Schools
Bedford Central School District Holds 'In Focus' Session
Event is used to engage public opinion.
The Bedford Central School District kicked off its In Focus initiative to engage the public with a meeting in the large gym at Fox Lane High School.
People gathered at several tables Saturday morning for what would be the first of three scheduled meetings to learn about public opinion on the district's state. The other meetings were planned for Monday morning at the Bedford historical building, and at the high school again on Monday night.
Superintendent Jere Hochman stressed the participatory nature of the meeting in a speech to attendees, linking educating students to democracy and giving an example of distributing copies of the Constitution to last year's graduating seniors.
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In an interview, Hochman praised the dialogue format of the event.
"I thought it was awesome, I really did," he said. "To see people leaning forward at their tables, the buzz in the room, the talk after we posed the questions that people were talking to each other. That's what we want."
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Attendees at the tables discussed amongst themselves things that they would like to see in the district and subsequently presented their consensus questions to the broader crowd. Common answers given from the people included strong academics, diversity, support for programs in sports and the arts and having great teachers. After listening to presentations and hearing about results of a public opinion survey, they were later asked to list things that surprised them and did not surprise them about the district.
Presentations on the district's financial state and curriculum were done by Mark Betz and Andrew Patrick, assistant superintendents of business and administrative services, and curriculum and instruction, respectively.
The survey was about the state of the district and was conducted by Rod Wright from Unicom-Arc, a company that provides services to school and community colleges, including monitoring public opinion. Wright said that the survey involved 500 interviews and was done in February.
The district got strong marks overall in the survey, with 79.4 percent giving it an "A" or "B" in a grading question. In contrast, only 35.1 percent of voters gave New York state public schools in general the same marks. Teachers and principals were generally viewed more favorably than the superintendent and the Board of Education, with respective "Excellent/good" ratings of 83 and 63.7 percent, versus 59.7 and 49.1 for the superintendent and board.
The district got high marks in areas such as preparing students for college (76.6), helping special education students (70.5), and providing appropriate salary and benefits for teachers (65.5). However, it got low marks in areas such as prioritizing the budget (48.7) and effectively spending taxpayer dollars (42.1).
Interestingly, while voters generally felt that they get value for their taxes – 64.7 percent "strongly/somewhat agree" – they also gave disapproving numbers for the tax burden, with 59.7 percent agreeing that they can not afford to pay higher property taxes, no matter the cause.
In an interview, Wright said that he thought anti-tax sentiment was higher than expected, and that it was thought the number would be in the low 50's.
Almost half of voters also erroneously thought, when surveyed about the change in the tax burden in the past year, that school taxes increased, when in fact the levy went down by 1.61 percent.
Wright explained that voters may not notice the difference between the school district's share of property taxes and their overall tax bill, and that if the overall bill went up they may blame the school district. He also said that there is a general mindset in every community that taxes go up, calling it "a perception that may be a little divorced from reality."
Susan Elion Wollin, president of the Board of Education, said in an interview that she was surprised that people polled felt they were informed (84.8 percent for "somewhat" or "very well") and yet a majority thought there had been a recent tax increase.
Voters were also surveyed on whether they would support a hypothetical 2 percent budget increase (the proposed budget of 1.58 percent for 2010-11 was unveiled after the survey), with 51.9 percent in favor and 43.2 percent opposed. Wright said that the same question was asked again at the end of the survey, with support going up to 57.3 percent and opposition dropping to 39.1 percent.
Priorities that were regarded as "high by voters" included preserving class sizes at each school level and preserving fine arts, something that Wright said was in contrast to other places, where the arts have received less support. Lower-rated priorities included support for foreign language classes at the elementary school level - 39.3 percent rated it high – and support for restoring cuts made to bus service last year, which was rated at just 22 percent.
District residents at the tables interviewed offered their thoughts on local issues.
Didi Raxworthy, Bedford Hills, supports music programs, and said that students involved in band and orchestra have scored higher on tests. She has one child who attends Bedford Hills Elementary School and another who attends Fox Lane Middle School. Both play cello in orchestras.
Bedford Hills resident Ken Stern said that he wants to see more support for students for do not go onto college. In one part of the survey, just 33.7 percent gave "excellent/good" marks for preparing non-college bound students for post-high school employment. Stern has two daughters, one who has graduated and is now in college, and another who is a sophomore at Fox Lane.
Dennis Mele, a Pound Ridge resident with one child in middle school and another in high school, said that money is being wasted unnecessarily on bussing and said that some are often nearly empty. He felt that the spending was taking resources from other important programs.
Some people felt that the district was being portrayed too negatively, citing recent coverage.
Jay Berger, Bedford Village, felt that there has been "a steady drumbeat" of coverage in local newspapers that was negative, and that the district has made "tremendously positive strides" over the last two to three years. Berger has a son who graduated and is now a college senior, and a daughter who is a high school sophomore.
Barbara Kornfield, a Bedford Village resident and mother of four Fox Lane graduates, felt that it's time to forget about events of the last two years, such as the controversy over the departure of former Superintendent Debra Jackson. She almost felt that there should be many ways to engage the community. Kornfield served on the Board of Education for several years in the 1980s, up until 1990.
Some Fox Lane High School students were asked to appear at the event as part of its committee.
William Sandoval, a senior and class president for his grade, said that students were selected based on a list of qualified students that Principal Joel Adelberg sent. While Sandoval said he had no complaint about the district, he realized that there are places where the district could improve based on his experience with the committee. He also felt they were doing a great job. Regarding college plans, Sandoval said that he has applied to 10 and so far has heard back from four.
Chloé le Comte, a sophomore and a co-class president for her grade, thought it was very unique to be there as a student.
"I think it's kind of cool because we don't normally have students in these types of events and making these types of decisions and contributing," she said. "So I thought it was a very interesting experience to be included in the whole process and it opened my eyes to really what goes on in the district and how decisions are made."
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