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
Community Superintendent

FINAL BOARD APPROVED MINUTES

Minutes of Calendar Meeting
December 20, 2006
At PS 128 Annex, Middle Village, New York

1) Call to order and Roll Call -- The Calendar meeting convened at PS 128 at 7:00
PM

Roll Call – Present

• Dmytro Fedkowskyj
• Marge Kolb
• Bill Kregler

Roll Call – Late

• Lelani Bomani

Roll Call – Absent

• Cecilia Chavez
• Nick Comaianni
• Ernest Cury
• Debbie Tscherne

Also in attendance

Catherine Powis, Community Superintendent, District 24 and Leonie Haimson, Founder,

Class Size Matters
2) Approval of Minutes

Minutes could not be voted on as there was not a quorum.

3) Report of the President

Mr. Fedkowskyj Community Education Council District 24 Vice President stated that he
would chair the meeting and that there would be no report of the president as Mr.
Comaianni was not in attendance.

4) Report of the Community Superintendent

Ms. Powis stated that the application phase of District 24’s Gifted and Talented Program
closed on December 1, 2006. Ms. Powis then gave an approximation of the number of
applications which were received for the 2007-2008 school year. She stated that the
office of Gifted and Talented Program is available online at
http://school.nyc/gov/offices/TeachLearn/OfficeCurriculumProfessionalDevelopment/Gif
tedTalented/default.htm.

Ms. Powis stated that she was pleased to announce that District 24 participated in the
United States Marine Corp Reserve Toys for Tots Program. Thousands of toys were
donated by the teachers, parents and students of District 24. She further stated that the
donated toys literally filled the District 24 office. Ms. Powis closed her report by wishing
everyone a happy and healthy Christmas and New Year.

Marge Kolb stated that the informational meetings that were held for Gifted and Talented
came too early and on short notice and were conducted in only one school and thus Ms.
Kolb felt that the result was not as many applicants as could have been expected. Ms.
Powis stated that letters to parents were sent home and that there were also ads in local
newspapers regarding the program.

Mr. Fedkowskyj asked if there were subsequent calls from parents who missed the
deadlines to which Ms. Powis stated that neither she nor Mary Messina, Parent Support
Officer District 24 received any such calls.

In a conversation between Marge Kolb and a member of the public regarding Pre-K Ms.
Kolb stated that because of the lack of Pre-K seats in D24 most parents put their children
in day care and receive wrap around programs part of which is subsidized. Mr.
Fedkowskyj stated that the bigger concern is that D24 needs seats for grades K-5 rather
than being forced by the Mayor to make room for Pre-K seats in school buildings. He
further stated that he is not opposed to Pre-K seats and would like to see them in the
District but at the same time he would not want to see a school being utilized full day for
Pre-K when we need to reduce class sizes in the early grades to which Ms. Kolb agreed.
Mr. Fedkowskyj further stated that the Mayor is not proposing additional space or
funding to host Pre-K which will cause an increase to the already overcrowded D24
schools.

5) Guest Speaker, Leonie Haimson, Class Size Matters

Ms. Haimson gave a power point presentation regarding class sizes in NYC. Major
points of the presentation are as follows:

• Studies show that students assigned to smaller classes in K-3 do better in every
way measured: higher test scores, better grades, better attendance, fewer held
back, and much fewer disciplinary problems.
• At least 10 studies link smaller classes in grades 4-12 to higher achievement
• Smaller classes are one of only four educational strategies that according to the
federal govt. have been shown through rigorous evidence to improve learning
• Benefits of small classes in middle and upper grades are the only factor correlated
with higher scores was smaller classes, not smaller schools, not teacher
qualifications, nor any other variable
• NYC class sizes are much higher versus the rest of NYS: K: 21.8 vs. 19:1; 1-6th
grade: 24.8 vs. 20.7; 7th grade English: 27.9 vs. 21.6 and High School Math 1:
32.5 vs. 20
• Large class sizes in many D24 schools such as PS 13 – K at 26.8; 1st grade at
26.6 students, PS 102 - K at 24.8, 1st at 26.3, 4th at 29 students, PS 113 -K at
25.3, 1st at 25.7 and 4th at 28.3 students, PS 153 - 4th and 5th at about 30
students, PS 239 -K at 26.3, 4th at 31.3 students and IS 119 - 6th-8th at 31-33
students
• NYC middle school class sizes are the largest in NY State.
• In 2002-3, in NYC, over 60% of middle school were students in classes of 28 or
more, 49% in classes 30 or more, 15% in classes over 33
• NYC 4 Year Graduation Rate, as reported by the DOE is 58%, as reported by the
NYSED is 43.5%, as reported by Education Week is 38.9%
• Problems with city’s capital plan include: Capital plan assumes no space for pre-
K, and doesn’t take into account new smaller schools that eat up classroom space;
Enrollment projections do not take into account NYC’s rapid growth, and that
population is now expected to grow by nearly 1 million by 2030;
• $4.2 billion that the city intends to spend to create 63,000 seats over five years is
insufficient compared to actual needs

6) Resolutions – None

7) Report of the Committees

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

stated that the Capital Plan is in place and that the council is required to file a report by
January 15, 2007 with Deputy Chancellor of Finance Ms. Kathleen Grimm’s office.
Ms. Kolb asked how many additional seats the District would be receiving under the
Capital plan to which Mr. Fedkowskyj replied that District 24 will be receiving 5,400
seats, 800 more seats from the previous Capital Plan.

8) Old Business – None

9) New Business – None

10) Public Agenda Session

The council took questions from the public.

11) Adjournment

Bill Kregler motioned to adjourn, Dmytro Fedkowskyj seconded; meeting was adjourned
at 8:42 PM