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‘don’t Close Us Down’

Grover Cleveland H.S. Tells DOE To ‘Erase’ Turnaround Plan

Hundreds of frustrated students, parents, teachers and education advocates packed Grover Cleveland High School’s auditorium on Monday night, Apr. 2, to denounce the Department of Education’s (DOE)turnaround” plan to close the Ridgewood institution at the end of the current school year in June and open a brand new high school in its place this September.

In a united voice, members of the Grover Cleveland High School community called on the Department of Education to abandon its “turnaround” proposal for the institiution during a public hearing at the Ridgewood campus on Monday night, Apr. 2. Prior to the session, students rallied with local elected officials on the front steps of Grover Cleveland along Himrod Street to oppose the plan, as shown in the left photo. Among the organizers of the rally was Dianna Rodriguez, student body president (10th from left). Inside the school’s auditorium, students held up signs and cheered speakers who opposed the turnaround plan, which calls for the closure of Grover Cleveland in June and its replacement with a new school that will open on the campus in September.

The raucous public hearing, held by the DOE in conjunction with District 24’s Community Education Council (CEC 24), featured impassioned appeals by over 70 speakers who urged the agency to allow the high school to continue operating as is. They argued that the DOE’s proposal would result in the loss of at least half of the faculty and disrupt academic progress made in recent years.

At times, the session took on the atmosphere of a sporting event, with those speaking in favor of the high school greeted with applause and cheers; mentions of DOE officials and Mayor Michael Bloomberg were met with loud choruses of jeers. Some in the audience carried signs stating “Stop Holding Our School Hostage”, “There’s No Place Like Cleveland” and “Education is a Right, not a Privilege.”

“You guys in the DOE have made this personal,” said Russell Nitchman, a science teacher at Grover Cleveland. “You’re trying to take away my position. You’re trying to hurt my students. I say to those in the DOE who support the turnaround: Shame on you.”

(left photo: Nicholas Biondo; right photo: Robert Pozarycki)

Geline Canayon, the student member of Grover Cleveland’s School Leadership Team (SLT), added that the school continues to excel academically, as proven in its high placement at the city’s Science Olympiad and the Regional Bridge- Building Competition. Grover Cleveland will represent the city at the International Bridge Building Competition in Las Vegas later this year.

“Grover Cleveland students and staff are united in their efforts to save this school, which does not deserve to close down,” Canayon said. “We should not be used as pieces in the mayor’s Monopoly game.”

Monday’s public hearing was the first in a series of sessions scheduled this month at eight Queens high schools which the DOE has proposed to close under the turnaround model, including a session at William Cullen Bryant High School in Woodside on Tuesday night, Apr. 3. A full report on the hearing will be featured in next week’s issue of the Times Newsweekly.

Arthur Goldstein, a teacher at Francis Lewis High School who spoke in defense of fellow educators at Grover Cleveland High School, spoke during Monday’s public hearing at Grover Cleveland and led the crowd in rating the mayor and the Department of Education as being “ineffective” in their handling of the public school system.

The final decision on the fate of Grover Cleveland and the other schools on the endangered list will be made by the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) at their Apr. 26 meeting in Brooklyn.

Explaining the ‘turnaround’

Deputy Chancellor for Portfolio Development Marc Sternberg, who was greeted at Monday’s hearing with numerous boos from the crowd, explained at the beginning the focus of the public hearing as well as the reasons why Grover Cleveland was chosen for the turnaround plan.

Members of District 24’s Community Education Council and Grover Cleveland High School’s Leadership Team, along with Deputy Schools Chancellor for Portfolio Development Marc Sternberg (seated at dais, at far left), heard comments from attendees at Monday’s public hearing on the proposed “turnaround” plan for the Ridgewood institution. The Department of Education’s Jenny Sobelman (at podium) served as moderator.

“This evening is not a decision point,” he said. “We are here to hear the voices of this community. We are here to gather feedback. It is very clear to me that we will hear a very spirited defense of Grover Cleveland High School.”

Previously identified by the state Education Department as a “persistently lowest achieving” school due to low graduation and attendance rates, Grover Cleveland was tapped last year to receive an overhaul under the federal “restart” model outlined by the U.S. Department of Education. Through this plan, the school was made eligible to receive federal funding for support services.

But Grover Cleveland, and schools across the city selected for the restart model, lost that federal funding on Jan. 1, when the city DOE and the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) failed to meet a deadline to agree upon a teacher evaluation system. Seeking to reclaim that lost funding, the DOE decided in February to implement the federal “turnaround” model at Grover Cleveland and seven other public high schools across Queens considered to be struggling.

Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan’s speech slamming the Department of Education’s plan to close and replace Grover Cleveland High School brought the crowd to its feet during Monday night’s public hearing at the Ridgewood school. Nolan noted that she graduated from the school in 1976.

Under the turnaround model, Grover Cleveland High School would be closed at the end of the 2011-12 school year. The DOE will open a new high school with a brand new name in its place in September; Sternberg indicated that Grover Cleveland’s principal-Denise Vittor, who took the position last September- will be retained as the leader of the new school.

“We are pleased to stand by [Vittor] as our proposed new leader for the new school,” he said. “It is our view that this very fine principal would be in a better position to lead fast reform that leads to better outcomes for more students quickly in the context of a new school on this campus.”

“Why?” one resident shouted at Sternberg after his statement; no response was given.

All current teachers at Grover Cleveland will need to reapply for positions at the new school, but the turnaround model calls for the ouster of at least 50 percent of the faculty. Incoming sophomores, juniors and seniors at Grover Cleveland will be guaranteed a seat at the new school in September, while incoming freshmen would be accepted through the DOE’s citywide high school admissions process.

“The proposal to close any school is the most difficult that we can make,” Sternberg said. “I want to underscore that it comes from a place of wanting to serve all of our students;” at this point, many in the crowd jeered him again.

He added that the DOE has applied for a grant in which the new school at Grover Cleveland’s campus would be eligible to receive $2 million a year “for the next several years to support reform.”

‘Heading in the right direction’

The “spirited defense” of Grover Cleveland which Sternberg mentioned in his opening statement began with Nick Comaianni, CEC 24 president, and members of Grover Cleveland’s SLT, which is largely comprised of parents and faculty.

Comaianni noted that he and his four siblings are all graduates of Grover Cleveland. While the council will consider a formal resolution on the turnaround plan in the weeks to come, he stated that “I think the school is heading in the right direction” as is.

Brian Gavin, a teacher at Grover Cleveland who also serves as the SLT chair, read a statement outlining “the united perspective of” the school community toward the turnaround proposal that would “delete its name and all the traditions that go with it.”

Gavin stated that the long-time principal of Grover Cleveland, Dominick Scarola, was forced to resign after falling ill in the spring of 2011. He stated that the DOE waited until mid-September before naming Vittor as the school’s new principal.

This delay, Gavin charged, put the institution “in a terrible position. We had an ill, retired principal who was soldiering on without any official authority tasked with implementing and reorganizing under” the restart model; “the DOE was AWOL.”

“Ms. Vittor was able to turn around Queens Vocational High School after five plus years of hard work,” he said. “Here, she was not even given five months before the rug was pulled out from under her and the community, thanks to the DOE playing political games with our students, parents and faculty.”

Bad business at school

Gavin noted that Grover Cleveland has added a host of corporate partners and community groups to enhance the education of students. The school was recently selected by Lenovo for a mobile phone application development program; hotel giant Marriott is also working with Grover Cleveland on an initiative to prepare students for a career in hospitality services.

The DOE also selected the high school as a lab site for “iLearn,” a personalized education program using online resources, he added. Outside of these programs, Gavin noted, the teachers have demonstrated a commitment to helping students learn, with some of them even volunteering before and after school to tutor youngsters for free.

“Mayor Bloomberg wants to run his school on a business model. Let me ask this audience: What successful business takes accomplished, successful workers, who are working for free, and threatens their job and their workplace?” he said. “Can someone out there explain this to the School Leadership Team, because ladies and gentlemen, we just don’t get it.”

Supporting his statement was Kathy Carlson, president of Grover Cleveland’s Parent Association, who stated that the parents appreciate the school staff’s dedication to its students.

“We don’t want to lose 50 percent or any large percentage of our staff,” Carlson said. “This school has a great team, and it shouldn’t be broken up. We have a wonderful principal with a proven track record of improving schools. Give her a chance. … Implementing the turnaround plan would be a slap in the face in all of Grover Cleveland’s dedicated staff members who worked so hard to help students.”

Dmytro Fedkowskyj, Queens member of the PEP, added that he would propose a resolution at the Apr. 26 meeting to oppose the turnaround plan at Grover Cleveland and other high schools across the city.

“Do not think that this is over right now,” he said, noting that seven schools were taken off the list earlier on Monday. “That should let you know that we still have a chance to save Grover Cleveland.”

Say teachers aren’t to blame

Numerous Grover Cleveland students took to the microphone to praise their teachers for their efforts and urged the DOE to give the school a chance to succeed.

“The staff of this school should not be penalized for something that’s not their fault,” said Selena Vasquez, referring to the statistics cited by the DOE in their decision to implement the turnaround model. “It is the parents’ responsibility to make sure that their child is going to school. “

“Like Grover Cleveland himself, we are misunderstood and not well known, and this is why we are being taken advantage of,” added Evelyn Lima. “It’s a shame that anyone would want to close this gate. … It’s a shame that the future of these kids are at stake and are in the hands of, from what I see and refer to, as a bully.”

“I’m not asking for a billion dollars” or to be mayor, Lima said. “I am asking for a reasonable proposition; keep Grover Cleveland open and give us a chance.”

“We need teachers who understand us as Grover Cleveland students, and we have this already,” said Amanda Baez. “Who are you to shut us down? We own this. You’ve got nothing on us.”

Joshua Perez noted that “the faculty have pushed me to do well” over the last three years, adding that eliminating most of them from the school “will only disrupt the molding of our minds.”

Teachers blast the plan

Faculty and administrators at Grover Cleveland charged that the turnaround proposal would destroy the progress they have made with students.

“The DOE is creating an environment of despair, confusion and failure,” said teacher Joseph Thorson, who noted that the loss of 50 percent of the current teaching staff “would have an effect of institutionalizing a climate of mistrust” throughout the new school.

“Is this their plan for improving education? Humbug,” he said.

Alice Gluszak, a guidance counselor, noted that Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott praised the school’s efforts during a tour of Grover Cleveland last fall: “When does a chancellor’s word not mean anything? When he takes it back when the mayor tells him to in January?”

Maria Rozos, a master ESL (English as a second language) teacher, stated that ESL students comprise a large number of Grover Cleveland students, and that it takes them longer than most pupils to gain a fluency in the language in order to pass standardized tests.

“However, ESL students are held to the same standards as the main- stream students … and are expected to graduate in four years, even though this goes against language theory and research,” Rozos said.

“The fact that six of our last seven valedictorians were students from immigrant families is a testament to our teaching,” she added. “It would be a great shame if this impressive work would come to an abrupt end. Please allow us to continue the outstanding work that we’ve begun here at Grover Cleveland High School.”

“The people have said that Grover Cleveland should stay open,” said Donald Zigler, drama coach at Grover Cleveland. “We teach our students that democracy works, that people are the mandate and elected officials should listen to them. … It’s a disgrace that an impact statement” on the turnaround plan “was made without consultation with the community and the panel sitting here.”

“Keep it open; the people have spoken,” he added. “Listen to what they are saying.”

“You guys (the DOE) don’t listen,” added Nitchman. “The students don’t want it. The parents don’t want it. The teachers don’t want it. The administrators don’t want it. Our former principal doesn’t want it. Our current principal doesn’t want it. … Only the DOE wants it. Mr. Walcott, Mr. Bloomberg want it, and his cronies want it.”

Arthur Goldstein, a teacher at Francis Lewis High School, also spoke in support of educators at Grover Cleveland: “It is not Grover Cleveland that needs to be closed. It is Tweed that needs to be closed,” he said, referring to the DOE’s central headquarters at the Tweed Courthouse in Manhattan.

‘You have awoken Ridgewood’

Local elected officials, including State Sen. Joseph Addabbo and Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, spoke at the session to announce their support of Grover Cleveland and their opposition to the turnaround proposal.

“The fact is that we have the restart program and its working, and we’re not giving it a chance to work further,” Addabbo said. “There’s a fear of the unknown” among the students. “These questions need to be answered. These people deserve answers.”

Nolan, a graduate of the school who chairs the Assembly Education Committee, added that the entire delegation of elected officials are all united in opposition of this plan.

“You have really awoken Ridgewood,” she told DOE representatives. “We get very little from the city, we don’t get enough from the state. But this terrible threat to our community high school has been met, I think, with the strongest outpouring of support in my many years of community service.”

“I want the record to reflect that we love our high school,” Nolan added prior to reading prepared remarks denouncing the turnaround plan. In her statement, she noted that she supported the state’s application for Race to the Top funding from the U.S. Department of Education.

“I helped sponsor some of this in Albany, and I did not sponsor this so my high school could be closed,” Nolan added. “It was Cleveland that helped give me a wide variety of experiences. … There are wonderful things here that gave me an opportunity to learn who I was.”

Comaianni asked Nolan and Addabbo if they would consider opposing mayoral control of the city’s education system, which is up for renewal in 2015.

“There’s no question that the response of the DOE on this issue is critical to many members of the legislature,” Nolan replied. “As someone who did support mayoral control and felt that it was time to go in a new direction, we’re not happy that it’s being used as an excuse to close high schools.”

Unions slam turnaround plan

Leo Casey, vice president of the UFT, stated that Grover Cleveland was one of 19 schools on the turnaround list which does not meet the DOE’s “own standards for closing.”

“There is no-no educational justification for what the Department of Education is trying to do,” Casey said. “The Department of Education itself set out standards for what it said a school would look like when it failed, and Grover Cleveland does not meet those standards.”

“Can you imagine a teacher who would tell his students ‘This is what you have to do to pass,’ and then fail 60 percent of them that make those standards?” he added. “That is what the Department of Education is doing to you and 18 other high schools. There is only one reason why such an educationally invalid step has been taken here, and that is because it serves the political agenda of Mayor Bloomberg.”

“There is nothing educationally sound about the intervention plan. It is being introduced for cynical reasons not to help children,” added Christine Martin of the Council of Supervisors and Administrators (CSA), who argued that the proposal will destabilize schools throughout the system “one after the other, like dominoes.”

Martin also mentioned that the plan would prove costly to taxpayers, as teachers who are forced out of turnaround school will be added to the DOE’s substitute teacher pool, but with full salaries.