Sag Harbor School Board debates merits of class ranking

Members of the Sag Harbor School Board and school administration debated the merits of a potential move to get rid of class ranking at the board’s latest meeting this week. It was not the first time the topic was brought up for discussion at a board meeting. The potential merits and drawbacks of eliminating the rankings were presented initially at a meeting over the summer, and the specific issues were debated again on Monday night, without the board coming to any definitive conclusions about what to do. Cailin Riley reports on 27east.com that Superintendent of Schools Jeff Nichols presented three options for the board to consider: keeping the status quo, where every student is ranked, and a valedictorian and salutatorian are named for the senior class; eliminating class rank but keeping the valedictorian and salutatorian designations; or eliminating class rank, keeping the valedictorian and salutatorian designations, and adding a “Latin honors” system, where students who hit certain grade point average marks will graduate either summa cum laude (100 or higher weighted GPA), magna cum laude (98 or higher) or cum laude (95 or higher). Mr. Nichols pointed out that the College Board states there is anecdotal evidence that suggests eliminating class rank from students’ transcripts can increase their odds of getting accepted into a college. Additionally, the College Board states that schools that got rid of class rank did so “because they feel it penalizes many excellent students who are squeezed out of the top 10 percent of the class and then overlooked by elite colleges.” Getting rid of class rank has been a trend in recent years, with less than half of all high schools now still reporting student rankings. Nichols also pointed to a survey of 220 colleges that found that only 9.1 percent of the schools gave rank “considerable importance” during the admissions process.
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The Sag Harbor Village Board of Historic Preservation and Architectural Review continued its review of four new houses proposed for a nearly 4-acre site on Marsden Street in Sag Harbor, focusing on two of the designs, at a hearing last week before adjourning the matter until October 10.
Stephen J. Kotz reports on 27east.com that the board agreed to consider two of the houses, one at 7 Marsden, which fronts on the street, and the other at 9 Marsden, which is on a flag lot off the street, at the request of attorney Denise Schoen, who is representing Matthew Pantofel of BJC Custom Builders of Southampton. Pantofel purchased the property from Pat Trunzo after voters last year rejected a Sag Harbor School District referendum to buy the land for school use. The houses proposed for the other two parcels, 11 and 15 Marsden, will be considered at the October 10 meeting. With the houses all in the range of approximately 5,000 total square feet, the board’s chairman, Steve Williams, asked Pantofel to try to reduce their mass when he returns before the board next month. The landscaping plans came under scrutiny from some residents, including Dawn Smith who said, “This home is considerably larger than anything in the neighborhood.” Except, of course, the 116 year old Pierson Middle School - High School which has been considerably larger than anything in the neighborhood since 1908 and is right next to Marsden Street.
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The League of Women Voters of the Hamptons, Shelter Island and the North Fork has arranged three virtual candidate debates on SEA-TV’s KZbin channel: Monday, October 7, 7 to 8 p.m. for NYS 1st Assembly District candidates; Monday, October 21, 6 to 7 p.m. for the 1st NYS Senatorial District; and Monday, October 21, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. for New York’s 1st U.S. Congressional District.
Also, voter registration forms are available at the State Board of Elections website - elections.ny.gov.
Those with questions can contact the Suffolk County Board of Elections at 631-852-4500 or suffolkvotes.com.
Election Day 2024 is on Tuesday November 5.
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First-term Republican Rep. Nick LaLota has been sending the blended message that while he’s volubly backing Donald Trump for president, he also works "across the aisle" to benefit his district in a "bipartisan" way. Dan Janison comments in NEWSDAY that the East End congressional district LaLota represents, CD1, has many unaligned voters and moderate Republicans possibly up for grabs as the incumbent congressman works to fend off John Avlon, the Democratic nominee and former media commentator. On Wednesday at Nassau Coliseum, LaLota helped gin up the crowd for Trump. "Are we ready to win the House, win the Senate and bring Donald Trump back to the White House?’" he said to cheers. "Nine months ago I became the first congressman in a purple district to endorse Donald J. Trump ... because I believe America is the greatest nation that the world has ever known."
Now Avlon, who already had been claiming the middle, has announced the formation of a committee called "Republicans for Avlo...