Board 5 To DOE: Don’t Shut Cleveland H.S.
Troubles with the education and health care systems in Queens were hot topics at Community Board 5′s meeting last Wednesday, Apr. 11, in Middle Village, as the advisory body tackled the proposed closure of a Ridgewood high school and the impact of the borough’s most recent hospital shutdown.
By an overwhelming vote, Board 5 approved a resolution denouncing the Department of Education’s (DOE) plan to close Grover Cleveland High School in Ridgewood and replace it with a brand new institution under an education reform model known as “turnaround.”
As explained by Patricia Grayson, chair of the board’s Education Committee, the turnaround plan would lead to the closure of Grover Cleveland at the end of the current school year in June. It would be replaced by a brand new school with a brand new name which will open its doors in September.
The proposal also calls for the elimination of about 50 percent of the current Grover Cleveland’s faculty; all current teachers would be required to reapply for their jobs in the new school. Those who are not retained will be placed into the city’s substitute teacher pool, but with the same full-time salaries and benefits which they receive, as previously reported.
“The one thing that will not be changed are all the students,” Grayson pointed out. All incoming sophomores, juniors and seniors would be guaranteed seats at the new school; all freshman would be admitted through the city-wide high school admissions process. Denise Vittor, Cleveland’s current principal, is slated to serve as the leader of the new school should the turnaround plan be adopted by the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) at its Apr. 26 meeting.
Grover Cleveland has made progress since Vittor took the helm in September and as the high school underwent changes under the “restart” reform model, Grayson stated. The DOE decided to end the restart model at Cleveland and many other high schools in the city after the agency and the United Federation of Teachers could not agree upon a teacher evaluation system mandated by the U.S. Department of Education. This led to the loss of funding from the federal government.
The resolution put forth by Board 5’s Education Committee and approved by the panel calls upon the city DOE to continue the restart model at Grover Cleveland rather than move forward with the turnaround plan, and to reapply for federal funding.
Prior to the vote on the measure, several board members spoke out against the DOE’s plans as a product of mismanagement since the state allowed for mayoral control of the city’s public schools.
“[With] the mayoral takeover of the school boards and the schools, I kept my fingers crossed and hoped that this would be a better thing,” said Robert Cermeli, who like Grayson served on the defunct Community School Board of District 24. “Now I’m seeing bureaucracy; I’m not seeing much improvement.”
“Who’s running the Board (sic) of Education? They seem so incredibly inept,” Lee Rottenberg observed.
“I think this is a prime example of what happens when the community loses control of its schools,” added Peter Comber. “When it is taken over by a central government, be it federal, city or state, education goes down the toilet.”
All members of the board at the meeting but one voted for the resolution. Dmytro Fedkowskyj abstained since he is the Queens representative on the PEP.
An emergency situation
In the wake of the closure of Peninsula Hospital Center in Far Rockaway, Cermeli, who chairs the Health Committee, urged the board to pass a resolution calling on elected officials to work to keep Queens hospitals.
Four other medical centers in Queens have closed over the last decade, he stated, including St. John’s Queens Hospital in Elmhurst, Mary Immaculate Hospital in Jamaica, Parkway Hospital in Forest Hills and St. Joseph’s Hospital in Jamaica.
While many Queens residents seek medical care at hospitals in Manhattan or on Long Island, Cermeli stressed the need for local medical centers to handle emergency situations in the borough and around the city.
“We’re always in constant threat of disasters, manmade and natural, and if that happens, we need local hospitals,” he said. “If anything, we need the space to put the two million people in this county who could be affected.”
In calling for a resolution urging elected officials to study and investigate ways to keep local hospitals open and “fiscally solvent,” some board members argued that failing medical centers should not be kept open for the sake of remaining open.
“I understand the idea of hospital beds, but I don’t think we can keep a private hospital open,” said Daniel Creighton.
“We want quality, not quantity,” added Connie Santos, who mentioned that one closed hospital offered poor service to its patients.
Kathy Masi, Board 5 Treasurer who presided over the meeting in the absence of Chairperson Vincent Arcuri, moved the resolution to the Health Committee for further examination.
Project update
The city is still in the design phase for the reconstruction of the bridge that carries Metropolitan Avenue and Fresh Pond Road over the Long Island Rail Road’s Montauk branch on the Ridgewood/Middle Village border,
District Manager Gary Giordano informed residents.
The $30 million project is expected to begin during the spring or summer of 2014, he stated. It is one of the few large-scale road construction projects moving forward in spite of the city’s ongoing financial troubles.
“We’ve kept at them for years” about the replacement of the bridge, Giordano said. The span has been rated structurally deficient by the state Department of Transportation, and crews have conducted maintenance and annual inspections in the interim.
No detours are planned once the reconstruction of the bridge begins; Giordano stated that city officials have indicated that one lane of traffic in each direction on both Metropolitan Avenue and Fresh Pond Road will be maintained at all times for the duration of the project.
Work on the Cooper Avenue underpass retaining walls is also moving along at a brisk pace, the district manager stated. Crews were able to get off to an early start due to unseasonably warm and dry weather during the winter months. The project is still on track to be complete by June 2013.
Giordano pointed out that the board is continuing to appeal to the city Department of Transportation to make changes to traffic plans it will enact once the project concludes, such as the conversion of 74th Street between Cooper and 78th avenues from a one-way northbound into a one-way southbound.
Votes
Based upon the recommendations of the Zoning and Land Use Committee, the advisory body voted to recommend approval of a special permit with the Board of Standards and Appeals sought by TD Bank to develop a new branch at the former site of a Blockbuster video store located at the corner of Grand Avenue and 74th Street in Maspeth.
As previously reported, the permit is needed to allow the bank to develop on a section of the lot that is zoned for residential purposes.
Santos, a member of the Zoning and Land Use Committee, stated that the recommendation with the conditions that TD Bank erect a 4′-high fence adjacent to nearby homes and keep the entire bank site graffiti-free.
The board also voted not to object to plans by Maspeth Town Hall to install a new central air conditioning system on its facility at 53-37 72nd St.
Other news
State Sen. Joseph Addabbo informed the board that the state recently passed an on-time budget that is “fiscally sound.” The budget plan includes increases in funding for programs such as education and health care which were paid for with reductions in wasteful spending, he noted.
Luis Rodriguez of Ridgewood was introduced as Board 5’s newest member. He is also a member of the Ridgewood Property Owners and Civic Association and the Friends of the Ridgewood Library.
Julian Clayton of Big Apple Rx urged residents to take part the prescription drug discount program funded in part by the city. He explained that the Big Apple Rx card is accepted at over 2,000 pharmacies and can help residents save up to 47 percent on their prescription drug costs.
For more information on how to receive a card, call 311 or visit www.bigapplerx.com
Demolition notices
Masi announced that the community board has received demolition notices for two Maspeth locations: 57-65 58th St. and 60-20 56th Rd. The board was also notified of the impending construction of P.S. 290, located at the former site of a Rite Aid pharmacy at 55-20 Metropolitan Ave. in Ridgewood.
Board members were advised to keep a careful eye on each location and to report any questionable activities observed.
Liquor licenses
It was also announced that the board has received the following liquor license applications for its perusal:
– a new liquor license for Bray Head Inc. for a business to be determined, 82-11 Eliot Ave., Middle Village (currently Kelly’s Pub);
– liquor license renewals for 5103 Building Corp., d.b.a. Knights of Columbus, 79-03 Myrtle Ave., Glendale and Shivalik Restaurant Corp., d.b.a. Maurya Restaurant, 63-108A Woodhaven Blvd., Rego Park;
– new wine and/or beer licenses for LLPD Inc., d.b.a. Eliot’s Chicken Place and Quick Serve Café, 61-04 Fresh Pond Rd., Middle Village and Tendo Two Inc., 66-26 Fresh Pond Rd., Ridgewood; and
– wine and/or beer license renewals for Little Havana Cigar Company, d.b.a. Havana Dreams Cigar Company, 63-10 Woodhaven Blvd., Rego Park; Tocojo Inc., d.b.a. Three Sons Pizzeria, 57-21 61st St., Maspeth; Corato I Pizza & Restaurant, 66-94 Fresh Pond Rd., Ridgewood; Jie Zhou Er Inc., 67-11 Myrtle Ave., Glendale; Nest Coffee Shop Inc., 66-32 Forest Ave., Ridgewood; C&B Luncheonette, 983 Wyckoff Ave., Ridgewood; Karpenisi Donut Shop Inc., d.b.a. Fame Diner, 69-67 Grand Ave., Maspeth; and East Coast Associates Inc., d.b.a. Glendale Diner, 71-08 Myrtle Ave., Glendale.
Those who wish to comment on any of the above applications may do so by calling Board 5 at the number listed at the end of this article.
The next Community Board 5 meeting is scheduled to take place on Wednesday night, May 9, at 7:30 p.m. at Christ the King Regional High School, located at 68-02 Metropolitan Ave. in Middle Village. For more information, call Board 5’s Glendale office at 1-718-366-1834.
