Just as the workload of students, eagerly awaiting summer vacation has dwindled, so had the agenda of CEC 24 at Tuesday night’s gathering.
In a scarcely attended meeting, CEC members wrapped up the school year with the hopes of having more parents involved in the education policy decision-making process next year.
“It’s the night before school gets out; I think most parents are enjoying a cocktail right now,” joked City Council man Eric Ulrich (R-Howard Beach).
Ulrich, who is running for a State Senate seat against Democratic incumbent Joe Addabbo, spoke about decentralizing mayoral control in schools to create a system with more checks and balances that would include more parental input.
“Parents are simply not involved enough (in the decision making process),” said Ulrich, echoing an oft-voiced sentiment of CEC’s president, Nick Comaianni.
Ulrich, who is sits on the Education Committee, also announced that the council would be adopting a proposed budget for the upcoming school year that suffered “no cuts or layoffs whatsoever.”
“The difference between the mayor’s proposed budget and ours is different as night and day,” Ulrich submitted to smiles from CEC members. Continuing on, he said all school programs would be retained and “jobs preserved at a time when jobs are scarce.”
The CEC also used the meeting to unanimously pass a resolution proposed last month by the Department of Portfolio Planning.
The resolution will go into effect to rezone PS 143 in Corona, a school plagued by overcrowding. The change will send incoming Kindergarteners and new students with certain addresses to newly zoned PS 330 for 2013-2014.
Things then shifted gears to honor teachers at PS 91 who participated in a pilot program called “Every Student, Every Day.” An attendance initiative, it was created by the mayor’s office, aimed at reducing chronic student absences.
“The key of the program is our mentors,” said Principal Victoria Catalano of the effort that saw a 30% drop in abscences.
The project came with $5,000 funding from the mayor’s office and assigned mentor teachers students to track student abscence.
“If they were absent, we’d call home, get to know the parents. They got the feeling they were missed, they were wanted,” said teacher Susan Glassberg.
Comaianni went on to praise the teachers for their extraordinary efforts, “You made our district proud.”
By Katie Riordan
