THE WORLD READS WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER — 8,324,077 VISITS IN ONE YEAR

 

 

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. April 14, 2009 UPDATED April 15, 2009: Superintendent of Schools Timothy Connors presented Dr. Anne Lillis, Assistant Superintendent for Pupil Services Monday evening, who reported on the scope of how many students are found attending White Plains schools illegally.

 

 

 

 

Connors said that White Plains has followed residency checking procedures that have been used by Mount Vernon Public Schools for “years.” It has been suggested that White Plains go to a registration procedure for all students each year, similar to what Mount Vernon Public Schools use. Connors said it would be up to the White Plains Board of Education to institute such an annual destrict-wide registration. Currently only newcomers to the school system are registered new every year. Connors prefaced Dr. Lillis’ report on “the numbers” with the statement, “We do a lot of things right.”

 

Dr. Lillis, in her report said of 1,345 students registering for the first time through April 1, 2009, 38 were investigated and found to be non-residents.  In cases investigated this year, she said 70 non-resident children were discovered.

 

 

Dr. Anne Lillis, Assistant Superintendent for Pupil Services, said Mount Vernon executes many of the same checks White Plains now uses.

 

She said all new registering students with the district come through the Newcomers Center. Each parent or guardian is required to provide:

 

1. A homeowner document with the home address on it, and a utility bill.
   
2. A landlord affidavit,(attesting to resident).

 

She said that in 2008-2009  through April 1, 1,345 new students came into the White Plains district, which included 600 kindergarten students,475 in Grades 1 to 12 and 270 students for preschool or special classes.  A total of 165 were found to be  questionable, of which only 38 were found to be non-residents and sent to other districts.

 

During the course of the school year 141  cases of suspected non-residency came to the district attention and were investigated. Of those, 44 were found to be non-resident families who had 70 children who were not residents

 

. The cost to investigate, she said was a total of $42,000.

 

Lillis said that in Mount Vernon and Edgemont, (an apartment-heavycommunity), there were no private investigators used, while White Plains does use a private investigator in caseswhere residence is questionable to check residencies.

 

 

WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. By John F. Bailey. April 14, 2009: The Board of Education announced at its regular meeting  Monday evening that school district labor negotiations with the White Plains Teachers Association, after three mediation sessions with a New York State Public Employee Relations Board appointed mediator had been “unsuccessful,” would now move to a “fact-finding” phase. Peter Bassano, a member of the Board Finance Committee said the salary increase in a new contract was the lone remaining issue. Privately, he told WPCNR the Teachers’ union was “out of touch” with economic conditions in the city.

 

 

Peter Bassano of the Board of Education, said that another  state-appointed mediator would be appointed to meet with the two groups, which would present their positions and assemble “facts,” supporting their respective positions.

The mediator then recommends a settlement. The recommended settlement and both sides’ facts  would be made public. The mediator-recommended settlement, would be non-binding, and the school board and the district would have to consider it or reject.

 

Bassano told WPCNR that the major block is the amount of salary increase. He said that the step increases based on years of serviceand academic degrees have been agreed upon,  the amount of raises across the salary schedule is the roadblock.

 

Bassano: 2 to 3% step increases received this year. Administrators Agree to Freeze.

 

Bassano reported that all teachers this year, working without a contract, have received their step increases based on academicdegree progress and longevity, equal to 2 to 3% of salary, and in dispute is any additional merit increases.

 

Bassano said, “The teachers union is out touch with the economics of the City of White Plains and its community.”

 

Bassano also told WPCNR that the Assistant Superintendents (in the Superintendent of  Schools “cabinet”) and  the Assistant Superintendents’staffs and management personnel and support staff had all agreed to freeze their salaries in the 09-10 year in the district. The freeze on wages comes after a substantial series of salary increases in the current school year budget.

 

 

Teacher Union Head Says Teachers Not Consulted

 

 

Bassano’s remarks, made as part of his report on the BOE Finance Committee, came at the close of the business meeting,  after White Plains Teachers Association President, Kerry Broderick had taken the podium during the public comment session to denounce the district for not consulting the teachers on where layoffs (of teacher personnel) would take place.

 

Broderick said WPTA and CSEA members were never brought to the table to discuss the 20 teacher firings, 1 administrator and 24 assistant cuts. “They treated us as an afterthought,” she said. She accused the district of “doing a fine job of protecting (their) pet projects, and not consulting with who it affects (teachers) in school classrooms.”

 

WPCNR asked Mr. Bassano if it was true teacher cuts were made without consulting teaching staff.

 

Bassano commented, “I don’t know for sure, but I would want decisions about programmatical changes made based on an objective and data driven evaluation of the program by the administration.  This is not a real issue because there were few program cuts.”

 

Bassano said layoffs were made “solely pursuant to union guidelines in the collective bargaining agreement: They are layoff based on seniority: Last in – first out. No regard for performance or effectiveness in the classroom.”

 

Mr. Bassano said the district had offered to work with the teachers to provide incentivized  retirement, “If we got enough takers, it would have saved jobs, put cash in the pockets of some retirees and saved the district considerable money over the next few years. The offer has been on the table for months.”

 

Bassano told WPCNR the incentivized retirement offer was withdrawn in March when negotiations were stymied: “We asked to sever incentivized retirement from the salary negotiations and move forward with retirement incentives. The union refused, choosing to keep this as a bargaining chip. This prevented the saving of teaching jobs and the saving of money for the district.”

 

Bassano said Broderick misstated the one Administrator elimination, pointing out that the position of Athletic Director was eliminated by merging Athletic Director and Physical Education/Health Director.