City School District of New Rochelle
News & updates
December 18, 2020
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$106.5M Bond Construction Nears Completion
New paving at Columbus Elementary School.
Columbus Elementary School is getting new windows while new doors are being installed at Jefferson Elementary School. Soon construction crews will move to Isaac E. Young Middle School to replace doors and to William B. Ward Elementary School to install in new windows.

George M. Davis Jr. Elementary School’s auditorium will soon receive new theatrical lighting.

That’s just a sampling of the breadth of work construction crews are doing as part of the renovations and restorations of all City School District of New Rochelle schools funded by the $106.5 million bond act approved by voters in 2016.

The completion of those projects will set the District up for a final push next summer to wrap up work that is now 97% done. The projects’ progress has been helped, ironically, by the coronavirus. While the pandemic has caused so much disruption in other areas, it has opened opportunities for crews to work in school buildings that are only partially occupied, and often entirely empty.

“We’ve made tremendous progress and the schools look fantastic,” said Director of Facilities Carl Thurnau. “We are excited to plan for the future and continue to keep our schools safe.”

The summer work will include new sidewalks and drop-off areas at Davis and Ward, replacement of several staircases and improvements to a ramp for disabled access at Henry Barnard Early Childhood Center, and floor replacements at Columbus and Albert Leonard Middle School.

That will bring to a close a five-year era of intensive renovations throughout the District. It has included a wide range of work, such as improved drainage, removal of underground oil tanks and replacement with new above ground tanks at several schools, the restoration of the grand entrance stairway at Columbus and the new slate roof and renovated clock tower at New Rochelle High School. It has included new locker rooms, bus drop off areas and athletic fields.

The bond work has been combined with capital projects that have, for instance, fitted gymnasiums across the District with gleaming new floors, and added brightly colored playground equipment to
(Please see Construction below.)
Winter Concert
From IEYMS
Enjoy the Isaac E. Young Middle School "Winter at the Castle" concert - presented virtually - by clicking on the image above.
Honor Society Asks:
Donate Instruments
For District's
Music Students
If you have a musical instrument around the home you no longer use – a clarinet, violin or even a bassoon – the Tri-M Musical Honor Society at New Rochelle High School has a use for it.

The honor society has begun a drive to gather donated instruments for all grades – elementary, middle and high school – to help update and bolster the City School District of New Rochelle’s supply.

“We want to give more students the opportunity to play on higher quality instruments and support their musical education in any way we can,” said Nora Shefferman, President of the music honor society. With enough donations, “maybe more students can take instruments home and have more time to practice outside of school.”

They are especially looking for donations of elementary and middle school instruments. Among the instruments they are looking for:

·        Woodwinds (clarinets, flutes, oboes, bassoons, piccolos)
·        Brass (trumpets, tubas, saxophones, trombones, horns)
·        Strings (violins, violas, guitars, cellos, basses)
·        Percussion (snare drums, drum sets, drum pads)
Music equipment such as stands and music books will also be accepted.

Deepak Marwah, the District Director of Arts and Music, said the donations will help
to make sure that every instrumental student has an instrument to practice at home and in school.

“The NRHS Tri-M Honor Society Chapter has taken great initiative to fulfill the mission of the organization – advancing music skills through leadership and community service,” he said. “I was really proud that the Tri-M board decided to take on this project.”

Donations will be received following all COVID-19-era safety measures including social distancing and health protocols. Donors can make an appointment or ask to have instruments picked up by calling or texting 914-434-8747 or emailing Tri-M@nredlearn.org
Cover by artist Carol Cohen, who has created all 22 journal covers.
Virtual Version
Of 'Poetry Out Loud'
Is in the Works
Poetry Out Loud, the annual celebration of verse from students in grades 3 through 6, was not held last May as planned because of COVID-19.

But the organizers never gave up on it.

The New Rochelle Fund for Educational Excellence is planning on holding the event virtually, in mid- January. Organizers have reached out to the 68 participating students – now in grades 4 through 7 – to ask them to record themselves on video reciting their works. 

The date has not been set; watch for announcements after Winter Recess. It will be the 22nd annual festival and the first held online.

“We’re creating a virtual Poetry Our Loud 2020 event so that all the students from last spring will have their moment in the sun, which is very important,” said Jonathan Stark, Fund Board Chair. “The pandemic hasn’t stopped the creativity of our school community and so the celebration goes on.”

New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson will introduce the virtual “Children’s Festival of Poetry.” Special to this event, Westchester County Youth Poet Laureate Danielle Kohn will read an original poem and talk about poetry and why she is a poet.

The students’ poems are also collected in a journal produced by The Jeremy Scheinfeld Publishing Center, a program of NR Fund. The keepsake journal will be distributed to the young poets.
Nurses at Trinity Elementary School testing staff and students for COVID-19.
Submit COVID-19
Test Consent Forms
To Child's School
Parents and guardians, if you have not turned in the COVID-19 testing consent forms for your child or children, please do so.

These forms are critical for helping us keep schools open in zones designated yellow, orange or red under the New York State Cluster Action Initiative, which is part of the state’s plan to stop the spread of the coronavirus.

The regulations allow schools in the zones to remain open if they test specific percentages of in-school populations – 20% in yellow and orange zones, 30% in red zones.

Parents are asked to read the form carefully, then take a photo of the completed form or scan it to create a PDF. Please then email the form to the child’s school, using the contacts for each school listed on the COVID Resource Center of the District's website. Signed forms also can be returned with your child, who can hand it to his or her teacher.

If a parent declines to consent to COVID-19 testing, the child may be required to continue his or her education by remote learning only. Remote instruction is the equivalent of classroom instruction for classes that are held in a hybrid model and, as such, should not be viewed as a suspension under Education Law §3214.
Rachel Rivera and Yaffa Segal
Studying Hypertension In Cancerous Mice;
Designing Green Roofs
The students in New Rochelle High School’s Science Research Program explore a dazzling range of topics under the mentorship of professional scientists from some of the top institutions of learning and exploration. Each week in this column, we’ll learn about two students’ activities. In January, researchers in grades 4 through 8, many of them mentored by the high school students, will present their research in the second annual Research Fair.

Rachel Rivera, senior
Mentors: Madhav Subramanian, Undergraduate Researcher at Washington University in St. Louis; Dr. Serena McCalla, Director of Science Research at Jericho High School.
Rachel Rivera searched for and identified a gene associated with hypertension that is present in a specific cancer treatment sample.

But it wasn’t easy.

In a project that addressed what are historically the two most frequent killers in the United States – heart disease and cancer – Rivera sifted through data night and day. Days stretching 10 hours or more added up to 320 hours throughout July.

The problem, which is a global issue, is that treatments for cancer can cause hypertension, and from there, heart ailments. Rivera found plenty of research about the impacts of diet and smoking on hypertension, but she came across little on genetics.

When hypertension develops, it is treated with more medications.

“If we can find what gene is causing it and we can turn it off, then we don’t have to worry about the medication,” she said.

To conduct her search, Rivera developed her own procedure with “a lot of very tedious coding.” This helped mine data she needed from complex bioinformatics platforms on experiments with cancerous mice. She was able to identify a specific gene, c-fos, associated with hypertension in the mice.
She plans to continue the research in college. One avenue is to harness a type of RNA – which converts DNA’s codes into proteins – that replicates the gene and binds to it, interrupting its functions.

Her project was arduous, but it paid off.

“I was getting a little worried because I didn’t know if I was going to find anything,” she said. “But it was worth it in the end.”

Yaffa Segal, senior
Mentor: Dr. Brad Bass, University of Toronto
For her project seeking to design a better “green roof,” Yaffa Segal treated stormwater as if it had a mind of its own.

She designed a roof using COBWEB, software generally used to model the movements of organisms’ “agency,” or the ability to control what they do. Segal preferred it to other software designed specifically to model stormwater’s path because of COBWEB’s graphic possibilities, in addition to its data generation.

“The end goal is more exploratory, to push the limits of this program and see if it’s capable of hydrological modeling,” she said. “If you have a green roof that’s accurate enough, you can use this model to change the factors before you use it.”

She created the virtual roof in an 80-by-80 grid, incorporating stones and plants to block or absorb the water.

“Ultimately, what we want is a roof that can slow the rate of water absorption into the sewage system,” she said.

Early simulations moved stormwater too quickly for her to get a good look at what was happening.

“I can definitely keep going to improve the results,” she said. That could mean adding more plants with roots.

Segal has always been passionate about the environment, and her project is timely. A 2019 law in New York City requires all new buildings and those undergoing significant roof repairs to include solar panels, a green roof or a combination of the two.

Roofs can be planted with a wide variety of vegetation. Tall grasses and leafy vegetables such as cabbages make good choices, but the types also change with the seasons. Whatever plants are chosen, the roofs do more than slow the movement of stormwater. They also help cool buildings and restore green space taken from cities during development. That can benefit wildlife not often associated with urban spaces, such as bees and types of birds. (An earlier project of Segal’s tested honey samples from urban beehives for heavy metals.)

“You don’t think of New York City having a thriving ecosystem,” she said. “But that can be fixed with so much added green space.”
Artworks made using textures of dimes and other common objects.
Art Technique Uses
Utensils, Dimes
And Other Textures
Dimes and credit cards as inspirations for art? Why not?

Nearly 250 students at New Rochelle High School collaborated with an artist to learn about frottage, the process of creating art by creating a rubbing of a textured surface on paper or similar material using a pencil or other drawing implement. The rubbing can then be used as a springboard to create an expanded or embellished image.

“While many students have been participating in their classes via remote-learning tools, we’ve been tasked with finding ways to be creative with items available at home,” said art teacher Alexi Brock. “For this project, students have been able to see their home environment in a new way as they make impressions from everyday items such as tiles, wood doors, kitchen utensils and fireplace screens.”

Students have been working with Alyse Rosner, the artist-in-residence at the Clementina Foundation at Stamford Town Center in Connecticut. Having spent the second marking period exploring frottage and learning about Rosner and her residency, the students -- spanning 10 different art classes -- engaged with Rosner through five presentations held last week. Printed and projected versions of the students’ images will be part of Rosner’s installation at the Stamford Town Center.

“Art is everywhere, and Rosner reminded me of that,” said Luca Ramet, a freshman enrolled in PAVE 1. “I learned that there is never an excuse not to do art; no matter what materials you own or what space you have, it comes from within you. Any skill can be created. You are your only limit.”

“Different colors, textures, mediums and tools can create entirely different pieces and Rosner embraces this while incorporating her own take,” said senior Sofia Perez, a Advanced Placement 2D art student. “Creating art directly from the physical and emotional inspiration produces surreal and creative visuals.”

NRHS students’ work is part of Rosner’s Instagram project, instagram.com/object.surface.texture.
Click on image above for full-sized poster.
See TheatreWorks' Virtual Show Tonight or Tomorrow
Don’t miss New Rochelle High School TheatreWorks’ production of their show You Have to Turn Your Mic On: A new Way of Coming Together. The series of short plays about connecting in the COVID era will be presented virtually tonight, Dec. 18 at 7 p.m.; and tomorrow, Dec. 19, at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Purchase tickets at the following link ($10 general, $7 for students and seniors) and you will be emailed a link to access the show:
https://theatreworksnrhs.ludus.com/index.php. (If you do not have the ability to donate, but would still like to view the show email newrotheatreworks@gmail.com.) After watching the pre-recorded show, stay for a live talk session with the cast members.
Construction (continued)
several elementary schools.

In 2022, the District is scheduled to conduct a detailed Building Condition Survey, and again create a five-year capital facilities plan to keep buildings and grounds in good repair. The work done so far has put the buildings in a much-improved state, Thurnau said.

Interim Superintendent Dr. Alex Marrero said the care of the buildings help the District fulfill its mission of providing a high-quality, challenging education for all.

“Buildings that are welcoming and well cared for are essential for providing an atmosphere where students can experience the joy of discovery and develop a lifelong love of learning,” he said. “We appreciate the great work the Facilities Department and the construction crews are doing to ensure that our schools are attractive, safe and healthy.”


Above: New roof at William B. Ward Elementary School.
City School District of New Rochelle | http://www.nred.org/