Harrison REVIEW THE
August 5, 2016 | Vol. 4, Number 32 | www.harrisonreview.com
Opt-out proposal could punish school districts By FRANCO FINO Staff Writer
The First Lady? Hillary Clinton accepted the nomination for president at the Democratic National Convention on Thursday, July 28, becoming the first female ever to be nominated for president by a major political party. For more, see page 6. Photo courtesy Twitter
Police plan to outfit entire department with Tasers By COREY STOCKTON Staff Writer The Harrison Police Department is working to arm each of its 64 officers with Tasers, according to the police chief. Police Chief Anthony Marraccini said the device can help reduce the use of physical force and firearms by adding a non-lethal tool that can be used from both long and short ranges. During the July 21 town board meeting, Harrison officials approved an order for 16 Tasers, costing a total of $25,554, or nearly $1,600 each. The order includes 100 shock cartridges rated for 25 feet and 50 Taser targets. “It’s basically an added lay-
er of force which most departments don’t have,” Marraccini said. In the same meeting, the board approved a $500,000 bond resolution for the 2016 police capital budget, which had already been OK’d by the board. The Taser order amounts to about 5 percent of that budget. Taser is a brand of electroshock weapons or stun guns used by police to subdue a suspect. The device fires two nodes that hook into the skin and are attached to a battery via wires, potentially delivering up to 50,000 volts of electricity. A 2009 Police Executive Research Forum study said that officer injuries drop by 76 percent when a Taser is used.
“This is a device that protects not only the officer but also the suspect,” Marraccini said, explaining that when dealing with an aggressive suspect, police can use Tasers to subdue them without having to draw their baton or pistol. The chief said that currently, enough Tasers are distributed among the officers so each squad is equipped with at least one device, prioritizing possession to officers specialized in using them. The city of New Rochelle Police Department, which serves a population of roughly 80,000––more than double the population of Harrison––also tries to ensure that each of its 157 officers are protected by Tasers. Lt. Edward Hayes said
the department has at least one device per squad car at all times. In the neighboring city of Rye, which has a population of about 16,000 and employs 33 officers, not all police are equipped with Tasers. Police Commissioner Michael Corcoran said this would be an unreasonable cost for the department. According to a survey of FBI statistics compiled by Protection1 Security Systems, which measured violent crimes and property crimes, Harrison was ranked No. 44 among the 50 safest communities in the country. Rye ranked 19 in the same study. CONTACT: corey@hometwn.com
A proposed federal education regulation, which would strip Title I funding for public schools with excessive opt-out rates of standardized testing, has ignited opposition from parents, lawmakers and education professionals in Westchester County. Following an Aug. 1 deadline for public comments, the U.S. Department of Education began a final approval process to amend the federal Every Student Succeeds Act, ESSA, which was passed by Congress in December 2015. The Department of Education’s proposal to amend ESSA would label most Westchester public schools as “in need of improvement” and would cut federal funding for any school where 5 percent of students or more opt out of Common Core testing. The controversial Common Core State Standards Initiative, which highlights what students should know in English language arts and mathematics at the end of each grade from kindergarten through 12th grade, is currently authorized in New York state until 2022. “I find the regulations troubling,” said Dr. Brian Monahan, the interim superintendent of the Rye City School District. “Parents made individual decisions based on what was right for their children.” Despite the lack of notice for public comment, however, the Rye City School District will not directly get involved with the proposed legislation, according to Monahan, but will
keep a close watch on it. The federal act was drafted by U.S. Secretary of Education John King, the former New York state education commissioner, following the repeal of the No Child Left Behind Act on Dec. 10, 2015. The No Child Left Behind Act previously required all public schools receiving Title I funding to administer statewide standardized testing with the stipulation that students make “adequate yearly progress.” For example, each year’s fifth graders must score better than the previous year’s fifth graders, or the federal government would step in and set mandatory improvement plans. Parents and local school administrators have panned the Common Core testing, arguing that it takes the learning out of the classroom by setting unrealistic educational guidelines for success due to the high rate of failure on standardized tests. Linda Banta, a Larchmont resident with two children in public schools who joined a rally against the regulation on July 29 held by state Senate candidate Julie Killian and congressional candidate Phil Oliva, both Republicans, said, “It’s alarming that the federal government announced something in the middle of summer that could so adversely affect our schools and economy.” If the proposal is approved, Killian, a member of the Rye City Council, said that Westchester residents would ultimately be punished for exercising their right to withhold their SCHOOL continued on page 8
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