Bronxville board approves personnel and financial items, accepts $20,000 scholarship gift and records budget vote results

The Bronxville Union Free School District Board of Education approved several personnel items and financial measures at its meeting, and the clerk reported the unofficial results of the district budget vote and school-board elections.

Board leadership opened the personnel agenda by recognizing special education teacher Eileen Mahoney for 31 years of service and announcing the resignation of Katherine Westerhine, who is returning to her home state to be with family. The personnel items presented (leave, a leave replacement and substitute appointments listed as items a–f) were moved and approved by the board.

A board member who led the finance update said district surpluses have increased, citing approximately $1.6 million in surplus with roughly $1.3 million attributable to revenue in the current reporting period; the presenter also noted higher expenditure projections tied to roughly $100,000 in contract services and $200,000 in salaries. The finance presenter said substitute usage is unusually low this year, which is contributing to the surplus.

The board approved four financial action items: a foundation grant, two iPad Pro purchases to supplement previously awarded grants for science teachers, a resolution to continue participation in the regional operations/data-privacy consortium (described in the meeting as the ROC) to support vendor management and data privacy practices, and the annual IPA resolution for technology purchasing through Southern Westchester BOCES. The board also accepted a donor’s plan to establish the Gordon Harris scholarship fund; the clerk clarified the intended total gift as $20,000 (the transcript initially referenced $500 and then confirmed $20,000), which per the board would support two small annual awards (recorded in the meeting as $250 each).

The district clerk reported voting totals for the budget proposition and two open board seats. The clerk read a tally showing 542 total votes cast plus eight affidavit ballots, with 529 machine votes and 13 absentee ballots; the transcript shows vote counts read for candidates and the proposition (the clerk’s readout was interpreted during the meeting as exceeding the 65% threshold that the board cited). The board moved to accept the unofficial results and to file the routine post-election resolutions: A) accept the unofficial results; B) acknowledge the budget amount; and C) authorize staff to coordinate with the village on a tax warrant. The clerk’s numbers and the meeting transcript contain some garbled formatting in places; official results will be posted by the district as the final record.

The meeting adjourned after a brief check for public comment.