Independent Review Of Requests Urged
The District 24 Community Education Council (CEC 24) endorsed a proposal at its meeting last Tuesday, Jan. 24 at P.S. 199 in Sunnyside to establish a committee to review variances in school bus policy to allow students to get to school safely.
The Office of Pupil Transportation has handled variance requests since 2010, when the city Department of Education (DOE) eliminated many variances throughout the city, according to Dmytro Fedkowskyj of the Panel for Educational Policy.
The variances allow students from outside a particular grade or in a parby ticular geographic area to be bused to class; they are granted when it is deemed that the student faces a hazardous route walking to school.
The DOE was also responsible for cutting school bus service in 2007 with little notice, something for which then-Chancellor Joel Klein was quoted as being “genuinely sorry.”
“It’s easier to be sorry than to ask for permission,” Fedkowskyj countered.
According to the former CEC 24 member, Queens submitted 468 applications for variances between January 2010 and September 2011; only 42 were approved.
Charging that “the service is not there for our kids,” Fedkowskyj’s resolution would create a Safety Hazard Advisory Review Program (SHARP) committee upon a CEC’s request to review variance applications. He claimed that the idea was borne from Staten Island CECs.
“We need to have a transparent process in place that will allow interaction with your CEC, your school community, so you know what’s going to happen before it happens, not after it happens,” he explained.
As an example, Fedkowskyj pointed to P.S. 229 in Woodside, which had a variance removed that allowed older students to receive bus transportation if they lived near Laurel Hill Boulevard and 61st Street, by the Big Six Towers apartment complex, even though, pointed out, “the hazard still exists.”
“Until Dmytro sent me something, I never know that P.S. 229 had a problem,” noted CEC 24 President Nick Comaianni, who blasted the DOE and the Chancellor’s office for their failure to communicate with CECs on the school bus changes-or at all, for that matter.
“What this adminstration does is they preach one thing and they do another,” noted Comaianni. “They constantly preach that they want parent involvement, they want communities to be involved, yet they ignore every community and every attempt.”
He claimed that Chancellor Dennis Walcott has yet to respond to any e-mails sent out by the Council, a change from Joel Klein, who regularly corresponded with CEC 24 in person and via e-mail.
“Forget about Cathie Black knowing nothing,” he said. “This guy knows even less.”
Local resident Doris Stroman, who was the victim of an accident near the P.S. 229 bus stop.
“If they’re working on the probably of someone getting hurt, I’m here to say that I have been that person with my family,” she told the crowd, claiming that she was hit by an 18- wheel truck. “The hazard is still there, eve if they variance has been taken away.”
“It is a gross hazard, and an even more gross injustice,” she stated.
CEC 24 voted to support Fedkowskyj’s bill, which is set to go up for a vote at the PEP’s Feb. 9 meeting. Comaianni told the crowd that he would try to get officials from the Office of Pupil Transportation to next month’s meeting.
UFT update
Continuing the bashing of the DOE were Dermot Smyth and Rosemary Parker of the United Federation of Teachers, the union currently battling the city over teacher evaluations.
Smyth called Mayor Michael Bloomberg ” a liar,” claiming that it was the city’s refusal to negotiate with the union on the teacher evaluations that led to the loss of $58 million in federal funds.
Other reports
Comaianni announced that negotiations are ongoing on the status of I.S. 125, which currently is split between School Districts 24 and 30. CEC 24 is looking to turn the school into one wholly for District 24, which would alleviate overcrowding at nearby schools.
He added that he has asked the DOE to look at increasing the catchment zone of Queens Metropolitan High School to increase the number of District 24 students entering the school. He claimed that currently, only 60 percent of the students in the school come from the area.
In her superintendent’s report, Madeline Taub-Chan reminded the crowd that admissions for kindergarten classes are ongoing. Residents who have kids of age can apply from Mar. 2 in person at their zoned school or other school of their choice; they must bring proof of identification and address dated within the last 60 days.
Parents will be notified by Mar. 19 if they were accepted to the school of their choice. Priority will be given in the following order: students zoned for the school with siblings already in the school; students not zoned for the school but who have siblings attending the school; students zoned for the school who do not have siblings attending the school; and all other students.
For more information, call District 24 at 1-718-418-8160.
Taub-Chan also noted that Open Schools Night will be taking place in February and March. Intermediate schools will have their sessions on Feb. 28 and 29, while elementary schools will have theirs on Mar. 13 and Mar. 14. Parents of students in K- 8 schools should contact their school for more information.
A group of parents of students from P.S. 143, at 34-74 113th St. in Corona, told CEC 24 that some of their classrooms were without heat and that rats were seen in some areas of the school. Taub-Chan stated that the Council would look into it.
CEC 24 usually meets on the last Tuesday of the month at locations throughout District 24.
