Civil and Municipal December 2024 Education

Scarsdale Union Free School District – Scarsdale, NY

January 2, 2025

Scarsdale Union Free School District

Prioritizing Excellence in Education and Beyond

Collaboration, learning and leading form this school district’s pillars of expertise

Established in 1784, the Scarsdale Union Free School District (Scarsdale Public Schools) has a longstanding tradition of excellence, operating under the motto Non Sibi – Not for Self Alone. As a suburb of New York City, the district serves approximately 4,800 students across seven schools, including a high school, a middle school, and five elementary schools.

Scarsdale Public Schools embody a truly collaborative spirit, with parents, educators, and community members working in partnership to foster the values of learning, living and leading. “We are committed to all aspects of a student’s learning, including their well being,” explains Superintendent of Schools, Dr. Drew Patrick. “We also recognize that Scarsdale is a well off community that’s been heavily focused on and invested in the schools for decades. Part of our mission is to give back, and to be part of helping \communities and the broader world around us.”

A Culture of Continuous Improvement

Committed to ongoing growth, the district has allocated a portion of its annual budget to bringing teachers in during the summer months to refine and update the curriculum.

“They convene in teams, and focus on an area of the curriculum and adapt it by introducing a relevant happening in the world to it, or connecting it to a direct community,” highlights Dr. Patrick. “So, there’s been a long term commitment to regular, ongoing improvement. Hand in hand with this approach is that it really empowers our teachers to collaborate and make decisions together.”

Additionally, the Scarsdale Teachers Institute offers a wide range of professional development courses, where educators learn from one another in a range of subjects. This approach allows teachers to continuously grow and deepen practice alongside their colleagues.

Meghan Troy, Assistant Superintendent for Human Resources, believes this has been instrumental in helping Scarsdale Public Schools attract and retain top quality educators.

She notes, “We’ve been fortunate that we’ve been able to avoid some of the shortages that you hear in the news. And I think in part, it’s because of the professional culture that we’ve created for our teachers and that idea that you’re not stagnant in your profession. There are constantly different opportunities for growth and development and learning alongside your colleagues.”

Real-World Preparation

Scarsdale High School’s Senior Options Program offers students hands-on experience during their final six weeks of 12th grade. This program is mandatory for all senior students, making it unique to the district.

“They spend most of the year researching and selecting a potential partner, ideally in an area that they are considering for their ultimate career choice,” expands Principal Kenneth Bonamo.

“However, we like to note that it is just as helpful if they choose something that they end up not liking, because it could save a lot of effort and time if you are dissuaded from a field that you thought you were going to major in.”

Bonamo says that while some students do stay local as teaching assistants within the district, others benefit from the school’s proximity to New York City, gaining varied internship experiences.

“We do a Post Senior Options Survey every year, and from the students and parents involved in the program the feedback is almost uniformly positive year after year,” he shares. “Sometimes they talk about the increased level of accountability, perhaps the commute, working for a boss who maybe doesn’t have the soft skills that a teacher would in providing feedback or allowing for some missteps. All of that can actually teach a really important lesson, in addition to the career exposures that we are hoping for.”

Further, the school’s STEAM program offers a pre-engineering sequence which incorporates courses such as robotics, and a design sequence which focuses on app development and design. “Ultimately both strands lead to a culminating course for seniors. That is AT Entrepreneurship with a focus on social entrepreneurship,” Bonamo recounts.

“It is not just commercially-focused. It also challenges students to use design thinking to involve different communities in identifying issues and challenges they face, and then developing solutions with them, and not necessarily for them.” This aligns with Scarsdale’s motto and showcases the value the district places on empathy and the larger community.

“We designed these programs to keep in the front of their minds that there are many different people with many different needs. Those two programs, the Senior Options and the AT Entrepreneurship, are emblematic of the way that we try to engage students with folks outside of Scarsdale,” he adds.

Capital Infrastructure Investment

Scarsdale Public Schools has made substantial investments to modernize its historic facilities and align them with current educational needs. “We have the beauty and the challenge of nearly 100 year old buildings,” acknowledges Dr. Patrick. “We’re currently in the process of completely renovating the main gathering space at the high school, which is the auditorium. Really, after about 50 years, it was time for a serious investment in that space.”

Other recent projects include the Design Lab—a cutting-edge space for the STEAM and entrepreneurship programs and a redesigned Fitness Center focusing on whole-child wellness. The Learning Commons offers a blend of cafeteria and flexible workspace designed for both small and large group collaboration. This innovative college-like atmosphere has quickly become popular among students for its functionality and social opportunities.

In 2021, Scarsdale transformed one of its elementary schools, an ambitious initiative which included a new two-story addition and a complete classroom overhaul, integrating flexible layouts and interactive features. Dr. Patrick reports, “We’re now poised to start a process for the future of approximately $40 million to continue our updating of old but beautiful spaces that need to reflect the kind of learning environments that we expect today.”

Enriching Student Development

Scarsdale Public Schools’ dedication to the arts, athletics, and extracurriculars nurtures a well-rounded educational experience that evolves throughout the educational journey. “In recent years, we’ve had a number of state championships,” boasts Dr. Patrick, sharing the triumphs of the boys soccer, girls tennis, and track relay teams.

“It’s really a golden age right now for our athletic programs. We have a very active and supportive Booster Club, Maroon and White, that has helped us add lights to our football field, and really enhance the program through equipment and supplies and things like that,” he underscores.

On the performing arts side, Scarsdale students engage in instrumental music from third grade onward. “We have students who are in the band or orchestra all the way through, who are composing and who are youth leaders in music, even performing at places like Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center,” illustrates Dr. Patrick.

On the subject of visual arts, he remarks, “A real hallmark of our visual art program is they are among the most collaborative teachers I’ve ever encountered. We often have high school and elementary school collaborations. When the younger kids see those high schoolers, they just light up and are able to collaborate in a way that’s different from what they would do with a peer or with a teacher.”

At the middle school level, a no-cut athletics program allows seventh and eighth graders to try out a new sport. “That’s what middle school is about,” Troy emphasizes. “They are trying out these different sports so that when they get to high school, they can hone their skills and be a part of some of the great things that are available.” This approach is mirrored in exploratory programs like art, music, and computer science, where students rotate through courses, establishing the experience to launch themselves into more focused pursuits later.

Seventh Grade students also participate in an expressive communication class meant to hone public speaking skills. “They’re really learning those important skills of engaging with one another and with adults, through the written and spoken word. Those all are skills that we’re trying to foster, and they really come out in a lot of these different programs when they get to the high school and beyond,” Troy depicts.

By high school, students can join Model UN, or Scarsdale’s acclaimed Speech and Debate program, competing at regional and national levels.“ There’s a really robust offering of extracurricular activities, even in the non athletic component, that certainly is supported by the Board of Education, but also through the commitment of our teachers to meeting students’ special interests outside of the classroom. It’s really remarkable the number of activities that we have for them,” Dr. Patrick touts.

A Future Vision

Looking ahead, Dr. Patrick says one area of focus is artificial intelligence, and the district is working to understand AI’s implications for students and teachers, and how to best utilize it in the education experience. A “belonging survey” has been introduced to gain more knowledge of student needs and interactions, in support of student well being. Along with these priorities, Scarsdale Public Schools will continue its plans to invest in its infrastructure to meet the needs of today’s learners.

Dr. Patrick concludes, “We want to create environments that support learning, living and leading in all the ways that we need to, to help our students pursue the futures that they dream of.”