HARLEM VALLEY — Responding to their school district’s state-issued “report cards,” local superintendents attempted to put the results in perspective.First, all three superintendents pointed out that the 2009-10 report cards are the first to use a new system of standards for the math and English tests.Test results were broken up into four levels, Level 1 being the lowest and Level 4 the highest. Levels 3 and 4 are considered passing. This year, the ranges for each level on the math and English tests were adjusted so that students would have to earn higher test scores to be classified as Level 3 or 4.Millbrook Superintendent Lloyd Jaeger pointed out that the reason for the change was that the previous definition of levels did not accurately indicate the future success of students on New York State Regents exams in these subjects. The levels on the science tests were not changed as they seemed to be more accurate.“There were more 3s that actually were 2s that needed improvement. The logic behind the shift was to raise expectations,” said Jaeger.The change is evident in the report card assessment results. The percentage of students testing at Levels 3 and 4 in math and English dropped considerably for the North East (Webutuck), Pine Plains and Millbrook school districts.The changed standards also had an impact on statewide results. An extreme example of this is the statewide seventh-grade English results. In 2008-09, 80 percent of students were at Levels 3 or 4, while in 2009-10, only 50 percent were at that level.The science results were consistent with previous years, with all of the local district schools scoring higher than the state average.At Webutuck, Superintendent Steven Schoonmaker included a breakdown of the scores in the district’s weekly newsletter. His report compared the mean scores during the last two years rather than the percentage of students in Levels 3 and 4, which he said he feels is a more accurate way of comparing results.“I don’t want anyone to think that either I or we are satisfied with the results,” Schoonmaker said. Webutuck tested below the state average in eight of 16 categories. “But I think [comparing the mean scores] doesn’t show as big of a gap statistically.”Pine Plains tested below the state results in eight of 16 categories, but Superintendent Linda Kaumeyer said she felt that it was a positive report card, pointing out that the district had achieved accountability in all categories (Webutuck did as well) and that comparing districts was often an “apples to oranges” situation.“Often the media like to compare district to district,” she said, “and I understand that it’s information the public wants to know. But in order to get a true picture, this is just one piece of the puzzle.”Millbrook scored higher, sometimes by substantial margins, than the state average in all categories except for seventh-grade math.Schoonmaker was blunt with his opinion of the report cards.“District report cards are not particularly helpful,” he said. “They generate what I like to call political data, which is designed to justify the expenditure of money rather than improve student performance. What really is valuable is not the report card but the item analysis we can take from the individual tests.” Jaeger of Millbrook agreed and said that departmental meetings have been held to discuss not only the overall grade results, but also those of individual students.Both Pine Plains and Webutuck conduct their own testing at different points throughout the year, and both superintendents said that the data on the report cards do not come as a surprise to the district.“If anything, the report cards are less helpful [than Webutuck’s own testing] because you get it once at the end of the year,” Schoonmaker said. “At that point, the grade is already over. But what we’ve done is bench-marked assessments to drive our own academic intervention services.”The shared goal, Kaumeyer stressed, was the education of students.“The bottom line is we’re constantly working hard to assist students to raise the bar as high as they can,” Kaumeyer said. “The New York State District Report Card creates a measure by which educators and the public can compare district to district because everyone’s taking the same test. But it’s really just a snapshot of that point in time.”Kaumeyer said that rather than comparing, for example, the scores of eighth-grade math in 2009-10 to the scores from eighth-grade math in 2008-09, it is more accurate to compare the scores of a particular class of students as they rise through the grade levels.“It’s a concept of measuring growth over time,” she said.Schoonmaker disagreed, saying the seventh- and eighth-grade tests are different. Jaeger observed that all of the area school districts are small and that the performance, high or low, or just a few students can skew results.School districts are given a much more detailed breakdown of each of the tests before a simplified version is released on the state education department’s website for public consumption. “From there, we can see what subjects are strong or weak and even break it down to individual students, classes or instructors, in terms of identifying the best,” Jaeger said. “We’re interested in identifying successful teachers so ones who are struggling can replicate that success.”The New York State District Report Cards can be viewed, in their entirety, at www.p12.nysed.gov/irs/reportcard.
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Greg Fricke and James Boehmer, co-owners of Peggy Mercury in Kent, recently launched their first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts.”
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Fricke and Boehmer are not there to stock their shelves with the same products customers find at standard makeup retailers. They’re there to help customers find what works for them. That usually means asking customers about themselves and learning about their beauty habits, skin, style and the way they like to present themselves. Fricke and Boehmer believe it’s their job to help customers bring out the qualities that suit them and determine what works best for their look.
So much of the Peggy Mercury world is about emboldening people to become more creative, and possibly bolder, versions of themselves. Some of this comes through the store’s creative collaborations with artists, designers and stylists.
It’s part of an ethos that encourages them and their friends to use the shop as a kind of laboratory, trying out new creative experiments without knowing how they might turn out. Whether in fashion, painting, fiber arts or photography, the projects almost always turn out marvelously.
A line of sterling silver charms they sell started as a small project by their friend Nolan Percival. In the beginning, the pieces were for close friends and loved ones. But Boehmer and Fricke encouraged Percival to get a little more serious about the project and create a whole line for the store. Today, it’s one of their top-selling collections.
Classic styles, bold colors, and creative concerts make up the “Imaginary Concerts” line at Peggy Mercury.Provided
“Imaginary Concerts” has the duo taking their own advice.
The project started as a way for Boehmer to connect with his mother, who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. Taking old concert shirts from his own collection, Boehmer and his mother began cutting out the graphics with the idea that they would make a quilt together. Unfortunately, she died before they could complete the project in 2025. The pieces, which were ready for production, were put on the back burner as Boehmer and Fricke dealt with their loss and the whirlwind of projects that never seemed to cease at Peggy Mercury.
But the harsh winter of 2026 presented an opportunity to take some time and focus on themselves. Part of that meant revisiting and redefining the concert T-shirt project. This time, instead of looking to the warmth and comfort of a quilt, they turned to another passion — fashion.
Taking a page from their own book, they wanted to create something that felt comfortable to them. They took two disparate loves — one rooted in simple preppy style, with clean lines and classic silhouettes, and the other in the nitty gritty worlds of punk rock and pop — and blended them together to create something entirely new. Pulling from the staples of vintage Brooks Brothers and Charvet collections, they applied the graphic elements with bold stitching reminiscent of punk jackets of the ‘70s and ‘80s, but with a much more sophisticated air.
But the remixing isn’t just the pairing of prep and punk. The pieces are not canon. They take liberties with the realities of concert tours, combining one band’s dates with another band’s logos, mixing them all up until the reality is lost and imagination is the only truth.
Shirts from Peggy Mercury’s first fashion line, “Imaginary Concerts,” hang on display.Provided
Adding to the mix is an element of perpetual creativity. Art can be messy, both figuratively and literally, and many of Fricke and Boehmer’s artist friends carry evidence of their work on them at all times. As a nod to these tireless creatives, the duo added haphazard splashes of bright color, giving the line an even more distinctive feel.
For them, “Imaginary Concerts” passes the “Peggy Test.” The mythical Peggy Mercury is a fictional figurehead for the company, a character who thrives on creativity and change. The name, much like the clothing line, is a mixture of interests: Mercury is a planet, a deity and an elusive, transformative element, while Peggy is the wonderfully stylish and boundary-pushing Peggy Guggenheim.
Everything Fricke and Boehmer put in their store has to pass this test: Would Peggy Mercury approve? For their first collection, the answer is a resounding yes.
Peggy Mercury is at 9 Maple St., Unit 2, Kent.
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