Block Association honors

The Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association honored both a former student and an assistant principal of Franklin K. Lane High School, one for her commitment to the neighborhood and the latter for improving education.
Norman Cohn, the former assistant principal of science at Franklin K. Lane, was recognized at the June 18 meeting for his part in improving education at the school and teaching students two years of science in half the time.
“In my job as assistant principal and as a teacher before that, I tried to make every student important,” he said.
Franklin K. Lane High School is now being split up into four different schools on one campus.
Cohn also headed a small learning community made up of 160 students. They learned Globe Science during the first half of the year and Living Environment in the second with the cooperation of Queens College staff, who trained the teachers. Globe Science is a hands-on science investigative course in which students go to Forest Park to study the environment. It is sponsored by the Globe Program, whose partners include NASA. Results are posted online at globe.gov.
“I’m the creator of my own demise,” Cohn said. Since ninth graders took two years of science, they will not take science courses in the 10th grade, eliminating the need for many teachers, including Cohn. Student enrollment was also on the decline.
“The school has been divided because we showed success,” he said. “Suffice it to say, I’m no longer going to be there next year. My job now is to get another position.”
The Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association also recognized high school graduate Carini Ruynoso and her crew from the Franklin K. Lane Student Government, of which she served as president. Ruynoso and company volunteered to renew a mural on 100th Street and Jamaica Avenue that was painted to show partnership between the fire and police departments.
The Block Association, along with Councilmember Joseph Addabbo, presented the award to Ruynoso — and a $50 check courtesy of volunteer group the Semantics.
“Whenever we have the chance to honor someone in the community who goes above and beyond, especially high school students who have a lot of work, it behooves us [to do so],” Addabbo said. “It’s the highlight of my day to honor people like Carini.”