By Ivan Pereira
The first in a series of votes on school closures for campuses in southeast Queens was expected to start this Thursday, but an elected official has said he and the community are ready to stop the city again.
City Councilman Ruben Wills (D-South Ozone Park) said he plans to file an injunction against the city Department of Education over its proposals to phase out four schools in southeast Queens, including Jamaica and Beach Channel high schools. The city Panel for Educational Policy was set to vote Tuesday on its first round of phase-outs, which included PS 30 at 116th Ave in Jamaica and IS 231 at 145 Springfield Blvd. in Springfield Gardens, but the vote on those schools was postponed.
The panel was scheduled to vote on the fates of Jamaica and Beach Channel high schools this Thursday at a hearing in Brooklyn. Wills said he had no doubt the city would approve all of the closings despite the huge outcry from parents, students and teachers.
“The PEP votes with a rubber stamp,” he said.
The vote for PS 30, at 166-00 116th Ave. in Jamaica, was originally set for Tuesday, but it was pushed back to March because the DOE could not hold its legally mandated public hearings on the closure last week due to a winter storm. The IS 231 vote was also postponed indefinitely following concerns that the public hearings were not properly conducted, according to Wills.
The four schools were put on the closing list in December for having a low number of graduates and scoring poorly on this year’s school report cards. Under the plan, newer institutions would be moved into the buildings starting in the fall as the current schools stopped admitting new students.
The panel voted to shut down Jamaica and Beach Channel high schools last year, but that decision was overturned by a state judge after the United Federation of Teachers filed a lawsuit. The union claimed the city did not properly inform parents about the closure proceedings.
Wills said the city did not learn its lesson from last year.
He said the public hearing for IS 231 was scheduled for Jan. 26 but adjourned to Monday because parents were unable to get to the school due to the weather on the initial day. During Monday’s hearing at the school, the deputy chancellor had trouble getting to the hearing on time because of traffic, much to the anger of parents, according to Wills.
“The families were really frustrated and walked out,” he said.
DOE spokesman Jack Zarin-Rosenfeld, acknowledged the problems with holding the hearing but said the department added the extra day this week to compensate for the weather conditions. He could not specify the reason for the postponement for the Tuesday night PEP vote.
After the weather canceled the hearings last week on PS 30, the panel moved its vote to next month to allow the DOE to properly reschedule the event with parents.
“These are very difficult decisions that we make and we try to be more proactive this year,” Zarin-Rosenfeld said.
At the hearing for Jamaica HS two weeks ago, school supporters expressed anger at the DOE for proposing the closures instead of providing the school with more resources and funding.
Wills agreed with their sentiments.
“We definitely need to put the money into fixing the schools. This is not our fault. The DOE is in charge of educating our children,” he said.
The councilman said he has gotten several thousand signatures for his injunction and is urging more supporters to come on board.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4546.
