CEC 24 Talks DOE Budget Cuts, Update On School Construction

Dmytro Fedkowskj, Borough President Helen Marshall's liaison to CEC 24, speaks to the crowd. Bad weather couldn't keep Community Education Council District 24 from debating the impact of budget cuts at the body's Dec. 16 meeting at P.S. 58 in Maspeth.

Although the swirling snowflakes outside resulted in sparse attendance at the school's auditorium, council members took the time to discuss school finances as well as school construction initiatives and other issues.

Dmytro Fedkowskj, representing Queens Borough President Helen Marshall, told the crowd that special education programs have already been cut by over $10 million, including a $2 million cut to District 75.

He also announced an overall $900 million reduction of education funds beginning in Fiscal Year 2010.

"It's scaring the hell out of me every time I think about it," he said.

Fedkowskj, a former member of CEC 24, stated that over the past few years, the Department of Education has over the past few years saved money in administrative positions to the point that all other options for cuts are exhausted, leaving cuts from classrooms as the only option.

"They can't cut transportation; they can't cut food services," he explained. "The field and central offices have taken all they can take."

Council member Bill Kregler slammed Mayor Michael Bloomberg for the cuts; "this is his failure of his responsibility," he stated.

School construction update

The president of CEC 24, Nick Comaianni, called everything "status quo" in his report.

He noted that many of the schools currently under construction in the district—Public Schools 13, 49, 102, 113 and 128—are all set to open in September 2009.

In addition, the School Construction Authority will return to Community Board 5 in January 2009 to present a revised proposal for the hotly-debated Restaurant Depot site at 57th Avenue and 74th Street in Maspeth, according to Comaianni.

The council president again stated his preference for a locally zoned, general-education high school at the site, claiming that local high schools help "give the big city a small-town feel."

"You'll be surprised; a lot of these kids will go to these schools versus traveling far if they don't get into a very 'Ivy-league' type of high school," said Comaianni.

He would also state later that CEC 24 is still in talks with the SCA over taking over a closed Rite Aid store on Metropolitan Avenue by Tonsor Street.

"If I'm in the SCA's position, I buy the property," he said.

Other news

Comaianni asked District 24 Superintendent Catherine Powis about a retreat that teachers of I.S. 61 took in July of this year.

The excursion, which cost $38,000, took place out of the city, he noted; the cost went to obtaining hotel accommodations for the parents.

According to Powis, the Department of Education investigated whether the money used for the retreat was taken from DOE funds, and found that the money instead came from private grants "specifically for professional development."

"I'd like to see that money go somewhere else," Comaianni told the crowd, "and I'm sure these type of grants work a little bit differently where you can use them for different things."

Powis stated that she will "double check" the issue at hand.

Council member Bill Kregler asked Comaianni about the possibility of a petition being circulated around Community Education Councils citywide to dissolve them and go back to the old School Board structure.

Comaianni told Kregler that he had spoken to other CEC presidents citywide about fighting mayoral control.

"You can't have the chancellor's office which is controlled by the mayor in charge of every single thing in a neighborhood that they know nothing about," he said.

One parent of a Grover Cleveland High School student asked CEC 24 to come to the school to refute remarks made by City Council Member Elizabeth Crowley about the school at the previous CEC 24 meeting which some considered derogatory toward the institution.

Comaianni, identifying himself as a graduate of Grover Cleveland, told the parent that he would drop by the school.