By Staff

Sep. 13, 2017:  The Bronxville School District Board of Education held its first meeting of the 2017-2018 academic year on August 29. School board president Jeffrey Rohr opened the meeting, and new superintendent Roy Montesano thanked all for their warm welcome to the school.

Flood Mitigation:  The topic that resulted in the most discussion was the flood mitigation project. As part of his presentation, Assistant Superintendent Dan Carlin introduced James Palmer, village administrator, and Paul Pelusio from J. Robert Folchetti & Associates, the firm that managed the flood mitigation project. 

Palmer and Pelusio explained that the flood mitigation project was near completion but that the system as it stands has only two pumps, which means that it would mitigate a flood from a "25-year storm event," defined as 6½ inches of rainfall in 24 hours, somewhat less than the magnitude of Hurricane Irene. Pelusio explained that the system will function in all storm events, but, with larger events, there will still be damage.

He further explained that a total of three pumps would mitigate most of the flood waters from a "50-year storm event," and a total of five pumps would mitigate most of the flood waters from a "100-year storm event." He said that the system was designed to easily add additional pumps. 

Bronxville Village Mayor Mary Marvin reminded the board that the project bids came in higher than expected and that, in order to move the project forward, the village and the school agreed to split the overage. In order to get the project to where it is today--with two pumps--the village spent funds beyond the original overage amount. Mayor Marvin encouraged the school to add three additional pumps so that the system would mitigate the damage from a bigger flood event. That cost is estimated at about $1.8 million.

Carlin also gave an update on other projects and expenditures, including Hayes Field, which is nearing completion, and Chambers Field, which is targeted for replacement next summer at a cost of $145,750. He also mentioned that the school gained over 30 parking spots, which will alleviate the pressure resulting from parking off campus.

School's Achievement Profile:  Another topic of interest at the meeting was Bronxville School's achievement profile, presented by Dr. Mara Koetke, director of curriculum. Dr. Koetke reviewed data from three different tests, starting with PISA data in reading, math, and science. PISA is an international test taken by a random sample of 15-year-olds across participating schools. Sixty-nine Bronxville students participated in 2016. Below are some of the key findings.

•  Reading:  The percentage of Bronxville students scoring in the top two levels has increased by 20% since 2012 to 40%. Dr. Koetke mentioned that over the last couple of years, the school has worked closely on reading and is pleased with these results.

•  Math:  The percentage of Bronxville students scoring in the top two levels has increased by 10% since 2012 to 47%. 

•  Science:  The percentage of Bronxville students scoring in the top two levels has increased by 8% since 2012 to 21%. 

Dr. Koetke then discussed the 2017 New York State English language arts and math scores for grades three to eight. Below are some of the key findings.

•  Bronxville had very good state test scores relative to those of Westchester and New York State.

•  ELA:  The percentage of Bronxville students scoring in levels 3 and 4 increased by 4% since last year to 76%.

•  Math:  The percentage of Bronxville students scoring in levels 3 and 4 increased by 2% since last year to 80%. 

•  Dr. Koetke mentioned that in places where the school sees a lack of progress, the school will do "item skills analysis and look into what is behind those numbers and make shifts in curriculum accordingly."

Finally, Dr. Koetke provided information on AP participation and scores. She noted that more students participated in APs in 2017 than in 2016 and that most students scored 3 or higher on the APs, a rate that has been fairly consistent over the past five years. She said that the best measure of Bronxville's success is college matriculation, with 54% of the Class of 2017 attending the "most competitive" colleges and 27% attending "highly competitive" colleges as identified in the Barron's profile of American colleges. She said that these rates have been consistent over the past five years. 

Pictured here:  The Bronxville School.

Photo by A. Warner