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04-14-08 #23
Charlie Stern and fellow BOE candidates hold successful fundraiser   
     A Gramatan Avenue restaurant was filled to capacity for a major fundraiser in support of Mount Vernon Board of Education candidates, Maria Aneiro, Sean Fenton, Michelle Walker, Derrick Claye and Charles Stern on Monday, April 14.
     Stern and Claye are incumbents that have elected to team up with three formidable new candidates, and between the five up them, if elected, they are seeking to revolutionize the Mount Vernon Board of Education with many positive changes.
     The almost forty guests grilled all five candidates for almost an entire hour on an assortment of School District issues.
     Stern made it a point to touch on the many academic achievements involving the elementary schools found throughout Mount Vernon. He also talked about the academic underachievers in the Middle Schools and High schools. "In the second marking period, district wide, 33% of ninth graders passed all classes and 37% failed 3 or more classes. In the 10th grade 22% passed all classes, and 46% failed 3 or more classes. 51% of seventh graders passed all classes in the second marking period, while 22% failed 3 or more classes. The numbers were about the same for 8th graders as seventh graders," he said. He went on to say, "Right now there are about 250 seniors at MVHS eligible to graduate, and there are 10,300 students in the district. Our graduation rate in Mount Vernon has hovered at about 50 to 60 percent for the last for the last eight years. And we are about 15 percentage points behind the N. Y State average. We need to reverse this trend. Our school system needs leadership that is centered on the needs of the entire city – children, parents, taxpayers and all other constituencies."
     Aneiro told the attendees: "The school system does not have a 3-5 year strategic plan. Without a strategic plan, there is no clearly articulated vision and no methodology to allocate resources. Although academic achievement is the single biggest issue facing the school district, there are other serious problems: buildings that are in dire need of repair, a culture of low expectations that does not embrace continuous improvement, ineffective communication with the community. It is the responsibility of the School Board to provide this leadership, and they are not doing their job."
     All five candidates demonstrated their unanimous support of each other while addressing the large crowd. All were in agreement that Mount Vernon schools must be made safer than what they are today. If elected, each one of them promises to make sure that every single decision will be scrutinized for financial impact very closely; and all School Board actions will be open and visible.