Oct. 23, 2013: The Bronxville Board of Education, at its October 21 budget workshop, took advantage of the meeting's discussion format to examine, in detail, the Bronxville School’s co-curricular activities.

"We have a comprehensive view of student development not only in academics," said Superintendent Dr. David Quattrone, "but also in terms of their talents and service orientation. We want them to be fully rounded."

Co-curricular activities, which include both after-school sports and clubs, are designed to extend the reach of the academic program by providing a "home" for students to develop their talents and gain service, leadership, and organizational skills.

"Developmentally, what we want for students is to go from family to classroom to school to the world beyond," said Quattrone.

Key issues raised in the workshop centered on providing opportunities for all students to participate in at least one co-curricular activity; establishing reliable data about students' activities, both school-sponsored and in the wider community; and broadening the offerings, possibly to include mission-based activities, such as participation in the Intel National Science Fair, on a regional and national level.

Although clubs and sports enjoy a high level of participation and satisfaction among students, board members expressed the desire to ensure that all students are involved in some type of co-curricular activity.

Dr. Thomas Wilson, middle school principal, noted that the passion displayed by instructors plays a vital role in recruiting students for clubs and activities. Instructors play an important role in the clubs, he said, because middle school students require the adult supervision, structuring, and teaching that instructors can offer.

Wilson also stated that, despite some "tremendously creative investment in ideas" to expand after-school offerings, middle school-aged students tend to be more invested in sports. In the middle school, slightly less than 50% of students participate in 11 clubs, while 82.5% participate in at least one sport.

Wilson complimented the informal sharing and participation that have arisen in the school and pointed out that a group of middle school students helps the high school stage crew.

Ann Meyer, high school principal, said that, in the high school, the students themselves take more responsibility for recruiting members for after-school clubs. This year, at the ninth grade coffee, students hosted an activities fair with posters and sign-ups for clubs where ninth graders could learn about organizations while their parents were in another meeting.

"It was so successful that we hosted an additional activities fair during a lunch period so that the whole school could see the offerings." Meyer said.

Clubs and sports in the high school have high participation levels, with many students involved in more than one activity. The 26 clubs available to high school students have over 500 members, while athletics has a 69% average participation rate.

Board member Jeffrey Rohr expressed concern about finding non-participants and guiding them toward opportunities that appeal to them. The board discussed finding these non-participating students through the guidance function. Board president David Brashear suggested helping the guidance counselors build a database of participation in clubs and sports by numbers, percentages of students, and grade level.

Quattrone noted that, going forward, the administration will focus on meeting needs from the students' perspectives and from a mission perspective and will work to gather reliable data to analyze and answer questions about participation.

Pictured here: The Bronxville School emblem.

Photo by A. Warner