WHITE PLAINS CITIZENETREPORTER SETS RECORD VISITS FOR YEAR 7,017,658 VISITS! 2,098,003 VISITORS MADE 6 VISITS A DAY EVERY DAY. 63,330 UNIQUE VISITORS MADE 133,730 VISITS IN DECEMBER. WPCNR AVERAGED 17,284 VISITORS A WEEK, VISITING 31,270 TIMES.

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS By John F. Bailey. August 15, 2011:

 WPCNR News has learned that the White Plains  Board of Education extended present Superintendent of Schools Dr. Christopher Clouet’s contract by one year through the 2014-2015 School year, after one year on the job at a Special Meeting on June 21, 2010  of last year.

Dr. Clouet’s contract extension defines his salary for years 2, 3,4, of his original contract, signed in 2009 when he replaced former Superintendent, Timothy Connors, and adds a fifth year to the contract keeping him with the district through June 30, 2015.

The original Clouet contract was a four year agreement which had been written calling for his salary to be reviewed each year in June. The fifth year extension specifies his salaries for years 3, 4 and 5 of the extended contract, and specifying his contributions to his health benefits provided by the school district.

Clouet was originally hired at a salary of $210,000 for his first year.

At that June 21 meeting, Clouet’s second year salary for the year just completed (2010-11) was held at $210,000, with his salary being raised effective July 1, 2011 to $217,612.50 for 2011-12; raised again in 2012-13 to $225,500.95; increased to $233,675.36 in 2013-14, and in the fifth year, 2014-15, his pay will be raised to $242,146.09.

The contract extension in addition, increases by 1% a year, the Superintendent’s share of contributing to the cost of his medical benefits. In the year just completed, Clouet according to the extension, paid  13% of the premium cost; In 2011-12, he will pay 14%; in 2012; 15% in 2012-13; 16% in years 2013-14 and 2014-15.

There was no agenda issued to the public for the June 21, 2010 meeting when the board voted for the contract extension, according to the Clerk to the Board of Education, Michele Schoenfeld, and no news release was issued announcing the extension, the effect being that the public had no awareness that the Superintendent’s contract had been extended and his medical benefits contribution increased.

The President of the Board of Education Rosemarie Eller has not returned a WPCNR call asking why the Board extended the contract in the Superintendent’s second year, when the original contract had stated his performance would be “reviewed” each year.

The effect of the extension enables Dr. Clouet to negotiate a new contract with the White Plains Teachers union that expires July 1, 2012, with his own contract not up for decision-to-renew in July, 2012. The Board of Education would have to advise Clouet in April of 2013 on whether they wanted him to return beginning in 2015-16. 

The Superintendent’s original 4-year contract called for him to notify the Board  in April 2012, 15 months before  July 1, 2013 when the contract expired, whether he sought renewal of his contract, and for the Board to notify Clouet 14 months before July 1,2013 should the Board not want to renew the contract.

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WPCNR WATER WATCH. From the County Department of Health. 9:30 P.M. August 12, 2011:

The Westchester County Department of Health advises swimmers, boaters, windsurfers, kayakers and other recreational water users that they should continue to avoid direct contact with the Hudson River until further notice.

The Village of Ossining reported today that it had completed repairs on a village sewer main damaged by a fallen tree.  The health department estimates there had been an ongoing sewage discharge of 1.5 million gallons per day of sewage due to the sewer main break reported by Ossining on Thursday.

 The county health department also has advised the two Hudson River beaches in Westchester, Croton Point Park Beach and Philipse Manor Beach, that they must remain closed.

Results from beach water quality samples taken Thursday by the county health department were available this evening and showed unacceptable levels of bacteria.

 The Health Department will continue to monitor the situation and will update this advisory when possible.

For more information regarding the repaired sewer main, contact the Village of Ossining.

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PCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From the New York State Department of Education. August 9, 2011 (EDITED):

The State Education Department  released the results of the math and English Language Arts (ELA) exams taken by all New York students in grades 3-8 in May 2011 Monday.

In the White Plains City School District, slightly more than 50% of students in Grades 3-8 passed the English Language Arts Exams at the proficiency level, despite diligent efforts to prepare them for the new score levels.

(In 2010, 54% of all White Plains 3rd to 8th graders passed.)

In 2011, with higher passing grades to surpass, in Grade 8,52.7% passed the 2011 English Language Arts Exam; Grade 7, 52.5% passed; Grade 6, 59%.

At the Elementary level; 52.6% left 5th grade “proficient” in English; 4th grade, 56.3%; 3rd Grade, 57.2%.  

The White Plains students did considerably better on the Math Tests.

In 8th Grade,  71.5% passed;  69.9% of 7th Graders passed; 69.4% of 6th Graders passed. In the elementary grades,  60.1% of 5th graders scored in the “Proficient” range; 66.7% of 4th Graders passed and 58% of third Graders passed.

In 2010, 64.5% of White Plains 3rd to 8th graders passed the math test, and in 2011, 65% passed at the higher passing level.

The state data show that the average scale scores on this year’s English exams are slightly lower than last year’s at all grade levels; the average scale scores in math are about the same as last year’s. While the majority of students statewide met or exceeded the state’s proficiency standards in both math and ELA, overall performance remains low and the gaps in achievement persist.  Actions to implement the Regents education reform agenda are underway, with the related goals of closing the gap and preparing all students for college and careers.

Last year, the state raised the “proficiency” standard scores to better reflect the level of achievement needed to indicate that a student is on track to achieve college-ready scores on future state exams (80 or above on a Math Regents and a 75 or above on the ELA Regents exam). The Department also made changes to this year’s exams to make them more comprehensive and better measures of students’ skills.

Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch said, “These results underscore the urgent need for New York to continue to aggressively move forward with the implementation of the Regents’ reform agenda.  Through aggressive implementation at the district and school level of higher standards, better and more accurate assessments, a more content rich curriculum and a teacher evaluation system aimed at supporting teaching excellence, we can make tremendous strides towards ensuring all of our children succeed.”

Education Commissioner John B. King, Jr. said, “Student outcomes have been stubbornly flat over time. The Regents reform agenda is designed to change that, by driving long-term gains in student performance. Better tests are only one part of the reform strategy. We’re also moving forward in our efforts to ensure better training and better support for the teachers and principals in our schools; to provide more transparent and useful data; and to help our lowest performing schools take the necessary steps to turn around their performance or replace them with innovative alternatives. Taken together, these efforts will dramatically improve the likelihood that New York’s students are well-prepared for college and careers.”

Summary of 3-8 Exam Results

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  52.8% of grade 3-8 students across the state met or exceeded the ELA proficiency standard (a decrease from 53.2% last year); 63.3% met or exceeded the standard in math (up from 61% last year).


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  12.6% of English Language Learners (ELLs) statewide met or exceeded the new ELA proficiency standard (down from 14.3% last year) across grades 3-8; 32.3% of ELLs met or exceeded the standard in math (up from 30.7% last year).


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  Statewide results for black students reveal the persistence of the achievement gap: 35% of black students across grades 3-8 met or exceeded the ELA proficiency standard (compared with 52.8% for all students and 64.2% for white students); 44% met or exceeded the standard in math (compared with 63.3% for all students and 73.3% for white students).


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  Statewide results for Hispanic students reveal the persistence of the achievement gap: 37.2% of Hispanic students across grades 3-8 met or exceeded the ELA proficiency standard (compared with 52.8% for all students and 64.2% for white students); 50.2% met or exceeded the standard in math (compared with 63.3% for all students and 73.3% for white students).


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  14.5% of Students with Disabilities (SWDs) statewide met or exceeded the new ELA proficiency standard (down from 15.2% last year) across grades 3-8; 26.9% of SWDs met or exceeded the standard in math (up from 24.6% last year).


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  The percentage of students scoring at Level 4 in both ELA and math decreased statewide. On the ELA exam, 3.5% of students across grades 3-8 combined scored at Level 4 (down from 10.2% last year). In math, 23% scored at Level 4 (down from 24.7% last year).


• 
  
  Across the Big 5 city school districts, a smaller proportion of students met or exceeded the math and ELA proficiency standards than in the rest of the state:

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  In Buffalo, 26.9% of students in grades 3-8 met or exceeded the English proficiency standard (down from 27.7% last year); 31% met or exceeded the math standard (up from 29.8% last year).


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  In New York City, 43.9% of students in grades 3-8 met or exceeded the English proficiency standard (up from 42.4% last year); 57.3% met or exceeded the math standard (up from 54% last year).


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  In Rochester, 24.4% of students in grades 3-8 met or exceeded the English proficiency standard (down from 25.3% last year); 29.4% met or exceeded the math standard (up from 28% last year).


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  In Syracuse, 22.5 of students in grades 3-8 met or exceeded the English proficiency standard (down from 25.5% last year); 25.3% met or exceeded the math standard (down slightly from 25.7% last year).


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  In Yonkers, 37.8% of students in grades 3-8 met or exceeded the English proficiency standard (down from 39.2% last year); 40.4% met or exceeded the math standard (down from 41.5% last year).

A Powerpoint presentation summarizing the test results, as well as individual school and district results, is available at http://www.p12.nysed.gov/irs/ela-math/.

Background on Cut Scores and Changes to Exams

Recognizing that remediation rates in New York’s colleges are far too high, and that much more needs to be done to enhance the State’s economic competitiveness, the Board of Regents has begun an in depth discussion of the knowledge, skills, and abilities high school graduates must demonstrate in order to show they are prepared   for college and careers.

To inform that discussion, the Regents have been working to determine which data are good indicators of future post-secondary success. Last summer, for example, they reviewed research that analyzed how student performance on the state’s grade 3-8 math and English tests relates to performance on the NAEP exam and on Regents exams, and how performance on Regents exams relates to first year performance in college. The research indicated that some students who had scored “proficient” on state exams found themselves unprepared, without remediation, to do the work required of them when they reached college. Accordingly, the Regents and the Commissioner adjusted the cut scores on the grade 3-8 exams to more accurately indicate proficiency. 

The Department also made a number of significant changes to the math and English exams that students took this past May. These changes, which demonstrate the Department’s commitment to the continuous development of a more robust testing system, include the following:

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  The Department is no longer releasing test questions after they have been administered. Doing this helps to ensure that preparation for the tests goes much deeper than simply reviewing past exams.


• 
  
  Students now have to answer more multiple choice questions on both the math and English exams. Doing so enables the Department to test a greater range of performance indicators at varying degrees of difficulty. With a greater number of questions to answer, the length of time each test takes to complete has increased.


• 
  
  Students at every grade level must now write at least one full essay on the English exams (i.e., essays were added to the exams in grades 3, 5, and 7).


• 
  
  At the Department’s request, Daniel Koretz, Henry Lee Shattuck Professor at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, is conducting research to help identify the possibility of “score inflation” in the grade 3-8 test results and to propose actions to mitigate such inflation if it is found to exist.

Changes in the testing system have had several effects on the reported scores. Each year, scores are statistically linked to the scores from the year before, so that any given score, or any performance level, will have the same meaning from one year to the next. For example, a student at the cut score for Level 3 in grade 5 math in 2011 should ideally score 674, which was the cut score in 2010. However, the difficulty of individual test items can vary, in either direction, from one year to the next. Accordingly, the raw score needed to reach that scale score or performance level can change. This happens with all testing programs that change test forms from one year to the next.

The changes made in 2011 had an additional effect on reported scores.  In every grade, the percentage of students classified as Level 4 in ELA dropped in 2011, and in some grades, particularly 3, 5, and 7, this change was large. The reason for these changes is that before 2011, the tests had too few items to measure the Level 4 cut score as accurately as the Department would want. With the additional items included in 2011, the tests could more accurately place the Level 4 cut score. Measurement of the Level 3 cut score was more accurate in past years and, therefore, the percentages of students identified as proficient (Level 3 or 4) in 2011 were more consistent with past results.

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WPCNR MEDIA FRONTIER. From White Plains Public Access Television. August 5, 2011:

 On Thursday, August 25, at 7:30 P.M., the White Plains public access channel will officially open its video website, www.WPcommunitymedia.org  allowing Internet users worldwide to view the channel streamed live or select White Plains-produced programs for video on demand.

Jim Kenny, Executive Director of White Plains Public Access Television, demonstrates the prototype of WP Community Media at White Plains Public Access Headquarters Friday. The leadership and vision of the White Plains Cable Commission  with the support and information-consciousness of the White Plains Common Council, has taken White Plains Public Access from video tape to digital, to streamed city meetings on the internet and now to all public access programming on the internet for the world to see in just three years. The official launch is August 25.

Pick your Program and Watch it with just a click — from Ann Arbor to Samarkand –on  the internet. Public Access TV will now reach White Plainsians wherever they may be in the world. Mr. Kenny cautions the website is in a testing and prototype soft opening stage now and not all kinks are worked out yet and viewers may experience inefficiencies. He promises the August 25 date will be the time to see it in action.

An informal ribbon-cutting will be held in the White Plains Cable Access TV studio in the Seasons Building at 4 Martine Avenue, White Plains.

On the evening of the event, the TV studio will be open for the public to tour, and access channel program producers who will be on hand to answer questions about their programs.

The White Plains Public Access channel has been in operation since 1982 but only viewable within the City of White Plains and in some surrounding communities on the Verizon cable system.

The WP Community Media service will allow anyone in the world with uncensored Internet access to see what is on the White Plains public access channel, and view the most recent programs of their choice appearing on the channel.

The launch, currently undergoing preliminary testing is a natural development.

Last summer, the White Plains government access channel began streaming on the White Plains City website and enabled Internet users to view any recorded meetings or events through a video archive.

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WPCNR SOUTH END TIMES.By John F. Bailey. August 4, 2011:

The rains this week may improve the browned-out former fairways and overgrown shrubs of the tennis courts and the general abandoned derelict of the defunct Ridgeway Country Club, now owned by the French American School of New York.

Ridgeway green last Friday. The sweltering summer of 2011 has turned fairways ugly and brown.

The Browning of Ridgeway.

Mother Nature’s nurturing rains this week and to come will be the only improvement Gedney Farms neighbors of the 120-acre property can expect in the appearance of the abandoned property.

The City of White Plains, after meeting with the French American School owners two weeks ago to discuss the property’s maintenance, determined the school present level of property maintenance: grass-cutting and no watering of the property as acceptable to the city.

The French American School of New York reported in a statement to WPCNR yesterday said that:

“We met with city officials and described our maintenance program. They were perfectly satisfied with the maintenance program involving the periodic mowing of the grass, enhanced security, and landscaping maintenance along Ridgeway road.

At no point during our discussion was the property referred to as being “in poor condition,” nor was FASNY asked to continue watering the property since it was understood by all that the site would no longer be operating as a traditional golf course.

In fact, some neighbors have actually noticed an improvement in flooding conditions since watering has stopped.”

The city had called the meeting because of complaints from neighbors of the club about the appearance.”

The consideration of the French American School of New York proposed transformation of the failed golf course into a new central campus for the school, has been delayed for four months during a moratorium imposed by the city to consider restrictive zoning for the club that as first presented by the city would sharply reduce the imprint of renovated and new structures proposed by the club.

The city in proposing the new recreation ordinance maintains that golf courses are environmental assets to the community.

However the sudden decrease in flooding in the neighborhood surrounding the club this year, coinciding with the suspension of irrigation of the club grounds,  could indicate that this golf course over the years precisely due to its irrigation practices may have caused preconditions of adding to the water table that resulted in flooding of residences adjacent to the course.