Want Glendale Theater Teacher Rehired
Musical and sometimes tearful appeals were made by members of the P.S./I.S. 119 school community during last Tuesday’s (Aug. 28) meeting of the Community Education Council of District 24 to have the Glendale school bring back their theater teacher, who was recently dismissed due to budget cuts.
Over 30 students and parents from P.S./I.S. 119 came to the session at P.S. 153 in Maspeth to urge the Department of Education (DOE) to restore funds to rehire Evan Belhivanis, who-as previously reported in the Times Newsweekly-was “excessed” at the end of the last school year in June after eight years of service.
Before the meeting, the crowd gathered on the steps of P.S. 153 and sang a doctored version of “We Love You, Conrad”-a song from the musical Bye Bye Birdie, which was performed by the P.S./I.S. 119 Theatre Department under Belhivanis’ direction- calling for the teacher referred to by students past and present as “Mr. B” to return to P.S./I.S. 119.
The youngsters also carried signs imploring the DOE to “Do Recog- nize Art programs and Make A difference” and “To be or not to be? The answer is I.S. 119 needs Mr. B.” and “We Want Our Drama Back!”
Inside, a host of students and parents spoke during the public forum portion of the meeting about what Belhivanis meant to the school community. They charged that his dismissal not only deprived them of a valued teacher, but also an arts program which engaged the children and helped them both socially and academically.
Fighting back tears, one parent stated that Belhivanis was “more than a teacher; he’s an inspiration,” pointing out that the performances he directed “opened the door for more students to get involved.”
“Why do we have to get rid of someone who touched so many people’s lives?” said one student, who noted that over 500 people have joined a Facebook page created by pupils calling for Belhivanis to be rehired by P.S./I.S. 119.
One of the organizers of the protest, Darlene DiSanti, noted that Belhivanis “has a reputation for putting out the best musicals” and helped students perform better in their classes by mandating that they keep up their grades in order to participate with shows.
While declaring the council’s appreciation for the students’ and parents’ efforts to bring back a beloved teacher, CEC 24 President Nick Comaianni stated that the advisory body had no say in the matter, as personnel decisions are left to the principals and the department.
In consulting with a DOE representative, he told the audience, he learned that the school community could work to raise funding privately and apply for grants to support the Theater Department at P.S./I.S. 119. Kate Mooney of City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley’s office, however, indicated that while a request for such funding could be made somewhere down the line, it would not happen in time for the new school year.
Comaianni also advised the crowd that they can take their case directly to Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott during an upcoming meeting of the Panel for Educational Policy.
Also supporting the school community’s efforts was Rosemary Parker of the United Federation of Teachers, who charged that budget cuts imposed by the DOE forced the principal of P.S./I.S. 119 to make a cost-cutting decision robbing the students of “a great program.”
Steamed over bus situation
The DOE’s Office of Pupil Transportation (OPT) has denied requests by CEC 24 and Woodside residents to provide variances permitting school buses serving P.S. 229 to pick up and drop off students living at the Big Six Towers, according to CEC 24 member Bill Kregler.
Last year, as previously reported, the OPT cancelled school bus variances for children from grades three through six, declaring that they live within suitable walking distance of P.S. 229, located at the corner of Maurice Avenue and 68th Street. Parents and the council claim that this puts the children at risk since they must cross the busy intersection of Laurel Hill Boulevard and 61st Street-near the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway-en route to and from school.
“We’ve pretty much had it up to here,” Kregler told attendees, noting that the council has “worked tirelessly with the Department of Education to resolve this matter,” but to no avail.
He read a letter sent by the council to the OPT indicating that, despite promises by the DOE that the problem would be resolved before the end of the 2011-12 school year in June, no variances have been provided to Big Six students.
Kregler claimed that the agency’s failure to provide the variances on the issue was tantamount to endangering the welfare of children, “a criminal act.”
“Some kid is going to get creamed by a car,” he said, adding that “if something like that happens, we want it on the record that it’s a criminal act.”
Furthermore, Kregler claimed that the OPT has not answered a request for a safety impact report analyzing the intersection of Laurel Hill Boulevard and 61st Street.
Other news
District 24 students from all walks of life scored well as a whole on standardized math and English language arts (ELA) tests this past school year, according to Community Superintendent Madeline Taub-Chan.
Preliminary results of the ELA exams indicated higher marks for students in grades five, seven and eight, including students with disabilities and English language learners. Students “in every subgroup, in every grade” also raised their scores on the math tests, Taub-Chan added.
The full grade report will be presented at CEC 24’s September session.
Taub-Chan also announced that 318 eighth-graders from District 24 were accepted into the city’s specialized high schools for the start of the new school year. Brooklyn Technical High School in Fort Greene accepted the most number of District 24 students with 88, followed closely by the Bronx High School of Science (66) and Stuyvesant Tech in Manhattan (56).
Six schools in District 24’s confines will offer gifted and talented classes this year, Taub-Chan noted. They include P.S./I.S. 119 in Glendale (for kindergarten and grades six through eight), P.S. 153 in Maspeth (grades one through six), P.S. 229 in Woodside (kindergarten and grades one and three), P.S. 290, temporarily located at I.S. 73 in Maspeth (kindergarten and grades one and two) and P.S. 330 in Elmhurst (kindergarten through fifth grade).
A representative of the School Construction Authority (SCA), Gordon Tung, announced that the SCA is working to fix cracks found inside a classroom at P.S. 153 before the start of the school year, which is today, Thursday, Sept. 6.
Asked about the progress regarding the construction of P.S. 290 at the former Rite Aid pharmacy site on Metropolitan Avenue at Tonsor Street in Ridgewood, Tung noted that the foundation was recently completed. The school is on schedule to be completed and opened by September 2014.
During their annual elections, the council re-elected its executive officers for another term in office. They included President Comaianni, Vice President Peter Vercessi, Treasurer Connie Partinico and Secretary Lucy Accardo.
The Community Education Council of District 24 generally meets on the fourth Tuesday each month at 7 p.m. at locations throughout the district’s confines. For more information, call 1-718-418-8160.
