EXCLUSIVE TALK OF THE SOUND REPORT -- A very credible parent source from Webster Elementary School has shared with NRCP that a district assigned substitute Physical Education Teacher assaulted (parent used expression "teacher put child in a chokehold") 5th grader at the aforementioned school. The alleged assault occurred yesterday, June 12th, 2009. We are gathering more details at this time. We were also told that there was a letter sent out to parents. Citizens, please write in and let us know what you know!

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story which has now been widely reported in newspapers, online and on TV was broken her first thanks to alert New Rochelle residents who have taken to reporting the news themselves via Talk of the Sound. Another signal of how citizen media is changing the rules of the game. Great work all around.

UPDATE: On Friday, June 12 a teacher was charged criminally (assault 3rd degree, endangering the welfare of a minor, and harassment).

The Trinity PTA would like the New Rochelle Community to come and support the Trinity Elementary School Summer Carnival & Boutique. If you are a Trinity parent and would like to volunteer please contact your child's teacher. It promises to be fun for the whole family.

On September 15th, 2008 New Rochelle Community Pulse reported: Second Graders at Trinity Have a Long Wait Until Lunch. This story made parents aware that 4th and 5th graders only had 15 minutes of seat time to eat lunch. As a direct result, NRCP reported several follow up stories:

Lessons From the Lunchroom 09/26/2008

Parents Mobilizing to Address 15 Minute Lunch 10/03/2008

School District Has a Little Fun Playing “Kick the 15 Minute Lunch Down the Road” With Trinity Parents 11/15/2008

In a continuous effort to seek an ever elusive transparency, we thought we would post the current City School District of New Rochelle contract with the Superintendent of Schools, Mr. Richard Organisciak as well as the soon to be expired Teachers' contract.

Now that Mr. O has successfully passed another budget, he is worth his weight in gold. What a great place to be. Kudos to you Mr. O.

Let the will of the people reign. Tell us how you voted for. Were there any problems? Were machines working? Any irregularities? Anything else?

Apparently, an "empty grenade" was found at Isaac E. Young Middle School News 12 reported today. Things may be getting rough over there. Or maybe it was show and tell.

Seriously, this is exactly the kind of thing Talk of the Sound has been communicating all along. Things have just spun out of control in our schools in New Rochelle. Isaac is the worst example of this. There is really no logical explanation for finding a grenade in or around a school building, live or inert. This may be the straw that broke the camel's back when it comes "isolated incidents." This may be the single most important wake up call the Citizens of New Rochelle need to give a vote of NO confidence to the leadership of the City School District of New Rochelle tomorrow May 19th, 2009.

Taxpayers in New Rochelle will be happy to learn (Particularly South End parents whose children must attend Isaac) that Isaac E. Young 8th graders scored higher than their counterparts in Elmsford, Peekskill, Yonkers and Mount Vernon Middle Schools in the 2009 English Language Arts New York State Assessments.

The Journal News published a complete database (click here) of New York State Assessment scores for the public to review, compare and weigh in on how much value they are getting for the their hard earned tax dollars. All this just in time for the May, 19th Budget Vote.

The Journal News reported today: Custodian suing New Rochelle schools in noose-complaint case (click here)

The school district today was served with a federal discrimination lawsuit from a middle school custodian who says school officials responded inadequately to his complaints about his former supervisor's hanging nooses in management offices...

In a deer caught in headlights response:

Superintendent Richard Organisciak said he had not seen the lawsuit but said complaints about the district's response about the incidents were "surprising."

Does this sound familiar?

Kelly (Plaintiff's Attorney) said the district's response to the matter was inadequate - taking months before disciplining Carino and implementing diversity training. Johnson said the district was trying to hide the matter from the public.

Several parents last year said the district was trying to cover up the matter, only learning about the incident when it was reported in the media - months after the incidents occurred.

Although, The Journal News has discontinued the practice of including the municipalities in its current version of Police Reports (click here), it is very clear that the today's version of the report is mostly comprised of New Rochelle addresses. See for yourself here.

In the Journal News' School boards rack up expenses Ernie Garcia reports on School Board expense reports. He compares Mount Vernon, New Rochelle and Yonkers. Why were these the only three districts compared? Why were other districts not included? How does Syracuse fit in?

Mr. Garcia reports:

Despite their smaller districts, school board members in Mount Vernon and New Rochelle file more expense reports than their Yonkers counterparts.

Members of New Rochelle's Board of Education racked up $28,312.24 in expenses in the period from July 1, 2006, to June 30, 2008, compared with Yonkers' Board of Education expenses of $4,804.71.

Where is the money being spent?

School officials in Mount Vernon and New Rochelle defended their board members' expenditures, which are predominantly related to travel and conference attendance. They said travel to conferences is critical to school districts because board members receive training and bring back useful ideas.

New Rochelle Assistant Superintendent John Quinn said that not attending conferences can be costlier.