By Ivan Pereira
Mayoral candidate William Thompson has blasted Michael Bloomberg and the city Department of Education after a published report revealed failing students at a Cambria Heights public school were allegedly being promoted to the next grade level.
The city comptroller had harsh words for the department as he spoke outside PS 147 at 218-01 116th Ave. Oct. 7. A city daily reported that because of budget cuts to the summer school program, several students at the K-8 school had their grades inflated to the passing mark of 65 by teachers and administrators last school year.
“This is another example where the Department of Education is like Enron,” Thompson said.
Spokesmen for both the DOE and the United Federation of Teachers said the allegations are under investigation. A woman who works at the school but refused to give her name declined to comment on the report.
The comptroller said the suspected grade doctoring was done because principals and teachers were under pressure not only to make the school look good but also because it was at the end of the rope financially.
PS 147, which had a B grade during last year’s report cards, could not afford to send students to summer school to pass the necessary courses, according to the article that appeared in the daily.
“This is another example of Michael Bloomberg saying things have gotten better when it has not,” he said.
This is not the first school in Queens to face grade changing allegations. In e-mails sent in 2008 to the staff of MS 8 in Jamaica, former Principal John Murphy ordered failing students be promoted to the next level and get “mega extra help.”
Laquana Badger, 18, who graduated from PS 147 in 2001, said she has a young relative who had to repeat the second-grade this year due to failing grades. She added that when she was a student, her teachers would be strict with their grading and did not resort to altering students’ marks.
“I feel bad. They’re taking away opportunities for the kids,” she said. “Kids have to work hard.”
Thompson said the DOE needs major changes in order to prevent school administrators from being pressured into changing grades. He called for an end to standardized testing and for better teacher evaluations done by an independent entity.
“There are multiple measures for our children,” he said.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
