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Creating Distraction Free Schools - June 2025
The most recent New York State budget process resulted in an agreement to make all schools across the state distraction free by instituting policies that prohibit the use of internet-enabled devices anywhere on the grounds of K-12 schools for the entire school day (from “bell to bell”). This is a monumental chance to take back control of the mental health of our children, and I urge all school leaders and stakeholder groups to seize this opportunity by taking courageous action for the sake of our students, their future and the future of our communities.The typical childhood experiences that most adults had are nothing like those of today’s youth. In the past fifteen years childhood has shifted from being based on play and in-person interactions with other children and adults to being phone-based, virtual, and occurring largely online. This shift has fueled an unprecedented mental health crisis in our young people. Rates of depression, anxiety and thoughts of self-harm have increased tremendously among our youth. Research shows that the only plausible explanation for this trend is the increased use of technology during childhood, specifically, exposure to social media and their destructive algorithms.
In his book The Anxious Generation by Jonathan Haidt, the author describes four specific ways in which our children have been harmed by their phone-based childhood. American adolescents have experienced social deprivation as their interactions shifted from in-person to online forums. Sleep deprivation continues to impact our youth as their inability to put down their phones intensifies. Their inability to focus their attention continues to worsen, as any teacher today can verify. And most concerning of all, the grip that their cell phones have on them can only be described as an addiction, and thus should be treated with proportional alarm and response just as any other addiction would be. This book should be required reading for anyone professing to be concerned about the state of mental health in our children today.
As I stated, today’s children experience a childhood very different from that of previous generations. Schools, fortunately, are also very different. Communication between school personnel and the community has never been easier thanks to email and the existence of telephones in nearly every room in each school building. Faculty and staff are capable of communicating with families frequently through various means including the parent portal of the student management system and online tools such as Google Classroom. The typical student simply does not need to be in constant contact with their parents by cellphone.
Schools across New York State are in the process of creating policies for internet-enabled devices to comply with this new requirement. Policies must be adopted and posted on school websites by August 1, 2025. I strongly urge those involved in crafting and approving these policies to seize the moment by acting with resolve, and to meet the moment with courage and certainty by instituting policies that are appropriately serious and restrictive in order to change the course of childhood for our current generation of school aged children. Let us not miss this opportunity to act, let us overcome complacency with action, let the will to do what is right overcome the fear of speaking out, and let all of us fulfill our obligation to care for the children whose wellbeing has been entrusted to us.
Sincerely,
Michael Grosso - President, Grand Island Teachers’ Association
To Grand Island Town Council - Reassessment - May 2025
After experiencing 2 reassessments in the last few years, I would like to make the following suggestions and observations which I feel would improve the process.When mailing out the initial reassessment notice, automatically include a sheet showing the comparables used.
If the new assessment on the property exceeds the average percentage of increase in value for all Grand Island (residential or commercial as appropriate) automatically provide an explanation.
Recognize that in many cases, Grand Island homes are unique and that makes it difficult to find comparables when trying to challenge an assessment. Allow comparables of similar age and square footage to be used regardless of whether they are ranches, colonials, etc.
When the informal review is completed (this time it was done by phone), mail the results (including the reasoning for the decision) out in a timely fashion as clearly stated in the initial mailing. This is only fair and also gives the homeowner time to properly prepare should they want to continue challenging the assessment.
Make the taxpayers aware in the initial mailing that they can also meet with the assessor to discuss their assessment. Establish fixed hours convenient for working taxpayers when they can make appointments to meet the assessor. I suspect many people don’t know that the assessor can make changes to the assessment on the spot if an agreement is reached.
I think the process as currently being done is deeply flawed. In this country you are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty. As currently run, the reassessment process (in many cases) says you are guilty and you must prove them wrong. Please don’t use the excuse that it would be too hard to implement, too expensive or too time consuming. The taxpayers deserve better. A written response would be appreciated.
William Wilson
An Open Letter to the Grand Island School Board - April 2025
[N.B. I am not speaking at a School Board meeting about this because it would be a waste of my time. I am writing it here in the hopes that many Islanders will read it and act on it.]In 2021, I ran for the School Board (I lost). One of the questions on candidates’ night had to do with the draconian (my term) restrictions that the State Education Dept. and the State Health Dept. imposed on the operations of schools. One candidate stated that we are just doing what we were told to do. My response was decidedly different. I believed that we should be demanding that the above entities show justification for their policies. It isn’t sufficient to impose mandates without supporting evidence that they would accomplish their stated goals. We now know that they didn’t accomplish the stated goals nor were they based on any scientific data. We also know that the costs to the purported beneficiaries, the students, were and will be substantial.
Why do I bring this ancient history up? The State legislature is mandating that all new school buses acquired after 2027 be all-electric with the fleet being all-electric by 2035.
I won’t even bother to discuss the safety aspects of doing this other than to say I would never let a child of mine ride on one. The costs of complying with this nonsense will be substantial. Electric buses, today, cost $450,000 versus $150,000 for a diesel one. (One pathetic rationale given for going all-electric is that we will save on oil changes. The battery packs on these buses last 6-8 years and cost $80,000 to replace. You can’t make this up.) That is the price today when only suckers are buying them. When every school district has to submit orders, you can bet the price will rise.
This is only the beginning of the costs. They have to be charged. This will require installing a substation to supply the greatly increased amounts of electricity needed. Of course, it gets cold here in the winter. EVs don’t like the cold so we will have to build a heated (heated by what?) garage to hold all of the buses. We will also need to install a back-up diesel generator with the appropriate sized fuel tank for the times when the grid fails. Because of the massive weight of these vehicles, along with the start-and-stop nature of the bus routes, the buses will go through tires much faster.
Where is the electricity going to come from? The state has made a fetish of prematurely closing nuclear power plants as well as fossil-fueled ones. Solar and wind won’t do the job. The buses will be charged at night. Oh, yeah, the sun doesn’t shine at night. Homes need heat at night. So, who gets first dibs on the power? The School district or the homeowner?
The new (taxpayer subsidized) computer chip plant being built in Syracuse is projected to consume 10% (that’s not a typo) of the electricity consumed in the state. Where is the electricity going to come from?
The geniuses in Albany have never run a successful lemonade stand much less a business. They have no appreciation of the havoc their policies will wreak on families in this state. That’s all right. Their policies sound good.
Based on what I see as an impeding disaster for the taxpayers, I believe that the School Board has a moral obligation to tell us what the cost implications are for our property taxes. They don’t have to provide an exact amount per thousand of assessed valuation. A lower bound, i.e., it will be at least this much, would suffice. The number will shock everyone.
As things currently stand, this train is chugging down the track. The best that can be hoped for given the cowardice of the School Boards around the state to speak up, is that once the mandate starts to be implemented people will revolt at the cost. However, the taxpayers will still be stuck paying for garages, substations, diesel generators, etc. that are unneeded.
Providing the taxpayers with an estimate of the costs is not rocket science. It just takes willpower. Again, in my opinion, the School Board has a moral obligation to do so. It should be provided by the first week of classes this Fall.
James Mulcahy
