By Joe Anuta
The city Department of Education is supposed to be considering public input on whether or not to close Flushing High School and reopen it under a different name, but the department is introducing its proposed principal for the replacement school before a vote is even taken.
An item on the Flushing High School website invites the public to meet Magdalen Radovich, the proposed principal of the “new” Flushing High School, at an information session scheduled for Wednesday.
Yet the body that decides whether or not to close the school, the Panel for Educational Policy, is not set to vote on the matter until Thursday.
The DOE could not be immediately reached for comment.
The Panel is made up of Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, eight representatives selected by the mayor and five selected by each borough president.
The Queens representative on the panel, Dmytro Fedkowiskyj, said at a heated public comment session at the high school last week that he would vote against the proposal, but the larger contingent of mayoral appointees are largely expected to vote in the proposal’s favor.
The DOE’s proposal to close Flushing High School and reopen it with at least 50 percent of the staff replaced and under a different name states that the current principal, Carl Hudson, will not necessarily be replaced.
But at 7 p.m. Wednesday Radovich will introduce herself and answer questions, according to the DOE website.
Reach reporter Joe Anuta by e-mail at januta@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4566.
