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 Nancy Carbone Ernest Cury Bill Kregler
President 1St Vice President 2nd Vice President Treasurer Secretary

Council Members: Reyes Irizarry

Dominic Coticchio Regional Superintendent
Marge Kolb Charles Amundsen
Joe Pahl Deputy Superintendent
Marcellino Rodriquez Catherine M. Powis
Joanne Scichilone Community Superintendent

FINAL BOARD APPROVED MINUTES

Minutes of Calendar Meeting
April 19, 2005
At I.S. 119 Glendale, New York

1) Call to order and Roll Call -- The meeting convened at I.S. 119, Glendale, NY at 7:00 PM

• Roll Call – Present

• Nancy Carbone
• Nick Comaianni
• Dominic Coticchio
• Ernest Cury
• Dmytro Fedkowskyj
• Marge Kolb
• William Kregler
• Marcellino Rodriguez
• Joanne Scichilone
• Katelyn Ranzie, CEC High School Member

Roll Call – Absent

• Joe Pahl

Also in attendance:

Community Superintendent Catherine Powis, Director of School Safety Ramon Garcia;

Commanding Officer, Queens North, William Capers; Youth Officer Esbri, 104th Pct.;

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School Sgt. Crema, 104th Pct.; Lt. Kinley, Special Operations, 104th Pct.; and School
Sgt. Richardson, 108th Pct.

2) Approval of Minutes

On motion duly made and seconded the minutes of the March 22, 2005 meeting were
unanimously approved.

3) Report of the President

• Nick Comaianni informed the public of guest speakers scheduled for this meeting.
Mr. Comaianni stated that the 1000 seat high school at the Metropolitan Avenue
site will be locally zoned, as per a letter received from the Department of
Education. He also stated that there will be a study done this summer at P.S 128,
P.S. 113, P.S. 13, P.S. 102 and P.S. 49 to determine the feasibility of these schools
having additions built and possibly becoming K-8.

4) Report of the Community Superintendent

• Ms. Powis stated that once again this year the Beacon Program (district-wide self-
contained gifted program) will be available to incoming Kindergarten children at
P.S. 153 and P.S. 16. Letters will be distributed to all the public elementary
schools, universal pre-k sites and parochial schools within District 24. The letters
are presently being translated into 10 languages and will be distributed by April
22nd. Parents interested in having their child tested will call either P.S. 16 or P.S.
153 and the secretary will set an appointment with them for the initial screening.
Appointments will take place during the school day as well as on Saturdays at both
locations. It is anticipated that all testing will be completed, selections made and
parents notified by mid-July, 2005.

• Fifth Grade Academy

The Fifth Grade Academy ended this past Saturday. Students at the Saturday
sessions have been coached in specific literacy and math skills, as well as in test-
taking strategy and test-taking stamina. Classroom teachers have also been
integrating helpful test taking skills, such as stamina and pacing, into everyday
lessons, so all students were prepared for the exams. Plus, this year for the first
time, parents have come to schools for special sessions on how to help their
children prepare for the standardized tests. Regional and school-level officials said
initial indications look positive. Attendance rates, were estimated at around 90%,
and are a testament to the program. A teacher at P.S. 89's program was quoted this
week in the New York Sun stating “her students actually thanked her Saturday
morning for preparing them for the English exam”.

• Third Grade Academy

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 Once again the Department of Education has provided extra funds to our schools
to provide additional help to third grade students in preparation to meet
promotional standards. Funding was based on the number of at risk Third Grade
students. The choice was given to the schools to choose from additional time in
small group instruction during the school day, extended day, Saturday
Academies, Spring break, or for guidance support, parent workshops and
purchasing of additional assessments and intervention materials.

• School Construction

The School Construction Authority will be reaching out (or has already) to a
number of schools to begin feasibility studies for possible additions. They are
P.S. 13, 49, 102, 113, and 128. These schools were chosen based on the degree of
overcrowding at present in the buildings.

• Parent Information Night

District 24’s Parent Information Night will be held on Thursday May 5, 2005
at I.S 5 from 7:00 to 9:00 PM. The Regional Superintendent, Reyes Irizarry and
various regional staff will be on hand to answer any questions parents may have.

5) Guest Speaker, Ramon Garcia, Director of School Security Operations

• Mr. Garcia stated first stated his background and then asked for questions from the
Council and the public.
• Nick Comaianni asked if there is a formula based on population, number of exits,
and such that dictates how many security officers would be placed in a particular
school. Mr. Garcia replied that there is no set formula for resource allocations.
Some indicators are number of incidents, difficulty of patrol, student population,
and number of teachers. These factors are used to determine the number of agents
placed in each school. Personnel review boards and the Department of Education’s
regional safety administrator address concerns. Additional resources and officers
may be added based on reviewing each school. Mr. Comaianni stated that a
security survey was sent to all the schools and gave P.S. 13 as an example of a
school that should have more than one officer. He further stated that he feels that
all schools should have at least 2 safety officers. He then gave I.S. 119 as an
example citing its many exits. Mr. Comaianni noted that many schools have
problems during dismissal. Mr. Garcia agreed and stated that most concerns are
related to dismissal. He urged parents to bring any concerns to their schools PTA
and informed the Council that there is constant dialogue between the PTA and his
office. The Chancellor’s Regulations mandate one meeting per month on safety in
each school.
• Dominic Coticchio stated that we do not have many incidents because District 24
has great parents, teachers, and aides. However, more safety officers are needed to

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 replace the front desk when there’s a break. We need more safety officers and I
blame the budget (for lack of officers).
• Mr. Garcia stated that of the $138 million in the safety budget 95% of it is used for
salaries. The only other option is to redeploy officers based on need. Chief Nelson,
on a regular basis sits with Rose Pinto who works closely with Regional
Administrators. He emphasized again that dialogue takes place with the school
safety committee.
• Marcelino Rodriguez inquired as to how to get a street closure sign at P.S. 89. Mr.
Garcia responded that he’ll see what resources the 110th Pct. has and report back.
He further stated that P. S. 89 had no major incidents.
• Ernest Cury stated that P.S. 19, which has a large population of 1,900 has only one
security guard. He then inquired as to why I.S. 5 which has 1700 students has 3
security guards? Mr. Rodriguez replied that intermediate schools have a First Line
Supervisor working with other agents.
• Dmytro Fedkowskyj stated that Grover Cleveland H.S. agrees that security isn’t a
problem and they have 2,900 students and 13 security guards. Mr. Garcia replied
that there is no set formula for resource allocation.
• Dmytro Fedkowskyj asked what kind of training a security guard must complete?
Mr. Garcia informed him that training is 14 weeks and it is done at the Police
Academy. The trainees are taught 240 hours of law.
• Ms. Powis added that Grover Cleveland H.S. is a scanning school and that scanning
is very labor intensive. In order to scan 3000 kids, 13 security guards are needed.
• Marge Kolb asked if agents are able to write tickets for double parking and if not is
it something that the CEC needs to discuss? Mr. Garcia replied that School
Security is not a revenue generating agency, and that they are currently involved in
pilot program to write youth reports.
• Marge Kolb asked if agents take child psychology classes to which Mr. Garcia
replied that they are given training in adolescent behavior from the Department of
Education and other agencies.
• JoAnne Scichilone stated that there is a chronic problem at PS 87 with double
parking, and that PS 91 has a major problem with cars speeding past school buses
with their lights flashing. She then asked what has to be done to get these streets
blocked off to which Mr. Garcia asked Lt. Kinley of Special Operation 104th Pct. to
comment. Lt. Kinley stated that their department could make recommendations to
the Department of Transportation to see if special arrangements are necessary. One
of the biggest problems is with school buses. They cannot sit idle, or they will get a
ticket.
• Bill Kregler stated that security guards and security officers are there to interact.
He then asked if there was anything that the CEC could do in the pursuit of
enhancing their operation, to which Mr. Garcia replied that we need to
communicate with each other and that there needs to be constant dialogue.
• Nancy Carbone stated that PS 58 dismisses on the Grand Avenue and they have a
huge problem with double parking and idle buses to which Lt. Kinley replied that
he’ll send a car around at dismissal time.

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 After taking questions from the audience, Mr. Garcia, again took the following
questions from the Council:

• Nick Comaianni asked if Mr. Garcia could give a report based on districts. He
also asked Mr. Garcia if he thought a school needed two officers to which Mr.
Garcia stated that he wants as many agents as possible. He thinks more agents
will be hired down the road. Right now there are 4,400 agents city-wide.
• Marge Kolb asked if the Police Department has people who do public outreach
that could go into the schools and talk to the kids to which Sgt. Richardson,
School Sargent, 108th Pct. replied that officers are going to every school with an
anti-graffiti push.
• Nick Comaianni stated that dismissal time is at the same time as the shift change
and cited the fact that the 104th Pct. only has one car available at that time to
which Sgt. Crema, School Sargent, 104th Pct. replied that as far as priorities go,
there is never a time when the Police Department is not working. They have all
sorts of specialized units during each tour. If there is an incident and it takes a
long time for cops to come, call 311 and complain. If you are calling to report an
incident, it depends on how you state your case. If it is urgent make the 911
operator understand that.

Nick Comaianni invited I.S. 119 Principal Mary Aliosio to speak. She stated that IS
119 is in the process of restructuring. It will have three separate themed academies.

• Marge Kolb asked if Ms. Aliosio is anticipating putting equal numbers of

students in each academy to which she replied that they will try to accommodate
every child’s choice. Ms. Kolb then stated that she disagrees with academies in
that she does not think a student should be forced to pick a theme in middle
school. She also asked whether the State Education Department’s foreign
language mandate was being met by every child. Ms. Aliosio stated that as a
non-Title I school, she does not have enough in the budget to hire foreign
language teachers sufficient to ensure that all students receive foreign language
instruction.

The Council took various questions from the audience.

6) Resolutions – None

7) Report of the Committees

• Ernest Cury, Chair of English Language Learners Committee stated that there
is nothing to report at this time.

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

Committee stated that he is working on distributing a questionnaire to School
Leadership teams and Principals regarding the Fiscal Year 2005-2006 School
Budget. The Department of Education plans to release the school budget in

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 early May and the Principals will have almost a full month to review their
budgets, with comments being due by the beginning of June. In addition, there
have been changes made to Special Education funding and the Department will
continue funds for mandated services. They will fund schools based on number
of classes as opposed to the number of students, provide resources for classroom
paraprofessionals, and increase resources to schools with students receiving
multiple periods of Special Education Teacher Support Services. Mr.
Fedkowskyj closed his report by reiterating that the CEC will be mailing a
questionnaire to Principals and School Leadership Teams in order for the CEC
to provide comments to Kathleen Grimm’s office by the beginning of June.

• JoAnne Scichilone, Chair of the Special Education Committee stated that their
next meeting will be held on May 12, 2005 at PS 58 at 7PM. At the meeting the
blind, autistic, and mentally challenged girl named Brittney Maier will play
piano and her mother, Tammy Marie Maier will give a speech about autism.

• Marge Kolb, Chair of the Legislative Committee stated there is nothing to

report at this time.

8) Old Business – None

9) New Business – None

10) Public Agenda

• The Council took questions from the audience.

11) Adjournment

• Nick Comaianni motioned to adjourn, Dmytro Fedkowskyj seconded.

Meeting adjourned at 10: 05 pm.