New Castle, Chappaqua Schools in Spat Over Electronic Message Sign

The Town of New Castle is considering litigation against the Chappaqua Central School District unless a resolution can be reached over a dispute between the two entities regarding the electronic sign on South Greeley Avenue.

The school district last week cut power to the message sign, which is on its property in front of Robert E. Bell Middle School, after the inter-municipal agreement that was reached in 2017 to jointly operate the sign expired on Dec. 31. Last summer, in a joint meeting with the Town Board on multiple topics, school officials raised safety and equity concerns over the town’s decision to begin posting Happy Birthday greetings and other personal messages requested by residents.

While Town Board members last week indicated they were reluctant to sue, Supervisor Lisa Katz called the school district’s move to abruptly shut off the sign “in poor taste.” Both the town and district shared the cost to pay for and install the sign.

“I would hate for both sides to be spending taxpayer money, which is predominantly, while not 100 percent, but a significant number of people in the school district are also in the town,” Katz said at last Tuesday evening’s work session. “So they would be doubly paying tax dollars to commence litigation, but I think if we had to go there we would. I would just hope that the school district would hear us and try to negotiate this without needing to go to court.”

After Katz became supervisor a little over a year ago, she placed birthday, anniversary and other messages on the sign as one way to bring a greater sense of community to the town following a contentious period leading up to the 2021 municipal election. New Castle residents have been able to contact the town to request messages to be posted.

Last Thursday, Board of Education President Jane Shepardson and Superintendent of Schools Dr. Christine Ackerman jointly responded in a letter to the town by stating that the district hopes to find an amicable solution to continue the sign’s operation. However, they stated that the IMA included only community-oriented messages, such as town or district events and traffic and police advisories.

The district contends that prohibited content includes, but is not limited to, commercial or political messaging or events that occur outside the Town of New Castle or the school district. Personal messages were never discussed or envisioned, they argued.

“There are no provisions allowing personal messaging on the digital sign, nor did personal messaging occur during the first four years of the agreement,” the letter stated. “The Town made a unilateral change to what constitutes acceptable message content on school property in 2022, without the consent of the CCSD.”

At a joint Town Board and Board of Education meeting in August, the matter was raised by district officials, who objected to the use of birthday messages because it could pose safety issues, with either people entering the premises to greet the student or the public learning of a child’s birth date. Also, some children could feel left out if their name wasn’t posted on their birthday but their friends were included.

Shepardson said at the time that the school district received inquiries from parents and community members about the content on the sign, possibly because it was located on school property.

Katz had responded that the town had begun refraining from using the last names, only the last initial and kept the birthday messages up for several days to obscure the actual birth date.

The town would also agree to have the messages only on days when school is closed.

“I received only positive feedback on this,” Katz said of the personal messages. “In terms of equity, anyone is entitled to do this.”

Town Attorney Edward Phillips said last week that the IMA included “guidelines,” which did not define every type of message that could potentially be posted. Birthday messages are not prohibited, he said, in part because the district appeared ready to allow the town to continue the practice with certain parameters, such as having the birthday messages on Saturday only from 12 to 8 p.m.

Furthermore, the district did not have the right to cut the power, Phillips said. Either party may terminate the agreement with written with 60 days’ notice. If that were to occur, then either side could continue operating the sign and be fully responsible for any upkeep and costs.

While the district did send the town a letter of its intent to terminate the agreement, discussions continued, he said.

“CCSD effectively confiscated the town’s sign as a negotiating tactic,” Phillips said. “Understandably, that did not sit well with the Town Board.”

Another possibility is that the town and district could each post their own content, using only one side of the sign.

Councilmembers Victoria Tipp and Holly McCall, both former school board members, said they would like to avoid litigation and work on a mutually-agreeable solution.

“It’s more important to our residents to have a sign to see what community events are occurring and not have litigation,” Tipp said. “I think all of these things are much more important than us having to wish people a happy birthday.”

The Town Board held off on taking any action last Tuesday and were scheduled to address the matter again at this Tuesday evening’s Town Board meeting.