Parting Words as Superintendent Smith Prepares for His Own Graduation

Commencement day for Sleepy Hollow High School class of 2013 would mark the last commencement speech of superintendent Dr. Howard Smith's career -- a milestone of his own he momentarily referenced on Thursday night.

"A lot of things I'm doing now are with mixed emotions. I can't get too hung up though on this is the last time I'll do this, the last of this, the last of that," Smith said. "I plan to be plenty busy so I don't see it as an end but a transition. The idea of not having that connection to the schools in that way is hard though."

He said he will visit the new apple tree planted in front of the administration building is his honor, and make sure it's "nourished." He will likely do the same with the students and staff.

He and his successor Dr. Christopher Clouet have and will be continuing to spend some transitional time together. Clouet takes over July 1 and Smith is under contract until August. 

This year marks the second year of something of a "retirement bubble" inspired by incentives offered from the district. Last year had the most retiring staff members, with 15 teachers and TAs leaving. The "second wave" of this is a slightly smaller group of about 10, including Susan Montero of the soon-to-be-outsourced pre-K, the high school psychologist, the middle school social worker, "fixtures for many years."

The complete list of upcoming retirees is:

• Elementary Teacher (Pre-K) - JP - Susan Montero - 1981-2013
• Elementary Teacher (Kindergarten) - JP- Christine Newman - 1988-2013
• Library Media Specialist - SHHS - Mary Herrnstadt - 2003-2013
• Psychologist - SHMS - Magali Paschke - 1984-2013
• Speech Therapist - SHMS - Mary Laczay - 1996-2013
• Social Worker - SHMS & SHHS - Cheryl Burton - 1988-2013
• Special Education Teacher - SHHS - Camille Acampora - 1982-2013
• Psychologist - SHHS - Ellen Kaplan - 1985-2013
• Teaching Assistant - SHHS - Susan Cunningham - 1997-2013
• Office Assistant (A/S) - SHHS - Phyllis Lupetin - 1987-2013
• Office Assistant (A/S) - SHHS - Miriam Lorador - 1993-2013
• Bus Driver/Custodian - Jerry Siler - 1982-2013
• Bus Driver/Maintenance - Madelyn Enright - 1990-2013
• Bus Driver - Fabiola Gonzalez - 2001-2013
• Superintendent - Dr. Howard Smith - 2001-2013
• Assistant Superintendent - Dr. Barbarann Tantillo - 2003-2013
• Elementary Principal - JP- Rosemary Prati - 2010-2013

Smith has tried to tidy up all his loose ends as best you can in such a position -- most significantly, he leaves Clouet with a nicely balanced, community-approved budget. However, Clouet's basically been warned: good luck next time.

The massive undertaking of the building and fields work is still in an exploratory phase. The district collected feedback from the community and received about 300 responses. "There's a lot of support for moving forward," Smith said, "with questions about specifics."

The board has combed through the plans and tried to reduce the facilities work scope to higher priority matters first, deferring less critical projects until later "to bring the overall cost down," Smith said.

In the fields category: They want to do more research about artificial turf fields for the high school, too costly to undertake now anyway. For Washington Irving, Smith said someone, who doesn't want their identity disclosed yet, has offered to help fund 70 percent (the remainder comes from state aid) for an irrigation system and sod for the upper field, "a high-profile field right on Broadway. It kind of makes a statement. In addition to being a crummy field, it's not very good PR." 

Such field projects are best done in the fall so they are necessarily a ways off now until next fall, 2014. Repaving and new fencing in some areas were considered more cosmetic so "not quite as critical," Smith said, and could be put off even longer.

In the buildings category: Heating systems and roofing areas are considered the top basic infrastructure issues that simply have a lifespan and are starting to fail. 

Smith says he's "cautiously optimistic" that the Board will put forward a package this fall that would be up for a vote perhaps by December -- but that's up to the next Board and new Superintendent, he said. "The general sense is there's a potential to put together a fairly sound proposal." The funding is expected to come from a mix of voter-authorized borrowing (involving an tax increase at .75 percent), cost reductions, some extra funding the district's been able to set aside, and private funding.

Then there's Peabody Field and the acreage of outdoor space that will soon be put to educational use behind it. Teachers and parents will be meeting, said Smith, to iron out a curriculum for the new Peabody Outdoor Classroom which plans to start working with third graders in the fall "to relate with and enhance their science education." 

Finally, there's security issues to fix. The district hired security consultants to spend a complete day in each school auditing systems and needs. The board will be reviewing these findings at the next meeting (July 11) and assess the recommended training, PA system improvements, and other matters.

"Some things that we've already identified, they've agreed on," Smith said, such as upgrades in store for this summer: the schools are being installed with standardized door locks and by September the teachers and staff members will have key card access to exterior doors. 

Clouet, who begins his tenure in this key card world, doesn't have to uproot himself from way upstate to come here, said Smith, so he'll likely continue to reside in White Plains. However, when Smith was asked to offer some parting advice to Clouet some months ago, he spoke of the importance of forging the sort of lifelong connections he has made here and which will surely continue into his retirement. 

"Give yourself the opportunity to get involved in the community in a hands-on way," Smith offered. "A place like Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow allows you to get your arms around the community, be a presence and know people a little better. This will lay the ground work for all the other good things you are going to want to do."