Parents Say Situation Is ‘Ludicrous’
Streets adjacent to schools can be a madhouse when class lets out, but relief may be on the way for parents in the 104th Precinct, according to officials at the District 24 Community Education Council (CEC) meeting held at P.S. 49 in Middle Village, last Tuesday, Apr. 23.
“It’s horrendous,” said Barbara Doyle-Sarti, whose child attends P.S. 49. “People are leaving their car in the middle of the street and walking to the school. It’s complete laziness.”
Capt. Christopher Manson, commanding officer of the 104th Precinct told the CEC that his officers are writing summonses.
“We’re nuking P.S. 113, and we’ll start zapping the bad drivers around [P.S. 49] tomorrow,” Manson said, Apr. 23. “We’ve been issuing [summonses] all year—it’s nothing new.”
Still, parking and pickup issues are nothing new, either.
Doyle said after-school pickup has been a problem for her and her family for the three years her daughter has attended P.S. 49.
Parents at the CEC noted instances where cars were double- or triple-parked—often the drivers exited their vehicles, leaving them in the middle of the road.
Manson said the precinct encompasses 35 schools, and his command has only five officers who handle school parking issues.
Typically, the precinct sends these officers to schools that are getting the most complaints, but he will be supplementing their efforts with patrol officers, he said.
One parent complained about safety conditions at crosswalks.
Manson said he will put in a request for another crossing guard at P.S. 49. Crossing guards are allocated by the city, not the precinct, so the decision regarding how many guards to station and where to put them is out of his hands—he can only advocate, he said.
Manson said the precinct is waiting for two additional crossing guards to finish crossing guard school.
Playground problems
A resident noted she sees a lot of older teens hangingaround in playgrounds that are open as parks on weekends.
She said they are vandalizing playground equipment and possibly breaking other laws.
Manson said anyone who sees suspicious activity in the parks should call 911.
He said if the issue persists, he’ll start sending officers to problem areas to create a police presence.
Juveniles younger than 16 will be issued juvenile reports, while kids ages 16 and older are subject to summonses, searches and arrests, he noted.
Errors on gifted and talented tests
An grading error on the city’s most recent gifted and talented test almost prevented 400 eligible students from the opportunity to join the program, said District Superintendent Madeline Taub-Chan.
Pearson Education Inc. developed the gifted and talented exam for the city.
Some score reports were missing from the original file that the Department of Education received from Pearson, Taub-Chan noted.
The DOE has located the tests and contacted the families that have been affected, she said.
Many students who were recently notified they did not qualify for gifted and talented now qualify for district programs, and many other students who didn’t previously qualify for city wide programs now do, said DOE Chancellor Dennis Walcott in a statement Apr. 22.
“Doug Kubach, Pearson’s CEO of Assessment and Instruction, has personally apologized to me in our conversations this week, and extends his apologies to our students and their families,” Walcott said in a statement. “While I appreciate his apology, it is unacceptable that these mistakes occurred in the first place. Pearson has an established record in this field and we depend on its professionalism and deep capacity to deliver for the public. But in this case they let our children and families down. I have told the company’s officials in no uncertain terms that I expect this will never happen again.”
The deadline to apply for gifted and talented programs has been extended to May 10, Taub-Chan noted.
* * *
The next meeting of CEC 24 will be held at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, May 28 at P.S./I.S. 113 located at 78-23 87th St. in Glendale. Chancellor Dennis Walcott will attend the meeting to take parents’ questions.
