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@nycboe.net

New York City Department of Education

Visit our website at www.myschoolonline.com/ny/cec24
Nick Comaianni Dmytro Fedkowskyj Dominic Coticchio Ernest Cury Nancy Carbone
President 1St Vice President 2nd Vice President Treasurer Secretary

Council Members Department of Education Region 4 Officials

Lelani Bomani Reyes Irizarry
Cecilia Chavez Regional Superintendent
Dan Creighton Charles Amundsen
Marge Kolb Deputy Superintendent
JoAnne Scichilone Catherine M. Powis
Community Superintendent

FINAL BOARD APPROVED MINUTES

Minutes of Calendar Meeting
January 24, 2006
At PS 58, School of Heroes, Maspeth, New York

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

• Roll Call – Present

• Lelani Bomani
• Nancy Carbone
• Cecilia Chavez
• Nick Comaianni
• Dan Creighton
• Ernest Cury
• Marge Kolb
• Joanne Scichilone

Roll Call Arrived Late

• Dominic Coticchio
For the record Mr. Coticchio arrived late because he was in attendance at a Community
Board 2 meeting regarding re-zoning in our district.
• Dmytro Fedkowskyj

Also in attendance
Community Superintendent Catherine Powis; Local Instructional Superintendents, Lillian
Druck and Diane Kay, Deputy Chancellor Carmen Fariña, Betty Rothbart, Director of
Health Education and Family Living

2) Approval of Minutes

On motion duly made and seconded, the minutes of the January 10, 2006 meeting were
approved with 7 yes votes and one abstention.

3) Report of the President

Nick Comaianni stated that the turnout at the January 10, 2006 meeting was very good.
He further stated that Assemblyman Lafayette informed him that Deputy Chancellor of
Finance, Kathleen Grimm would be going to Albany to further discuss proposed budget
allocations by the state.

4) Report of the Community Superintendent

Ms. Powis stated that extended time sessions will begin on February 6, 2006 for students
and teachers. She also stated that parents should have been notified of all children
participating in the extended time, including students not participating in the extended
time sessions, regarding the new arrival and dismissal schedule. She also informed the
public that principals are having parent orientation meetings on extended time sessions
and that at these meetings instructional issues such as the goals and curriculum for the
sessions will be discussed together with logistical issues as they arise. Ms. Powis urged
the public to contact their school’s parent coordinator should they have any further
questions or to contact the District Parent Support Officer, Mary Messina.

Ms. Powis also discussed promotion in doubt letters that have gone out to parents whose
children are in danger of not being promoted. She further stated that parents who have
received this letter should reach out to their school and make an appointment to discuss
the steps being taken to address their child’s needs and also to make themselves aware of
additional academic intervention services that may be available to them, including the
additional 37.5 minutes for selected students.

Ms. Powis closed her report by adding that enrollment for eligible students for the free
spring Supplementary Education Services provided under No Child Left Behind Act
began on January 17, 2006 and that applications will be continued to be processed
through March 31, 2006.

Nick Comaianni asked Ms. Powis if her office had any follow-up regarding the busing
situation from Middle Village to IS 119 to which she answered that she had no further
information. Mr. Comaianni then inquired as to the status of the handicap ramp at PS
229. Ms. Powis stated it has been fixed.
Marge Kolb asked Ms. Powis if she had the D75 information which was requested last
month to which she replied that she would have the information by Friday (and had been
previously requested from Central in November 2005).

5) Guest Speakers Deputy Chancellor Carmen Fariña and Director of Health and
Family Living, Betty Rothbart.

Deputy Chancellor Carmen Fariña stated that the 37 _ minutes was set up to help students
who need extra instruction. Every school developed a plan and principals were asked to
confer with their School Leadership Teams and their teachers as well to implement a plan
that would best fit the needs of their school. Some have chosen to start their day earlier
and some have chosen to extend their day, some schools have chosen to do both. There
are two parts of the teachers’ contract: 37 _ minutes is one piece and the other is circular
six and that allows teachers to spend time with individual students and it involves
oftentimes extra prep. For example, science teachers would spend extra time with the top
science students of that school. The DOE is being very clear that we are recommending
intervention strategies for students who are struggling. The DOE has something called a
‘toolkit’ of programs that are made for children who need to better their skills. All these
programs require one on one instruction or small group instruction. The DOE will be
rolling out these pilot programs within the next few months and will be asking for which
programs work the best so that in September those programs will able to flag the schools
which had the best results. The ability to give kids this extra time is something that she
believes will be very beneficial. Ms. Fariña closed her report by stating that she
understands that the extra 37 _ minutes may be an inconvenience however she urged
parents of struggling children to take advantage of the extra time allotted in their child’s
school day.

Ms. Fariña then took questions from the council.

Marge Kolb stated that she was not pleased that the school day will be cut for non
struggling students. She further stated that she believes the DOE is trying to hide the fact
that the school day will be cut for non struggling students and supported her belief by
using examples of letters that have gone home to parents that do not spell out that your
child’s school day is being cut by 10 minutes. She further believes that the DOE has a lot
of services for struggling students and cited examples such as the Saturday Academy and
Learning Leaders. She stated that she would like to see all of the student’s school day
lengthened so that they may be able to participate in art, music and physical education.
Ms. Fariña responded by saying that not all schools have all things. Only schools with 8
period days have circular sets and many more schools are moving in that direction.

Dan Creighton stated that he was happy with the idea of an extended school day but
thought it was not well thought out. He also stated that we are not giving our children
adequate art education or adequate gym time which is very important. I’ve heard many
complaints from families who have multiple children, some who need the program and
some who do not. This is creating a multitude of problems for parents ranging from
financial problems to time problems.
Nancy Carbone agreed with the above statements and added that she would be content to
see all children receiving an extra 37 _ minutes.

Dmytro Fedkowskyj asked what methods were in place to measure student improvement
with in this program to which Ms. Fariña replied that a lot of tools are already in place for
review of this program regarding the additional 37 _ minutes, particularly in the areas of
reading and writing. Mr. Fedkowskyj asked whether or not a report would be generated
at the end of the school year and Ms. Fariña responded by stating that the DOE is
working on reports of that nature.

Cecilia Chavez stated that she has a daughter in the first grade and has received letters
from parents who have children in other grades and we are all in agreement in terms of
the extended day but we believe that the most important thing regarding the extension is
the quality of the children’s education that they receive during that part of the day.

Nick Comaianni suggested that perhaps the Department of Education could put programs
in place where non-struggling would get some instruction as well.

The council took questions from the public.

Ms. Fariña stated that the HIV/AIDS lessons will be taught by classroom teachers and
parents will be notified as to when the lessons will take place. A week prior to the
lessons being taught parents will be invited to the school and given a synopsis as to what
the students will be learning along with a brochure. This is done to encourage parents to
have a private conversation with their children. After the lessons are taught, principals
will call a meeting with parents to inform them of any questions that students may have
asked during the lesson.

Director of Health and Family Living, Betty Rothbart, stated that the HIV/AIDS
curriculum was written because we are living in the time of an epidemic. Because of this
epidemic the New York State Education Department decided in 1987 that every NYC
and NY State student grades K-12 needed to receive HIV/AIDS instruction every year
and that the instruction needed to cover methods of transmission and prevention. NYC
has the highest incidence of HIV/AIDS in the country. New York City has a tremendous
need for this curriculum. The HIV/AIDS curriculum takes two approaches, the first
being the prevention of an HIV/AIDS diagnosis, the second being to promote empathy
for the children and adults currently living with HIV/AIDS. In NYC alone 4,000 children
have been diagnosed with HIV/AIDS, many of them are in our schools and 1,400 of them
already died. The DOE needs to make sure that they are conveying the information and
the facts regarding this deadly disease. The curriculum is focused on three dimensions
which are knowledge, attitude and skills. Knowledge is of the facts, attitude is knowing
that it could happen to anyone who engages in risky behavior and the skills are how to
avoid the risk behaviors. The DOE will teach about the disease and how it affects our
lives. The curriculum is age appropriate. In the early grades we speak of communicable
diseases, like the common cold, etc and we teach prevention of such and in the fourth
grade we begin to talk about HIV and briefly mention how it is transmitted and inform
the students that they will learn more as they get older. This curriculum was reviewed
very carefully by the NYC Department of Health who partnered with the DOE. Ms.
Rothbart closed by reciting a poem written herself from the viewpoint of a child with
HIV.

Nick Comaianni stated that he feels personally and morally that it is inappropriate for his
8 year old child to learn about the sexual part of the curriculum. He feels that it is very
inaccurate to assume that children that young will find out about it anyway.

Dan Creighton stated that he understood the importance of this curriculum and applauds
the effort. However, he stated that he had specific issues with the content of the lower
grade curriculum, specifically the fourth grade. Where he understands the necessity to
teach children that HIV/AIDS can be transmitted by blood and bodily fluids, he was
concerned about the appropriateness of highlighting sexual transmission and transmission
through intravenous drug use.

Nancy Carbone stated while she is not opposed to the curriculum she did have concerns
such as if this curriculum is being offered in all schools since it is a supplement to the
health curriculum as stated on the cover of the book. She objects to the HIV/AIDS
curriculum being a stand alone curriculum. Ms. Fariña stated that it will be a supplement
to ‘Health Teacher.’

Joanne Scichilone pointed out that Ms. Fariña would be comfortable teaching this
curriculum yet she had reached out to some teachers who are not comfortable teaching
the curriculum. Ms. Fariña stated that the teachers have not been trained yet and once
that training is over they should feel comfortable teaching the curriculum. Ms. Rothbart
added that the DOE followed the Centers for Disease Control’s guidelines as to when to
introduce these particular topics.

Dmytro Fedkowskyj asked how long the teachers will be trained for to which Ms.
Rothbart replied that training will take two full days and the teachers who are trained will
return to their schools and train others, so training will take as long as needed and
principals are encouraged to have teachers work in teams. Mr. Fedkowskyj then asked if
there was an opt-out option to which Ms. Rothbart replied that NYS Education
Regulations mandates that parents can opt-out of the prevention methods only. The way
parents do that is by writing a letter to the principal stating that they do not want their
children in the prevention class and that they will provide education at home. Mr.
Fedkowskyj then inquired as to who designed grade level instruction to which Ms.
Rothbart replied that it was part of the state mandate and was decided by the NYS
Department of Education and NYCDOE, as well as the New York City Health
Department in conjunction with the Centers for Disease Control.

Ernest Cury asked if the health curriculum will cover such things as asthma, diabetes, etc.
to which Ms. Rothbart answered in the affirmative.
The council then took questions from the public.

6) CEC Meeting with Presidents Panel

Nick Comaianni introduced Marie Vella, President of Presidents Panel who informed the
public that a vote was taken to conduct monthly President Panel meetings in conjunction
with the Community Education Council District 24 meetings.
7) Resolutions – None

8) Report of the Committees

Dmytro Fedkowskyj Chair of the Construction, Zoning and Maintenance Committee

stated that the recently proposed December Five-Year capital plan Amendment identified
changes and specific needs for District 24. It is no secret that District is in need of more
seats, but the capacity plan is in jeopardy because all but one of the projects for our
District is considered State funded. Due to the expressed lack of State funding these
projects could be put on hold, which means there could be a 2 year delay in getting our
schools and additions built if the state money does not materialize. This option is found to
be unacceptable and inexcusable by the CEC and the school communities who will be
directly affected by this delay. The capital plan reflected the State responsibility as 66%
in 2006 and 94% in 2007 for District 24 projects. We needed more seats 5 years ago and
the problem is only going to get worse. We need to let our Governor, Republican State
Senators and Assemblymen know that time is not on our side and that the State of New
York should pay their fair share of capacity projects for the million plus public school
children.

He further stated that the Five-Year plan incorporates new schools and extensions on
current buildings to reduce class size and create better learning environments in order to
implement Children’s First mandates so our students can be provided a sound basic
education as expected under the law. If all future capacity projects going forward are
going to experience a lack of state funding, then the DOE and City of New York will
need to come up with a better financial plan to be more accountable to the parents and
students of our District.

This proposed Amendment to the Five Year Capital Plan will be discussed and voted on
by the Panel for Education Policy in February during their public meeting at Tweed.
Parents should attend to voice there concerns about this serious situation, which
ultimately effects every child in public school.

Mr. Fedkowskyj closed his report by stated that the CEC is mandated to file a report on
the proposed capital plan by February 1st. If anybody wants a copy, please contact our
CEC office.

Dmytro Fedkowskyj and Nick Comaianni took questions from the audience.
Marge Kolb stated that she feels that the above written is the most important issue in
District 24. She further stated that 3700 seats are at risk of not being built and that there
is a lot of overcrowding in District 24 and there is also a lot of housing being built which
will only add to the overcrowding of schools.

Dominic Coticchio stated that he attended a Community Board 2 meeting regarding re-
zoning that evening and understood from the meeting that 44 units will be going up on
Queens Boulevard which he pointed out was a commercial property and was re-zoned for
residential use. There are no seats in our schools to handle 44 units worth of children.
On Queens Boulevard they are extending residential zoning north from 50th street to 74th
street in order to build a building as big as the Big 6, 12 stories. Mr. Coticchio wondered
out loud where these children will go to school and urged the public to attend Community
Board Meetings.

For the record, Marie Vella pointed out that a mistake was found by a student on the 7th
grade exams at PS/IS 87 and the test was interrupted as per Region 4. The interruption
was announced on the loud speaker which then proceeded to interrupt students in 6th and
8th grade. Ms. Vella further stated that students should not be interrupted during exams
as it breaks their concentration and makes it harder for them to focus. She also wanted to
note that PS/IS 87 was not notified of the error on the test as all other middle schools
were notified except PS/IS 87 which has been having difficulty being recognized as a
middle school since it went Pre-K to 8.

Joanne Scichilone, Chair Special Education Committee stated that there will be a
meeting in March and we will have someone talking about intervention plans and how
they would be implemented into the classroom. She also stated that last spring the
Special Education Committee requested copies of the ‘Parents Guide to Special
Education Ages 5-21 from Linda Wernikoff who is the Deputy Superintendent of the
Special Education Initiative for NYC and she sent 150 copies of the Guide. Ms.
Scichilone stated that it has come to her attention that the booklets have outdated special
education information. In fact the opening letter is from Chancellor Cortinez and dated
September 1994 which means the booklet is over 11 years old. It does not mention the
city’s initiative regarding Collaborative Team Teaching and at least 99% of the telephone
numbers and addresses are incorrect. Ms. Scichilone advised parents who have the
booklet to discard it. She closed her report by stating that she will be talking to Ms.
Wernikoff regarding updating their information since they are handing this information
out city-wide.

9) Old Business – Mr. Fedkowskyj inquired as to whether or not the Community

Education Council District 24 received any parental input regarding the HIV/AIDS
curriculum to which Mr. Comaianni replied that parents are concerned about the early
grade lessons. Mr. Comaianni then urged members to attend PTA meetings this month to
help them understand the HIV/AIDS curriculum.

10) New Business -- None

11) Public Agenda Session -- The council took questions from the public.

12) Adjournment – Dmytro Fedkowskyj motioned to adjourn. Nick Comaianni

seconded. The meeting was adjourned at 9:45.