new restaurant would be opening in the glass building above in downtown. Mr. Cappelli said there would be another opening for that. The restaurant coming in is Mediteranneio, which runs Meditteranio in Greenwhich, Mr. Cappelli told WPCNR. The restaurant will occupy the entire 7 Renaissance Square structure above and is planned for a Nov-December opening.

THE BOYKIN BRIEFING: WHITE PLAINS COUNTY LEGISLATOR URGES PUBLIC TO REJECT COUNTY EXEC SPECTRA PIPELINE

Posted on July 9, 2015 by John Bailey

COUNTY LEGISLATOR BENJAMIN BOYKIN IN HIS MAY 30 APPEARANCE ON PEOPLE TO BE HEARD ON WHITE PLAINS TV

WPCNR THE BOYKIN BRIEFING. From County Legislator Benjamin Boykin, District 5, Westchester County Legislator. July 9, 2015:

I wanted to express my disappointment in another bad deal the County Executive has made for our community. During the July 2nd Board of Acquisition and Contracts meeting, the County Executive signed off on a deal to give the Spectra organization a temporary license agreement that will allow them to rip open approximately 18 acres of parkland inside the Blue Mountain Reservation for their 42 inch pipeline. Not only does the pipeline damage our natural parkland, it will have a significant financial impact on Westchester taxpayers. However, he has agreed to reopen discussions with Spectra to address many concerns posed by my colleagues and I, and by neighbors and advocates in the area.

Please call the County Executive today at 914-995-2900 to ask him that the following items be included in the license agreement with Spectra before he signs away access to county taxpayer-owned parkland:

•   Increased safety protection
•   Additional resources for monitoring
•   More specific details on how the park will be restored once construction is complete
•   Increased insurance coverage, including a performance bond

The County Executive’s pipeline agreement secures only $2 million for approximately 18 acres of parkland. Whereas, a recent agreement entered into by Spectra and the Town of Yorktown for the same pipeline was for $2 million in exchange for only 7.5 acres. Clearly this deal does not make much sense for county taxpayers and provides inadequate funds to do the type of monitoring and remediation needed to protect Blue Mountain from permanent damage.

This agreement risks serious damage to one of our prized parks and the larger Hudson River Basin and leaves many unanswered questions about whether it will adequately protect the park and nearby residents from contamination by heavy metals and radioactive materials, polluted storm water runoff and wholesale destruction of landscape, vegetation and wildlife habitat.

Given that the contents of the pipeline has toxic elements that could damage the natural environment, I believe the County owes it to the taxpayers to secure a deal that offsets the environmental risks involved. There are still too many concerns with this pipeline to move forward at this point and I believe the County Executive should take the time and get the answers before irrevocable damage is done to our natural environment.

Please continue to voice your concerns to the County Executive and urge him to address these significant concerns as the Administration still has time to for discussion with Spectra before the deal is executed.

A CONVERSATION WITH ALEX PHILIPPIDIS — VETERAN REPORTER AND OBSERVER, CO FOUNDER OF WHITE PLAINS WEEK– TONIGHT ON PEOPLE TO BE HEARD 8 PM ON WHITE PLAINS TV CHANNEL 45 COUNTYWIDE ON FIOS AND CHANNEL 76 CABLEVISION IN WP. DON’T MISS HIM!

Posted on July 9, 2015 by John Bailey

WHITE PLAINS’ ALEX PHILIPPIDIS, FORMER GANNETT REPORTER, FORMER EDITOR OF WESTCHSTER COUNTY BUSINESS JOURNAL, CO FOUNDER OF THE WHITE PLAINS WEEK WHITE PLAINS TV NEW ROUNDUP, AND NOW SENIOR NEWS EDITOR OF GENETIC ENGINEERING & BIOTECHNOLOGY NEWS, NEW ROCHELLE RETURNS TO PEOPLE TO BE HEARD TONIGHT AT 8 PM.

JOHN BAILEY INTERVIEWS ALEX ON THE STORY BEHIND THE SOARING AND CONTINUED SOARING CANCER DRUG SITUATION, THEN ALEX GIVES HIS OBSERVATIONS ON THE STATE OF WHITE PLAINS, THE STATE OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY, THE NEW YORK LEGISLATURE AND THE EDUCATION SITUATION IN NEW YORK FROM HIS UNIQUE 15 YEAR PERSPECTIVE…

ALEX PHILIPPIDIS — DON’T MISS HIM TONIGHT AT 8 ON WHITE PLAINS TELEVISION FIOS CHANNEL 45 COUNTYWIDE AND CABLEVISION IN WHITE PLAINS CHANNEL 76