Just as spring training baseball gets going in late February and into March, so does the Pelham School District’s annual budget planning process. Dr. Cheryl Champ, district school superintendent, launched the budget discussion at the February 25 Board of Education meeting, where she proposed a budget of $99 million, an increase of 2.8 percent, or $2.8 million, over the current year’s budget. Champ said her goal was to stay within the community’s 3.72 percent cap on annual tax increases.
In addition to discussing the budget, the board recognized Pelham Memorial High School senior Emily Walch for being selected as one of 300 finalists in the annual Regeneron Science Talent Search, and announced that Lynn Sabia, principal of the Pelham Middle School, would retire at the end of this school year.
The board also heard a presentation from the district’s public relations chief Alex Wolff concerning the results of a town-wide survey about the quality of the district’s communications with the community.
Champ’s presentation to the board kicked off a two-month process in which she and her staff will meet regularly with the board and discuss line-by-line items before the proposed budget is adopted on April 21. The board will then hold a public hearing on May 6 to hear from residents and taxpayers. The process culminates on May 19 when residents get to vote on the budget and for whatever candidates are running for the Board of Ed.
In other news, Champ said that the district would need to make up for the recent snow days by scaling back what would have been a five-day Memorial Day weekend to the traditional three days. In addition, students in grades K-6 will have to show up for a half day on June 24.
After informing the board of Sabia’s planned retirement, Champ paid tribute to the Middle School principal, who came to Pelham in 2005.
“She has been an incredible leader to the Pelham community and the Pelham district, being at both the high school for many years as an assistant principal and now leading our middle school through some of the most dynamic and interesting times in education, and doing it just with a tremendous leadership and skill,” said Champ.
 Champ asked the board for a little time to figure out how to replace Sabia. “There is some planning around that,” she said. “We’re taking some time because we want to do this right.”
The meeting started off on a bright note, as the district honored PMHS senior Emily Walch for being selected as a finalist in Regeneron Science Talent Search, an honor bestowed on the 300 highest-performing STEM research students across the country, culled from some 2,600 applicants.
Champ introduced her to the board and read the impressive list of extracurricular roles she plays in Pelham. “She’s president of the Pelham Together Youth Council, founder and president of the Grassroots Grocery Club for Anti Hunger in Food Recovery,” Champ said. In addition to being a peer leader at PMHS, Walch is a reporter for the Pelham Examiner, a member of the Students for Refugees Club, Habitat for Humanity, the Animal Welfare Club, the Chemistry Club, the Ocean Conservation Club, the Women in STEM Club and the Women’s Empowerment Club, as well as participating in Columbia University’s Brainstorm Neuroscience Teen program.
“I don’t know how she has time to do that, but it’s amazing to me, this shows just the well-roundedness, the empathy, the care, the service-oriented person that Emily is,” Champ said.
Walch described her science research project, which is focused on cognitive tests administered to people who show signs of dementia and whether a test developed by English language speakers, when translated word for word into Spanish, can be as effective.
“My research was essentially about dementia, which is a very devastating neurodegenerative disease that’s characterized by a loss of cognitive functions,” she said. “I really became interested in this field of study after my own grandmother was diagnosed with dementia, because she’s one of the millions of people suffering from this disease worldwide, and prevalence is only expected to increase in upcoming decades. My study looked at cognitive tests, which are a really important way to detect cognitive impairment in people, which can guide their treatment plans in order to intervene before dementia takes over.
“I looked at a population of English and Spanish speakers in the United States, and I compared how they were being assessed, and I found some evidence of a potential English language bias in these tests. Which basically means that the tests are perhaps not diagnosing Spanish speakers as well as English speakers, because these tests may not be structurally equivalent when they are created in English and translated into other languages. So…my study supports the careful validation of these tests rather than direct translations to ensure equitable access to healthcare for speakers of all languages, not just English speakers.“
The next item was a presentation conducted by Alex Wolff and Jessica Schechten from the National School Public Relations Association that reviewed the data from a 2025 SCOPE survey sent out by the district communications department. The survey, launched last fall, generated 739 responses from parents, faculty, and the community. A separate survey for students at the high school received 624 responses.
The survey calculated a “net promoter score” for the district; this was based on a single question, which asked participants to rate the district and their willingness to recommend it on a scale of one to ten. Responses grouped participants into three categories identified by enthusiasm towards the district: “promoters” were considered loyal and dedicated to the district; “passives,” who were satisfied but not overly enthusiastic; and “detractors,” people who were unsatisfied with the district.
The results showed that Pelham had an overall score of 38, which means that 50% of respondents were promoters, while 12% were detractors.
“The data here is a very strong indication that Pelham’s communication efforts are producing measurable gains in perception, satisfaction, and trust,” said Schechten.
Champ also noted an honor for the high school yearbook committee: Varsity Yearbook, an outfit that helps high schools design and package their yearbooks, selected the 2025 edition of the PMHS yearbook for its Varsity Yearbooks Portfolio Volume 31.
“This is one of the highest honors and, I think it’s a higher honor than we’ve ever won yet on our yearbooks,” said Champ.
