Eastchester REVIEW THE
November 17, 2017 | Vol. 5, Number 46 | www.eastchesterreview.com
In Westchester, ‘Trump-Effect’ nets huge gains for Dems By JAMES PERO Staff Writer
Tasting for a
Cerebral Palsy of Westchester hosted its 12th annual A Taste of Westchester, giving attendees a chance to try more than 30 of the county’s finest dining establishments, while raising money to fund a park for children with and without disabilities. For story, see page 6. Photo/Sibylla Chipaziwa
cause
Bronxville educators collaborate to define innovation Bronxville School curriculum leaders and teachers from across the district have been collaborating to define what innovation— one of the four dispositions of the Bronxville Promise—looks like at each grade level. They’re also working to develop the underlying understandings and skills necessary to develop all students as innovators. As part of their work, the educators have designed performance tasks to teach the skills and have created curriculum-embedded performance assessments, which will help measure students’ innovation skills in developmentally appropriate ways. Throughout the year, they will continue to
collect formative feedback about the students’ innovation work before revising and finalizing their definition. “It has been a riveting discussion thus far,” sai Dr. Mara Koetke, director of curriculum and instruction. “We have drafted the definition of innovation as recognizing the opportunity for improvement and taking risks to create solutions that add value or serve a need.” Throughout the district, students are involved in the design thinking process, which challenges them to brainstorm, imagine and incubate new ideas, as well as learn how to plan, design, create and test
prototype solutions. At the high school, students are partnering with a business or organization which seeks to expand their brand and applying their coding skills and knowledge to create an app. At the elementary school, a group of second-graders is working on a task that challenges them to re-design classroom chairs. “We’re giving our students opportunities in both low-tech and high-tech ways to explore design thinking,” Koetke said. “If we want our students to be innovators, we need to provide them with opportunities to explore real-world problems and identify potential solutions.”
As part of the ongoing work, students are also exploring and identifying innovators and discussing stories of failures and successes to make connections to their own experiences. Educators believe that it will encourage students to persevere through obstacles, see failure as a learning opportunity, generate new ideas and identify new ways to solve problems. Throughout the year, administrators and teachers will continue to discuss how they can provide students with new opportunities and creative learning spaces where they can delve more deeply into content-creation and prototyping. (Submitted)
Anti-Trump sentiments fueling voter angst rose from merely prognostications to a blue wave of Democratic voters this year helping push the party to victory in Westchester County as well as key states across the country. On top of state Sen. George Latimer’s sound defeat of Republican County Executive Rob Astorino, Democrats saw major gains in the county’s Legislature, where successful challenges helped increase a partisan advantage from nine seats to 12, securing a super majority and mirroring party success throughout city, town and village elections. According to Doug Forand, a senior partner at political consulting firm Red Horse Strategies in Brooklyn, New York, Democratic wins this election cycle—a non-presidential, offyear election usually characterized by tepid voter turnout— weren’t just a result of success on the campaign trail, but a product of strategic opposition to President Donald Trump. The outcome has been termed the “Trump-Effect.” “[Trump opposition] was a very significant element of this election season,” Forand said. “We weren’t surprised. We’ve done a couple special elections and we started to see this wave materializing.” According to Forand, whose firm worked on the Latimer campaign as well as campaigns of other Democrats in the county, like most strategists and Democratic candidates moving to capitalize on simmering resentment toward the Trump administration, he was unsure of
what the magnitude of Trump opposition would be, but with passing time and the crystallization of solid voting data, its efficacy has been borne out, and indicates a full-blown political phenomenon. Forand said that Red Horse has already begun to analyze the results of previous Westchester County executive races, and according to the firm’s calculations, voter turnout in this election has outpaced the last four executive races, with the closest turnout coming in 2005 when nearly 9,000 less voters re-elected Democrat Andy Spano over then-challenger Astorino. But compared to 2013—the last county executive race which pitted Astorino against New Rochelle Mayor Noam Bramson— county Board of Elections data shows there was a 46 percent increase in Democratic voters this year, while Republican votership remained almost completely static. According to Jake Dilemani, the senior vice president for Mercury Public Affairs, a multinational political consulting group, even Latimer’s worst re-election performance for his New York state Senate seat would have been enough to beat Astorino this year. Astorino was first elected in 2009 and had dealt rather easily with two previous Democratic challengers. “President Trump’s low approval ratings and the general disgust among the electorate… certainly contributed to the Democratic enthusiasm experienced across the country, and right here in Westchester,” Dilemani said. “[Latimer’s] immense talent for retail politicking and an TRUMP continued on page 9
Follow us on Twitter @eastchesterview Like us on facebook.com/eastchesterreview