Special Meeting: At 5:00 p.m., Colleen Brown, Board of Education Vice President, convened a Special Meeting with Board liaisons and volunteer groups. The group discussed their experiences this year, and what the Board can do to support the work of the groups and their mission.      

Special Meeting/Tenure Recommendations: At 6:30 p.m., Ms. Brown convened a Special Meeting for the conferral of tenure, noting that all Board members were present including Dr. Patrick and members of his administrative Cabinet. 

Dr. Patrick welcomed everyone to the Special Meeting and in recognition of School Principal's’ Day; Teacher Appreciation Week; and National School Nurses Week, Dr. Patrick recognized the incredible work of our teachers, nurses, principals, and assistant principals; and the hundreds of colleagues that work alongside them in and out of our classrooms. He also stated, “While Scarsdale is a community that holds high expectations, it is also one that deeply appreciates and respects the work of our educators; thank you to our PTAs who generously expressed gratitude and appreciation for our faculty last week! Please know that those assembled around this table deeply appreciate you, our educators; what you do, how you go above and beyond to support your students, and the passion you bring to this pursuit. You are the ones who create a collaborative, future-oriented academic culture within school environments that promote wellbeing, belonging, and resilience; and you keep the whole child in mind by expressing care, challenging growth, providing support, sharing power, and expanding possibilities. For all of this, and more, we salute you!” 

Dr. Patrick then provided a brief background of the very special milestone in the career of a public school educator — the conferral of tenure. He recognized the significant accomplishment earned after completing a rigorous probationary period; and he acknowledged the 15 teachers, 1 guidance counselor, 1 school psychologist, 1 social worker, 1 school leader, and 3 District administrators that have been recommended for tenure. Dr. Troy and Vice President Brown, on behalf of the Board, also commented on the incredibly dedicated educators and their remarkable achievement of attaining tenure, and they congratulated the candidates. A ceremony followed with District and Building leaders sharing a few words about each candidate that exemplify the skills, heart, and talent they bring to Scarsdale students and the community. 

The Board voted unanimously to grant tenure to the following:        

Statutory Budget Hearing: At 7:21 p.m., Ms. Brown convened the Statutory Budget Hearing, noting that all Board members were present including Dr. Patrick and members of his Administrative Cabinet. Mr. Lennon presented the highlights and key accomplishments of the proposed 2026-27 budget.

Dr. Patrick reviewed the items that will be on the ballot for the May 19th vote (Sample Ballot); he pointed out that the deadline to register to vote is Thursday, May 14th, at 5:00 p.m.; and he provided information on applying for and receiving an absentee ballot or early mail ballot. Additional information can be viewed on the Voter Information page on the District website.   

Members of the live and virtual audiences were invited for public comment on the 2026-27 proposed budget. No one spoke in person. One person spoke remotely.

Follow-up to Public Comment: In response to the question regarding the firm working on communications for the 2026-27 budget and bond, Dr. Patrick pointed out that the firm was appointed by the Board during its February 2nd Business Meeting. Mr. Lennon provided information regarding the long-term financial plan.

Special Meeting/Board Succession: Ms. Brown called the Special Meeting to order, noting that all Board members were present including Dr. Patrick and members of his Administrative Cabinet. Ms. Brown noted that the Special Meeting was added to the evening’s agenda to determine Board leadership for the remainder of the 2025-26 school year. 

• Board Discussion Regarding Nominations of a Board Officer: To begin the discussion, Ms. Brown presented a nomination for Suzie Hahn to serve as Board President for the remainder of the school year. She added, “After thoughtful reflection, I believe this moment calls for an approach grounded in stability, unity, and what is best for our students and our community”... “it is a time to come together, maintain continuity, and ensure our focus remains where it belongs — on our students, our schools, and the important work still ahead of us.” Ms. Brown noted the exceptional leadership qualities and institutional knowledge that Ms. Hahn provides, as well as her calm, thoughtful, collaborative approach, and her deep commitment to our students, staff, and community.  

• Election of President of the Board: With no other nominations for Board President, the Board voted unanimously on the nomination of Suzie Hahn to serve as Board President for the remainder of the 2025-26 school year. 

Ms. Hahn thanked her fellow Board members for their confidence and support and she stated, “Over the next two months, my goal will be to help ensure that this Board continues to operate thoughtfully, transparently, and steadily during this transition period. I believe strongly in the importance of maintaining continuity while also preserving the opportunity for the full Board to engage in a deliberate and comprehensive leadership process and election for the 2026-2027 school year in July. 

Most importantly, I want our community to know that this Board remains fully committed to the work ahead. While there are difficult conversations and moments in front of us, we will approach them with seriousness, integrity, and care for our students, this district, and every member of our community.”

Business Meeting: Ms. Hahn called the Business Meeting to order at 7:46 p.m., noting that all Board members were present, including one of the student Board members (Suzie Hahn, President; Colleen Brown, Vice President; Leah Dembitzer; Jim Dugan; Robert Klein; Laura Liu; Amber Yusuf; and Anish Mehta), and Dr. Patrick and members of his Administrative Cabinet.

Dr. Patrick welcomed everyone to the meeting, both in person and online, and shared the following words:

 “Our community is hurting deeply, and is wondering what it means for the future, and what comes next. I have served as Superintendent for 4 years, and in that time I have been guided by two unwavering principles - our work must be driven by the needs of our students, and trust with our community requires honesty and transparency. As we gather tonight, I say to you honestly and transparently that moving forward will require the collective work of our entire school community. That means that we are listening, seeking to learn from all of the feedback we are receiving, and putting our deepest, most concerted effort into promoting a safe, welcoming, positive school environment with the tools at our disposal--education, policy, and dialog. 

We are living in divisive times. Our country is engaged in conflict on the other side of the world. Our domestic politics feel increasingly polarized. And members of our community are feeling the impact of these larger forces in very personal ways. When global issues reach into our schools, into our shared spaces, into our homes, we feel it deeply. Many of you are here tonight because you are carrying both what has happened here and what is unfolding in the broader world.

It must be said clearly: we are also living through a moment in which concerns about anti-Jewish hate have intensified in ways that are deeply felt by Jewish families in our community, contributing to a palpable sense of fear, vulnerability, and destabilization. National data helps explain why: although Jews make up roughly two percent of the U.S. population, they are the target of nearly seventy percent of religion-based hate crimes. Jews have been murdered in antisemitic attacks in the United States in Washington, DC, Colorado, Pittsburgh and elsewhere, attacked physically in communities across the country, and targeted in violent incidents in places like London, Australia, France, Belgium, and Canada. 

At the same time, hate-fueled violence is not limited to any one community. Multiple minority communities are also experiencing heightened bias, hostility, and fear. Here in the United States, we have witnessed the shooting of Palestinian university students in Burlington, VT and the murder of a 6 yr old boy, because he was Palestinian. It is not surprising that these broader dynamics cause members of our own community to carry their weight. But bias, hostility, violence, and fear have no place in our country. As Viktor Frankl wrote after surviving the Holocaust, there is a space between what happens to us and how we respond—and in that space lies our freedom to choose what comes next. We are in that space right now. Tonight. Together.

As an educational institution, we are holding closely to that idea. The students in our care—and the adults in this community—are being asked to navigate a difficult moment. Between events that have caused pain and the actions we take next, there is an opportunity to be deliberate and to act in alignment with our values: kindness, respect, care, and empathy for all. It is also true that, in recent weeks, some of those values have felt strained.

The intersection of advocacy, politics, and bias in this moment can cloud our ability, and at times our willingness, to acknowledge when harm is happening, including in our own community. While that may be a human instinct, it cannot be where we stop. We remain responsible for engaging these realities with clarity, care, and accountability.

In this community, we will not rank suffering or turn away from one another. We stand with our Jewish neighbors, and with anyone targeted by hate, bias, or harassment. That commitment to the safety and dignity of every member of our community is foundational to who we are.

As an educational institution, we are guided by a core premise: when issues become difficult, we do not avoid them, we turn toward learning. Education gives us a framework for naming what we are seeing, understanding how bias operates, and building the skills required to respond thoughtfully rather than reactively. That includes being clear about how anti-Jewish bias manifests today, sometimes overtly, sometimes in more coded or distorted ways, and ensuring that our response strengthens, rather than fragments, our broader commitment to the dignity and safety of all members of our community.

In the near term, we will be putting forward a structured plan to move this work ahead. One component of that includes new Guidelines for Student Expression at School-Sponsored Activities, which appear in tonight’s agenda. These guidelines have been developed in consultation with experts, and a link appears in Item 12.01 for members of our school community to share feedback. That may include the opportunities for input through surveys and small, facilitated focus groups, as well as engagement with outside experts who can help us assess where there may be gaps in knowledge and skills, particularly around civil dialogue and engaging across differences. This moment has surfaced the need to strengthen those capacities, and we are actively considering how to ensure that our students, especially at the high school level, graduate with stronger skills in these areas as they prepare for college and beyond.

In the medium term, I am honored to announce some important news. After many months of collaboration and preparation, we will be introducing a new program to our schools next year called The Common Circles Experience: Scarsdale. The program features two connected parts: We Are Scarsdale! Bridging, Belonging & Building Community and Voices Against Hate: Lessons from the Holocaust. We are very excited about the opportunities for students, faculty, families, and community members to help shape and become part of the experience itself through local stories, photography, art, and participation. The program is an immersive research-based experience that blends art, technology, and storytelling to explore our shared humanity, build community, and teach the lessons of the Holocaust. In a moment marked by growing polarization, rising antisemitism, and increasingly dehumanizing rhetoric, the exhibition celebrates identity and strengthens historical understanding while inviting reflection. Above all, the experience encourages dialogue and fosters a space where everyone is seen, heard, and valued. 

While these are important steps, we also need to continue to listen to our community. Tonight is part of that process, and your perspectives will help shape what comes next. We will share more details about those next steps in the coming weeks. 

I want you to know that we see you, and we understand that this has been a challenging moment. 

Our goal tonight is to listen carefully, to learn, and to take responsibility for how we move forward. We are committed to doing that work with seriousness, with care, and with a clear sense of our responsibility to one another. The fact is, we can't do it alone, and we can’t do it all in a matter of days. But we will move forward as a school community, together - students, teachers, administrators, staff, parents, our Board of Education and our broader community.”

“I would also like to address the last several weeks. I will be honest, this has been a challenging time. We care deeply about every member of this community, and we have seen the genuine concern, pain, and worry that many of you are carrying. To reiterate a recent letter to the community from the Board, this Board condemns, in absolute terms, all forms of antisemitism, hate, and discrimination. We are committed to creating and sustaining learning environments in our schools that reflect our values of dignity, respect, inclusion, and safety that we strive to uphold for every student.

One of our board members recently shared that the Mandarin word for “crisis” describes a moment of danger and a critical turning point—and within that turning point, the opportunity to shape what comes next. We intend to meet this moment with that mindset, to engage it seriously, to learn from it, and to do the work required to emerge stronger as a community of students, faculty, and families.

To that end, I would like to share that on April 22nd, members of the Board participated in a full-day workshop at Purchase College entitled, “Identifying and Addressing Antisemitism in our Schools,” presented by Brandeis University’s President’s Initiative on Antisemitism and Boundless, in partnership with Westchester Jewish Council and UJA-Federation of New York. This training focused on how anti-Jewish bias and hate manifests in today’s schools. Board members have also over the last few months experienced the Common Circles exhibit Drew mentioned in his earlier comment, and have approved a transfer to allocate funds in our budget to help bring this exhibit, to increase empathy, reduce bias and antisemitism, to Scarsdale. 

These are important steps, but they are not sufficient. We are committed to continuing this work, and to ensuring that we are educated about all forms of bias and hate, so that none of them can take root or go unaddressed in our schools. 

Board members presented the following reports:

• Ms. Dembitzer provided the following reports:

  • On April 21st, she and Ms. Hahn attended the third Health Advisory Committee meeting of the school year. The group reviewed and discussed an overview of the District’s medical costs year-to-date; trends in claims; and stop-loss insurance. She noted that the Committee will have their final meeting in June.

  • The annual SMS Human Rights Day was held on April 24th and was hosted by Middle School teachers Cara Forray and Matt Peters, as well as the administration, faculty, staff, and students. The event featured keynote speakers for each grade and hands-on learning sessions. 

  • In honor of the 250th Anniversary of the founding of the United States, the Village of Scarsdale is holding a Children’s Float Competition at the Memorial Day Parade on Monday, May 25th. In honor of the 325 anniversary of Scarsdale, the Village is hosting a Birthday Bash on Sunday, May 31st.

• Ms. Liu reported that she attended the Take Back the Night Rally in Chase Park on April 28th,  organized by the Safe Coalition. The program included readings of resilience and  student musical performances. 

• Ms. Brown reported that April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and April 29th was Denim Day, which has become a symbol of protest against sexual assault and to raise awareness. She thanked the Scarsdale Edgemont Family Youth Outreach Workers and the Safe Coalition for bringing awareness to such an important issue; and she noted that to recognize Denim Day, Board members wore denim to the evening’s meeting.

• Ms. Brown also recognized Anish Mehta, one of the Board’s first two ex-officio student members who will be graduating in June. On behalf of the Board, Ms. Brown congratulated Mr. Mehta and presented him with a parting gift. 

Student Board member(s) presented the following reports:

• Mr. Mehta provided the following reports:

  • He and fellow student member Lucy Eisenberg, hosted an information session on the 2026 Capital Projects Bond for SHS students on April 14th.

  • On May 6th, the SHS Administration hosted an award ceremony to honor students for their individual as well as their community-inspired achievements.

  • This weekend, May 15th, 16th, and 17th, the Senior Class of 2026 is presenting a performance of Grease. Tickets are available here. 

Cabinet Updates: Dr. Patrick introduced Cabinet Member(s) to provide the following updates.

• Human Resources: Dr. Troy welcomed and introduced probationary appointments on the Certified Personnel Report for the 2026-27 school year that will be presented to the Board for approval later in the meeting. 

• Dr. Patrick noted that the Elementary PT Conferences dates for the 2026-27 school year have been identified and the 2026-27 School Calendar has been revised to reflect the dates. 

• Dr. McIntosh provided information on the Elementary Math Parent Webinar on May 21st at 7:00 p.m. with guest speaker John SanGiovanni. *The invitation and link are forthcoming.  

• Mr. Lennon provided the following updates:

  • The work on the SHS practice turf field is well underway and on track for the June completion date.  

  • The masonry restoration work in the south courtyard of the High School is in progress and with the assistance of the high school administration, they’ve been able to complete some of the work during the school day to expedite the process.

Hearing From Those Present: Community members were invited to address the Board. Twenty-six people spoke in person within the 90-minute time cap for the first public comment period. 

Written Communications: Ms. Brown presented the emails that the Board received from members of the community since the last report, as listed in the Board meeting agenda, all of which received a response from the Board and/or District administration.

Consent Agenda: The Board approved the items on the Consent Agenda, including the Personnel Report.