September Meeting Highlights

The 2019-2020 School Year is off to a great start and so is your Mamaroneck-Larchmont PT Council!

We’ll be sharing updates to familiarize you with the role of PT Council in our district and what is discussed at our monthly meetings. Look for these updates on our website and Facebook page!

What is PT Council?
We are the coordinating council for the six school-based PTA units and SEPTA. Each unit is represented by its co-presidents. Alongside PTA leadership, representatives of our Board of Education and Administration join us at our monthly meetings. PTC Executive Board member names and contact information can be found here. In addition to regular attendees, relevant guests are often invited to our meetings to facilitate understanding of a topic of interest.

What is PT Council’s role in the District?

Promote district-wide partnerships between parents, teachers, and administrators
Support communication between parents, teachers, and administrators
Advocate on behalf of our District to NY State Legislators
Provide guidance to PTA leadership and training opportunities through our association with the Westchester-East Putnam Regional PTA and NYS PTA
Sponsor district-wide events and programming that benefits all students

SEPTEMBER MEETING SUMMARY

Our first meeting of the year took place on September 9. In addition to our PT Council Board members and representatives, we were joined by Superintendent Robert Shaps, our Board of Education Liaison Rina Beder, NYS Senator Shelley Mayer, and NYS Assemblyman Steve Otis.

We began our meeting with a discussion with Senator Mayer and Assemblyman Otis regarding NYS legislative issues that are relevant to education and our District:

Foundation Aid Formula for State Aid – Issues and Advocacy

The Foundation Aid Formula (FAF) currently serves as the basis of calculation as to how much a district is awarded in State Aid Funding to meet the needs of providing a “sound, basic quality education.” Intended to level the budgetary playing field so-to-speak from district to district, the FAF takes into account several factors such as regional cost differences, poverty measurements, the number of ESL and special needs students a district must support, and the overall wealth of a community as assessed by property taxes. The FAF is flawed in several ways. Of note is that in calculating the regional cost factor portion of the formula, Westchester County is linked with counties with a lower cost of living, such as Orange County. This is in contrast to, for example, Long Island which is linked with New York City for purposes of calculating the regional cost factor. This results in Long Island districts qualifying for a higher aid amount when applying the formula. Our legislators are advocating a revision of the formula to reflect changes in demographics, minimize the influences of politics, and address educational support needs to ensure that Westchester County districts receive their fair share of State Aid Funding. Changes in how State Aid is awarded must be advocated by voters (PARENTS), not just the administration and Board of Education. Senator Mayer is the Chair of the New York State Senate Standing Committee on Education and intends to open a reexamination of how Foundation Aid is awarded. The first in a series of public forums will be held in Yonkers on Oct. 16 which parents are encouraged to attend.

NYS Board of Regents vs. Legislature

The Board of Regents is independent of the legislative branch of government and is responsible for setting standards of education such as curriculum, testing, requirements for graduation, etc. There is a push now from the legislature to be included in decision-making surrounding educational policies, especially with respect to issues such as:

Restorative justice and advocacy (eg., Erin’s Law, which requires all public schools to implement prevention-oriented child personal body safety programs)
Exploring alternative pathways to graduation (eg., possibly portfolio based)

Vaping in Schools

PT Council members asked questions regarding new anti-vaping laws and what is being done at the state level to protect youth. Legislators continue to advocate for the adoption of stricter policies to protect our children. Since our conversation, Governor Cuomo announced that NYS would ban the sale of flavored pods in vaping devices. This will continue to be an important issue for our district to follow as health concerns about vaping are growing and addiction rates among young people are soaring. NYS PTA is also advocating on behalf of children and families in NYS.

For more information about legislation affecting our district and opportunities for advocacy, visit https://mamkschoolspta.org/PTCouncil/legislative-advocacy/

After our time with Senator Mayer and Assemblyman Otis, Dr. Shaps presented an overview of the District since the summer and start of the school year:

Staff Training and Infrastructure Improvements

New teachers to the District underwent a three-day teacher orientation with the goal of inculcating new teachers with district values and methods of evaluation

Facility improvements – especially with respect to safety such as installed fencing around Central School. More changes are anticipated based on continued observations and evaluations.

District Enrollment and Space Utilization

The District welcomed over 200 families over the summer! These registrants represent new families to the schools (often entering at the elementary level) as well as students re-entering the District from private schools (middle and high school level). We also saw an influx of UN families this year! MUFSD is one of the few comparable districts that continues to grow in enrollment.

January 2019 predictions for Kindergarten enrollment were extremely accurate for 2019-20 school year: Predicted 446; Actual 447. Actual enrollment is 14.3% increase over 2018-19.
Concern: New residential developments are soon to come online – how will they affect space utilization in our District?
Staffing predictions to accommodate more students greatly impacts overall budget – 55 positions added over the last 4 years largely due to enrollment increases.
Class size averages are at or below District guidelines
Enrollment Task Force (ETF) report and the outlaying of options therein needs to be examined to deal with this constant issue facing our district. No deadline for decision, but any decision needs to be thoughtful and ultimately up to the BOE to make after seeking Community input. We encourage you to view the ETF report.
For more information on Enrollment and Space Utilization in the District, we invite you to view Dr. Shaps’ September 3^rd presentation to the BOE.

Security – New Initiatives

Frank Corona is our new Director of Security. His role is to coordinate security personnel, protocols, and communications at each of the District’s schools. Learn more about Mr. Corona here.
Badge identification system/ visitor cross-check system has been implemented at all schools to gain entry to buildings
Communication system linking all schools to ensure coordinated communications at all times, especially during emergencies
District will again undergo an independent security audit that will be conducted by an accredited national safety consulting firm
District continues to work with law enforcement on emergency drills to provide real-time performance evaluations
Local law enforcement conducts daily, randomized visits at all schools.

District Communications Protocols

Communications survey issued over the summer to District residents overwhelmingly indicated that they want communications to be clear and consistent
Continue to cooperate with law enforcement so that information is disseminated in a timely and accurate manner
Protocols are being examined, refined, and streamlined

We hope this gives you a nice overview of our first meeting. We encourage you to reach out to your local PTAs with school-specific questions or concerns and to follow up with us on any district-wide questions you may have. We can be reached at mamaroneckptcouncil@gmail.com