SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

The United Federation of Teachers (UFT) filed a lawsuit to stop the closing of 19 public schools, including Sheepshead Bay High School and three other area schools.

The city announced late last month that Sheepshead Bay High School at 3000 Avenue X, Franklin D. Roosevelt High School at 5800 20th Avenue, John Dewey High School at 50 Avenue X, and William E. Grady Vocational High School at 25 Brighton Fourth Road were on their list of “persistently lowest achieving” high schools. The schools on the list would receive federal funding to close or restructure in one of four models put forth by the Race to the Top program.

Teachers and parents are riled up at the city’s betrayal, as the Department of Education moves to abandon students to charter and private interests, rather than fix public education.

City Councilman Lewis Fidler and Assemblyman Alan Maisel, both of whom attended Tilden High School which closed in 2007, are joining the UFT lawsuit.

“When your proposals can affect the futures of so many, you can’t just go through the motions and ignore the letter and spirit of the law,” Fidler told Courier-Life. “Unfortunately, that’s what has happened here. We’re talking about public education. The Department of Education should be listening to people, investing to fix schools they feel are broken, not abandoning them.”

Courtesy of Wikipedia

We haven’t been able to confirm it, but GerritsenBeach.net is reporting that Sheepshead Bay High School, John Dewey High School, William E. Grady High School, and FDR High School are set to close by the end of 2010.

We first wrote in November that administrators were considering Sheepshead Bay H.S. (3000 Avenue X) for closure, but at the time the principal denied the claims. Since then, the city’s list of “persistently lowest achieving” high schools swelled from about a dozen to 34, including the addition of the three other southern Brooklyn high schools.

The list of targets was created as part of a proposal for Race to the Top, a federal grant program aimed at encouraging states to be aggressive in fixing or closing their lowest performing schools. New York State stands to gain about $500,000 for every school it reforms using one of the federal government’s four models. New York Times describes them as follows:

Continue Reading »

P.S. 222 parents say Roll-N-Roaster shortchanged children after a fundraider
(Photo courtesy of irockiroll via Flickr)

Iconic Sheepshead Bay restaurant Roll-N-Roaster is playing Scrooge this holiday season and barking a mighty “Ba humbug” to needy children, according to parents at a local elementary school.

Parents Association leaders at P.S. 222 in Marine Park say Roll-N-Roaster failed to deliver promised donations after a December 1 fundraiser, going as far as accusing the restaurant of “pocketing” money.

“I think we were set up. They were never planning to give us as much as they promised, but we didnt know that,” PA Co-president Mardie Sheiken said.

But while Sheiken and P.S. 222 officials say Roll-N-Roaster shortchanged the school children of hundreds of dollars, the restaurant’s general manager, Ayet Karce, says event organizers violated the agreement and their contribution was “generous.”

Ultimately, Roll-N-Roaster outraged organizers with a paltry $471.00, about half the amount it receives from similar fundraisers at McDonalds. Sheiken said the event was “standing room only” for all three hours, making it impossible that $471.00 was the full 10 percent promised from the agreement.

Continue Reading »

Allison Musacchio (Courtesy of Daily News)

With an ongoing investigation into two teachers allegedly caught naked together on school property, a third teacher at James Madison High School is now also being investigated for inappropriate behavior with a student.

In what Daily News is now calling “Horndog High,” Madison High School is the scene of two shocking revelations in as many days. Today it was revealed that social studies teacher Allison Musacchio, 31, was caught with more than 200 calls and texts to a male student on her cell phone record. Musacchio denies the allegations.

More from the Daily News:

School sources said they learned of Musacchio’s alleged antics in March, after a female James Madison student saw her ex-boyfriend’s phone number on the tenured teacher’s cell phone.

Officials found more than 200 texts and calls between the teacher and the male pupil and yanked her from the classroom, sources said. They said the amount of contact was inappropriate.

Musacchio, 31, was also investigated for having a fling with a former student but the probe was dropped because the teen was of legal age and no longer at the school, school sources said.

Attempts to reach Musacchio at her home were unsuccessful Wednesday, but she has told a neighbor the allegations were untrue.

“She said, ‘Absolutely not,’” the neighbor said. “She said, ‘Are you crazy? With my Greek background, I would never do something like that. I have morals and respect.’”

Meanwhile, Alini Brito and Cindy Mauro, the two teachers caught naked by a janitor during a school recital, appear to be getting a Facebook following. At least two groups have popped up with a combined 800 members.

One group, “Stand Up For Mauro & Brito,” seems to be started by students looking to dispel some of the out of control rumors in the media and defend the well-liked instructors.  That group has a little over 400 members, with present and past students swapping fond memories of the teachers, and expressing support.

On the flip side, “We Demand Justice (and pics) for Alini Brito and Cindy Mauro!!” has almost as many members, but is largely filled with desperate men demanding more photos of the duo, and token revocations of the janitor’s “man card.”

Brito, left, and Mauro, right, were caught naked in a classroom. (Photo courtesy of Daily News)

Two female teachers at James Madison High School were caught naked in a classroom while students enjoyed a talent show down the hall, Daily News is reporting.

The romance language instructors were placed on administrative leave while the Education Department investigates for misconduct.

According to Daily News, Cindy Mauro, a 33-year-old Spanish teacher, and Alini Brito, a 29-year-old married French instructor, were caught by a janitor “undressed” in an empty classroom. Rumors had been circulating among the students for some time, but school administrators kept the relationship under wraps for fear of controversy, some students say.

Teachers and administrators at the school have refused to comment.

Here are what some students and others told the Daily News:

Continue Reading »

Brooklyn Dreams officials held a hearing hosted by Shell Bank JHS in July

Brooklyn Eagle is reporting that the controversial Brooklyn Dreams Charter School has been approved, and though it’s mum on what part of Brooklyn it’ll be in, we’re pretty sure it’s our District 22.

The New York State Board of Regents, with State University of New York support, recently approved a five-year charter for the proposed 780-student tuition-free independent public school, its sponsors said.

The projected opening date is September 2010, just nine months from now, in an existing building not yet identified. Grade levels would be kindergarten through eight with student admissions determined by a lottery, with first choice available to students living within the school district that Brooklyn Dreams is located.

Continue Reading »

Kingsborough Community College is the latest collection point to be part of Verizon Wireless’s UHopeLine, and the mobile company donated $1,000 to the school’s women’s center to help protect women from violence.

UHopeLine is a cell phone recycling program that accepts wireless devices and accessories in any condition, from any wireless service provider, and then refurbishes or recycles them in an environmentally sound way. Proceeds of the UHopeline program benefit local domestic violence survivors in the form of wireless phones with service and cash grants to domestic violence advocacy groups working to end domestic violence. Continue Reading »

The city is considering bulking up area schools with more than 1,000 new seats in District 22 (Sheepshead Bay, Flatbush, Midwood), and more than 5,000 citywide.

According to the Brooklyn Eagle, the Department of Education has proposed an amendment to the city’s 2010 – 2014 Capital Plan that will place 5,123 new elementary and middle school seats to eventually sell to charter operators school districts across the city. DOE officials are asking for public input before going ahead with the plan.

According to City Council Speaker Christine Quinn and Education Committee Chair Robert Jackson, the new seats won’t add a penny to the $11.3 billion Capital Plan. Instead it’ll be done by shifting chairs from shrinking districts to growing districts and “re-estimating construction costs and through the reallocation of existing resources.”

Oral and written comments will be accepted from Dec. 1, 2009 to Jan. 15, 2010. Written comments can be sent to capitalplan@schools.nyc.gov. Oral comments can be left at (212) 374-6853

For more information, contact Liz Bergin, New York City School Construction Authority, 30-30 Thomson Ave., Long Island City, N.Y. 11101, or call (212) 374-6853.

[via Bklyn Eagle]

Want to get hooked on a new profession? Kingsborough Community College has just the junk you need.

Kingsborough Community College is dispersing $60,645 in full scholarships to train aspiring professionals in chemical dependency counseling. The funds come from $500,000 in federal stimulus funds awarded to New York State Office of Alcoholism and Substance Abuse Services (OASAS) for training as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and will be given to eligible students afflicted by the ailing job market. Continue Reading »

Photo courtesy of Paypaul via Flickr

Kingsborough Community College is booming this year, as a record high number of students pad the school’s budget and spur program growth.

While all of the city’s other community colleges were forced to roll back application deadline dates for the current Fall semester, Kingsborough Community College remained the only two-year public higher education institution that accepted all eligible students. The result was a massive 16 percent leap in enrollment, to a teeming 17,821 registered students.

The increased numbers haven’t stressed the system, according to Thomas Friebel, Dean of Enrollment Management at KBCC. Instead it’s led to some long-awaited improvements. Continue Reading »