By Staff

Jan. 22, 2025: The Bronxville School Board of Education held its first meeting of the new year on January 16, 2025.

Dr. Rachel Kelley, Superintendent of the Bronxville School, reported that the winter sports season is well underway and that this year's High School Musical is Mama Mia, and performances will be on Feb 6,7,8.

The Middle School had internet safety workshops, a whole-school assembly, and a parent workshop focused on healthy technology habits.

The 8th graders have an upcoming trip to Washington, DC.

In the Elementary School, the second graders are involved in an "architecture for kids" program. This program aligns with the second-grade social studies unit, which focuses on the characters of rural, urban, and suburban communities.

In the 4th grade, the School is working with the students to produce public service announcements about anti-bullying. This program is designed to organically develop storylines that reflect real-life social challenges such as peer pressure and exclusion. The students are working to create PSAs to address these issues and propose solutions.

Student representative to the Board, Matthew Curran, reported the following:
-The Freshman Transition program included its annual gingerbread house decorating competition
-The Student Faculty Legislature ("SFL") hosted the annual 3-on-3 basketball tournament
-The School's Rainbow Coalition held a holiday drive for a shelter in NYC and collected and donated coats and other items.
-The Junior Class had its annual course selection meeting and is starting to get ready to apply to college.
-Spring sports are beginning to prepare for the upcoming season.
-The Middle School and Seniors have bowling trips as "de-stressors."
-Midterms are coming up

Dr. Kelley introduced Ann Meyer, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction. Meyer and three high school students discussed their work with Artificial Intelligence ("AI").

Meyer noted that this is a rapidly changing area. The School partnered with the Bronxville School Foundation and now has graduate students who are studying AI, teaching Bronxville students about AI every Tuesday. The School is providing high school students the opportunity to study AI. The School has an introductory and advanced AI course and the opportunity to do one-on-one research with a graduate student. The School is developing guidelines around AI use in the Bronxville School and is piloting tools and providing professional development for faculty on AI.

Three students at the Board meeting shared information about the AI course. For example, one student shared that they built a linear regression model using Python programming language and input large data sets with information about cars, including the age of the car, model, brand, and miles driven, and that AI was able to output the predicted price of the used cars.

Dr. Kelley presented the School's preliminary 2025-26 Calendar. She also noted that there is a new Boys' Lacrosse assistant coach.

Dan Carlin, Assistant Superintendent for Business, reported that the financial projection for the year remains unchanged. He also presented a preliminary budget for 2025-26. Carlin reported that a lot is going on regarding facilities. The School has interviewed four construction management firms and the facilities committee and chose a firm to help affirm the budgets for an upcoming referendum proposal. More information about this will be provided in the Schoo's budget meeting on January 25 at 9:00 am.

The School also conducted a bid for landscaping maintenance services, and Bulfamante Landscaping was the only bidder. The School is pleased with this firm.

Finally, the Bronxville School Foundation is in the midst of its fundraising drive.