City School District of New Rochelle
News & Updates
March 19, 2021
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New Cohorts For Middle Schools, NRHS Launch
Next Tuesday
Beginning Tuesday, March 23, middle and high schools in the City School District of New Rochelle will increase the number of days in-person students come to learn in their classrooms. By combining cohorts, the schools will increase the sizes of in-school classes that have been smaller than is necessary to preserve safety in the pandemic.

“On February 11, we combined cohorts in the elementary schools and immediately saw livelier classes and smiling faces,” said Interim Superintendent Dr. Alex Marrero. “The secondary schools are larger and more complex, but we feel we have found ways to increase in-person learning in those buildings as well, while continuing to operate safely.”

Here are the changes coming by school: 

New Rochelle High School
New Rochelle High School will reconfigure its three cohorts – A, B and C – into two, called Purple and Gray. In-person students will report to the school three days, instead of two, out of each seven-day cycle. The seventh day is reserved for remote, asynchronous learning and office hours.
In a school of more than 3,000 students, about half the students remain on all-remote learning by their parents’ choice. When the cohorts combine into two, Interim Principal Steve Goldberg expects the school to see about 800 students in the school building each day.

Isaac E. Young Middle School
Isaac E. Young Middle School will combine its two cohorts into one, the way the elementary schools did. In-person students will report to the building four days each week rather than two. Wednesday remains a day of asynchronous learning. Based on the responses to the parent survey, about 60% of the students will remain virtual. If the numbers increase, the IEYMS staff will revisit the current plan.

On Monday, March 22, only cohort A will report to school for a half day.

“Any time children have the opportunity to come to school changes things for the better,” said Dr. Tawanda Robinson, the IEYMS Principal. She said the staff is aware of the need to remain diligent in observing practices that keep those working and learning in the school safe. But she said people are excited for increased person-to-person contact.
(Please see "Cohorts" below.)
Make-Up Snow Day,
Early Dismissal Set
Please note these two upcoming changes in the City School District of New Rochelle calendar:

Friday, March 26, Early Dismissal: Schools will end their day 15 minutes early on Friday, March 26 for an annual state-mandated drill. The exercise test various operations such as transportation and evacuation procedures.

Monday, April 5, Schools Closed: Schools will be closed April 5, extending the Spring Break by one day, for a make-up snow day.
Events to Discuss
Law, COVID Stress, Women's Empowerment
Three events are coming up next week to help families deal with COVID-era stress, teach women’s empowerment to middle- and high-school students and to discuss laws that affect young people.
Mon., March 22, 6 p.m.: The City of New Rochelle’s Youth Court presents a “Conversation About The Current State of Laws Affecting Youth,” with Youth Bureau Executive Director Kelly Johnson and Judge Kathie E. Davidson. All community members are invited. Register at www.NewRochelleNY.Com/YouthSignUp
Click on image for full-size flyer.
Wed., March 24, 7:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.: Family University, NewYork-Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital and the New Rochelle High School PTSA present “Digital Wellness Event for Families.” Experts will share “important advice on managing stress, anxiety and weight gain during the pandemic.” Join the Zoom at this link. You can also listen in by phone. Dial (646) 518-9805; use webinar ID number 950 0633 5800.
Click on image for full-size flyer.
Thurs., March 25, 6 p.m.: The New Rochelle Youth Bureau presents #GirlTalk 3 Forum for students in grades 6 through 12. New Rochelle High School Assistant Principal Camille Edwards-Thomas moderates the women’s empowerment session. Register at New Rochelle, NY.
Click on image for full-size flyer.
Budget Session Focuses on Middle, High Schools
Secondary education was the focus of a 2020-21 budget presentation held virtually on Tuesday evening. Following a March 12 presentation that focused on the elementary schools, the most recent session addressed opportunities and challenges at Albert Leonard Middle School, Isaac E. Young Middle School and New Rochelle High School within the context of the next school year’s budget.
Among the priorities outlined: enhancing the alignment of course offerings between the middle schools and high school and strengthening targeted academic areas. An academic summer school to meet the needs of some students is under discussion as well.
 
Interim Superintendent Dr. Alex Marrero and administrators opened with an overview of the draft district-wide budget, which calls for an increase of 2.3% in spending. This investment maintains current staffing levels, programs and District fiscal health, and provides for 11.1 additional positions to meet special education and English as a New Language mandates. The budget also addresses needs associated with COVID-19. The proposal carries a 3.01% increase in the levy for next year, which does not exceed the state tax cap.

Board of Education President Rachel Relkin noted “there still is a lot of uncertainty about what the New York State budget will look like” and the amount of state aid the District will receive for the next school year. The state budget deadline is April 1.

ALMS Principal John Barnes and IEYMS Principal Dr. Tawanda Robinson presented an overview of the middle schools’ needs, which are:
1.      To develop a cohesive, aligned and equitable pathway to NRHS’ PAVE (Performing and Visual Arts Education) program.
2.      To provide experiences that cultivate artistic growth and enhance student creativity.
3.      To fully address the language-acquisition needs of those dually identified as a student with a disability and an English language learner.
4.      To provide equitable grade-level support in mathematics with labs built into the master schedule.
Deepak Marwah, District director of PAVE at NRHS, detailed the need to increase opportunities for artistic exploration in the middle schools, all to make the acting, dance, music and visual arts studio programs at the high school accessible to a wider range of students. Currently, theater arts and dance are not offered in the middle schools, and orchestral opportunities are limited.

To meet these four goals, the middle schools are requesting a total of 6.8 additional positions -- several shared between the two buildings.

Steve Goldberg, Interim Principal of NRHS, explained goals and needs related to student learning at the high school. His requests would:
1.      Enhance the physical education program through a fully integrated, equitable swim program and dual-enrollment course in fitness with Westchester Community College.
2.      Increase opportunities for fulfillment of technology-competency goals.  
3.      Expand STEAM opportunities with a redefined Sheltered Science program and increased Advanced Placement science course registrations.
4.      Program equitable grade-level support in algebra with a summer bridge program and integrated algebra labs built into the master schedule.
5.      Provide management of the Whitney M. Young Jr. Auditorium and Linda E. Kelly Theater.

It is projected that a total of four additional positions in the areas of business, physical education, science and theatre management will be required to support the NRHS initiatives.

Click here to view the slides shown in Tuesday’s presentation or here to view the entire budget session. The next presentation will be held Tuesday, March 23 at 7 p.m. and will focus on technology, facilities, transportation and capital bonds.

The budget vote is set for Tuesday, May 18. Visit the budget section of the website for more information about the budget. The community may email questions to [email protected]; answers will be compiled and posted regularly to the website.
Twins Nora and Hattie Guzinski show their leprechaun traps.
Leprechauns Help Power
STEAM Lessons at Ward
For St. Patrick’s Day, first-graders at William B. Ward Elementary School set out to snare a leprechaun or two with brightly colored traps that lured the magical beings with the promise of free gold. The students also lent a hand to any leprechauns that may be around by fashioning popsicle sticks, string and tape into rainbow bridges to help the folkloric creatures reach their treasure. 
 
With all the planning and building, the students learned a bit about architecture, engineering and art. Joey Fariello also learned the rewards of persistence while assembling his 11-inch span.

"It was very, very fun but also very difficult because my bridge kept falling apart,” the student said. “I kept on fixing it and I finally figured out how to do it!"

They presented and discussed the traps in two Zoom sessions on Wednesday. First-grade teacher Jennifer Hofstetter reports that students’ ingenuity was on full display. They devised imaginative ways to build the traps in what was an ideal STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) project.

But did their devices actually capture a leprechaun?
Perhaps. One of the magical beings apparently found its way into student Jaden Horowitz’s trap. The wily creature managed to escape, it seems, but not without leaving Horowitz a small gift for a job well done. 

"I enjoyed building a trap to catch a leprechaun,” the student said. “He came in and left me two Hershey’s kisses."

They finished the project by completing a guided drawing of a leprechaun to help develop their fine motor skills.

“We all had a blast,” Hofstetter said. “And we are amazed at the creativity of our first-graders.”
Riley Fullerton and Sabrina Lin
Students Research
Brain Chips, ADHD
The students in New Rochelle High School’s Science Research Program explore a dazzling range of topics under the mentorship of professional scientists from of institutions of higher learning and science-based companies. Each week in this column, we’ll learn about two students’ research projects or other science happenings.

Riley Fullerton, junior
The idea for Riley Fullerton’s research project came to him while watching a television report about a pig that Elon Musk had implanted with a computer chip in its brain.

The technological pioneer’s plan is to eventually plant chips in human brains to allow them to control computers with their minds. Watching the program, Fullerton thought: Would people even want such a chip implanted in their head?

Analyzing 728 responses to a survey he distributed, he discovered both optimism and apprehension. While a vast majority – 78% – said such technology could improve their lives and 58% of respondents were excited about technology’s future, majorities also had concerns. Privacy risks concerned 51% of respondents and 58% said the technology needs to be regulated.

On the plus side; “People expressed a lot of optimism in areas of communications and entertainment,” and said it could help many people with their jobs, including nurses and other healthcare workers. On the other hand, “they were asking for stricter regulations in the technology because it’s a little unpredictable at this point,” Fullerton said.

His research suggests that regulations may be needed and companies will have to find ways to assure consumers that their safety and privacy are protected if the public is to feel comfortable with continued technological advancements.

“My research has broad applications as understanding the general public's views is integral to the technology's success or failure,” he said.

Sabrina Lin, junior
Mentor: Dr. Ming Kuo, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
For children with attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), spending lots of time watching television is not a good idea. Too much screen time can exacerbate the symptoms of the condition, according to the findings junior Sabrina Lin reached in her research project.

Lin analyzed responses to a survey filled out by parents of children with ADHD. Surveying the 83 responses to the survey, supplied by her mentor, Dr. Ming Kuo of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Lin found that in comparison to physical activities such as sports or structured play time, which help alleviate the symptoms, sedentary activities made them worse.

“Television is definitely one of the more detrimental ones and I think it’s because it’s one of the more stationary ones,” she said. “Based on these results, parents should try to limit the amount of screen time their ADHD children are exposed to so that their symptoms are minimized.”

Lin plans to pursue a career in biology, perhaps pediatrics. She would also like to expand on her current study to get a better idea of how the amount of time spent watching television affects the children, and whether content they watch makes a difference.

Lin began the research because she has an interest in neurological disorders. She found that the COVID era is a good time to study ADHD, she said.

“It’s important to study it,” she said, “especially since we are now all cooped up in our homes and it’s a lot harder to minimize the symptoms.”
COVID Testing Begins
Weekly COVID-19 testing at City School District of New Rochelle schools began Wednesday at William B. Ward and Columbus elementary schools.

Nurses administered the tests to 20 percent of each school’s population – staff and students combined. A total of 231 individuals were tested: 148 at Ward and 83 at Columbus. Only one individual (at Ward) tested positive, for a positive test rate of .4% of all those tested in both schools. All those who were in contact with the person who tested positive were notified and instructed to quarantine.

The program, called “surveillance testing,” will continue next Wednesday at Henry Barnard Early Childhood Center and Trinity Elementary School.

Surveillance testing will take place in two rounds. In the first round, in March and April, 20% each school population – students and staff combined – will be tested. The second round, in May and June, will test an additional 30% of each school’s population.  

To find out more about the testing, and about the District’s management of the pandemic, visit the District's COVID Resource Center at nred.org.
Cohorts (continued)
“The experience of being in school will bring a sense of normalcy to many of our students who have felt isolated and struggle with online learning,” Dr. Robinson said. “This transition allows us the opportunity to work with students in more meaningful ways.”

Albert Leonard Middle School
With almost 70 percent of students learning in person, Albert Leonard Middle School must make its increase in phases. On Tuesday, the two seventh-grade cohorts will combine into one. The sixth and eighth grades will follow the same pattern – each grade starting on a different day – in the days after the spring break, which is the week of March 29.

“We know how excited the students are to see many of their peers who may have been in another cohort, or participating in the virtual learning model,” said ALMS Principal John Barnes. “It was very encouraging to see such a large percentage of our families opting for in-person learning.”

Barnes said the school has planned the transition “in a manner to ensure that safety protocols are in place while also aiming to offer the students seamless transitions as they come back to the building. I feel for all of our parents and know there is so much juggling going on in order to support hybrid, virtual and in-person learning. It is exciting that we are moving in the direction of seeing more students daily and working to create a more traditional end-of-the-school-year experience than we have had since the pandemic started.”

Seventh-graders will be the first to combine cohorts because they were the last grade to return to the building at the start of the school year, Barnes said.

To learn more about the District’s policies and procedures regarding COVID-19 precautions, visit the COVID Resource Center at nred.org.
City School District of New Rochelle | http://www.nred.org/