PROPOSED SCHOOL TEACHER CUTS

The purpose of this blog is to objectively disseminate all information pertaining to the proposal which Schools Superintendent Charles Khoury has proposed for offsettting the 2010 year's budget deficit. Despite Dr. Khoury's contention in a communication to to former faculty member (to be posted later)that sweeping teacher cut-backs are merley a rumor, notificatons issued earlier this week to dozens of Ardsley teaching professionals and aides that they would likely not have positions to return to next fall, presents a compelling cause for concern. I trust the currently untenured Superintendent has no interests beyond identifying a viable solution which will not compromise the long-standing standard of excellence for which Ardsley schools are reknowned, as our mandated goal as a community remains to preserve our schools quality of education of which we remain justifably proud.

As of this writing, it has been reported that the Ardsley School System's Intranet e-mail system remains remotely inaccessible. While likely this is simply a technical malfunction, it seems curious that this event has coincided with a with an e-mail communication from Dr. Khoury to Dan Mulholland admonishing Mr. Mulholland for the following e-mail (please note that the majority of addressees are School Board memebers should you wish to directly communicate your concerns) -


---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Mulholland"
To: "acctpay" , "acctrec" , "Nancy Bocassi" , "Patricia Bova" , "Trapp" , "Mark Cohen" , "Flynn" , "Julie Fraitag" , "Victor Granuzzo" , "Frank Hariton" , "Steve Kastin" , "Charles Khoury" , "Koppel" , "mastroddi" , "FRAN MONTELEONE" , "Harshvina Patel" , "Ardsley Payroll" , "Linda Peters" , "Debra Rinaldi" , "Lisa Sanfilippo" , "Joanne Sold" , "Antonia Tiso" , "Debi Trias" , "Urbanowicz" , "Rosemary Whalen"
Date: Thu, 11 Feb 2010 13:09:07 -0500
Subject: My concerns with the direction of Ardsley

To: Ardsley Board of Education, AHS, AMS, CRS
Re: Proposed cuts
From: Dan Mulholland

For almost 45 years of my life I have either been a student or a teacher in The Ardsley School System. My parents moved to Ardsley in 1955, not because of the “quaint” shopping or the wonderful traffic. They moved to Ardsley because of the schools. I did the same thing and four of my children have had the chance to graduate from here.

We have always been a “private, public” school. Our graduates broke the old adage of the wealthiest school districts kids had the highest SAT scores. We have demanded more than the regents and for some kids this has been a struggle, that’s why we have had aides, to help those who need the extra help. We have had a very large per-cent of our graduates go on to the Ivies. When it wasn’t done elsewhere, our teachers contributed to their medical plans. We have a huge offering of electives, extra curricula clubs and a wide array of interscholastic athletics.
Now this all seems to be in jeopardy. Every teacher eliminated, every aide cut means less for our kids. Parents pay more for a house here than surrounding communities and move here with that awareness. No one wants a 9.5% increase, but asking only 2% is also not acceptable.

I urge the Board of Education to remember why they moved here. I have taught most of your children. You supported great programs, allowed for innovative ideas. This draconian move would not be in the best interest of our kids.

Dan Mulholland