8700 students in MV public schools, 3700 grades 7-12. District spends $3.5M on security (code 1623), $900 per kid.
This was among many details revealed last week at a special budget discussion moderated by the Mount Vernon PTA Council.
Other facts:
Governor Patterson’s proposed budget reduction for 2010-11 would impact State Aid to Mount Vernon by $6.5 million. This is approximately 3% of the district’s total budget and 8% of current State Aid.
NYS politicians ran down the clock on school reform and #rttt bucks, same day Gov Patterson announces $1.1 B reduction in school aid. Bad day for NY’s youth. http://bit.ly/4okYCL
Mount Vernon City School District
After School Program Guide 2009-10
New York State Education Commission David Steiner has put it to school districts: Sign here, and get federal Race to The Top funding, or don’t. By Friday, January 8 school superintendents in Title I districts, like Mount Vernon, NY, school board presidents and union leaders need to sign a “memorandum of understanding” on a sweeping education reform agenda.
Page 2 of the summary document from NYSED states, “Every local education agency (LEA) that signs the MOU – a copy of which is included at the end of the RTTT Summary document below – will become eligible to receive a portion of the 50% of the State’s total RTTT award that will be distributed to participating LEAs under the Title I formula as required by Race to the Top guidelines.”
Present: Aneiro, Armstrong, Ben Reuben, Gootzeit, Stern, Walker
Recognition was given to Mount Vernon High School Girls Basketball star Taylor Palmer and Coach Patrice Moore. Palmer has been granted a full athletic scholarship to the University of West Virginia. Coach Moore has led the Lady Knights to the State Championships for the first time in the team’s history.
Assistant Superintendent for Curriculum and Instruction Shelly Jallow delivered a 1/2 hour presentation on standardized testing, reviewing all of the assessments students are required to take across all grades. This year marks the first time ever that EVERY Mount Vernon High School 10th grader took the PSAT.
Benchmarking New York lets you compare school district spending across NYS. Incredible. http://bit.ly/6aKP03
NO QUORUM, meeting cancelled at 7:30 PM.
Present: Aneiro, Armstrong, Farquharson, Stern
Mr. Claye announced last month that he would be absent. We waited for the rest, nobody showed up.
The next board meeting is Wedensday, December 2, 2009 at 7:00 PM, Ed Center, 165 North Columbus Av., Mount Vernon, NY
I shot this clip back in September, and proceeded to misplace my notes. If anybody knows this teacher, let me know. She explains how the school garden works at Graham Elementary School in Mount Vernon, New York. As I recall the cole slaw was very tasty.
In his capacity as Chair of the school board’s buildings and ground committee, Trustee Eli Gootzeit shared approximately 70 photos with the board at last week’s working meeting. Most of them display infrastructure cracks, ceiling defects, broken or defective fixtures and other signs of years of underinvestment and mismanagement. The presentation ended with a tribute to efforts at Graham Elementary School where principal Natasha Hunter-McGregor has taken matters into her own hands. Last year Graham School enjoyed some building TLC thanks to a community service project by City Year.
Don't sit on that one in the middle.
Principal Hunter-McGregor is second from left.
All members present
Bill Weinman, the school district’s head of buildings and grounds, shared the mission statement of his department along some with facts about physical plant. A new man-lift (I’m sure it could lift a woman too) has been deployed to service lighting in auditoriums, gyms and parking lots. According to Weinmann the district’s has an aggregate of 16 million square feet of serviceable space. It is currently being supported by 4 maintenance mechanics and there are 3 vacancies. He said 16 would be a “normal” sized team. Work orders take 2 to 4 weeks from time of entry to completion, unless there is an emergency repair. The average school custodian in New York State is responsible for 22,00 square feet of physical plant. Mount Vernon’s custodians each cover over 30,000 square feet, according to Weinmann.
Assistant Superintendent for Business Timothy Costello read a listing of the number of elementary level special education students who currently have district-provided transportation, by school:
Grimes – 9
Lincoln – 36
Parker – 29
Hamilton – 35
Traphagen – 56
Williams – 28
Graham – 66
Columbus – 41
Longfellow Elementary – 30
Holmes – 21
Pennington – 27
Trustee Lynn McBride reported on her self-funded trip to an educational conference in Austin, Texas. While there she visited the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders. It is an all girls public school currently serving 6th through 8th grades. The Ann Richards school is based upon the model of Young Women’s Leadership School in East Harlem, New York. Ann Richards School has the goal of educating girls from economically disadvantaged families, and to prepare 100% of them for college acceptance.