By Staff

Nov. 1, 2023: The Bronxville School Board of Education met on October 19, 2023.

Below are some highlights from the meeting:

1. Bronxville High School student Shea Lewis reported that the school had a successful homecoming, which included blue/grey day, battle of the banners for the senior class, pep rally, bonfire, photo booth, DJ, and food trucks.  

2. Bronxville School Superintendent Dr. Rachel Kelly made a report. Key aspects of the report were as follows:

-Exchange Students: The school has exchange students from France this year, which is the first time since COVID. 

-Tenure process. The Board will hear about tenure candidates in executive session this fall. Tenure candidates will go formally before the Board in the April 16 Board meeting.  As part of the process, the school is currently inviting feedback from parents, students, and any other community members.  They can share feedback in a signed letter to the principal for a teacher and to Rachel Kelly for an administrator.  They can also meet in person with a principal or administrator.

-Bronxville Promise: The language of the Bronxville Promise has been updated and is available on the Bronxville School District website. CLICK HERE.

3. Dr. Mara Koetke, Director of Curriculum, discussed the performance of Bronxville students on various tests.

-Bronxville Elementary and Middle School students:  She discussed performance on standardized English and math tests. Dr. Koetke characterized the overall school performance as "quite good." She also said that the school is looking at how well the Bronxville curriculum aligns with the English and math tests.

-Bronxville High School students: Dr. Koetke also reported on the results of various tests, including:

-NY State Regents tests for Algebra, English, US History, and Global History. Overall, Bronxville students did well on these tests.

-APs: She noted that students are taking a lot of AP Exams. She said nearly 95% of Bronxville students scored 3s or better on these exams.

4. Aaron Kind, Director of Counseling, discussed the college admission results. He reported that the class of 2023 did "very well." 

-40% of the class of 2023 was accepted early decision. 

-If you include "early action," 61% of the class was accepted early.

-If you look at the US News rankings:

*38% of the class of 2023 is going to colleges ranked in the Top 25 Liberal Arts and National Colleges by US News

*25% of the class of 2023 is going to colleges ranked in the Top 26-50 Liberal Arts and National Colleges by US News

*22% of the class of 2023 is going to colleges ranked in the "Top 51-100" by US News

*15% of the class of 2023 is going to other colleges.

-If you look at the Barrons data, 67% of Bronxville students are going to the "Most Competitive" colleges.

5. Dan Carlin, Assistant Superintendent of Business, made a report as well.  The highlights are as follows:

-The school is experiencing high transportation costs and is studying this part of the budget.

-Revenues this year will be good due to higher non-resident income and higher interest income.

-Carlin is projecting a $500K budget surplus at this time.

-Carlin noted that the pumps worked "as designed" during the most recent "rain event" in Bronxville.

-The school is looking into the costs of creating a security vestibule inside the Pondfield Road entrance.

-The school will see how the first outside classroom goes and may look at creating another outside classroom.

-The school is starting to look at the cost of "fortifying doors" to make them safer and resistant to intrusion. Carlin noted that the school has 833 doors leading to "occupied space in the building." 

Sara Kenny noted that mental health is a "hot topic" in the school PTA meetings.  The Foundation is funding a program regarding mental health training.  Additionally, the athletic department had a mental health expert come in and talk with the athletes.

Board member Michael Brandes spoke about 'civil discourse" and that the school is looking at ways of integrating the topic of civil discourse into the curriculum.

Dr. Kelly spoke about the school's "emergency dismissal" process.  She noted that this topic came up because during the recent rain event, dismissal at the elementary school was "organized chaos." The school has conducted a review and created an emergency dismissal process that will be more systematic even if two or three exits are closed as they were during the recent rain event, which caused flooding. 

Board member Miki Kapoor reported that there was a Bronxville School Foundation meeting and noted that the school is grateful for the Foundation, which funds important work like the new outdoor classroom.  

Click here to watch the Bronxville School Board meeting.