My Rye

Smoking Gun: Health Inspector Cafeteria Reports on MyRye.com

Last Sunday, April 20th, the Journal News ran a story about Rye schools flunking Westchester County Department of Health inspections. At the request of MyRye.com, Journal News reporter Ernie Garcia has provided MyRye.com with copies of the original health inspector reports from various Rye school cafeteria inspections.

Of the 21 inspector reports provided, at least six of the reports are classified as "unacceptable". Comments range from "ceilings must be painted" to "all kitchen equipment must be washed down" to "kitchen floor not clean under equipment".

One report from November 2006 reports on "Red - Critical Items" at the Milton School following a construction inspection. "Red - Critical Items" are described on the health report: "These items relate directly to factors which lead to foodborne illnesses". The remainder of the various infractions are less serious "Blue Items".

It all sounds like homeland security's threat level index. View copies of the health inspection reports.

Food Fight: School Superintendent Ed Shine Accuses Reporter of Adjective Abuse in Report on School Kitchens

Superintendent of Schools Ed Shine is accusing Journal News reporter Ernie Garcia of not paying attention in English class. Well, kinda, sorta.

The Journal News ran a story "Inspectors flunked Rye, Blind Brook school cafeterias" on Sunday, penned by Garcia, about health department violations in the Rye City middle school and high school kitchens.

Shine sent an email to parents Thursday evening trying to take the air out of the impending accusatory bubble stating reporter Garcia has an issue with "adjective accuracy". In Shine's note he says:

"The reporter used words like “filthy” and “dirty” in discussion with school personnel, words that do not appear on the inspection reports and that are pejorative. We suggested to Mr. Garcia that he should not use adjectives that do not appear on the reports and should determine cause before jumping to a conclusion."

Garcia has written similar stories on failed health inspections in New Rochelle, Pelham and Yonkers. Garcia told MyRye.com on Saturday:

"I think the health inspectors' reports speak for themselves and readers should decide what they mean, be it dirty or not. My contention with school officials is that if these kitchens were simply messy at the time of inspection, why would they be classified as "unacceptable?""

You can look up the school cafeteria inspection reports in this database.

Shine's email to parents is printed below, in its entirety.

What do you think of the prospect of dirty school kitchens? Leave a comment on MyRye.com at the bottom of this story.

To:  All Rye City School District Parents, Administrators, Faculty and Staff

From:  Edward J. Shine, Superintendent of Schools

April 17, 2008

The Journal News is running a series of reports on school kitchens. The reporter, Ernie Garcia, is requesting Department of Health inspection forms and apparently is honing in on districts that have received a status report other than “Acceptable” to write about. He has written about Yonkers , New Rochelle and Pelham, to date.

He is writing about the Rye High School and Middle School kitchens next, for there are some inspections marked “Unacceptable” with the following comments: “All counter area/all kitchen equipment must be washed down.” “Stove area floor not clean under equipment” “Freezer food items stored on the floor” and “No electric power at this time of inspection.” 

The reporter used words like “filthy” and “dirty” in discussion with school personnel, words that do not appear on the inspection reports and that are pejorative. We suggested to Mr. Garcia that he should not use adjectives that do not appear on the reports and should determine cause before jumping to a conclusion. “Must be washed down” does not mean “dirty” or “filthy.” It can also mean the inspector arrived in between food preparation work when the counter had not yet been cleaned for the next process. “Kitchen floor not clean under equipment” does not, conversely mean it is dirty; it can also mean that there has been spillage during food preparation and cooking and will be washed, as it always is, at the end of the day. It is absurd to cite a report that the kitchens are “Unacceptable” because there was a power outage when the inspector showed up – in this case the “Unacceptable” simply meant that the inspector didn’t inspect and had to return at a time when the power failure was over, yet Mr. Garcia includes that report in his tally of how many unacceptable reports he found on file. Cartons of food stacked on the floor of a contained freezer also do not connote “filthy” or “dirty.” Regardless of logic or fact, Mr. Garcia seems intent on writing a negative story about the school kitchens.

While we find this reprehensible and irresponsible, there is nothing we can do to prevent him from applying his own adjectives and interpreting the reports in a way that he feels will make a better story. There isn’t much news value, apparently, to the Journal News, in writing a story that our kitchens are really tightly managed and carefully cared for. There is tremendous damage caused by this kind of irresponsible reporting, however, and I wanted you to be aware of the probability of this story and be assured that the Health Department reports do not in any way reflect the negative implications of Mr. Garcia.

School District to Spitzer: Don't Jack Us $408,205

The Friends of the Rye City School District want you to show up at Assemblyman George Latimer's state budget hearing in Rye Brook tonight and ask him to send a message to Governor Elliot Spitzer:

Don't jack us $408,205. Put the money back. In the budget.

The "Friends" group is encouraging all Rye parents to attend Assemblyman George Latimer's budget hearing tonight":

The Assemblyman needs a strong turnout to convey to the Governor our disappointment with his proposal to remove supplemental cost aid from the 2008-2009 State Budget. The elimination of this funding category disproportionately affects Rye - more so than similar Westchester districts. We are sure the Governor did not foresee this effect and we need to have him hear from us.

You can email Assemblyman Latimer at Latimeg@Assembly.State.NY.US  and Senator Suzi Oppenheimer at Oppenhei@Senate.State.NY.US and attend the Budget Hearing Thursday. A sample letter to cut and paste is included below along with an invitation to the hearing from George Latimer.

SAMPLE LETTER
TO:   Hon. Suzi Oppenheimer, State Senator
        Hon. George Latimer, State Assemblyman

Dear Senator Oppenheimer and Assemblyman Latimer:

I am writing as a Rye resident and concerned parent in the Rye City School District regarding proposed funding for RCSD in the Governor's 2008-09 State Budget. The budget represents a net loss of $408,205 to our District, and if unchanged, will cause either a reduction in important services to our children and/or higher than anticipated property taxes for already-burdened taxpayers here in Rye.This reduction is caused primarily by the Governor's statewide proposal to remove supplemental excess cost aid as a separate funding category.

Our District needs to receive fair treatment from New York State if we are to continue to meet the mandates sent down by the State Education Department and still provide the high-quality education our children deserve.

Please make every effort - as you have in the past - to increase our funding levels for 2008-09 through the adoption of the State budget on March 31st.  It is of the highest importance to the many parents and taxpayers who live in Rye.

Name
Address
Rye, NY 10580

Latimer's public hearing will be held on tonight, Thursday, March 6th at Rye Brook Village Hall in the Council Chambers, 938 King Street, in Rye Brook, from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Attendees may testify for up to five minutes on any aspect of the State budget proposal; written testimony will also be accepted at the hearing and over the ensuing week (until Friday, March 14th). The Governor's proposed budget totals over $120 billion; budget highlights may be viewed on the Assembly website at www.assembly.state.ny.us.

A note sent to MyRye.com from Latimer promises: "The real story is not me presiding -- it will be those who testify, and their stories. I anticipate representatives from libraries, nursing homes, local housing groups, etc., each with their own take on the budget. The busiest time will probably be the first two hours - it usually slows down the third hour."

Rye Schools Have a "Super"(indendent) Shine, According to Journal News

A teacher will praise a child for doing well.

Now Rye parents will need to heap some praise on Rye school superintendent Ed Shine for earning another gold star. Back in November, Rye schools ranked #52 in the nation in the US News rankings.

Now the Journal News, in a report last week, called Rye one of the "better buys for your tax dollar". Rye was just one of five Westchester school districts singled out in the report. The other districts were Ardsley, Eastchester, Pleasantville and Somers.

The report analyzed test scores and tax bills to determine relative value for money spent.

Shine told the Journal News: "We are a community that values education."

More resources:

Video of Journal News reporter Diana Costello reporting on Rye Schools

Profile of the Rye City school district (data from 2005, source: New York State Department of Education, 2005 Statewide Fiscal Profiles) :

Unreserved fund balance $1,424,721
State aid revenue $2,523,468
STAR $4,364,064
Total state revenue $6,887,532
Local revenue $50,725,857
Federal Revenue $618,555
Total All Revenue $58,231,944
Board of Education $2,075,955
Central Administration $1,191,175
Teacher salaries $21,633,035
Pupil services salaries $1,441,752
Curriculum support salaries $1,760,323
BOCES instructional expenses $693,171
Tuition to other districts $525,686
Other tuition $25,345
Other instructional salaries $4,439,682
Other instructional expenses $3,339,701
Community service $63,860
Operations and maintenance $4,220,108
Teacher retirement $1,983,478
Health $5,658,926
Other employee benefits $2,963,995
Other undistributed $607,966
Other $17,084
Subtotal $52,641,242
Transportation $666,314
Debt service principle $2,781,235
Debt service interest $1,189,342
Total expenses $57,278,133
Average daily membership 2,780
Revenue per pupil $20,947
Expense per pupil $20,604
Property wealth per pupil 1,471,947
Income per total wealth pupil 638,134
Combined wealth ratio 4.816
Per fringe benefits 0.1696

Rye High School #52 on US News Top 100 List

US News & World Report published its list of America's Best High Schools on Thursday, November 29th and Rye High School ranks #52 on the list of Gold Metal Schools--the best public high schools in the nation.

Standard & Poor's service SchoolMatters.com works with US News on the ranking formula that looks at 18,790 public high schools in the United States.

Rye High was beat out by two other Westchester high schools--Edgemont Junior-Senior High School in Scarsdale ranked #28 and Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua ranked #29. You can see how Rye compares to both Edgemont and Horace Greeley on this chart.

Further down the top 100 list you will find Scarsdale High School in Scarsdale at #55, Blind Brook High School in Rye Brook at #75 and Irvington High School in Irvington at #91. You can compare these three schools in this chart.

SchoolMatters.com also provides this comparison of Osborn, Midland and Milton elementary schools in Rye.

Osborn School Carnival

The Osborn School PTO hosted the Nifty Fifties Carnival and Silent Auction at the Osborn School on Saturday, October 20th. Crowds turned up to enjoy the sunny weather, food, games and community spirit.

See MyRye.com's Osborn School Carnival photo album.

Games ranged from "Guess the Gumballs" to "Haunted tunnel" to the "Flying Witch Ride".

Besides Humphrey the Hamster, Silent Auction goers could bid on Jets, Giants, Yankees and Knicks tickets; a 2-bedroom apartment in the Black Forest in Germany (OK, a two week vacation there); a parking spot at Osborn School (OK, a spot from 3:00pm to 3:05pm for pick-up); the Fire Chief (OK, you can pretend to be Fire Chief for a day or maybe an hour); an Osborn Teacher (OK, lunch with your Osborn teacher).

The Carnival raised $84,000 to fund after-school programs for Osborn students.

Ichiro Suzuki (Baseball) at Osborn Carnival

The annual Osborn School Carnival run by the PTO drew a big crowd and great weather on Saturday, October 21, 2006. Part of the event is an extensive silent auction--the school's biggest fund raiser for the year. Items from cakes to haircuts to massages to sports tickets to use of vacation homes were all up for grabs. One of the coolest items was this baseball signed by Seattle Mariner Ichiro Suzuki. Current bid at the time of this photograph was $190.

Osborn School Carnival Set for Saturday, October 21st

The annual Osborn School Fall Carnival is set for Saturday, October 21st from 10am - 4pm on the school grounds. Put on your tie dye shirt for the Going Retro 60s 70s 80s theme and enjoy games, rides, food and a silent auction. There will also be a used book and media (DVD, videos) sale. The popular "cake walk" will also return with families baking homemade cakes for purchase.

Each year the silent auction feature a bounty of restaurant meals, day spas, jewelry, sporting tickets and memorabilia and vacations.

Run by the Osborn PTO, the event is the school largest fund raiser every year. The money is raised for school improvements and student activities.

Come out and have fun. If you want to volunteer or have questions, contact the Carnival Co-chairs Camille Glastone (921-6123) cgladstone (AT) optonline.net, and Anne Douglas (967-6730), annedouglas (AT) optonline.net.

School Starts Tomorrow

The Rye schools swing into action tomorrow. Good thing Con Ed has power back on. Con Ed was quoted in the New York Times saying Rye was one of the worst hit areas by Ernesto.

Phones Buzzing with Teacher Assignments

The phones in Rye are buzzing. The Osborn, Midland and Milton elementary schools mailed teacher assignments on Friday. Most parents received the mailing on Saturday and the lists will be posted in the schools on Monday. Don't know the teacher your child has or have something to say? Check out the Teacher Rating site we wrote about back in April.