Community Education Council 24

P.S. 91 Room 119 68-10 Central Avenue

Glendale, New York 11385
Phone: 718.418.8160 / Fax: 718.418.8168/ Cec24@schools.nyc.gov

New York City Department of Education

Nick Comaianni Dmytro Fedkowskyj Lelani Bomani Ernest Cury Marge Kolb
President 1St Vice President 2nd Vice President Treasurer Secretary

Council Members Department of Education Region 4 Officials

Cecilia Chavez Charles Amundsen
Bill Kregler Regional Superintendent
Deborah Tscherne Catherine M. Powis
Peter Vercessi Deputy Regional Superintendent and
Community Superintendent District 24

FINAL BOARD APPROVED MINUTES

Minutes of Calendar Meeting
March 27, 2007
PS 58, Maspeth, New York

1) Call to order and Roll Call -- The Calendar meeting convened at PS 58 at 7:00
PM

Roll Call – Present

• Nick Comaianni
• Dmytro Fedkowskyj
• Bill Kregler
• Debbie Tscherne
• Peter Vercessi

Roll Call – Absent

• Cecilia Chavez
• Ernest Cury
• Marge Kolb

Roll Call – Late

• Lelani Bomani

2) Approval of Minutes – Mr. Comaianni announced that the approval of minutes will
take place on April 24, 2007 due to a page missing from numerous copies.
3) Report of the President

Mr. Comaianni stated that he and Dmytro Fedkowskyj attended a meeting with the
School Construction Authority of which Mr. Fedkowskyj will discuss in his report. He
also stated that as far as the reorganization is concerned everything remains status quo in
that the situation remains unclear.

4) Report of the Community Superintendent

Ms. Powis stated that according to Chancellor Klein’s announcement 83% of students
who applied for admissions to a NYC public high school have meet matched to one of
their top 5 choices. Forty-two percent of the applicants received their first choice and
71% received one of their top 5 choices. Students who did not receive placement in the
first round will have the opportunity to attend an information fair on March 28th and
March 29th at Norman Thomas High School located at 111 East 33rd Street in Manhattan.
Students who participate in the supplementary round rill receive their high school match
by April 30th.

Ms. Powis stated that enrollment for pre-k and kindergarten began on March 12th,
enrollment for the first grade began on March 19th. Parents are encouraged to apply as
soon as possible at the public elementary school closest to their home or the contracted
community based pre-k provider they choose. Parents can also call 311 to find their
zoned elementary school. Children who will turn 4 years-old by December 31, 2007 are
eligible to be enrolled in pre-k for the 2007-2008 school year. Children who will turn 5
years-old by that date are eligible to be enrolled in kindergarten, and children who will
turn six years old b y that date are eligible to be enrolled in the first grade.

She further stated that to apply for pre-k parents should obtain an application and a
director of pre-k programs from their nearest public elementary school or on the DOE
website at http://schools.nycgov/earlychildhood. Parents applying to a program at a
contracted community-based organizations should return the application to the provider
they choose.

Ms. Powis stated that parents traveled to Albany that day for Lobby Day and
transportation, breakfast and lunch were provided by the DOE.

Ms. Powis announced that Monica Saw Aung a 4th grader from PS 58 was a Regional
winner in the 3-5th grade category for her book entitled A Friend to Treasure. Also, Laura
Giron and Mindy Zamacona 5th graders from PS 19 received Honorable Mention for their
book entitled Sticks and Stones. She further stated that all student books will be on
display through April 30th at the Central Children’s Room at the Regional Learning
Support Office.
Ms. Powis stated that parent Involvement Community School District 24/Region 4
sponsored a parent conference on Saturday March 24th at IS 61. Parents were given the
opportunity to attend workshops on various topics. Also, Community Based
organizations were on hand to provide information to the parents. Breakfast, metro card
and child care were available. She thanked Mary Messina, the parent coordinators and
the regional Parent Support office for their help in making the conference a success.

Ms. Powis closed her report by stating that Community Relation and communications
will be holding a Candidate Forum on March 29, 2007 in District 24 regarding the
upcoming election of Community Education Council members. The forum will be held
form 6-8 PM at IS 61, 98-50 50th Avenue in Corona.

5) Guest Speaker – None

6) Resolutions

Resolution # 28 -- Approval of Community Superintendent School Year 2007/8

Dmytro Fedkowskyj read resolution #28 to the public:

Be it resolved that the Community Education Council for District 24 hereby

supports decisions of our District Superintendent; Catherine Powis.

Be it further resolved that due to the vast changes and a planned re-
organization of the Department of Education with an effective date of July 1st. 2007, the
District 24 Community Education Council recommends to the Department of Education
that our current Community Superintendent; Mrs. Catherine Powis should continue to
serve as our Community Superintendent for the academic school year 2007-2008.

Roll call was taken, all were in favor; resolution #28 passed unanimously.

Before Resolution #29 was read Mr. Fedkowskyj pointed out that he had prepared
roughly 50 questions regarding the reorganization and had sent the questions to
Chancellor Klein.

Resolution # 29-- Regarding the NYC DOE Children First Proposal

Peter Vercessi read Resolution #29 to the public:

The Community Education Council of District 24, having considered and reviewed the
Department of Education's proposed Children First restructuring and Fair Student
Funding plan does hereby adopt the following resolution:

In view of the fact that the Proposal focuses on overall structure rather than proven
initiatives that directly impact the classroom, such as smaller class size;
Noting that there is no explanation in the Proposal for how the new schools
reorganization will address critical services, including special education placements,
summer school, English Language Learners, middle school and choice (TAG) programs,
test coordination and scoring, new teacher mentoring or meet the needs of these unique
populations;

Given that many details of the proposal are still being developed and information is not
readily available to parents, teachers, and school administrators;

Bearing in mind that the expansion of the Empowerment Zone is less than a year old and
there has been no evaluation of the impact of creating Empowerment Schools on students'
academic achievement or on the funds available in these schools for teachers and
academic programs;

With concern that restructuring of the entire school system following so soon upon the
restructuring of 2003 will create destabilization and hardship for parents and students
trying to obtain services, similar to the chaos experienced at that time;

Taking into serious consideration that our ten (10) Regional offices will be replaced by
thirty-two (32) local Community District offices, which have not yet been identified by
location and properly staffed by a District Community Superintendent so as to provide
both educational and parental support.

Noting that weighted funding, as constituted in this plan, has the potential to greatly
reduce resources in successful, high-performing schools, despite the fact that these
schools will continue to be held equally accountable for improving student achievement;

Taking into serious consideration that other implications of the plan for schools' budgets
are not clearly spelled out;

Noting with regret that there was no input from school leaders, teachers, or parents in the
planning of this proposal;

Therefore be it resolved that the Community Education Council of District 24 cannot

support the DOE Children First proposal and calls upon the Mayor and Chancellor to
postpone implementation of this plan and immediately call public hearings on the
priorities for education spending and restructuring of the New York City public schools.

Roll call was taken, all were in favor; resolution #29 passed unanimously.

Peter Vercessi stated that he toured PS/IS 87 in light of the last meeting where concern
was expressed over space issues. He stated that giving the limitations he feels the school
staff and administrators are doing very well as PS/IS 87 is a very inviting place however
as far as the physical activity setting is concerned however classes are conducted in a
basement area where 25 students are involved in a gym class and were playing basket
ball on a miniature court and that because of the height of the ceiling (12 ft) balls
consistently bounce off the ceiling and cause damage. Running relays were difficult to
complete due to the small size of the exercise area. The cafeteria was very small and from
his estimates can only fit roughly 180 students and Principal Karen Michaela is informed
him that on a typical day 230 students are in the cafeteria at once. Mr. Vercessi stated
that he found that to be a serious safety hazard. He further stated that the science lab is
not up to par for the higher grades and is unsatisfactory. PS/IS 87 is clearly in need of a
gym, an expanded cafeteria and very clearly, science labs need to be up to date to keep up
state standards. He asked Ms. Powis to take this into consideration; she replied that this
has been an ongoing need and she acknowledged that it has reached a critical stage

7) Report of the Committees

Debbie Tscherne, Chair of the Gifted & Talented/Honors Committee stated that in the
coming weeks the committee will meet with Anna Commentate, Executive Director of
Gifted and Talented, Region 4 as well as with the principals of IS 119 and IS 61.

Dmytro Fedkowskyj, Chair of the Building, Zoning and Maintenance Committee

stated that I he is happy to report that there are plenty of active capital improvement
projects moving through the SCA process for District 24 in addition to our capacity
projects. He stated the below (by school) capital improvement construction updates based
on a phone conversation with the School Construction Authority.

In addition to spending more than 300 million on D24 capacity projects, the SCA is
projected to spend about 60 million on capital improvement projects over the next 2
years.

A- P.S. 13 is in the design process of a 1 million dollar improvement for an electrical

system upgrade, which will be tied into their school addition to begin sometime this
summer.

B- P.S. 14 is in the process of a 4 million dollar facelift, improvements include newly

paved blacktop pavement, roof, parapets and masonry repairs to correct a water
infiltration problem and window replacement. This work should be completed by May
2007.

C- P.S. 49 is in the design process of a 4 million dollar improvement project that will be
tied into their school addition to begin sometime this summer. These improvements
include roof, parapets, and masonry repairs in addition to new windows.

D- P.S. 68 is in the process of a 3 million dollar capital improvement for roof, parapets
and masonry repairs to correct a water infiltration problem.

E- P.S. 81 is in the design process (about 6-9 months from actually getting the work
performed) for an auditorium and electrical system upgrade in addition to masonry
repairs and new windows. These costs are estimated to be about 6 million dollars.
F- P.S./I.S. 87 is in the design process (about 6-9 months from actually getting the work
performed) for new fencing, parapets and masonry repairs in addition to new windows.
These repair costs are estimated to be about 12 million dollars. This work should begin in
the summer of 2007. In addition, the SCA has confirmed that PS/IS 87 will finally get
their new science lab. Since it was just approved by the Region and SCA this past
February, it will be at least 18 months before it’s completed at an estimated cost of 1
million dollars.

G- P.S. 88 is in the process of a 5.5 million dollar capital improvement, which includes
roof, parapets, masonry repairs and window replacement. The work should be completed
by November 2007.

H- P.S. 229 is in the design process (about 6-9 months from actually getting the work
performed) for an auditorium and library upgrade in addition to an electrical system
upgrade. These costs are estimated to be about 2 million dollars.

I- P.S. 269 is in the process of a 3 million dollar renovation. The building of 500 seats is
secured by a 20 year lease (Old Ascension School) and will be ready for September 2007.
The 500 seats will be used as swing space for P.S. 13 & P.S. 102 so the trailers can be
demolished for their new school addition. After its use as swing space it will be used as a
regular D24 school.

J- As for our capacity projects, D24 was allocated 5,220 seats in the current Five Year
Capital Plan and currently have in construction and design about 95% of these seats. All
of these seats should be ready for use by September 2009. What a feeling to know that all
the hard work performed by this CEC over the last three years is finally paying off
because we are fully utilizing the capital budget to benefit the students of our district.
Here is a breakdown of our capital projects:

P.S. 13 - Will have their trailers and mini buildings taken down this summer to make
room for their 720 seat addition. While this addition is under construction for the next 2
years, they will have 400 students (K-1) instructed at the P.S. 269 (Ascension school)
now under DOE lease. The total seat capacity of P.S 13 upon completion will be 1,493
and the school will remain a K-5 school.

P.S. 102 - Will have their trailers taken down this summer to make room for their 900
seat addition, but the school will keep their mini buildings operational until the addition
is complete. Upon completion of the addition the mini buildings will be demolished.
They will have 100 students (2nd grade) instructed at the P.S. 269 (Ascension school) now
under DOE lease. PS 13 and PS 102 will work together over the next two years to instruct
the students being transferred while the construction of their additions takes place at their
schools. The total seat capacity of P.S. 102 upon completion will be 1,332 and the school
will instruct K-8.

P.S. 269 – Is currently under modification and improvement. The 500 seat school
(Ascension school) is under DOE lease and will be ready for Sept 2007. It will be used as
swing space for P.S. 13 & P.S. 102. After it’s utilized as swing space it will be a regular
D24 school and properly zoned.

P.S. 49 & P.S. 113 - These additions are moving forward and will be going out for bid by
June and begin construction in the next few months. The additions to both schools will be
complete by Sept 2009 include new libraries, science labs, and music rooms and will
convert space in the existing buildings to classrooms. They will get new gyms and
cafeterias. P.S. 49 will get a new auditorium and P.S. 113 will get auditorium upgrades.
Upon completion of both school additions, they will instruct PreK-8. P.S. 49 total
capacity will be 800 seats and P.S. 113 capacity will be 833 seats.

P.S. 128 - The project is moving forward and will be going out for bid by May and begin
construction in the next few months. The new school building will be complete by Sept
2009 and include all the new amenities of a new school. The existing main building will
be taken down upon completion of the new school and converted to a school yard. Upon
completion the school will instruct PreK-8 with a total capacity of 660 seats.

ECC 245 in Ridgewood is currently under construction. It will be complete by Sept

2008. This early childhood center school will instruct PreK-2nd grade and have a capacity
of 441 seats. The zoning for this school has not yet been outlined and will be defined by
February 2008 based on Chancellor Regulation A-185.

PS / IS 260 in Corona is currently under construction. It will be complete by Sept 2008.

This school is being built to instruct PreK-8 and have a capacity of 996 seats. The zoning
for this school has not yet been outlined and it too will be defined by February 2008
based on Chancellor Regulation A-185.

8) Old Business – None

9) New Business – the council decided to send questions written by Mr. Fedkowskyj to
the Department of Education regarding the reorganization.

10) Public Agenda

The council took questions from the public.

11) Adjournment -- Dmytro Fedkowskyj motioned to adjourn, Bill Kregler seconded,

meeting was adjourned at 8:45 PM