Community News & Notes from NYC Public Advocate Bill de Blasio...

STATEMENT BY PUBLIC ADVOCATE DE BLASIO ON MAYOR BLOOMBERG’S DECISION TO DELAY HIRING OF POLICE CADETS - April 13, 2011

“I strongly condemn Mayor Bloomberg’s decision to delay the hiring of over 500 police cadets, a move that will put the safety of New Yorkers at risk. This decision coupled with proposed budget cuts to the NYPD risks taking our police force back to the historic lows of the early 1990s. The progress we have made on reducing crime in the years since makes it clear that taking our police force backwards would be a dangerous mistake.”

STATEMENT BY PUBLIC ADVOCATE DE BLASIO ON DECISION TO HALT BAY RIDGE PARKWAY BIKE LANE - April 12, 2011

“I commend the Department of Transportation for responding to community concerns by halting its plans to install a bike lane in Bay Ridge. This was an important step forward that shows a willingness to respect the input of residents and community leaders. I challenge the Department to make listening to New Yorkers standard procedure and to be willing to incorporate community feedback into its projects.”

PARENTS AT UWS HIGH SCHOOL SUE CITY TO STOP CO-LOCATION - April 10, 2011

Lawsuit over lost classrooms, programs has backing of all UWS officials, Public Advocate

Parents of students at the Brandeis Educational Complex have filed a lawsuit in State Supreme Court to block the NYC Department of Education’s proposed co-location of a Charter Success Academy elementary school in their building. Parents have the backing of Public Advocate Bill de Blasio, Councilmember Gale Brewer, Assemblymembers Linda Rosenthal and Danny O’Donnell, State Senator Adriano Espaillat, as well as Congressmen Jerry Nadler and Charles Rangel. Brandeis was recently reorganized from a single high school into four smaller, growing high schools. The plan to move an elementary school into the building would result in overcrowding and a loss of crucial science labs, classrooms, arts studios and music programs.

The lawsuit, filed in State Supreme Court on Friday, alleges that the Department of Education:

• Used inaccurate enrollment figures at affected high schools
• Wrongly categorized spaces like science labs and dance studios as ordinary classrooms
• Violated its own procedures for public notification and consultation
• Failed to assess the environmental impact of car and bus traffic from Success Charter Academy

“We believe that the Department of Education has not followed its own guidelines nor State charter laws in co-locating this elementary charter school in the Brandeis High School Complex,” said Lisa Steglich, Frank McCourt High School parent and lawsuit plaintiff. “A separate entrance, separate screening procedures, and a costly new and separate cafeteria for charter school students are not ‘comparable and equitable treatment.’ As parents of Frank McCourt High School students, we seek only to see that our children are treated fairly and are not relegated to second class status in their own school building.”

“After months of trying getting through to the Department of Education, these parents have only one option left: sue the City. As a public school parent and a public official, I wholeheartedly support the Brandeis community’s lawsuit. While it’s clear the Administration is bent on proceeding no matter what parents, teachers and leaders in this community say, I am hopeful we will find justice in the court system,” said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio.

“I am fiercely and righteously opposed to the imposition of this charter school on our community,” said Council Member Gale A. Brewer. “This is not just another heated dispute about schools. It is a reprehensible land grab. Not only does this charter covet the new facilities that we created for our students at a cost of millions. They intend to divide our school and our community physically and culturally. It is morally wrong and bad school policy, but they think they will get away with it because DOE says they can. This court action is about stopping them.”

“We will show that the decision of the Panel for Educational Priorities was arbitrary and capricious, and should be declared invalid,” said Marc A. Landis, a Phillips Nizer partner and an Upper West Side parent-activist. “The Department of Education failed to meet its legal obligations when it overlooked the consequences of the proposed co-location on the existing high schools, failed to provide a sufficient educational impact statement, and failed to provide any environmental impact statement.”

“The voice of the people of our district is loud and clear: Success Academy does not belong in the Brandeis Campus,” said Ric Cherwin, Global Learning Collaborative Parent Association President. “Two of our schools have a very high proportion of special needs students who by law need extra space to be successful. With UWSA, these schools will have less space and their education will suffer. As has happened at other co-located schools with Success Academy, it becomes the haves vs. have-nots. Why would the DOE want to foster such a viral atmosphere?”

“The voices of the parents, students and community have been completely ignored throughout every step of this process,” said State Senator Adriano Espaillat. “A legal challenge is the final opportunity to ensure that these voices are heard, and provide the students at the four other schools of this complex an uninhibited educational experience, which must be our first priority."

“I stand in strong support of the students and their families who have filed suit against Success Academy Charter School," said Assemblymember Linda B. Rosenthal. “Since this process began many months ago, I, along with a broad coalition of elected officials, community activists and concerned parents, have argued that the PEP process was rife with inadequacies, and PEP approval was based upon incorrect information. School District 3 needs more elementary and middle school seats, not a charter school, but it looks as though Success Academy will go to any lengths to open a charter school in a district that does not want it, and certainly does not need it.”

“DOE has once again neglected to give the community a full, meaningful role in a local siting decision. State law, carefully crafted by my colleagues and I, intends that the community is fully notified and actively involved in these decisions from the beginning; this assuredly did not occur for this co-location proposal,” said Assemblymember Daniel O’Donnell. “Additionally, the students and schools currently at the Brandeis Campus must not be denied the opportunity to grow and thrive, to offer vibrant arts, science, and physical education curricula, and to creatively instruct. All of this is threatened by the co-location under consideration.”

“I am deeply concerned that the recent decision of the Department of Education to co-locate the Success Academy Charter school on the Brandeis Educational Campus was undertaken without regard for the problems this co-location imposes on both the young students who will attend the new charter elementary school and students at the five recently-established and impressive high schools on the Brandeis campus,” said Congressman Jerry Nadler. “As parents and students seek to prove in the lawsuit filed this week, it seems that the DOE failed in its duty to take this impact into account in making their co-location decision, despite repeated calls by parents, students and elected officials to do so.”

“The DOE needs to address the parents' concerns at Brandeis and elsewhere to ensure that every child has the full access to adequate classroom, arts and recreation space,” said Congressman Charles Rangel.

“Why is the DOE spending millions of dollars to squeeze in and to segregate four and five year old Success Charter students within a dedicated high school building? Worse, why are the DOE and Ms Moskowitz spending millions in taxpayer dollars bombarding Upper West Side parents with flyers and ads denigrating our local schools? It just shows that the Mayor’s and the DOE's priorities lie with the hedge-fund driven Charter schools rather than with the 96% who attend our traditional public schools,” said Noah E Gotbaum, President, CEC3.

The suit was filed by parents from the Global Learning Collaborative, Innovation Diploma Plus and Frank McCourt High Schools, who are being represented pro bono publico by Marc A. Landis, Jon Schuyler Brooks and Meagan Zapotocky of Phillips Nizer LLP. A court will hear the case on May 4th.

Working Families Party Statement on Cathie Black -- "Public Schools Are Not Businesses"

Read original...

The following statement can be attributed to Dan Cantor, Executive Director of the Working Families Party:

“The departure of Cathie Black is confirmation that public schools are not businesses in need of a CEO. Public service and public education are about something more precious than alleged corporate efficiency. Public schools are part of what makes democracy possible, and we need leaders who fully appreciate that education is not just about testing.”

Senator Joe Addabbo Co-sponsors Bill to Require Hate Crimes Curriculum in All New York State Schools

Responding to last month’s gang-related murder in his district of a young man by five teens now charged with manslaughter, who also are being investigated by the NYPD for hate crimes, NYS Senator Joseph P. Addabbo, Jr.(D-Queens), a member of the Senate’s Education Committee, is co-sponsoring a bill (S.269), which would raise awareness about hate crimes through curriculum in the schools. Addabbo supported this bill in the Education Committee and the bill has been sent to the full Senate for a vote.  

The Hate Crimes Task Force is investigating last month’s murder as to whether the suspects shouted anti-gay slurs at the victim and whether he was chased and bludgeoned to death on a Woodhaven street because he was perceived to be gay.  

The proposed new law requires a course of instruction in the awareness of hate crimes in our schools, so that every child in New York State will become educated on the commission of hate crimes. Hate crimes mean offenses that are committed based upon the race, color, national origin, ancestry, gender, religion, religious practice, age, disability or sexual orientation of the victim. The instruction will include examples of symbols and objects associated with hate crimes and the events and historical significance surrounding such symbols and objects. Such a course will also focus on the moral aspects and legal implications of such offenses and promote attitudes of tolerance and acceptance.

The law requires the board of education, trustees, principal or other person in charge of every public, private and parochial school in New York State to arrange for giving such course of instruction in every school under its/his or her control to every pupil for a period of not less than 45 minutes in each month during which such school is in session. The law will take effect on the first of September following the date on which it becomes a law.  

Explains Addabbo, “This bill offers a valuable course to increase an understanding of the seriousness of hate crimes among all students in New York State.  It is important that our schools teach core values of tolerance, acceptance and knowledge to all children in order to prevent hate crimes.” He believes that students should be taught about the vile nature of hate crimes and that such instruction will directly combat negative language and stereotypes that are prevalent in today’s society. Addabbo is hopeful that this instruction will educate our youth about the implications and dire consequences of hate crimes, and will provide them with a better understanding of the differences in each person. 

AQE Video Contest - Budget Cuts -with Cynthia Nixon - YouTube

Dear Gov. Cuomo: Our Kids Need College and Careers!

Too many schools have lost teaching positions, needed programs and are struggling to get by with bare-bones resources. How much more can we take from our kids?

Governor Cuomo is calling for another devastating education budget cut totaling $1.5 BILLION dollars! We've heard from the Governor, but now it's time that he hears from YOU.

Make a video telling the Governor how budget cuts to education could affect your educational future. Enter the contest and win an iPad or $1,000 for your classroom!

Education Town Hall on January 13th at PS 30Q

Stop the School Closings - Education Town Hall on January 13th at PS 30 126-10 Bedell Street Sponsored by State Senator Shirley Huntley, Assemblywoman Vivian Cook, City Council Member Leroy Comrie and City Council Member Ruben Wills

What: Education Town Hall

When: January 13th

Time: 6:30 - 8:30

Where: PS 30Q

Address: 126-10 Bedell Street, Jamaica, NY

View Larger Map

Queens High Schools Still Crowded by Beth Fertig - WNYC

Read original...

Queens is always growing and it seems its schools are, too. The United Federation of Teachers says several high schools in the city's second most populous borough seem more crowded than usual this fall.

James Vasquez, the UFT's representative for Queens high schools, says principals are working hard to keep classes from getting too large by reprogramming schedules and adding more teachers. But he says Bayside, Benjamin Cardozo and the new Metropolitan High School are all still crammed with students.

"You have situations in which not only the hallways are crowded but the days are extended," he says. "Because kids are staying later or coming in earlier than they may have before."

The Department of Education confirms that Metropolitan High School, which opened in September, currently has 411 students -- 61 more than the target. Benjamin Cardozo in Flushing has about 40 more kids than expected.

Vasquez attributes the problem to poor planning and says the city should send more students to under-utilized schools. But a Department of Education spokesman says it's too early to make any determinations on class size or enrollment because they're still fluctuating daily. The state gathers final enrollment data on October 31.

Crowded schools don't always correspond with overcrowded classrooms, and vice-versa. Many schools in Queens and throughout the city still have class sizes that are above the contractual limit of 34 in high school subjects and 50 for gym. Vasquez says the Queens High School of Teaching was especially hard hit with dozens of classes above the limit. In early September, the union estimated that 1900 high school classes in Queens were above contractual limits. But that number has since been cut down by more than half. As in previous years, the city resolves many of the disputes just before or during arbitration hearings.

Meanwhile, the union says the situation at Francis Lewis High School - which has more than 4000 students - seems under control. The city and the union went to arbitration hearings over the past few years because of overcrowding. Though it's still packed, the union says no classes are beyond their contractual limits.

Comment by Arthur Goldsten

If the union says Francis Lewis is "under control" that's only because they haven't bothered to consult with anyone who actually works there. Lewis is open 14 periods a day, six sessions, and has classes in trailers with chronically failing heat and AC and half-classrooms that are absolutely unfit for teaching and learning. Our students run around outside in the cold and the dark, and eat lunch at 9 AM.

During peak times, you can barely make it down the hall. 61 more than the target? At Lewis we've been thousands above the target, and for years.

Hardly a "Mission Accomplished" moment by me.

Arthur Goldstein, UFT Chapter Leader
Francis Lewis High School

City Budget's Impact on Ulrich's District by Tonia Cimino - The Queens Courier

Read original...


After the passage of the city’s budget, and despite the proposed cuts to various agencies, City Councilmember Ulrich announced funding for dozens of local community groups and programs throughout the 32nd District, along with 18 capital projects totaling $4.2 million.

“Unlike Albany, the City of New York has once again passed an on-time, balanced budget that does not include any tax increases,” said Ulrich. “Thanks to years of responsible budgeting and smart planning, the city’s strong fiscal position has allowed us avoid drastic cuts to areas that would have had a devastating impact on the lives of nearly every New Yorker.”

Capital projects funded within District 32 include:

● Installation of guardrails along Cross Bay Boulevard’s southbound approach to Broad Channel;

● Improvements at London Planetree Park, including a skate plaza, fitness equipment and refurbishment of the old basketball courts;

● Resurfacing and new fencing at the Rockaway Beach handball courts;

● Fifteen security cameras at John Adams High School;

● Sidewalk repair and tree planting throughout the district totaling $1.2 million.

Ulrich has also secured funding for technology projects at the following public schools: John Adams H.S., M.S. 137, M.S. 202, M.S. 210, P.S. 108, P.S. 146, P.S. 317, P.S. 60, P.S. 63 and P.S./M.S. 47. In addition, electrical upgrades at P.S. 207 and funding for a new science lab at P.S. 232 are included in the budget.

Through discretionary spending allocations, funding is also earmarked for many community groups and programs that serve the district and borough, including Bridge to Life, Inc., Forest Park Trust, Franklin K. Lane H.S., Greater Woodhaven Development Corporation, Lindenwood Community Volunteer Ambulance Corps, New Hamilton Beach Civic Association, Point Breezy Volunteer Fire Department, Queens Symphony Orchestra, Woodhaven Intramural Soccer Club, Woodhaven Richmond Hill Volunteer Ambulance Corps, Broad Channel Athletic Club, Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association, Blessed Trinity Parish (for senior services), Catholic Charities Neighborhood Services (to support four local senior centers), Forest Park Senior Citizens Center, Jewish Association for Services for the Aged (JASA), Locust Grove Civic Association of Queens County, Bobbi and the Strays, Howard Beach Columbus Day Foundation, Nativity BVM Youth Basketball League, New York Families for Autistic Children, Our Lady of Grace (youth soccer camp), Ozone Howard Little League, South Queens Boys and Girls Club and Works Little League.

In addition, funding has been secured for SAT prep courses at John Adams, Franklin K. Lane, Scholars Academy, Channel View School for Research, Robert H. Goddard High School of Communication Arts and Technology and Beach Channel High School.

Other projects and programs include movie and family nights offered through the Parks Department, and 50 premium trash cans will be installed along 101st Avenue.

In all, Ulrich secured approximately $576,000 in discretionary funding to support local initiatives.

New York City's fiscal year begins on July 1 and ends on June 30.

Charters: Will the Free Market Improve Education? By Claus von Zastrow - Public School Insights

Read original...


Another study of charter schools has dealt a big blow to the most die-hard supporters of the free market in schooling. It seems a charter school's popularity is no guarantee of its success. The invisible hand will not deliver better results.

The Department of Education just released the new study (PDF), which focuses on charters at the middle school level. The study examines schools that had more applicants than they could accommodate and compares students who were randomly selected to attend those schools with those who were not. It concludes that, on average, the schools "are neither more nor less successful than traditional public schools in improving student achievement, behavior and school progress."

Charters, it seems, helped some students but hurt others. Like other studies before it, this report supports a far more cautious charter strategy than we're hearing from politicians and pundits these days. Here are some of the big lessons I drew from the study:

Even the Most Popular Charters Did Not Outshine Traditional Public Schools
First, let's not forget that this study did not review a representative sample of charter schools. It examined the small share of charters that had many more applicants than they could take. These are the charter schools parents are most likely to choose, so we would expect them to be the high fliers.

And that's a pretty select group. Of the almost 500 charters that had been been around long enough to meet the study's criteria, only 36 made the final cut. Some declined to participate, but the vast majority were not sufficiently oversubscribed to take part in the study. Would the less popular charter schools--or those that would rather not be studied--perform worse than the 36 chosen ones? It's hard to say, but my instinct tells me they're not likely to perform better.

If popular schools that have to resort to lotteries are in some cases doing worse than traditional public schools, what does that tell us about the power of school choice to improve students' performance? We all know how hard it is to close even the least successful schools.

The Free Market Did Not Guarantee Success
The one area where charters really outshone traditional public schools was parent and student satisfaction. But this finding reveals that people can be very happy with lackluster results--an inconvenient truth for those who would say the free market will make schools better and better.

The finding that parents and students are happier with the most popular charters isn't all that shocking. The schools are oversubscribed, after all. Charters full of disgruntled parents are not likely to inspire new parents to enter their children in the lottery. What's more, if you tried but failed to get your child into a popular school, chances are you're none too enthusiastic about the school you tried to leave.

But the charter schools in the study do seem to earn the praise they get from parents. Parents whose children won the lottery were more likely to report that they receive calls from their schools. They were also more likely to say they attended school events. The fact that charters were smaller on average than the comparison schools may account for some of this finding. Still, it seems that traditional public schools could learn something from the most popular charters.

Yet the fact remains: Too often, satisfaction does not translate into strong academic results. That's a real problem for the free marketeers.

We Have to Learn from the Best Charter and Non-Charter Schools
There is some good news in the report for charter supporters, but nothing to warrant the no-holds-barred charter expansion plans cherished by the True Believers. Charter schools serving more low income or low achieving students had positive effects on those students' math scores. (Reading scores were a wash. Reading remains the toughest nut to crack.) So it would behoove us to study those schools more closely to see what they are doing right.

Overall, though, charters seemed to drag down the math and reading results of students who did not receive free or reduced-price lunch. That finding, too, deserves serious attention. Policy makers have to think hard about what kinds of charter school regulation are most likely to feed the flowers and kill the weeds.

Of course, we should also pay attention to what does and doesn't work in traditional public schools. Some do very well by their low income students, and others flop. In the end, I'm more interested in how well a school is doing than in how it is governed.

The Hype Surrounding Charters Endangers Good Policy
The huge and well-funded campaign for charter schools seems way out of proportion with the results charters have delivered so far. The nuance of the IES study is nowhere to be found in the grand pronouncements of politicians and pundits. Films like The Lottery and Waiting for Superman are fueling the notion that charters are always better than traditional public schools. The best charter schools have been poster boys for all charter schools, while the worst traditional public schools have come to represent all traditional public schools.

Could this massive sales job be making parents less discriminating? Could it widen the gulf between parent satisfaction and anemic results? Could it blind policy makers to the pitfalls of rapid charter expansion?

In the end, all the PR around charter schools may undercut the very free market forces some charter friends embrace. Markets depend on information we can trust. Hype just clouds our judgment.

UFT Ad: Stop Education Cuts by Celeste Katz - Daily Politics - NY Daily News

Read original...

Video length: 33 seconds

The United Federation of Teachers is launching a television ad campaign tomorrow, urging Albany and the city to "protect students, parents and teachers from devastating cuts to education."

The 30-second spot produced by produced by Shorr, Johnson and Magnus Strategic Media runs from Saturday to next Friday on network and cable stations in the metro area.

"The ad asks parents, teachers and community members to call, write and e-mail their legislators to urge them to protect after-school programs, save schools from teacher layoffs and urges the 'blame the teacher crowd and the Wall Street Hedge Funds behind them' to stop playing politics with New York's children," a UFT release said.

This ad appears to be a war on two fronts: One, to get $1.4 million in budget cuts restored, and two, an answer to the many anti-union ads being aired by pro-charter-school Education Reform Now.

Fade up on shot of school building. Snap zoom in through front door to school interior. Kids enter classroom. Chalkboard graphic fades up as SUPER: Class sizes up

Mix in shot of student being tutored. SUPER: After-school programs GONE

Mix in shot of empty teacher's desk. SUPER: Teacher layoffs.

Transition to TV graphic with clip of ERN ad. Footage of stock market LED ticker runs in background. SUPER: Anti-Teacher TV Ad.

Fade up: Paid for by Wall Street Hedge Funds

White transition through to shot of teacher working with students at desks. Cut to shot of another teacher with student at front of class. Cut to shot of three students outside school.

Then, cut to a student in library. Cut to teacher calling on students. Cut to student reading.

Cut to shot of overcrowded classroom. Scene blurs as SUPERS fade on:

Tell our Leaders in Albany and New York City

STOP the Cuts

SAVE our Schools.

www.ProtectingOurKids.org

UFT Logo, Michael Mulgrew, President

Paid for by United Federation of Teachers

Statement from Public Advocate Bill De Blasio on the Mayor's Executive Budget...

The Times Square bomb attempt and recent reports of rising crime have emphasized the need to keep New Yorkers safe and protect our City. I am gratified that Mayor Bloomberg has restored previously proposed cuts to our police force. However, the Mayor should show the same commitment to protecting our communities from fires. I am disappointed that the administration has instead decided to eliminate twenty fire companies, a move that puts neighborhoods throughout our City at tremendous risk.

In addition, taking almost 7,000 teachers out of the classroom will leave far too many students without the support they need. This should be a wake up call for Albany that our City is being forced to pay the price for their inaction.

I am also very concerned about proposals to plug our budget gaps by closing child care centers and senior centers. As we recover from the national recession we cannot put crucial services for working families, children and seniors on the chopping block.

This budget also continues the disturbing pattern of draining the ability of the Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) to do its job. The CCRB is already woefully underfunded and now does not have the resources to perform its mission.

Fixing our budget problems will be a serious challenge but I look forward to working with the Mayor and the Council to come up with productive solutions for all New Yorkers.

Notice: Parent-Teacher Conferences Planned for Today Will Be Rescheduled Due to Snow Conditions

Parent-teacher conferences at intermediate and junior high schools planned for today will be rescheduled due to snow conditions. After-school and PSAL programs will take place as planned.

While we continue to monitor the weather, all indications are that schools will be open tomorrow. If conditions become worse than expected and schools do have to be closed, we will inform parents immediately.

Contact: Chancellor’s Press Office (212) 374-5141

City, Environmental Protection Agency Make Deal to Test Schools for PCB Toxin by Bill Egbert - NY Daily News

Locally, MS 210 in Ozone Park is on the list of affected school sites...

Read original...

The city has agreed to test schools for PCBs and, if needed, come up with a plan to protect kids from exposure after a Daily News probe found the toxin in the window caulking of several schools.

The settlement between the city Education Department and the federal Environmental Protection Agency heads off a parents' lawsuit for now - and puts the schools under tougher federal scrutiny.

The deal dictates a million-dollar pilot study of five schools that could lead to much more testing.

"The program outlined in this agreement, along with general EPA guidance on managing the issue, will serve as a model for school systems across the country," said EPA Regional Administrator Judith Enck.

Because PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, were routinely added to caulking before the chemicals were outlawed in 1977, buildings nationwide constructed before then are at risk for serious PCB contamination.

The city had been in talks with the EPA since April 2008, when a News investigation found high concentrations of toxic PCBs in the caulking of several school buildings, in violation of federal law.

The Education Department expects the pilot study to cost about $1 million.

The EPA consent decree spares the city from having to pay millions of dollars in fines and also heads off a suit filed last year on behalf of Naomi Gonzalez, a Bronx mom of two, by New York Lawyers for the Public Interest.

"This doesn't get us all the way there," said Gonzalez, a teacher's aide, "but it's a real step in the right direction."

Following The News' probe, the city began testing old window caulking for PCBs - revealing contamination in 85 more buildings. The city has argued that left untouched, the caulking is safe.

The agreement, reached Tuesday, does not require the city to test all schools or to remove all PCB caulking it finds, but the EPA will monitor the city's actions.

While praising the settlement as a "positive first step," Manhattan Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal (D-Manhattan) said she's still committed to a bill demanding citywide testing.

Woodhaven-Metro School Seating Disputed by Dan Bush - Leader-Observer

Read original...

A debate over seating priorities is delaying community action on the new high school being built at the intersection of Metropolitan Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard.

The Department of Education (DOE) plans to open the 1000-seat high school in phases.

In September of 2010, the school is slated to open for a freshman class of 250 students, leaving the school 75 percent under capacity for its first year of operation.

In subsequent years, the DOE would phase in the remaining students and grades, possibly one grade per year.

The school is primarily zoned for School Districts 24 and 28. Seating priority for the incoming freshman class has been evenly divided between the two districts.

Critics of the plan say District 24, and all of Queens generally, is getting short shrifted by the zoning and plan to phase-in students.

Community Board 5 voted December 9 to wait an extra month before issuing a resolution on the project, shooting down a proposal to green light the school as is.

Vincent Arcuri, CB5’s chairman, said the DOE’s zoning proposal makes little sense. He argued that census data shows that, when combined, the sections of districts 24 and 28 included in the zoning don’t have enough freshman to fill the incoming class.

“The zoning they currently have does not contain 250 freshman,” Arcuri said.

If it isn’t changed, he said the remaining open spaces would go to students from elsewhere in Queens and around the city. Arcuri has suggested expanding the District 24 area included in the school zoning farther west to capture more high school-aged students.

Dmytro Fedkowskyj, the Queens representative on the Panel for Education Policy, voiced strong opposition to the DOE’s plan to fill the school slowly by phasing in students over time. He said the DOE told him they believe opening the school at full capacity will set it up for failure.

“Unfortunately we don’t have the luxury of waiting in Queens,” said Fedkowskyj. “We have high schools bursting at the seams.”

He outlined an alternative plan to open the school for 9th and 10th graders at once. That way, Fedkowskyj said, the school would open at 50 percent capacity right away, alleviating overcrowding at other high schools such as Grover Cleveland and Newtown high schools.

A DOE spokesperson was unavailable for comment.

While impasse over zoning continues, the DOE is finishing construction at the Woodhaven Boulevard-Metropolitan Avenue campus.

Besides the as-of-yet unnamed high school, the site will also house a second, 900-seat school, I.S./H.S. 167. Seating for that school is being split between districts 28 and 75, which will get 700 and 200 seats respectively.

It remains unclear exactly how the opening of another high school being built in nearby Maspeth might impact the two new schools.

Fedkowskyj said the Queens needs as many high school seats as it can get. “I don’t think that we have enough high school seats to serve the borough of Queens as it is,” he said.

Pushing To Be Free In School From PCBs by Hashim Rahman - City Limits

Read original...

Parents and pols seek state-of-the-art evaluations of school toxicity, and ways to address a potentially huge health threat.

PCBs are resilient; their legacy is permanency. Thirty years after their ban, these hardy chemical compounds persist in our lakes, our rivers, our bodies, and a broad diversity of animals and plants. In New York City, a growing number of parents and political leaders are trying to rid school buildings of the long-standing presence of PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls.

Mounting concerns were set off last year by the Daily News, which publicized state-certified lab tests that showed high levels of PCBs in building caulking for six city public schools. Since this report, one parent has decided to sue the school system to compel PCB remediation, and several elected officials have advocated new legislation.

The impending lawsuit and proposed legislation will be highlights of a press conference Tuesday, June 23 by Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. at Department of Education headquarters at Tweed Courthouse. Diaz plans to reiterate his support for concerned parents like Naomi Gonzalez, the parent who has decided to sue the DOE after unsuccessfully trying to remove her children from PS 178 in the northeast Bronx, a school where the Daily News tests found PCB levels that were 2,000 times the EPA limit. Federal law proscribes substances which contain PCB concentrations that are greater than 50 parts per million, stating that anything above this limit presents an “unreasonable risk of injury to human health.”

Diaz will also announce his support for the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public Schools Facilities Act. This legislation, which passed the House of Representatives last month, contains two provisions aimed at helping schools fund PCB cleanup. The legislation proposes the use of federal low-interest loans and grants to cover a certain percentage of PCB cleanup fees, which can be expensive. The Act’s PCB-related provisions were drafted by U.S. Rep. Joseph Crowley, whose district includes parts of the Bronx and Queens, and his fellow Bronx Congressman Jose E. Serrano, both of whom represent many Bronx parents for whom PCBs in schools has become a concern.

Diaz will also express support for an amendment to state law that would mandate testing for PCBs in city schools. This amendment was introduced to the State Assembly last year by Manhattan Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal, and has remained stalled there ever since.

Attendees of the borough president’s conference will include other politicians who have taken an active role in this issue, parents who send their children to schools where PCBs are a concern, and members of the New York Lawyers for Public Interest, the nonprofit firm that is representing Gonzalez.

Another topic of discussion will be why neither the DOE nor the federal Environmental Protection Agency is moving to conduct a citywide remediation of PCB-laden caulk – one of the most prevalent indoor sources of the contaminant. At the end of April, the DOE announced that it would decontaminate soil around 15 schools, but it expressed no intention to remove building caulking in the absence of renovations.

The EPA and DOE may change course in the future, but as of now, many children are attending schools that may well pose risks to their health.

Not cool for school

PCBs were first commercially manufactured in 1927. Problems from human exposure were soon revealed, in the form of acne-like pustules on the skin. A decade later, many experts understood that PCBs could cause serious health effects, but lobbying, cover-ups by manufacturers, and uninformed government administrations kept production moving forward.

PCBs were used in building caulking for its tendency to make sealant more elastic. This practice continued until 1978, when Congress banned most uses of PCBs. But by then, America’s baby boom was over, and along with it the resulting school construction boom of the 50s and 60s.

Many experts note that PCB levels have not declined as quickly as public awareness of PCBs’ toxic effects has grown. One expert, physician David O. Carpenter, director of the Institute for Health and the Environment at SUNY Albany, authored a 2006 report documenting many PCB heath hazards, which are better understood today than 30 years ago. Some of these risks include the ability of PCBs to suppress the immune system, alter the reproductive system, increase the risk of cardiovascular disease, enhance the effects of other carcinogenic substances, and reduce IQ and alter behavior in early life.

“One of the major health effects caused by PCB exposure is that it reduces the ability to learn,” said Carpenter. While that's a problem in any setting, “This is just totally counterproductive for an academic environment such as a school," he said. "It is very well documented that PCBs can reduce IQ, shorten attention span, and alter behavior.”

Robert F. Herrick, senior lecturer at the Harvard School of Public Health, said that “there is barely a week that goes by when there isn’t an article somewhere in the world that suggests the developmental toxicity is a source of greater concern” than in years past.

Money matters

The 21st Century Green High-Performing Public Schools Facilities Act provides for a crucial factor in addressing the PCB problem – money. Especially amid today’s budget-cutting, schools are hard-pressed to initiate costly efforts. The New York Times reported that cleanup of contaminated soil alone at French Hill Elementary in Westchester ranged between $100,000 to $400,000 – an effort spurred by a worried parent, which has served to inspire other parents, including in the five boroughs. Removal of caulking, which trims windows, doors and expansion joints, can be even pricier, especially since PCBs can migrate from the caulking to concrete, wood and other building materials.

If passed by the U.S. Senate, the Green Schools Act will provide federal funding to schools for renovations and repairs that will improve environmental standards. Due to efforts by Crowley and Serrano, PCB remediation was incorporated into a list of activities that will earn schools this kind of funding.

Crowley spokeswoman Angela Barranco said that even though it is too early to tell exactly how much each school will obtain, the legislation will serve as an important step to encourage schools to start testing. Because schools are not testing, it is difficult to determine the scope of the problem and its associated costs, Barranco said.

Cleanup also will be expensive because of the scope indicated. Approximately 260 public schools were built in New York City during the time when PCBs were used, meaning that the six schools tested by the Daily News might represent just the tip of the iceberg.

At a recent community meeting in Co-op City aimed at providing concerned parents with a forum to share concerns, New York Lawyers for the Public Interest attorney Miranda Massie, who represents parent Naomi Gonzalez, suggested that money was a major reason for why so little is being done at present. “They are simply terrified about how much this is all going to cost,” she said to the crowd of concerned parents.

Claire Barnett, executive director of the Albany-based Healthy Schools Network, said that costs are a major problem with this issue.

Massie inferred that shortage of money, and fear of costs, has encouraged the DOE to mislead the public regarding the dangers posed by PCBs. Massie said that one of the main ways in which the DOE was misinforming the public was by the use of “bogus,” outdated tests.

After the Daily News had stirred concern via its own investigation, the DOE conducted air and wipe tests within several school buildings. Although the DOE did not test the building caulk itself, the air and wipe tests revealed little or no trace of PCBs in the air or on interior surfaces. The DOE used the results of these tests to calm parents’ fears.

Massie asserts that the DOE used air and wipe tests that were designed in 1977, well before much was known about the specific dangers of PCBs to children. She said the tests were designed for adult males, but according to what is known today, those tests should not be used for anyone.

Herrick, the Harvard expert on PCBs, said that “these tests did not accurately assess the situation.” Since PCBs do not volatilize into air from caulking at all points in time, Herrick said that the air and wipe tests, which covered limited spaces and limited durations of time, cannot represent that the children are not being exposed to PCBs.

Asked whether the DOE has a position on the validity of the Daily News’ tests, spokeswoman Marge Feinberg declined to answer, and would not comment at all on this issue. Asked the same question, EPA press officer Elias Rodriguez said “no,” without any further elaboration.

Herrick, who is familiar with the state-certified lab the Daily News used for the caulking tests, did have an opinion. He said that “there is no doubt in my mind that these tests are valid.”

Parents’ precautions

Whether the fear of expensive remediation actually caused the DOE to choose a testing method that is less likely to show the presence of PCBs is a matter of debate. But there is a growing perception that the DOE is not committed to learning the truth about PCB exposure in the schools and acting on it.

At the Co-op City meeting, parent Tyrone Jenkins summed up this perception by saying, “the Department of Education is really being calculative in misinforming people.” Other parents stepped up to the podium and expressed a similar sentiment.

Gonzalez even said that the point at which she first became truly concerned was when the DOE was not able to properly answer her questions at a parent meeting. Gonzalez is a full-time teaching assistant with two children at PS 178, in first and fifth grade. She resents that her children’s school has been neglected while a school like PS 199, located in an affluent part of Manhattan’s Upper West Side, was cleaned up after parents began complaining about PCBs. She says she is bringing her lawsuit as a way to get the DOE to respond to her community in a more truthful and accurate way.

Massie also said that Gonzalez’ lawsuit was announced to encourage a more active response from the EPA, which is in charge of enforcing law that regulates the use and cleanup of PCBs. Nevertheless, at the Co-op City meeting she said that, pursuant to the announcement of the suit, “the EPA has taken the position that these outcomes do not trigger anything – they don’t trigger a need to confirm or non-confirm the test results.”

EPA spokesman Rodriguez said in an e-mail that the agency suspects that many schools do have PCBs in their caulk, and the EPA is encouraging remediation by monitoring activities of the DOE and School Construction Authority. That has translated into little action, however, at the many schools that may still contain PCBs in building caulking.

Both Carpenter and Herrick suggest that modernized, standardized ways of measuring PCB exposure are needed.

Until then, activists like the Bronx parents will take inspiration from people such as Daniel Lefkowitz, the father whose difficult fight ultimately rid PCBs from his child’s elementary school in Yorktown Heights several years ago, and who started a website on the topic. The issue of PCBs in schools might not be as well known today without his efforts.

“There is no doubt in my mind that we will win this fight,” Massie told the Co-op City audience. “But be prepared for a long, hard fight.”

- Hashim Rahman

Correction: Tests showed PCB levels at PS 178 in the northeast Bronx to be 2,000 times the EPA limit, not 200 times the limit. Also, according to the Daily News, in April the DOE said it would clean up 15 school sites, not 19. 6/23/09

School Windows Still Contain Toxic PCBs by Lisa Fogarty - Queens Chronicle

Read original...


By the time they’re in school, most children grow accustomed to hearing their parents echo cautionary instructions so common they’ve become part of the fabric of our society: wash your hands before eating and look both ways before crossing, to name a few.

But Naomi Gonzalez, a Bronx mother of two, has instilled in her 7-year-old daughter advice that may seem unorthodox at first.

“I don’t let her drink the water in school, and she knows to ask not to sit by the window,” Gonzalez said.

Her daughter’s school, P.S. 178, is one of 85 citywide public schools — 20 of which are in Queens — where the Department of Education found traces of toxic PCB-contaminated caulk on classroom windows last year. Gonzalez, along with parents in the Bronx and Manhattan, has filed a lawsuit against the DOE and School Construction Authority. And, with the help of attorneys from New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, parents from Queens may not be far behind.

“These are really, really, really bad compounds,” said Miranda Massie, a lawyer at NYLPI. “There’s no doubt that other schools that haven’t been tested have been affected.”

Before the 1970s, PCBs, which stands for polychlorinated biphenyls, were added to the caulking material used to cushion window and door frames to make them more elastic, according to the NYLPI. Although they were banned in 1979, products that may still contain the compound include electrical equipment, oil-based paints, floor finishes and caulking — which has recently been found in abundance on many school windows.

PCBs volatize into air and don’t stay in place, Massie said, affecting the quality of air students breathe, as well as the soil around a facility.

“Even if they replace the windows, that doesn’t do it,” she said. “You need a complete clean up.”

The Environmental Protection Agency recognizes PCBs as potential cancer-causing agents in humans based on studies that found they caused cancer in animals. The toxin has also been known to negatively impact the immune, reproductive, nervous and endocrine systems. According to David Carpenter, director for the Institute for Health and the Environment, PCB exposure, whether by inhalation or ingestion of PCB-contaminated foods, causes an irreversible loss of cognitive function and results in increased symptoms of hyperactivity, decreased general performance and decreased ability to deal with frustration — all of which constitute what is known as attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

At P.S. 65 in Ozone Park, which was built on a former industrial site where helicopter parts were made, a similar uproar was heard among parents when the toxin trichloroethylene was found beneath the building. TCE is known to cause liver, kidney and nerve damage. Many parents came forward to protest the unsafe conditions and the DOE retained external testers to test the quality of air inside the school.

“Kids were coming home with headaches,” recalled David Quintana, an education advocate.

At first, the DOE tried to sweep the PCB problem under the rug, Gonzalez and Massie said. “I attended a school meeting and left fuming,” Gonzalez said of a hearing two years ago with DOE health officials where parents were told the results of caulk studies performed on schools couldn’t be provided yet.

“Our children’s safety is too important to be casually dismissed by school construction authorities or anyone else,” said Leonie Haimson, executive director of Class Size Matters. “Parents in the past have tried to raise money for independent assessments of those schools where PCBs were found, but this is something the city should provide.”

After what Massie calls more than a year of “dishonest denial” on the part of the DOE, the agency is now working to rid schools of the toxins, they say.

“We are engaged in positive and productive discussions with the United States Environmental Protection Agency to develop an agreement on a plan to address the PCBs in NYC public schools,” the DOE said in a statement.

PCB-contaminated caulk found by DOE

• J.H.S. 25, Flushing
• J.H.S. 67, Little Neck
• J.H.S. 158, Bayside
• I.S. 210, Ozone Park
• P.S. 13, Elmhurst
• P.S. 22, Flushing
• P.S. 49, Middle Village
• P.S. 68, Ridgewood
• P.S. 76, Long Island City
• P.S. 84, Astoria
• P.S. 130, Flushing
• P.S. 159, Bayside
• P.S. 164, Flushing
• P.S. 169, Bayside
• Beach Channel H.S., Rockaway
• Cardozo H.S., Bayside
• Cleveland H.S., Ridgewood
• Hillcrest H.S., Jamaica
• H.S. Teaching Professionals, Bellerose
• John Bowne H.S., Flushing

Leonie Haimson: Our Children are More Than Test Scores - The Huffington Post

Read original...

On the front page of today's Times is one of those iconic stories that epitomizes the system under Bloomberg and Klein: Francisco Hernandez Jr., a 13-year-old Brooklyn boy with Asperger's wandered alone in the New York subway system for days, after he had been scolded at school for not concentrating.

Despite desperate searches by his parents, it took eleven days before the police tracked Francisco down, dirty and exhausted, on the D train at Coney Island. What does this sad story have to do with the policies of this administration?

"Though doctors had recommended that Francisco be placed in a small school for children with learning disorders, she said, officials at his school told [his mother] he was testing fine and did not need to be transferred."

Like Kelly Sinisgalli, the 4th grade girl who was barred this fall by her principal from taking dance class and consigned to more test prep because she had only scored a "low 3" on her state exams- meaning at grade level -this sort of lunacy is the consequence of the destructive accountability system imposed by Bloomberg and Klein, and that the Gates foundation, with the collusion of the Obama administration, is now trying to impose on our nation's schools.

Following massive publicity, and after she had aced some practice tests, Kelly's principal finally relented and allowed her to return to dance class, yet the essential situation remains the same.

Whether it's a 4th grade public school student from Queens who is thought to be scoring poorly, or a thirteen year old boy with Asperger's from Brooklyn who is thought to be scoring well, their fate is increasingly determined by their test scores, because test scores are all that matters to those running the system.

Be sure to check out the moving video entitled "Our children are more than test scores."

The Fantasy World of Michael Bloomberg - NYC Public School Parents

Read original...

Bloomberg’s campaign speech today at NYU, in full here, reveal how he must be living in a complete fantasy world – insulated from reality, even more than most politicians:

By 2013, we will have created – far and away – the best public school system of any big city in the country. Not only will more middle class families be staying in the City and sending their kids to school here, I believe we will start to see an entirely new phenomenon: Families from around the nation and the region will be moving into the City for the schools. That was unthinkable just a few years ago! Families will come because more and more neighborhoods will be offering top-quality schools that are as good as – or better than – some of the suburban schools. They'll come because our schools will be performing at higher levels than schools in Boston… or San Francisco… or Phoenix… or any other big city in the country. And they'll come because they want more quality school choices – and they'll have more choices here than just about anywhere else in the country.

I won't even mention the delusional aspect to his concept of how good our schools will be; indeed, there is no evidence of improved results if you look at the most reliable measures, the national assessments known as the NAEPs.

No, what is astonishing is how this speech ignores the obvious reality: that these families, if they could indeed afford to move to NYC, would soon find that there is no room for their children to attend school.

Already, nearly half of NYC kids attend overcrowded schools, class sizes increased last year by the largest amount in ten years, thousands of students are sitting in rotting trailers; and last spring, hundreds of kids were put on waiting lists for Kindergarten.

Special education students are being given services in hallways and in closets, many schools have lost their art and music rooms, and 86% of principals say they are unable to provide a quality education because of excessive class sizes. Today, school nurses complained to the Daily News that there's no room to isolate children who have come down with the swine flu because of the extreme overcrowding at their schools.

Bloomberg has cut school construction way back, and the new five year capital plan has only 25,000 seats, which will provide less than one third of the space necessary to eliminate existing overcrowding – not to mention a rapidly increasing school population expected in the near future, caused by overdevelopment and a rising birth rate.

Where will all these additional kids flocking to the city in the future attend classes? Bloomberg doesn’t say. He recently told Downtown Express that parents should stay out of siting new schools, since any such schools would not be finished until their children were in graduate school.

And NYC public schools will never be as good as schools in the suburbs or even in Boston or San Francisco until and unless class sizes are reduced.

In either case, it’s a lousy deal for our kids.

Posted using ShareThis

In Queens, Nation’s Only High School Cricket League Thrives by Regina Galea - The Columbia Journalist

Read original...

When the spring sports season began last year at John Adams High School in Ozone Park, Queens, Thakur Singh, then a junior, was planning to join the baseball team. Singh, who had lived in Guyana and Antigua until the age of eight, already played in two local cricket leagues and wanted to branch out.

Then one day Alex Navarrete, one of John Adams High’s coaches, stopped Singh in the hallway and told him about the cricket team being formed at the school. “He told me, ‘You’re going to be my captain,’ ” Singh recalled.

The John Adams Spartans were one of the first 14 teams to participate in the Public School Athletic League’s (PSAL) 2008 varsity cricket program, the only one of its kind in the nation. The PSAL, which organizes competitive sports in the New York public school system, just completed its second full cricket season with 23 teams made up of approximately 400 students, mostly from immigrant families, from across New York City.

The Spartans qualified for the league finals two years in row. With 227 runs and 19 wickets, Singh won this year’s Windgate Award as the top high school cricket player in the city. The 18-year-old said the experience of leading his high school team gave him new motivation. “It changed my lifestyle a lot to have responsibility.”

Cricket has a long, but largely forgotten, history in the United States. American colonials played cricket before it fully caught on in England, and George Washington is said to have played the game with his troops during the Revolutionary War.

In the early 18th century, the British introduced cricket to their imperial colonies on the Indian subcontinent and in the West Indies, and the sport has had a strong following there ever since. But by the mid-19th century in the United States, baseball had eclipsed the popularity of cricket, which had no professional league and was seen as an elitist pastime of the leisure class.

Since 1965, the United States has had a national team that competes, with mixed success, against Commonwealth countries like India and Australia, where cricket is part of the national identity. But at the local level in New York, the sport enjoys a growing revival as transplants from South Asia and the Caribbean make their homes in the U.S.

Far from elitist, cricket in New York exists almost exclusively in the working-class neighborhoods of Queens, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Staten Island. John Adams High School is located in one such neighborhood. Nearly a third of the high school’s more than 3,000 students identify as ethnic Asians, and Ozone Park is sometimes known as “Little Guyana” for its thriving West Indian community.

At least seven youth and adult cricket leagues operate in the New York metropolitan area, and the Department of Parks and Recreation just opened a new cricket field at Canarsie Park in Brooklyn for a total of 14 within the city limits.

The inclusion of cricket in the public schools represents a major leap forward in the mainstreaming of the sport, according to John L. Aaron, Secretary of the USA Cricket Association.

“Cricket doesn’t enjoy the same benefits as other sports,” Aaron said, citing the lack of adequate cricket fields outside of New York. “That is changing and certainly PSAL has been a driving force in that process.”

The varsity cricket program in New York is the invention of Lorna Austin, a native of Barbados and a PSAL administrator. Austin pushed for a cricket league when she noticed South Asian students were not participating much in team sports like basketball, baseball and football.

The project stalled at first due to lack of funding but, when it finally launched in 2008, schools across New York City signed on. According to the PSAL’s assistant commissioner for cricket, Ricky Kissoon, several schools have petitioned for entrance to the league next year. Any public school is eligible to compete as long as enough students are interested in joining the team.

Kissoon emigrated from Guyana as a teenager 20 years ago and understands first-hand how sports can embody cultural identity. At the time of his arrival, cricket had relatively little presence in New York. He looked for opportunities to play cricket but had to settle for volleyball at Adlai Stevenson High School in the Bronx.

“If you notice, most of the players are from Bangladesh, Pakistan, Guyana,” Kissoon said. “Who knows if they would have played any sports in high school? It’s a cultural thing. Most kids—their parents or uncles played some form of cricket.”

The writer Joseph O’Neill explored this tradition in his novel Netherland, which features the Staten Island Cricket Club in post-9/11 New York. In a New York Times profile, O’Neill, who was born in Ireland and grew up in the Netherlands, called the game of cricket his “athletic mother tongue,” saying that to take up a new sport would be akin to learning a foreign language.

This connection between sport, country and family is true for Randy Nurse, batsman for John Adams High. The high school senior remembers playing cricket in an organized league in his village in Guyana from the age of 10. He moved to the United States two years later.

Nurse’s mother Shirley is herself an avid cricket fan, and she encouraged her son’s interest in the game. "I got all the cricket books, and Randy read them, since he was a very little boy in Guyana,” she said, seated in the bleachers at the final match of the season.

John Adams’ coach Alex Navarrete, originally from Uruguay, heads the swimming and soccer programs, but had no background in cricket before he was put in charge of the team. The league plays a faster-paced form of cricket called Twenty20, which can be completed in under four hours instead of five days, the length of a full test match.

But, even Twenty20 is a complex game, and the coach had much to learn in a world of overs, googlies and silly mid-offs. Navarrete said he taught the team about discipline and cooperation and the team taught him about cricket. “When I had a question,” Navarrete said, “they would tell me. They mentored me.”

They mentored well. John Adams’ Spartans were undefeated until the final match on June 14, at which Newcomers’ High School Lions of Long Island City won the championship, 111 to 105.

Coach Navarrete and John Adams’ principal Grace Zwillenberg were both quick to point out the role of sports in students’ overall performance in school. But cricket has a long way to go before it becomes a bridge to higher education, like basketball, football or even fencing.

Players of more mainstream sports are eligible for athletic scholarships and are courted by college programs. Cricket, however, is not represented in the NCAA, and only one college—Haverford in Pennsylvania— currently offers the sport at a varsity level. Most other college cricketers play in clubs like the ones Thakur Singh belonged to before PSAL opened its league.

Singh said he has no immediate plans to attend college. He said he’ll wait to make that decision with his parents. “That’s what makes me happy,” Singh said, “to bring pride to my family.”