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Vol. 49 No. 21 An edition of Westmore News Friday, May 24 - Thursday, May 30, 2013

Here’s what’s insidePeople .............................2Religious Services ...........4Calendar .......................5-6Opinion .....................10-11Sports .......................14-16Police Briefs...................17Arts & Entertainment ...18-20Classifieds ................22-23

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Bullied student slits her wrists, distraught parents speak out

By Claire K. raCine

The bullying wouldn’t stop. The school administration had gotten involved and the girls had even been suspended, but the taunting and name-calling and insults had only gotten worse. Now they just had another word to throw at her: “snitch.”

If the bullying wasn’t going to end, then she would have to end it herself. She picked up the blade and pressed it to her wrist.

The teasing started in October, the beginning of Julie’s freshman year at

Port Chester High School.“I give my daughter credit,”

her mother, Sally, told Westmore News. “She got up every morn-ing and went to school every day knowing what the girls would do to her. I give her a lot of credit, because they were nasty and she had classes with them.”

The names of Julie and her par-ents have been changed to protect their anonymity.

In addition to comments mut-tered in class, three of Julie’s classmates made snide remarks in the hallway during school.

“They used to call her ‘little rich bitch,’” Sally said. “‘When you turn 16, what kind of car you gonna get when you turn 16?’ Leave her alone. Barbie doll, used to call her Barbie doll. Leave her alone.”

Some of the comments were made in Spanish, but Julie could still tell they were about her.

“It’s like, they look at you and they’re talking. It annoys me. I can imagine how my daughter felt in school when they’re look-ing at her, laughing,” Sally said. “We welcome [them] and I’m beginning to hate them. I welcome them into this country and they’re taking it over.”

Noticing her daughter coming home each day from school with tears in her eyes, Sally urged her daughter to report the incidents, which she did starting in January. School and district administration spoke with the three freshmen, but it did not seem to deter them as the comments continued. Julie’s parents decided to intervene and reached out to the school. During a roundtable discussion with the administration, they were assured the girls would be reprimanded again.

The same day her parents were being assured the bullying would stop, their daughter was crying in an assistant principal’s office.

“The day we had the roundtable conversation, my daughter went to one of the assistant principals and complained in tears that one of the

girls was making fun of her in the hallway, laughing and called her a snitch,” Sally said.

According to district policy, retaliation is prohibited. “Any act of retaliation against any person who opposes bullying behavior, or who has filed a complaint, is pro-hibited and illegal, and therefore subject to disciplinary action… Any person who retaliates is subject to immediate disciplin-ary action, up to and including suspension or termination,” reads regulation 0115-R, the district’s Student Bullying Prevention and Intervention Regulation. For students, disciplinary measures “may range from a reprimand up to and including suspension from school.”

Julie’s parents again contacted the school district and were in-formed that the three girls would all be suspended for four days right before Spring Break.

“They were told, ‘Stop.’ The one girl left her alone and she went back to school. The other two continued,” Sally said. “After these two girls got suspended, they were cyber bullying.”

The two girls took to Facebook

to continue their tormenting, which Sally accidentally stumbled upon.

“My daughter said to me. She said, ‘If you didn’t see it, you would never have known, Mommy,’” Sally said.

Her family tries the policeUpset and angry with the school

district’s handling of the situation, Julie’s family went to the Port Chester police to try and file a complaint.

“She was too nervous and shak-ing and everything,” Sally said. “I told her to come with me. She didn’t want to. I never dreamed she would try to hurt herself. I never dreamed that.”

Luckily, the Port Chester po-lice, worried about Julie, sent four police cars and an ambulance to

P.C. school budget passes 2-1, Brakewood wins by 200 votes

By Claire K. raCineFor the second year in a row, residents

in the Port Chester School District voted 2-1 in support of the school budget. Carolee Brakewood garnered about 200 more votes compared to newcomer James A. Carriere to secure her reelection to the Board of Education.

“Two to one, just like last year and no cuts this year for the first time in six years,” said Superintendent Dr. Edward Kliszus, Jr. Port Chester school budgets have been close in the past and Kliszus hopes the trend of two-thirds voter ap-proval continues.

The final budget vote was 816 in favor of the spending plan to 417 against the $85.2 million 2013-14 budget, which will cover the period from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014. The tax levy, which complies with the New York State Tax Levy Cap, is $58.3 mil-lion, about $27,000 below the district’s maximum allowable levy increase of 2.83%.

Additions under the proposed spending plan include five enrollment-driven teaching positions, security guards at all the elementary schools and additional computers for mandated state testing. The school board also budgeted $350,000 to cover federal sequestration cuts.

About 1,300 residents voted on Tuesday, May 21, including absentee ballots, less than last year.

“I think what it shows is we didn’t have a lot of controversy with the budget,” said 44-year-old Brakewood, who was reelected to a second three-year term.

After the announcement that Brakewood had received 732 votes to Carriere’s 513, the kindergarten music teacher said she felt “re-lieved, excited, optimistic and ready to get back to work.”

Reporter’s Notebook

The story behind the storyAt the end of April, Westmore News received an anonymous

letter in the mail about the repeated bullying of a Port Chester High School freshman. Despite the fact that the mom’s story was heart wrenching, Westmore News policy is to never print an anonymous letter. In certain circumstances—this being one which would qualify—we will sign a letter “name withheld upon request,” but we have to know who the person is. We set the letter aside until the following week when we got a phone call from someone asking why the letter had not been printed.

Our publisher, Richard Abel, explained our policy and that we thought the story warranted an article. Subsequently, I spent about three hours at Panera Bread one Sunday morning letting the girl’s mom tell me what she and her family had gone through. Similar to “name withheld,” we decided to change the names of the people in the story at their request to protect their daughter.

“I’d love for my name to be in it, love to, but it will crush my daughter,” her mother told me. “I would, but her father said, ‘No. Absolutely not. It will kill her.’”

No details of the story have been changed and all other names have been left alone. —Claire K. raCine

Port Chester High School

Please turn to page 24

Carolee Brakewood

Please turn to page 12

Holiday garbage scheduleFollowing is the garbage, recycling, curbside and green waste pickup schedule

for the Memorial Day holiday week in Port Chester:There will be no collection of household garbage or recycling on Monday, May

27 in observance of Memorial Day. Monday’s household garbage and recycling will be collected Tuesday; Tuesday’s household garbage and recycling will be collected Wednesday. There will be no curbside trash and/or green waste pickup Wed., May 29. Violators will be subject to summons and fines.

Heat can’t defeat Family U at PCMS

page 13

Hop Hop Hooray!Christian Gemio, 9, hops to try and help his team, Post Road Iron Works, win the sack race at the Port Chester Youth Baseball League All Star Extravaganza on Saturday, May 18 at Lyon Park. For more pictures see page 13.

24 WESTMORE NEWS Friday, May 24, 2013

her house and just in time. “I was getting pissed at the

cop because he was telling me he couldn’t do anything for me and he was like, ‘Ok, where’s your daughter?’ What do you mean, where’s my daughter?” Sally said.

By the time the police and ambulance arrived, with her fam-ily shortly behind them, Julie had already slit her wrists.

“I should have never left her, but I got there in time, but it could have been worse than what it was,” Sally said. “It was a nightmare. It was a mother’s nightmare, a par-ent’s nightmare.”

Julie was transported to the hospital and then later to Four Winds Hospital, which provides inpatient and outpatient mental health treatment. At the Katonah hospital, she had to be constantly watched to make sure she did not hurt herself again and body checks became a routine occurrence. After being released from Four Winds, Julie entered a one-month educational program, Intensive Day Treatment, provided by the Southern Westchester Board of Cooperative Educational Services.

Once the school district was alerted, the two girls involved were subsequently suspended for one month.

What Julie’s parents had asked for, however, was for the girls to be expelled or suspended for the rest of the school year and sent to summer school. Although district policy does not list those as pos-sible disciplinary measures, the regulation states that appropriate

disciplinary action is not limited to the penalties outlined there.

“They’re outside running around and playing while my daughter isolates herself and is on medication,” Sally said. “It’s just who’s the one getting punished? My daugh-ter. I look at it, it’s not right.”

Julie’s parents were told it is often difficult to prove that bullying occurred, which her parents argued was not so in this case.

“In this instance we proved unequivocally that there was bullying. We have logs of my daughter go-ing in and out of the school filing complaints,” said her father, Tony. There are also the Facebook post-ings and student witnesses who approached the administration with details about the bullying. “You can prove without a shadow of doubt that there was bullying. They should not be suspended but expelled.”

Sally was so angry that she even lashed out at the Port Chester High School principal to the point that the school district contacted the Rye Brook police to have it on record after Sally told Dr. Mitchell Combs, who she felt did not really care about her daughter, that she would shove his glasses up his ass.District stands by its response

Superintendent Dr. Edward Kliszus, Jr. refused to comment about Julie’s situation and the punishments associated with it.

“I can’t talk about specific cases, but I can tell you we are well versed in Dignity for All Students legislation and we follow it to the letter. There are no missteps. Every case is taken in that way.

Our administrators go to training and they’re well versed in what has to be done.”

Each incident of bullying is taken on a case-by-case basis and the district’s reaction is based on the circumstances of the case, the superintendent said. The district works to provide a supportive, nurturing environment where children feel safe and comfortable.

Even though he would not speak to this specific case, he did say that in all recent incidents, “everything was followed by the book.”

Board of Education President Jim Dreves did comment on Julie’s situation to a greater degree than the superintendent. Dreves was aware of the incident, but only peripherally, and could not re-member if he had learned about it in the school board’s weekly email update or if the administration had

mentioned it to him at some point. “Based on what I heard, it was

dealt with in a very professional manner,” said Dreves. “From what I know—and I wasn’t sitting in on everything that was done—it

was handled in a very appropriate manner and the punishments were appropriate to the situation.”

Dreves said the stu-dents involved were disciplined suitably but that he understands family may not agree.

“I know that anything like this is a very trau-matic experience for par-

ents and therefore anything that the school district does would be looked at differently by the parents than by somebody impartial,” he said.

“We take bullying very seri-ously and will continue to take that very seriously,” Dreves said. “I promise we will not have, will not condone, any bullying in our schools. Ever.”

Tony, who spoke with Dreves, was disappointed that no further action would be taken against the girls.

“We were totally unsatisfied with the outcome and how it turned out as to the punishment of the those students,” he said.

Furthermore, Sally and Tony thought the students in school should have been made aware of the incident. Without using names, the students could still have been told that a fellow student tried to commit suicide because of bullying.

“People need to know what happened here in Port Chester. That’s what pissed me off. That’s what pissed her father off. People need to know what’s happening here and nobody knows,” Sally said. “There has to be other chil-dren that are being bullied and they’re probably afraid to tell their parents. Or maybe there’s parents afraid to speak up. I don’t know, but something has to be done.”

Although there was a special assembly about bullying, there was no mention of any incidents happening in Port Chester and the students who attended were only freshmen.

“Her dad and I were not happy about that because it should have been for 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th graders,” Sally said. “It should have been for the whole school.”

Following his conversation with Dreves, Tony did have one positive takeaway, as Dreves said he would speak to the administra-tion about making the district’s bullying program more Port Chester centered.

“If it’s broadcast to them that ‘Hey, it’s happening here. It’s a widespread problem here’ and work from that point of view, I think that would be more effec-tive,” Tony said. “When you hear tragic stories about something that happened, you really can’t get close to the story, to the point that it’s heart moving unless you can say it happened around here and that’s what they need to understand.”

Bullied student slits her wrists, distraught parents speak out Continued from page 1

Port Chester High School students sign the “Don’t Stand By, Stand Up” banner, part of a three-week-long anti-bullying campaign organized by the 21st Century ASPIRE after school program’s advisory board in April 2012. From left: Kyle Thomas, 11th grade, Lukas Patrizio, 11th grade, Jeffrey Quinde, 11th grade, Eduardo Gonzalez, 11th grade, and Brooke Pietrafesa, 9th grade. Photos by Claire K. raCine

The banner remains on display in the Port Chester High School cafeteria and the students who signed it are one year older.

“It was a nightmare. It was a mother’s nightmare, a parent’s nightmare.”

Make Our PhotosYour Photos

Most of the photographs printed in this newspa-per are available for purchase. For as little as $15 you can obtain the color photo that appeared in the pages of the Westmore News. These beauti-ful pictures are printed on 8 x 10 photo quality paper and look great. The digital image is also available for only $25.

Call the today at

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Preparing for constructionAfter the site has sat dormant for years, major work is now taking place at Willett Avenue and Abendroth Place to prepare it for construction of 83 residential units in a building to be called “The Castle.” The project was approved long ago but has been modified to allow for construction of smaller apartments.

10 Westmore NeWs Friday, June 22, 2012

Continued from page 1

Man proposes with an assist from the PCHS Marching Band

By Claire K. raCineIn order to propose, every

man needs a nice ring, some guts and, of course, a marching band—well, at least that’s how it goes according to Craig Jones, who hired the Port Chester High School Marching Band to help him propose to his girlfriend, Allison Leclaire, on Saturday, June 9.

“It was a special moment in someone’s life and I was proud to be a part of it,” said PCHS Band President Artur Szerejko.

The PCHS Band’s involve-ment came as these things often do. Jones, a senior associate of PriceWaterhouseCoopers, knew a guy who knew a guy who knew about the band and put Jones, 26, in touch with band director Bob Vitti.

This was not the first time the band has taken part in an unorthodox performance: in 2005 the band travelled to Ber-muda to take part in the island’s 500th anniversary and they also performed in “Spider-Man 3.”

“I get a lot of calls,” Vitti said. “Sometimes they forget we’re an educational institution.”

This, however, seemed pretty interesting, so Vitti told Jones they would help him out.

Jones, originally from Kansas City, made a donation to the band and after emails and phone calls back and forth with Vitti, everything was ready to go for the big day.

More than 100 band mem-bers headed into New York City on June 9 and met up with Jones, who, although a little nervous, joked and chatted with the students while waiting for Leclaire, 29, to arrive at Bryant Park.

Vitti had suggested that for the highest “wow factor,” Jones should wear one of the uniforms and so Jones borrowed a drum major

uniform—Szerejko’s to be exact—but forgot to wear black shoes.

“He needed black shoes to match the uniform, so he had to resort to switching with a tuba player

who had the same shoe size,” Szerejko said, who added that Jones’ brown shoes would have prevented him from looking “spiffy.”

“He forgot the shoes but at least he remembered the ring,” said band parent Johnna Roca, who was there taking pictures of the event.

Leclaire, who was told she was meeting Jones and his boss for lunch, was brought to the park by a close friend. When she got there, an unknown person took her by the hand and led her over to a table with a white tablecloth and a red rose in a vase on it.

Immediately afterwards, the woman, along with her fellow NY Steppers, started dancing to Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel”—because what is a proposal without a flash mob as well.

As Michael Jackson faded out, the band started up and

marched into Bryant Park playing a rendition of “Hey Baby, I Wanna Know If You’ll You Be My

Girl,” arranged by Vitti. By the time the song drew

to a close, Leclaire was in tears and then Jones, still in uniform, broke out of the formation.

When he took off his hat and knelt down, he looked

like Prince Charming, said Roca.“It was like a fairytale,” she said. As in every good fairytale, the guy always gets

the girl and this is no exception. Leclaire said “yes” and the two plan to be married next year.

Craig Jones dips his brand new fiancée Allison Declaire while friends and family look on and the Port Chester High School Marching Band plays in the background on Saturday, June 9 in New York City’s Bryant Park. Photos by Johnna Roca

The Port Chester High School Marching Band plays “Hey Baby, I Wanna Know If You’ll You Be My Girl” in Bryant Park.

Allison Declaire says “yes” to Craig Jones’ marriage proposal.

To see a video of the flash mob, the Port Chester High School Marching Band and Craig Jones’ over-the-top wedding proposal, visit westmorenews.com.

non-retired candidates for the position must first be consid-ered,” according to NYSED’s website. Furthermore, this is only a temporary placement and there must be a “plan for recruitment” to hire a qualified non-retired person.

Even if a waiver were ap-proved for Mele for next year, the board would still have to find someone new for the year after that, Schuster said.

In order to hire Mele part-time this year following her retirement, the school district was able to meet the salary cap regulations by appointing her in both 2011 and 2012. She was appointed as a 0.8 FTE French teacher from Aug. 31 until Dec. 31, 2011 at a per diem rate of $399.33 and for Jan. 3 until

June 21, 2012 at a per diem rate of $270.22. Overall, Mele was paid more than $30,000, but since it was less than $30,000 in 2011 and again less than $30,000 in 2012, the school district did not have to apply for the waiver. The district, however, could not continue in the same vein next autumn because it will still be 2012.

“The district has been ex-tremely fortunate to have had Joan Mele as long as we have and it’s with regrets that she won’t be retuning in the fall,” Schuster said.

Despite the outcry at the school board meeting, the board unanimously voted to appoint Elizaveta Dukalskaya as a .06 FTE French teacher effective Sept. 1, 2012 until June 30, 2013 at a pro-rated salary of $40,790.

New part-time French teacher hired despite outcry by B.B. communityContinued from page 1

and committing interstate domestic violence and stalking. In addition, Novack was found guilty of interstate transportation of stolen property and two counts of money laundering and Veliz was found guilty of two counts of tampering with a witness.

They will be sentenced on Nov. 1 at 10 a.m. by United States District Judge Kenneth M. Karas, who presided over the trial.

“Narcy Novack and her brother, Cristobal Veliz, will now have to answer for the blood of Ben Novack and his elderly mother,” said U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara in a press release. “Today, a federal jury convicted the defendants of two gruesome, sadistic and ultimately fatal attacks, along with a catalogue of other crimes. Motivated by greed, the defendants and their coconspirators assiduously plotted their fatal crime spree for over two years, then attempted to cover their tracks by plotting to kill an essential witness—all while Narcy Novack was attempting to take control of her murdered husband’s assets. Justice was served today, and now punishment will be meted out to these defendants.”

Ben and Bernice Novack were members of the wealthy family that built the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach, Fla. Ben, who was 52 at the time of his death, owned Novack Enterprises, Inc., a company that organized and oversaw conventions. Bernice was 86 at the time of her death and was secretary of Novack Enterprises.

“We’ve been following the case all along,” said Chief Austin. “Even though it is being prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office, our department played an active role. I sat through several days of testimony.”

He was pleased with the verdict.“The jury had a lot of evidence to consider and I’m very pleased

with the verdict they came out with,” said Austin. “It was a long investigation, a long trial and a lot of elements to consider and I’m glad the jury came up with the verdict that they did.”

There is now a sense of relief that this chapter of the case is over.“Now it’s done and that chapter of this case is over, but this

has been a 3-year-long investigation and we’re glad it’s done,” said Austin. “It’s been a long road.”

Terence Wilson, Rye Brook’s lead investigator, was involved with the witness preparation with the prosecutors. He was on the witness list but didn’t end up testifying. Rye Brook Detective Steve Goralick, who retired a year ago, testified twice about “things he did with downloading the key code information from the doors and the securing of the surveillance tape from the Hilton,” said Austin.

“Terry and the detectives also solved Bernice Novack’s homicide which was originally determined to be an accident,” said Austin. “They were an integral part of that.”

Chief Austin said a “multitude” of Rye Brook police man hours went into the investigation. However, he said, “I never added it up.”

Lt. Matthews said Wilson traveled up and down the East Coast between Rye Brook and Miami in the course of the investigation.

“He traveled to Ft. Lauderdale, Philadelphia, Rhode Island and Kentucky with investigators from the Westchester County DA’s Office,” said Austin.

Matthews said, and Austin concurred, that the detectives “never let the case rest until an arrest was made.”

Bharara praised the Rye Brook Police Department as well as the FBI, prosecutors and investigators from the Westchester County District Attorney’s Office, the Westchester County Department of Safety and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement for their cooperative work in this investigation and prosecution.

Working on a case like this is not an everyday occurrence, especially for police officers in a quiet little village like Rye Brook where their jobs are largely service oriented.

“It was exciting, a once-in-a-lifetime experience to have a case like this happen during your career, especially when you have such success with the result,” Chief Austin concluded.

Hilton murder verdict handed down, Rye Brook police played integral part

Rye BRookWestmore NEWS Vol. 50 No. 25 • An edition of Westmore News

Friday, June 20 - Thursday, June 26, 2014

Here’s what’s insidePeople .............................210573 Events...................5Nearby Events .................6Opinion .........................8-9Sports .......................12-14Arts & Entertainment ...15-16 Religious Services .........16Police Briefs...................17Classifieds ................18-19

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Happy 32nd Birthday,Rye BrookFor more photos, page 11

Blind Brook board mum on details about controversial music teacherResidents flood Board of Education with emails

By Claire K. raCineThe only name Blind Brook Board of

Education President Nancy Barr mentioned was that of the board’s legal counsel when she addressed the audience before opening up public comments at the school board meeting on Monday, June 16. When freshman Samuel Landino stepped up to the podium, he, too, did not name names. In a continuing trend, not a single name was mentioned by parent and PTA co-president Debbie Handler or during 6th grader Evan Dogus’s brief statement that followed.

No one, on either side, ever said what or who exactly they were talking about.

The man on nobody’s lips was Gabriel DeAngelo.

The case against himIn March 2010, the school board at the

time charged DeAngelo, a tenured teacher in the music department who joined Blind Brook in the 1990s and served as a choral teacher at both the high school and middle school, with conduct unbecoming a teacher, incompetence

and misconduct. After two pre-hearing con-ferences and a series of evidentiary hearings that stretched into 2012, a State Education Department hearing officer found DeAngelo guilty of some, but not all of the charges leveled against him.

For failing to alert parents during a progress report that their students were in danger of failing grades and adver-tising to the faculty he had an apartment to rent using the district’s email system, DeAngelo was found guilty of conduct unbecoming a teacher, incompetence and misconduct. He was found guilty of conduct unbecom-ing and misconduct for telling a student in class he or she did not have to sing as the student’s mother had called the principal. Because he was absent the day he was supposed to proctor a test and failed to alert the district he would be late to class a different day, he was found guilty of only incompetence.

On all other charges, the hearing officer found him not guilty.

“The appropriate penalty in this case is a fine of two thousand five hundred ($2,500) dollars,”

the hearing officer wrote in his statement and signed on July 24, 2012. He also instructed the district to reinstate DeAngelo to the position he

held when the charges were filed against him.

In total, the district es-timated that the litigation cost Blind Brook about $118,000. In comparison, DeAngelo’s salary for the 2012-13 school year was just under that at $116,801.

Reinstated, just not to a classroom

Despite the fact that DeAngelo did not appear in the classroom the following autumn, Superintendent William Stark said the district followed what the hearing officer had to say.

“The definition of some-one being returned to their position means they are put back in their tenure area to do work according to those lines,” Stark said. Deciding how teachers are allocated is at the discretion of the superintendent, and while Stark said he did not want to go into the details, DeAngelo is currently working on projects related to music education.

Gabriel DeAngeloA PHOTO INCLUDED IN A 2010

BLIND BROOK STAFF DIRECTORY.

Please turn to page 10

BBHS grad to lead Yankees panel at library in honor of his father

By Claire K. raCineWhen Vincent Barbarisi of

Rye Brook died in October, his family decided they wanted to do something a little different in his memory. So was born the Vincent Barbarisi Memorial Fund for the Port Chester-Rye Brook Public Library.

“He was always someone who really loved the library,” his son Daniel said. “He loved books, reading, history. When I was a kid, he always took me to that library.”

Honoring his dad with a fund that could help bring knowledge and excitement to other Rye Brook and Port Chester residents through a series of sponsored events seemed perfect. For their first event on Thursday, June 26, the Barbarisis turned to family connections and somehow the idea came up for a sports-themed panel led by Daniel, who covers the New York Yankees for the Wall Street Journal, where he started working in 2011.

Vincent, who was born and raised in the Bronx, was a devoted Yankee fan and passed that on to his kids.

“He absolutely would take us, my sister and I, to games,” Daniel said, talking about his sister Rachel. “It was an experience we were able to share together.”

Daniel even celebrated at least one birthday at a Yankee game, his mother, Barbara Goodstein, said, complete with his name spelled

out on the jumbotron. Daniel grew up playing baseball, going to a month-long camp for the sport several summers and made it as far as the varsity team in high school before quickly getting cut. He did,

however, enjoy playing on the JV team. “I wasn’t good enough to advance really past that,” he said.

Despite being Yankee sup-porters, the Barbarisi family was thrilled when he became a sports reporter, even if he started out covering the Boston Red Sox.

“It was a great beat,” his mother said, adding that she is thrilled to have him back in New York now.

A graduate of Blind Brook High School in 1997, Daniel wrote for the school newspaper, Focus, and also for the Westmore News. “They were the first people nice enough to pay me to write,” he said.

The pool of journalists Daniel knows and interacts with on a regular basis has grown sig-nificantly from those early days. When he reached out to his fellow

Yankee reporters, many of them were game for the idea.

“I was able to talk with some of the other writers who work with me and they were willing to sit down,” he said.

“I just think it’s wonderful that Dan’s in the position to put this kind of panel together for the library,” said Barbara, who joined the library board of trustees in September. “It’s consistent with the thoughts behind putting the fund together to not only bring folks to the library but have an event that relates to reading and writing.”

Print, web, radio and televi-sion are all represented in the panel that will be moderated by Daniel. Bryan Hoch, the Yankees beat reporter for MLB.com, Chad Jennings, the Yankees beat reporter for The Journal News, Meredith Marakovits, the Yankees clubhouse reporter for the YES Network, Wally Matthews, the Yankees beat reporter for ESPN, and Sweeny

Murti, the Yankees beat reporter for Sportsradio WFAN, will all be participating.

Getting all the reporters to-gether was tricky given their intense travel schedules and the

need to have it on a day without a Yankee game.

“Not only are we able to pull together the best Yankees’ sports journalists, but to get them in a place that’s not a baseball sta-dium, I think, it’s very unusual,” Barbara said.

The event is expected to last about an hour and a half. The first 45 minutes to an hour will be a discussion by the reporters about life on the beat, the Yankees themselves and issues that sur-round the team. At least the last half hour will be a Q & A allow-ing the audience to chime in and ask questions for the reporters to field. Refreshments will follow the question and answer session.

While the event is free, Daniel said anyone interested can, of course, donate to the library.

The Art and Science of Sports Journalism: Covering the New York YankeesPort Chester-Rye Brook Public Library

Thursday, June 26 at 6:30 p.m.

R.B. native Charlie Scopoletti to co-headline at Capitol TheatreFor the story, page 10

Thrills & spills galore before Firefighters win Rye Brook Little League softball titleFor the story, page 12

JUNE

22

Tasting Peru Festival & ExpoCrawford Park, 122 N. Ridge St., Rye Brook. 12-7 p.m. The event is to promote Peruvian cuisine and Peru in general. For the full listing, page 5

10 WESTMORE NEWS | Friday, June 20, 2014

According to the district’s online directory, DeAngelo is a teacher in the music department but works in the district clerk’s officer in the district office.

“As long as you’re not asking someone to do something out of their tenure area, you can ask people to do things that take them out of the classroom and we’ve done that with other teachers,” Stark said. “Instruction, professional development—that’s really along the same lines.”

The Blind Brook grapevineWhile no one would go into specifics regarding

why DeAngelo’s situation war-ranted closed-door meetings, the school board did meet in executive discussion to discuss the topic in recent weeks. Somehow the word got out to the public and the rumor mill ran away with it.

Parents circulated emails shar-ing the information as they had it and urging each other to contact the Board of Education. The com-munity certainly did that, sending about 100 emails to the school board in only about a week’s time.

“It was like a game of tele-phone,” said Board President Nancy Barr. “Each email that came in had a slightly different fact pat-tern. Many people admitted they didn’t know what was going on but this was what they heard and others had more personal experience they could speak to.”

Further exacerbating the situation was information also circulating that Daniel Boniello, a well-liked music teacher, was considering a job in another district. Boniello, who started at Blind Brook about two and a half years ago, works part-time.

“They’re really two separate issues,” Barr said. “I think there was a timing issue that made people connect the two.”

“It definitely added to the number that wrote in,” said board member Jeff Diamond. “Some people were more interested in one or the other and some were interested in both.”

Holding a part-time position, Boniello is appointed at the start of each school year and Diamond said the job is still slated for next year.

The board could also offer Boniello a full-time position or he could choose to take a job elsewhere.

“There is nothing official to report at this time,” Diamond said.

Public discussion about no one Handler, the PTA co-president, addressed both

topics when she spoke before the school board on June 16.

“In the past week you have had many emails from the parents in this district on two separate, yet unfortunately intertwined, issues,” the Rockinghorse Trail resident said. “I know that part of the board’s responsibility is to maintain a sound fiscal infra-structure and that is a responsibility that cannot be taken lightly. However, even more important than the fiscal responsibility is the responsibility you have to each child in this district. The safety and wellbeing of our children must always be the number one, primary concern.”

Only two other people, both students, spoke at the meeting, but Handler said the PTA discouraged large numbers of people from turning out as there was not anything officially on the agenda about the topic.

“We as a whole community pride ourselves on having an outstandingly safe environment in which learning can take place,” said Landino, who lives on North Ridge Street.

“Therefore it is imperative that the honorable board here rules to maintain their stellar record of having qualified teachers teach at Blind Brook and of even more importance that the student body’s safety is upheld,” the freshman added.

The board, uncertain that the community would

be as careful in their remarks as they were, opted to have legal counsel present at the meeting, something that does not usually happen.

“It would be very difficult for us to maintain the morale throughout the schools if teachers felt they could be subject to open public attacks,” explained board member Ryan Goldstein.

“We never know what someone’s going to say and we want to ensure the district does not find itself in a situation where it could be held liable or anyone else in the room could be held liable for what’s said,” Stark said. “It turned out it was not really necessary, but you only know that after the fact.”

“I was impressed with the students who spoke, who tried to be very diplomatic and general in their comments,” Barr said.

DeAngelo likely to resign in 2015Two days after that public meeting, the district

sent out an email blast alerting the public to a hastily-scheduled meeting on Friday morning at 8 a.m. The board expects to vote on an agreement between DeAngelo and the district.

“I think this was the best outcome for the dis-trict,” Barr said. “The Board of Education is very committed to doing what’s right by the students and we would never do anything that we felt was not in their best interests.”

If adopted and ratified, DeAngelo will officially resign from Blind Brook on June 30, 2015.

“He will be with the district in some capacity for another year, but then he’s agreed to leave at that point to retire,” Diamond said.

“Part of the agreement is that he would have another year because that was something that was important to him,” Barr said. “I don’t think he’ll be in a classroom. I think he’ll be doing more cur-riculum work.”

While the school board may want to disclose more details and explain the situation, legally their

hands are tied. “The only way to explain to

people things that may make them feel differently is by disclosing info that we’re not allowed to,” Goldstein said.

“It’s just the way due process works in the public school system, at least in New York,” Diamond said. “The public has to trust that the school administrators and the elected board members are taking all of the information and coming up with a reasonable decision on

something like this because we can’t share our think-ing and it’s unfortunate because there’s a tendency for people to use a piece of info or a rumor and jump to conclusions and that’s the most frustrating part when you can’t set it straight.”

Nobody winsIn Diamond’s opinion, no one wins in this situation:

not DeAngelo, not the district, not students, not taxpay-ers. “All he was found guilty for was a hodgepodge of smaller charges and that essentially created this whole situation,” Diamond said. “It’s a lose all around. The district went to a lot of trouble and expense and time and just—it created a situation without a good resolution for anybody. It’s just too bad.”

“It’s an unfortunate end to an unfortunate story,” Diamond added.

Why exactly the school board and administration did what they did will likely never be known. They can’t—and won’t—discuss their rationale, despite how much they may wish to do just that.

As Diamond said, the only person who possibly could shed some light on the situation is DeAngelo himself. He, however, did not respond to an email from Westmore News.

L.I. asst. principal to become BBMS/HS asst. principal

By Claire K. raCineA new administrator is

joining the Blind Brook com-munity. Derek Schuelein will be taking over as the assistant principal for the Blind Brook Middle and High schools, ef-fective July 7. The Blind Brook Board of Education unani-mously approved his appoint-ment with a salary of $128,000 at their June 16 meeting.

“Mr. Schuelein was selected as part of a screening process that included students, parents, faculty, staff, administrators, the Board of Education and me,” Superintendent William Stark wrote in an email to the

community. “He brings a wealth of experience to the position.”In the reshuffle that followed Gina Healy’s decision to leave Blind

Brook High School last year, Stark tapped then BBMS Principal Pat Lambert to become the chief administrator at the high school and then Assistant Principal Todd Richard stepped in as the interim middle school principal for the 2013-14 school year while the district conducted a search to permanently fill the position at the middle school. Richard has since been confirmed as the official principal at the middle school and the search was discontinued.

For the current school year, Laura Neier, who previously served as a senior educational specialist in the office of teacher effective-ness in New York City, acted as the interim assistant principal with duties at both the middle and high school. After almost a year-long search, Schuelein was the successful candidate to take over the post next year.

Schuelein is a tenured assistant principal at Lindenhurst High School on Long Island. Previously he served as an assistant prin-cipal at a New York City high school, as a master scheduler and as a social studies teacher.

The day the school board interviewed Schuelein, he traveled from his home in Yorktown Heights to Lindenhurst, then to Rye Brook to speak with the Board of Education, back to Long Island as it happened to be his school’s prom, and finally full circle back to his home in Yorktown Heights.

“That’s what I call dedication,” Board President Nancy Barr said on June 16. “We look forward to having you in our schools.”

Schuelein thanked Stark and the school board. “I’m looking very much forward to jumping in this summer and

even more, looking forward to next fall and meeting the students,” he said.

Derek Schuelein

R.B. native Charlie Scopoletti to co-headline at Capitol Theatre

Rye Brook native and two-time cancer survivor Charlie Scopoletti has used his musical talent as a singer-songwriter to raise more than $100,000 for charities. He takes the stage again, co-headlining at The Capitol Theatre with Duncan Sheik, to benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation on Friday, June 27.

Originally diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Disease at just 10 years old, Scopoletti utilized music to aid his recovery. Later, while touring in 2006, he was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. Recently, the Blind Brook High School graduate spoke at the second annual Port Chester-Rye Brook Relay for Life. His music draws from his experiences and his recent single, “This Wish,” is a tribute to the foundation and aimed at inspiring hope in Wish Kids around the world.

This is Scopoletti’s second appearance at The Capitol Theatre and he’s teaming up with Sheik, known for his top 20 single “Barely Breathing” and Broadway sensation “Spring Awakening” that won him two Tony Awards and a Grammy, for the 8 p.m. show. A portion of ticket sales will go toward the mission of granting the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions. Ticket range from $25 to $75 and can be purchased at the box of-fice Monday-Thursday from 2-6 p.m., Friday and Saturday from 12-6 p.m. and Sundays on show nights after 12 p.m. or online at thecapitoltheatre.com.

Charlie Scopoletti

Blind Brook board mum on details about controversial music teacherContinued from page 1

“The only way to explain to people things that may make them feel differently is by disclosing info that we’re not allowed to.”

—Ryan Goldstein, Blind Brook board memeber

“It’s unfortunate because there’s a tendency for people to use a piece of info or a rumor and jump to conclusions and that’s the most frustrating part when you can’t set it straight.”

—Jeff Diamond, Blind Brook board memeber

Rye BRookWestmore NEWS Vol. 50 No. 15 • An edition of Westmore News

Friday, April 11 - Thursday, April 17, 2014

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Veterans win in Blind BrookBy Claire K. raCine

A split school board voted in favor of providing tax relief for wartime veterans. On the flip side, all other residents in the Blind Brook School District will have to make up the difference of the shift in assessments.

Towards the beginning of the meeting on Monday, Apr. 7, Knute Numme of Comly Avenue urged the board to remember the men who put their lives on the line and to vote in favor of the school alternative veterans’ exemption, signed into law by Governor Andrew Cuomo last December. “I would give it a lot of consider-ation,” he said.

A veteran of the Korean War, Numme qualifies for the exemption as do those who served in World War II, the Vietnam War and the Persian Gulf Conflict. Veterans who did not

serve during a period of war but who earned expeditionary medals also qualify. Similarly, Gold Star Parents, those whose children died in the line of service, will receive some of the benefits.

Dick Hubert, an out-spoken proponent for the exemption and army veteran, again advocated in favor of the tax relief, saying that in addition to putting life and limb on the line, veterans also sacri-ficed financially by putting careers on hold while they served their country. In

addition to supporting veterans, the district will also benefit from the exemption, the Doral Greens resident explained, because it will encourage veterans to move to or stay in Blind Brook. “I think it would be wonderful if Blind Brook put a ‘welcome

Korean War veteran Knute Numme of Comly Avenue speaks in support of the alternative veterans’ exemption at the Blind Brook Board of Education meeting on Monday, Apr. 7.

CLAIRE K. RACINE|WESTMORE NEWS

Nancy Barr ‘Nay’

“It shifts the tax burden to other taxpayers in the community.”

Jeff Diamond ‘Yea’

“It’s an opportunity for non-vets to give back.”

Ryan Goldstein ‘Yea’

“I think it’s a privilege to be up here and have the opportunity to thank vet-erans that have obviously provided the freedom that we all benefit from.”

Dan Savitt ‘Nay’

“I think this should be handled at the a state level. I think this should be handled at the federal level.”

Glen Schuster ‘Yea’

“It is definitely, I feel, the right thing to extend the benefit.”

School taxes to increase for non-wartime

veterans

Please turn to page 11

Library gets a 3D printer and you can use itBy Claire K. raCine

The Port Chester-Rye Brook Public Library just got a new printer, which is not normally something that warrants a newspaper article. In this circumstance, however, rather that printing out a picture of an iPhone case that a patron may be considering, this machine will print out the actual case.

In 3D printing, virtual designs get converted into reality. Starting with a digital blueprint, a 3D printer melts special plastic and then builds up the chosen item layer by extremely thin layer.

The notion of getting a 3D printer first came up at a technology seminar offered by the Westchester Library System that PC-RB library staffers Chris Hernandez and Adrian Pina attended.

“We were fascinated by the whole idea,” Pina said. “Our eyes were just opened to all the possible ideas.”

After the workshop, they immediately started strategizing about how to get one for the Port Chester/Rye Brook community.

Unlike a normal printer which anyone can pop over to Staples and pick up for $24.99, 3D printers are a bit more exclusive. Just like most technology, the prices have dropped since they were first introduced, but a MakerBot Replicator 5th Generation Desktop 3D Printer—the one the library ended up going with—still costs about $3,000 with all its necessary ac-coutrements and insurance. Waiting until they collected enough fines from late books did not seem a viable option. Instead, the library looked to “The Port Chester-Rye Brook Friends of the Library” for help and the Friends delivered.

Library Director Robin Lettieri thinks the whole community will benefit from the new

technology. Those from all walks of life can find uses for the printer, but those with careers such as architects, who could make building models, inventors, who could develop prototypes, or artists, who could craft small-scale versions of larger artwork, are more readily apparent.

“We do have a big artist community,” Lettieri added.

Don’t worry, you can download itThe sky’s the limit when it comes to 3D

printing. “As long as you can design it, you can print

it,” said Hernandez on Tuesday, Apr. 8 during a demonstration of the MakerBot.

Port Chester-Rye Brook Public Library staffer Chris Hernandez demonstrates the new 3D printer to 10-year-old Noah Rotfeld of Betsy Brown Road. Besides the large ring being printed in plastic on Tuesday, Apr. 8, library staffers have created bracelets, animal bones, pen holders and toys on the MakerBot. CLAIRE K. RACINE|WESTMORE NEWS

Please turn to page 10

Learning to live healthyFor the story, page 10

Airport operator to drop lawsuitFor the story, page 10

Blind Brook girls’ lacrosse starts the season 0-3For the story, page 12

B.B. baseball picks up first winFor the story, page 13

DiningOut & About

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A Supplement to the

Six new

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under

constructionPages 5-7

Your guide to eating out

in Port Chester, rYe Brook

and surrounding areas

DiningOut & About

A special pullout section about dining in Rye Brook, Port Chester

and surrounding areas

Friday, April 11, 2014 | WESTMORE NEWS 11

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Q&A about the Vets’ ExemptionDo veterans need to sign up?

Yes and no. Veterans who already receive the exemption on town and village taxes are already signed up and do not need to do anything. Those who do not receive them or who currently get the Change in Level Veterans Exemption (formerly known as “Eligible Funds Veterans Exemption”) need to fill out forms for the Town of Rye Office of the Assessor and provide discharge papers as evidence of service.

What about Gold Star Parents?They are eligible for part of the exemptions and need to fill out the appropriate application.

How do veterans and Gold Star Parents sign up?

The application is available online at tax.ny.gov and the forms are available by contacting the Rye Town assessment office at (914) 939-3566.

When do all the forms need to be submitted?

May 1, 2014 is the deadline in order for the exemption to apply to the 2015-16 school taxes.

mat’ out for Afghanistan and Iraq veterans,” he said. Currently in Blind Brook, there are a total of 164 veterans who

are eligible. Forty-six of them served in combat zones and six are disabled veterans—both of those qualifications result in a greater tax exemption. These numbers could go up if other veterans decide to register.

As board member Dan Savitt put it, one in seven households qualify and the other six have to make up the difference. The other residents taking on more of the burden was the number one reason that Savitt and Board President Nancy Barr disagreed with the exemption.

Barr said, “It shifts the tax burden to other taxpayers in the com-munity”—the same sentiment she expressed at the last board meeting. Similarly, all five board members stuck to their previous opinions, with no changed minds despite the past two weeks. Between Board Vice President Glen Schuster and the other two board members, Jeff Diamond and Ryan Goldstein, in support, they had the necessary votes to pass the resolution allowing the exemption.

Setting the limitBefore adopting the exemption, the board had to determine how

much it should be, with limits set as to the maximum allowed to be deducted from a home’s assessed value.

Both Barr and Savitt, who did not think the exemption fair to all residents, argued that a low maximum should be set so the burden would not shift excessively. The school board could always raise the exemption in the future, Barr said, and the low amount is “the fairest thing we can do under the circumstances.”

Given that Blind Brook has high property values, Diamond said, in order for veterans to really see a benefit, the district needed to adopt the greatest exemption, the same as Westchester County and Rye Town. “To have any meaning whatsoever, we should adopt at the highest number,” he said.

Both Schuster and Goldstein agreed with Diamond’s reasoning. Savitt, however, saw that as the exact reason not to adopt the highest amount. That makes it “more expensive for everyone else to live,” he said. “I question the logic a little bit.”

With the three pro-exemption board members in support of the high exemption, that is what ultimately was passed in a 3-2 vote.

A gray issueDespite voting in favor of it, Schuster and Diamond said it is

not a clear cut issue.“It’s not black and white,” Diamond said.“There’s no obvious answer,” Schuster added. With the exemption in play, the districtwide homestead assessed

valuation should be reduced by about $10,800,000. Decreasing as-sessments cause a corresponding increase in the homestead tax rate. Blind Brook Assistant Superintendent Jonathan Ross estimated that the exemptions would increase the homestead tax rate by 11.49 cents for all homeowners. On a home valued at $735,000—the district average—and owned by a non-eligible taxpayer, this would increase their annual tax bill by an estimated $85.

This will be reflected on the 2014 tax roll which means veterans will see the benefit with their 2015-2016 tax bills.

The school board could decide to change the limits or repeal the exemption entirely. Although some school districts, including Port Chester, have opted not to enact the exemption because it does not contain explicit language about repealing like the similar munici-palities’ partial property tax exemption, this does not mean that it cannot be revoked. According to State Assemblyman Steve Otis’s office, the lack of that language was not an omission or oversight but something not needed in the school law.

The municipality exemption is an opt-out law while the schools’ is an opt-in policy, Savitt further clarified.

This is backed up by the school district counsel’s interpretation of the law.

“Our attorneys believe that anything we do as a resolution we can, in the future, revoke if we find it necessary,” Barr said.

Veterans win in Blind BrookContinued from page 1

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P.C. student residency checks going faster than anticipated

By Claire K. raCineThe Port Chester School District’s efforts

to track down out-of-district students are going faster than initially expected with 10% of the student population already verified.

“As of right now, we’re just about done with our first random sample,” Assistant Superintendent Frank Fanelli said.

With 440 students verified, the district plans to randomly select another batch of 440 students across all grades and schools to check, hopefully by March. When Alberto Acevedo was hired in September as the attendance officer to work with longtime attendance officer Jack Guinta, who works part-time, the plan was to randomly check 10% of students each year.

“Because we’re doing physical checks, we didn’t know how much time it would take,” Fanelli said. “We’ve gone much faster than we thought we were going to.”

Rather than taking 10 years to get through the entire school district, at this rate the entire student body could be verified in under four years.

In-depth investigationsIn addition to the randomly selected stu-

dents, Acevedo and Guinta also investigate

students suspected of not living in the school district.

Already 10 students they were uncertain about have been investigated and found to be

legitimate residents. There are another 25 investigations ongo-ing and, out of those, Fanelli said there is a good possibility that six of them will turn out to be students attending the Port Chester schools ille-gally. There are also about 20 other leads the district is pursuing.

The assistant superintendent warned that for every student asked to leave, the savings will not amount to what the district spends per pupil, about $18,000, because it goes towards the total program and educational resources.

“To actually say that [$18,000] can come out of the budget—it’s not that simple a mathematical formula,” he cautioned.

Out of all the investigations the district has completed this year or has ongoing, only one of them came from the random selection. Two came from the newly started email tip line. All the rest, however, came as a result of the district’s usual investigations, often by following up on returned mail or suggestions from school personnel.

For example, Fanelli was alerted by a

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PORT CHESTERWestmore NEWS Vol. 49 No. 51 • An edition of Westmore News

Friday, December 20 - Thursday, December 26, 2013

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Your guide to

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surrounding areas.

DiningOut & About

You don’t have to go far to find great food.

Just look inside!

A Supplement to the

DiningOut & About

A special pullout section about dining in Port Chester, Rye Brook

and surrounding areas

Holiday sanitation scheduleIn celebration of Christmas on Wed., Dec. 25, Monday, Tuesday Thursday & Friday pickups will be unchanged. There will be no curbside trash and/or green waste pickup on Wed., Dec. 25. Violators will be subject to summons and fines.

Is reregistration worth the effort?Two nearby school districts say ‘no’

By Claire K. raCineSeveral residents have called for the Port

Chester School District to reregister every student as a way to weed out non-residents and thus decrease taxes. Although proponents of reregistration have pointed at recent initiatives in both the Ossining and Greenwich school dis-tricts, neither district said the process resulted in the removal of any out-of-district students.

“It didn’t yield us anything,” Ossining Superintendent Raymond Sanchez told Westmore News.

Based on research and conversations with other districts, such as Ossining and Greenwich, Port Chester Assistant Superintendent Frank Fanelli has repeatedly stated that reregistra-tion would not be a good use of the district’s resources, be that time or money. What the district is currently doing is actually more in-depth and consequently more effective than attempting to reregister every student enrolled in Port Chester, Fanelli said.

Reregistering their entire student popula-tion is exactly what Ossining chose to do and started the arduous process during the 2009-10 school year.

“We did it over the course of two years,” Sanchez said. “Eventually we did get every student. It was just more manageable that way.”

Families were required to show three original proofs of residency in the Ossining School District and complete a re-registration form. Although certified mail was sent out to those who did not reregister, there were no visits to check the actual homes of students. Reregistration is a purely paper-based process that does not involve the site visits that Port Chester school officials are currently involved in to check student residency.

During the reregistration time period, nu-merous families and students moved into the Ossining district and others moved out, leaving for other districts, states, or countries. Of those who left, it is impossible to tell if it was because they had heard about the reregistration or not. The number of students who left the district was well within normal standards.

In the superintendent’s opinion, there were no benefits to holding the massive reregistration.

“I’ll share why,” Sanchez said. “I think we have a process that works right now, a system in district to help ID students that don’t live in the district. We address that aggressively.”

When new students enter the district, be that

in kindergarten or another grade, they verify the students’ residency through the document checks. Using that as a starting point, the district also follows up on any information suggest-ing that a student should not be attending and conducts its own investigations.

For Sanchez, it was not worth the time

35 in-depth student residency

investigationssince Sept. 2013

Cleared as valid residents ...........10Likely to be removed .......................6Status still uncertain ...................19

Please turn to page 13

Please turn to page 13

200 strong gather to protest at county board meetingResolution tabled; airport operator’s tax-exempt status still up in the air

By Claire K. raCineMore than 200 people showed up at the

Westchester Board of Legislators meeting on Monday, Dec. 16 to protest a resolution to grant Signature Flight Support Corporation the assignment of leases at Westchester County Airport. The Blind Brook parents, teach-ers, administers, school board members and other district staff, as well as other Rye Brook residents and officials from the village, town and state governments turned out en masse to express their frustration with Signature’s lawsuit to become tax-exempt and with the county legislature’s decision to take a provision out of their resolution that could have put the matter to bed for good.

“I thought the turnout was fantastic,” said Rye Brook Mayor Paul Rosenberg, who spoke at the meeting. “Rye Brook may be a quiet village, but when people understand that there are things that are really going to harm

the village and specifically our tax base, then they certainly knew what the right thing to do was and turned out in force.”

“I was so amazed and impressed by the number of people who came out—not only parents but teachers and students and other staff from the school. We had administrators;

Blind Brook students Sam and Julia Zarkower and Joshua Rosenblut pose

with Westchester County Legislator David Gelfarb and Blind Brook

Superintendent William Stark at the Board of Legislators meeting on Monday, Dec. 16. Rosenblut’s Boy

Scout troop moved their own meeting scheduled for Monday to the County

Board of Legislators meeting as they felt it was their civic duty to attend. COURTESY OF MICHAEL ROSENBLUT

Please turn to page 24

Jaz Acosta wins first Kick Off titleFor the story, page 14

Santa came to town early to give out gifts at Lyon ParkFor photos, page 12

Friday, December 20, 2013 WESTMORE NEWS 13

Local Chiropractor Confesses!Hello, my name is Dr. Susan C.

Friedman. I am a chiroprac-tor and wellness consultant

practicing in Rye Brook, and I have a confession. Before I get to that, I’d like to tell you a story.

A number of years ago as a college student I had a job as a cashier in a large store that sold liquor and wine. It was a pretty busy store but I must admit, it was kind of a boring job, standing around all day ringing up customers, not my idea of exciting. Personally, I like to be way more physically active.

So I started to assist the “guys” unpacking the cases of wine and oth-er bottled spirits. I would lift cases and bend down, reaching up on high shelves, not really concerning myself with proper lifting or carrying tech-nique. Quite frankly I didn’t know any better nor did I care, after all I was just a teenager!!

So, lo and behold, I injured my back. This really surprised me. I had always been active. I was an athlete, both a skier and gymnast since a young age. I was invincible, or so I thought!!

What a harsh reality to be bent over in pain, barely able to hobble in to my doctor’s office. So like many of the patients I currently see, I went to my medical doctor who promptly prescribed for me Naprosyn, an anti-inflammatory. I was also instructed not to lift, bend or twist for a period of 10 days.

WOW!! What a difference!! Within about 3 days I was pain free and able to move as desired. It was a miracle, or so I thought.

After 10 days the prescription bot-tle was empty and I resumed my usual routine of activities. In less than 48 hours I was back to feeling crippled!!!

I learned very quickly that drugs are not a solution, they are at best a mask covering up the problem. But, I was lucky, I had a friend named Sal, he was enrolled in school and learning

art of spinal adjusting. He directed me to a chiropractor in my neighborhood and within minutes after my first chiropractic adjustment, my life was changed forever.

Just like my patient Sabrina S. from Mamaroneck - “Prior to my treatment I couldn’t walk in an upright position, and was mostly tipped to one side. I could not get in or out of bed, a chair or my car without excruciating pain. From the very first visit, I felt my pain lessen”

And then there is Norine T. from Mt. Vernon. She suffered from back pain and sciatica from herniated discs – “pain began to spread to my legs, groin and feet without warning” She told me “my biggest fear is that I would become crippled”. Later she said “I am now able to stand up straight and walk without any pain. Going to family gatherings and enjoying myself is now possible! Thank you Dr. Friedman & Staff, I am forever grateful”.

Then from around the globe there is Ben a friend who after flying in to NY from Israel said “I had tremen-dous difficulty getting off the plane, I required assistance. After 3 sessions with Dr. Friedman I am running stairs like a young boy.”

With accolades like that of course it’s easy to get a swelled head! Some of my patients mistakenly think that I’ve healed them.

So now it’s time to confess; What my patients don’t understand and what I didn’t understand as a teen-ager is that as a chiropractor I work to help correct the pinched nerves or sprains and strains in the body, and it’s the body that takes it upon itself to begin healing. You see, any time there is a pinched nerve in the body the body cannot work efficiently. My job is simply to track down where things have gone wrong and then help the body do what it does best. Heal itself. And given the right cir-cumstances it’ll do just that!

I know the work I do on a daily basis provides great results, BUT if anything deserves praise, it’s the body’s ability to heal. It is my belief that by helping people get their bodies “in tune” I can help them take control in a way they didn’t know they could.

I am committed to helping as many people as possible achieve the best possible level of health.

To find out if I can help you please call my office today at 914-934-2000.

I am offering a special Community Service Screening for people who live and work in the area. We will use non-invasive screening methods to check for pinched nerves. If you have a previously diagnosed condition that is not resolving, bring in your test results for review.

The fee for this community screening is $27.00 (usually $179.00). Offer expires on January 3, 2014.

111 South Ridge StreetRye Brook, NY

914-934-2000

Dr. Susan C. Friedman

Local Chiropractor Confesses!

and money because reregistration did not supply the district’s staff with helpful or new information. Parents had to bring in their pa-perwork at evening sessions that staff had to stay late for and it took about two years to get every student. At the end of it, the district was out approximately $20,000 with nothing really to show for it and has no plans to do it again in the near future.

“The times can always be dif-ferent and dictate action, but right now I don’t see it and I don’t see recommending it,” Sanchez said.

Greenwich reregisters all elementary studentsGreenwich also chose to rereg-

ister students as a way to combat non-residents with similar results.

Starting last May and finishing in October, Greenwich reregis-tered students in first through fifth grade, in addition to their standard practice requiring kindergarten-ers, high school freshmen and new students to provide proof of residency.

“When kids come into our system, we register them, and when they transfer to the high school, they come in and do the process again,” Sage Woodward told Westmore News.

After teaching for 12 years in the Greenwich Public Schools, Woodward became the residency officer for the Town of Greenwich two years ago. In Greenwich, the school budget is part of the town’s operating plan and town staff were repositioned for the reregistration. Normally Woodward is the only one in the residency office, but four other full-time town staffers were seconded to his office and another person was temporarily hired to assist with the effort.

Like in Ossining, parents had to provide evidence that they reside in Greenwich, such as a current lease, tax bill, mortgage statement or deed. They also had to bring in notarized paperwork showing that they were the legal guardian of the students. Furthermore, they had to bring in a valid form of identifica-tion such as a driver’s license or passport and also two utility bills for their address within a three-month window.

“Nobody that came in and did the verification was proven to be from out of town,” Woodward said, adding that the number of students in the district is always in flux and it was impossible to tell if people who left during that timeframe did so because they were worried about the reregistration.

Even though no non-resident students were located, Woodward, unlike Sanchez, did think there was a benefit to the process.

“It helps the townspeople. It puts their minds at ease knowing there aren’t people coming in and using the schools,” Woodward said.

The contrary, however, was also true, he added. Some people were upset because the end result was not what they had expected.

To make sure the process was efficient and effective, there are plans to audit the program, Woodward went on to say.

NY plates at Ct. schoolsGreenwich’s reasons for orga-

nizing the K-5 registration, which involved about 4,000 students, were similar to those local resi-dents have spoken about at Port Chester school board meetings.

“One reason was we had

overcrowding at two of our el-ementary schools,” Woodward explained. “We also had many par-ents call in and say there were New York registered vehicles dropping off students at the schools.”

As to the second reason, the exact opposite allegation has been leveled in Port Chester: that cars with Connecticut plates have been dropping off students.

Woodward looked into the is-sue in Greenwich and uncovered a slew of reasons for the license plates that were completely legitimate.

Sometimes it was a divorced parent dropping off the students. Other times it was the nanny. In a few cases it was former New York residents who either did not want to fully part with the state they loved so much or not wanting to part with a license and registration that had cost so much money.

“It’s tough for us. New York and Connecticut—we constantly rub elbows,” said Woodward.

Moving forward, Greenwich is actually considering more domi-cile checks, like Port Chester does, rather than relying as heavily on paper documents.

Is reregistration worth the effort?Continued from page 1

teacher on Tuesday that he had just moved to Greenwich and spotted two high school students near his complex. Immediately, those two students were added to the caseload for Acevedo and Guinta to check into.

“Sometimes one case will lead to another case,” Fanelli added.

Since the beginning of the school year there have been eight residency hearings, with two more on the books, where those thought to not live in the district can bring in documentation to prove otherwise. Last year, that was about the same number of hearings that were held all school year.

“We’re above the number we did last year at this time because of the extra person we have,” Fanelli said, referring to Acevedo.

Ct. plates at NY schoolsIn regards to the rumors of Connecticut license-

plated cars dropping off students, Fanelli, Acevedo and Guinta are planning to take turns going to different schools.

“We’re going to actually try to actually

physically follow them. Not tail them or anything, but when the kids are dropped off, we’re going to try to talk to the parents or whoever is dropping them off,” Fanelli said. “How productive that’s

going to be is another matter. We’ll have to wait and see.”

The school district is also looking into another avenue for verification.

“We got some idea that there’s a database pos-sibly that we can tap into through the State Education Department in order to look at license plates,” the as-sistant superintendent said.

They are not positive what benefit they will gain from the New York State data portal but are look-ing into the matter.

Additionally, when visitors stop into any of the school buildings, either to meet with teach-ers or pick up students, they have to sign in and provide identification. Fanelli hopes to gather information or gain tips through that method that will assist Acevedo and Guinta with their residency probes.

Residents with information about possible out-of-district students can email Acevedo at residencytips@portchesterschools.org.

Source of in-depth probesRandom selection of 10% of students ...........................1Email tip line ....................................2Research by attendance officers ...33

P.C. student residency checks going faster than anticipatedContinued from page 1