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 COMMON COUNCIL CHRONICLE-EXAMINER. July 31, 2010:

In the  backup material backgrounding Monday evening’s Common Council meeting, WPCNR has learned that the council will award a death benefit of $86,717 to the widow of White Plains Police Detective Michael Perry who died June 12, 2010 in the line of duty, apprehending a shop-lifting suspect.

White Plains Police Detective Michael Perry

The death benefit represents an amount equal to the salary paid to Detective Perry during the year immediately preceding his death, and $1,000 each for his two children.

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WPCNR SCHOOL DAYS. From the New York State Department of Education. (Edited) July 29, 2010 UPDATED WITH COMMENTS FROM WHITE PLAINS SUPERINTENDENT OF SCHOOLS DR. CHRISTOPHER CLOUET:

Regents Chancellor Merryl H. Tisch and Education Commissioner David Steiner  released results from the state’s 2010 Grade 3-8 assessments in Math and English Wednesdays. Cut scores (passing scores) for these tests and the 2010-2011 school year assessments to be administered this year have been raised to new Proficiency standards redefined to align them with college-ready performance.

As a result of raising the bar for what it means to be proficient, analysis of the 2009-2010 test results showed many fewer students met or exceeded the new Mathematics and English Proficiency standards in 2010 than in previous years. Across Grades 3-8 statewide, the majority of students, 53% in English and 61% in Math, met or exceeded the new Proficiency standards this year.  By contrast, in 2009, 77% of students met or exceeded standards in English and 86% of students did so in Math.

The new Proficiency standards students in White Plains and across the state have to meet this year will be higher, according to White Plains Superintendent of Schools Dr. Christopher Clouet.

Clouet said White Plains scores have improved steadily the last two years because the district curriculum approach has addressed the achievement gap and has “raised all boats.”

“We will have our work cut out for us with the raising of the passing levels,” he told WPCNR this afternoon. Asked the percentage of White Plains students who wouould have passed the Grade 3 through 8 assessments this year if the new passing levels were in effect, Clouet said the district is in the process of figuring that out because the new passing levels vary per grade level. He promised a more detailed analysis and statement would be forthcoming. Clouet said there would be a report showing the effects of the new standards within the next two months.

According to the Department of Education news release, cut scores “are based on a review of research that analyzed how the grade 3-8 state tests relate to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) exam; how the state’s eighth grade Math and English tests relate to the Regents exams; how performance on the Regents exams relates to SAT scores; and how performance on the Regents exams relates to first-year performance in college. 

“New, higher cut scores have resulted in fewer students scoring at a ‘Proficient level’,” said Commissioner Steiner.”While that is sobering news, it should cause all of us – the State Education Department, schools, administrators, teachers, and parents – to work ever more effectively together to ensure that all children in New York State get the knowledge and skills they need.”

John King, Senior Deputy Commissioner for P-12 Education said,”These newly defined cut scores do not mean that students who were previously scoring at the Proficient standard and are now labeled Basic have learned less. Rather, the lower numbers of students meeting the Proficient standard reflects that we are setting the bar higher and we expect students, teachers, and parents to reach even higher to achieve these new targets.”

The new Proficiency standards were developed based on research from the state Testing Advisory Group (TAG) and CTB/McGraw-Hill, the state’s testing contractor, to provide a clear indication to parents and schools as to whether a student was on-track for college success. The 8th grade Level 3 cut score is set at a level that offers students a 75% chance that they will score at a college-ready level (75 in English and 80 in Math) on their Regents exams in high school. The Grade 3-7 Proficiency scores are set so that a student making a year’s worth of developmental growth for Math and ELA will be on track in 8th grade to achieve a Proficiency level indicating readiness for high school work that will lead to success in college.

Results for English:

The average scale scores on the English Language Arts test this year were about the same as last year in all grades.

While 53% of Grade 3-8 students across the state met or exceeded the new ELA Proficiency standard, 14% of English Language Learners met or exceeded the new ELA Proficiency standard.  Fifteen percent of Students with Disabilities met or exceeded the new ELA Proficiency standard.

The ELA results for racial/ethnic groups across Grades 3-8 reflect the stubborn persistence of the tragic racial achievement gap. Low-need communities continued to outperform large cities and rural areas in ELA. A smaller proportion of students met or exceeded the new ELA Proficiency standard in the Big Five cities than in the rest of the state.   In New York City, 42.4% of students met or exceeded the English Proficiency standard, while in the Big 4 cities the figure was 29.1%.

Fewer than 40% of the students from economically disadvantaged districts met or exceeded the new ELA Proficiency standard.

In charter schools, 43% of students met or exceeded the new ELA Proficiency standard.

Results for Math:

The average scale scores on the Mathematics test this year were about the same as last year in all grades.  Rapid student gains from previous years leveled off.  Although there may be several possible explanations, we note that 25% to 30% more performance indicators were tested in 2010 than in 2009.

While 61% of all students met or exceeded the new Proficiency standard, 31% of English Language Learners met or exceeded the new Mathematics Proficiency standard.  For Students with Disabilities 25% met or exceeded the new Mathematics Proficiency standard.

The Mathematics results for racial/ethnic groups across Grades 3-8 reflect the stubborn persistence of the tragic racial achievement gap. Low-need communities continued to outperform large cities and rural areas in Mathematics.  A smaller proportion of students met or exceeded the Mathematics Proficiency standard in the Big Five cities than in the rest of the state.  In New York City, 54% of students met or exceeded the Mathematics Proficiency standard, while in the Big 4 cities the figure was 31.1%.

Fewer than half the students from economically disadvantaged districts met or exceeded the new Mathematics Proficiency standard.

In charter schools, 60% of students met or exceeded the new Mathematics Proficiency standard.

Background:

In order to align our Grade 3-8 assessments with a new college-readiness goal, the 2010 Math and ELA Proficiency Standard scores (Level 3) have changed from 650 where they have been set in the past to these scores:

The Level 2 score, renamed the Basic Standard, has been set at a level that gives  students a 75% chance of earning a Regents score of 65, sufficient to earn a Regents diploma.  The 2010 Math and ELA Basic Standard scores have changed from where they have been set in the past to these scores:

The Performance levels for students have been renamed to reflect more precisely for parents, teacher and schools whether a student is below, meeting, or exceeding the Proficiency standard. The new labels are:

The Board of Regents has approved greater flexibility to districts in meeting Academic Intervention Services (AIS) requirements, essentially holding districts financially harmless in 2010-11. Specifically, for the 2010-11 school year only, AIS regulations have been adjusted so that cut scores by which students are mandated to receive AIS – based on 2010 assessments – will be identical to the 2009 cut scores that required students to receive AIS.

During this transition year, Commissioner Steiner will ask the U.S. Department of Education (USED) to allow schools and districts that would have made Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP) had the cut scores not changed, to get credit for making AYP in 2009-10.  If approved by USED as we expect, this will significantly reduce instances where schools and districts that would have made AYP will fail to do so based on the new cut scores. 

Ensuring that student achievement information provides meaningful information about student progress is just one element of the Regents’ broader reform agenda.  The State Education Department is working to enable educators and parents to make the most of that information – for example, by developing statewide curriculum models aligned with college and career-readiness standards, and by implementing a teacher and principal evaluation system that will provide differentiated professional development.

School by school data and district by district data for all public schools in the state along with detailed breakouts of subgroups’ performance are available on the State Education Department website, www.nysed.gov.

Additional technical information used in setting the cut scores is also posted at www.nysed.gov.

Webcast of News Conference and Grade 3-8 Data

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WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2010. From The Robert Castelli Campaign. (Edited) July 28, 2010:

Robert Castelli being sworn in to the 89th Assembly District Seat in February.

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WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2010. From The Wilson Campaign. July 28, 2010: 

 At a news conference at the Michaelian Buillding today, state comptroller candidate Harry J. Wilson (R) and state senate candidates Bob Cohen (R) and Liam McLaughlin (R) today warned Westchester residents face sharply higher property taxes if a plan of state comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli is put into effect.

The secretive borrowing scheme, the brainchild of state comptroller Thomas P. DiNapoli (D), would allow the state to borrow money from the state pension fund to make constitutionally required payments to that very same fund, with interest.  The plan attempts to hide the massive underperformance of the pension fund, relative to its 8% target return.

That underperformance Wilson alleges, will lead to dramatically higher taxes in Westchester County and statewide.  Under New York State law, state and local governments are required to make up any shortfalls in the state pension fund, and that money is typically raised at the local level through property or other tax hikes.

“This plan is sheer madness, and the people of New York State need to be told about it,” said Mr. Wilson, a Scarsdale resident and a nationally recognized corporate restructuring expert. “What Mr. DiNapoli is proposing is akin to using a home equity line to make a mortgage payment. It is Albany fiscal gimmickry at its worst, and, as usual, the taxpayers of New York State are being left in the dark by the Albany politicians.”

“Westchester County families are struggling with the highest property taxes in America, and this ‘DiNapoli Tax’ is simply unacceptable,” Mr. Cohen said. “This is an election year gimmick that will make Westchester’s property tax crisis even worse.  State Senator Suzi Oppenheimer (D) has said not a single word about this, just as she has passively allowed our property tax load to grow unbearable over the past two and a half decades.”  

“Record-high property taxes in Westchester are at an emergency level, yet Andrea Stewart-Cousins and Tom DiNapoli are about to raise them even higher,” Mr. McLaughlin, a C.P.A. and a former Yonkers Council Member, said. “What’s worse, this DiNapoli Tax is coming under the cover of darkness – they don’t want Westchester taxpayers to know they are about to get socked again. Ms. Stewart-Cousins has an obligation to her constituents to stop the DiNapoli Tax.”

Mr. Wilson said that, based on the best available information, he estimates that under the DiNapoli scheme:

1.       In just the first six years, the State will borrow over $4.5 billion, and local governments will be able to borrow in excess of $6 billion, totaling roughly $11 billion in actual or potential borrowing. Because the most recent version of the plan is an indefinite program, this massive borrowing will only grow in later years;

2.      The associated interest expense, assuming the midpoint of the publicly stated range, or 5%, will be in excess of $3 billion for the state and local municipalities combined;

3.      Over the next six years, the pension contributions of state and local governments will roughly triple — even assuming heroic but unlikely performance in the markets. For the average New York household, their share of these pension contribution costs will increase from just over $500 per household to over $1,800 per household – a $1,300 DiNapoli tax for every household outside New York City.

4.      It has been reported that these scenarios are based on the State Comptroller’s expectation that pension returns going forward will mirror returns from the period after the 1987 market crash. If those reports are correct, based on the current portfolio mix of the pension fund, the Dow Jones Industrial Average would have to hit 80,000 by 2022. If, instead, the Fund is basing its projections on its current, but also overly aggressive, 8% return assumption, then the Dow would have to hit nearly 30,000 by 2022. Both of these return scenarios dramatically exceed recent history and the expectations of professional investors. This enormous disparity highlights how important the Comptroller’s assumptions are to the policy debate, and he should provide transparency so that voters can evaluate exactly what he is proposing.

5. Mr. DiNapoli’s sole defense is that his plan is a “smoothing” plan that creates reserve accounts in good times. Yet two facts underscore why this defense is misleading:

a)      Under Mr. DiNapoli’s own projections, these reserve accounts don’t come into being for at least 15 years, and possibly much longer;

b)      In the only other time in New York State history that such a plan was tried, Alan Hevesi’s “one-time-only” plan also created reserve accounts but borrowed a tiny fraction of the amount available here. Those planned reserve accounts never came into use, yet New Yorkers still owe 60% of the original borrowing and pay nearly $100 million per year to pay off that borrowing. As unsuccessful as the Hevesi plan was, Mr. DiNapoli incredibly is seeking to expand it by 20 times or more – creating the largest Ponzi scheme in New York State history.

“‘The DiNapoli Tax’ can be stopped in its tracks if the taxpayers of New York State demand it,” Mr. Wilson continued. “That’s why I am so pleased that Liam McLaughlin and Bob Cohen are here today to alert their constituents to this secretive plan.  Every time Albany kicks the can down the road like this, it makes our taxes go up and our situation grow worse.”

Mr. Wilson further said that, “given the lack of transparency provided by the comptroller on key assumptions surrounding this pension borrowing plan, we are limited in our ability to exhaustively analyze it, but based on our best estimates and the best available information, we believe the Comptroller is walking New York State into a fiscal disaster. We first raised this issue well over a month ago, and the Comptroller has yet to come clean with New Yorkers on his assumptions. We await him living up to his responsibilities to taxpayers.

“I also challenge Mr. DiNapoli to show us other scenarios his office has run so we can see what happens to the Pension Fund if returns don’t mirror the best span the Fund has had,” Mr. Wilson continued. “For example, what happens if the Fund experiences returns similar to the last 10 years? Where is the responsible analysis, honest accounting and prudent management of our State Pension Fund?  It’s Mr. DiNapoli’s job to do these analyses, but he is either asleep at the switch or hiding the truth about this plan from the public.” 

Mr. Wilson said the unelected incumbent state comptroller, who first proposed the controversial Pension borrowing scheme in May 2009, needs to explain this questionable borrowing plan to the public.  Mr. Wilson specifically urged him to make clear exactly:

·         How much will be borrowed over the next 6 years, both by the state government and by local governments?;

·         How much interest expense will that borrowing cost NY taxpayers?;

·         How large will the contribution levels be in future years?, and  

·         How much worse will these problems be under more realistic market scenarios?

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WPCNR CAMPAIGN 2010. From Westchester County Board of Elections. July 25, 2010 UPDATED July 26, 2010. UPDATED 1:50 P.M. EDT (UPDATED COPY IN ITALICS):

Voters in Westchester County will see new optical scan voting machines at their polling places when they go to vote in the 2010 September Primary Election and November General Election.

City Clerk Ann McPherson confirmed to WPCNR Monday morning that the levered voting machines used for decades will no longer be used in White Plains polling places beginning with the September primaries. The optical scanners will be used in the congressional elections in November.

McPherson said the city has just received instrucitonal materials from Westchester County, and is devising a plan to educate White Plains citizens on the use of the machines, but that it has not been finalized yet.

These machines will replace the old lever machines, which will no longer be used in elections conducted by the Westchester County Board of Elections.

The White Plains Election poll worker who told us of this switch to the optical scanner describes the process this way:

I am a poll worker.  We have received training on the new machine.  Some of us, myself included, were also trained on the “Plan B” machine.  They may look the same superficially, but their operations are entirely different.  With the  ImageCast system the voter will be given a ballot and directed to a kiosk to mark it like an S.A.T. test and then take it over to the machine and feed it in. 

The scanner will verify that the ballot has been marked correctly (by which I DON’T mean that you have voted for the correct candidates), and then drop the ballot into a locked box. (It also tallies your votes.)  If the machine detects and error it can return the ballot, at which point you go back to the sign-in table and get a fresh one, but three strikes and you’re out.

Voting on the ImageCast is easy:

• • Upon arrival at the polling place, the voter will check in with the Election Inspectors at the proper election district and sign his/her name in the poll roster book, as usual.
  
  
  
• Next, the voter will be given a paper ballot and a privacy folder and will be directed to a voting booth that will provide the voter with a private location within which he/she can mark the ballot with a marking pen that is provided.
  
  
  
• Finally, the voter will go to the voting machine and feed the ballot into the scanner, which reads the votes and drops the ballot into a secure metal box.
  

In addition to the optical scan voting machines, every polling place will be equipped with a Ballot Marking Device (BMD) voting machine. This machine gives those individuals who are unable to physically mark their ballots the opportunity to vote at the polling place. An Election Inspector will activate the BMD for the voter and audio/visual instructions will then guide the voter through the process.

White Plains
Westchester County Center
Thursday, Sept. 9, 7 – 9 p.m
Sunday, Oct. 3 1 – 3 p.m.

Bedford
Fox Lane High School
Thursday, July 29, 7 – 9 p.m.

You can read and print the flyer for additional information.

If you cannot attend one of these forums, you can:

• watch our Powerpoint presentation
  
• view the Vote NY video demonstration in English
  
• view the Vote NY vidoe dmeonstration in Spanish