By The Times/Ledger
What a mess School District 29 has become. Late last week acting Schools Chancellor Harold Levy disbanded the board after the board fired Acting Superintendent Michael Cinquemani. Cinquemani was hired to replace Celestine Miller, who was fired by then Chancellor Rudy Crew because she failed to immediately notify the Board of Education that an 8-year-old boy had brought a loaded pistol to school. And, of course, Levy was hired because the board fired Crew.
About the only one who hasn't been fired is the cafeteria lady. OK, we exaggerate. But the truth is that in the middle of a school year in which teachers are under heavy pressure to end social promotion and the district is facing the challenge of providing summer school for massive numbers of students, the leadership of this district is in shambles.
Levy is letting the world know that although he is here on a temporary basis, he is firmly in charge. Levy is a vice president at Citibank and he is, no doubt, not accustomed to suffering an incompetent and unresponsive bureaucracy. That's his strength. It may also be his weakness. The Board of Education needs a decisive administrator who will not tolerate inefficiency and sloppy standards.
But Levy cannot imagine that his experience in the corporate world or his unquestioned commitment to higher educational standards are enough. He needs the support of a local board in District 29 that understands the unique challenges facing children in this district. He must also move quickly to convince the community that it still has a voice in the educational process.
School crisis looms
In an ongoing series, the Times/Ledger exams the problem of overcrowding in the public schools of Queens. The unavoidable conclusion to be drawn from this series is that a situation that is already unacceptable will reach a crisis level in the next seven years.
Barring a dramatic and unforeseen intervention, by the year 2007, the public schools in Queens will be operating at 141 percent of their capacity. In District 24, the schools may be operating at 170 percent capacity.
What is uncovered in this series is not news to the bean counters at the Board of Education or to the legislators responsible for Queens. Unlike natural disasters such as floods or earthquakes, the looming disaster in the public schools should take no one by surprise. But the Band-Aids used to solve the current overcrowding will not work when our schools reach 140 percent capacity. We will not be able to squeeze enough temporary classroom trailers into our schoolyards. Gymnasiums, lunchrooms and bathrooms will not yield sufficient space to make sure that every child has a desk.
In 1990, the Board of Education commissioned a study that accurately predicted the overcrowding that the school system is facing in the year 2000. The study projected that the overcrowding would be most severe in the Borough of Queens. Despite the warning, only 11 new schools were built in the last 10 years.
Should the prediction in this series prove true, should we come to a point in Queens where we have only two desks for every three children in our public schools, the impact on quality of life will be disastrous.
What will it take to convince Albany that this is a crisis in the making? Of what can Queens be proud if we cannot be proud of the opportunities that we provide our children? Will someone please tell the legislators in Albany that the creek is rising and time is running out!
