SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Source: Lisa Willner

In commemoration of World AIDS Day, which is held every December 1, Edward R. Murrow High School is displaying international AIDS Quilts all week to students.

The displaying of the quilts has become something of a tradition at Murrow, having now entered their 19th consecutive year of display. Three of the quilts are of the international variety, coming from the Dominican Republic, South Africa, and Zimbabwe.

Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz gave a speech to students on Monday, stressing the importance of preventing HIV infection through education. Other guest speakers came on behalf of the Gibb Mansion and the Lutheran Family Health Centers, commemorating those who have passed while providing valuable facts to students about the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

The event, otherwise known as the AIDS Project Foundation, is hosted by the H.E.A.R.T. Club and Global Quilts. Students are scheduled to view the quilts through their health and physical education classes.

Souce: Lisa Willner

Source: P.S. 254

The teachers and students at P.S. 254 Dag Hammarskjold School really really want music class. They want it so bad that they’ve decided to enter to win the “Power A Bright Future” grant from Clorox.

The money would be spent on a music class for all of the students once a week. So far, the school ranks at number 61 in the votes.

Here’s what the school writes in their grant entry:

Our school is located in the Sheepshead Bay section of Brooklyn, New York. We serve approximately 700 children in Pre-K to Grade 5. We have a very diverse student population with many being English-Language Learners. Due to an ever shrinking budget, our school has a severely limited music program. The music teacher is here only 2 days a week and a majority of the students are left without music.

The Clorox Grant will enable all of our students to have music at least once a week. We can promote respect and celebrate each other’s traditions and customs through a comprehensive music program. Young children are especially sensitive to music that communicates feelings, emotions, and pleasant imagery. This grant will greatly impact our students by promoting self-esteem, and developing a deeper cognitive awareness through exploring, sharing, and identifying cultural similarities and differences. Musical instruction has proven to positively influence student achievement in all curriculum areas. It has also proven to be a very effective incentive for children to work hard. Music is a universal language that fosters self expression. Without the children knowing it, they will be learning while having fun. It is a win-win situation.

Visit the website to vote for P.S. 254 or text 1164pbf to 95248. Remember, it’s for the children.

Sheepshead Bay High School students protesting the city’s closure attempts in the last school year. (Photo: Robert Fernandez)

The third time’s the charm? New York City’s school administrators seem to hope so.

For the third time in three years, the Department of Education has again set its sights on closing Sheepshead Bay High School (3000 Avenue X), including it in a list of 24 high schools slated for closure as early as the end of this school year.

The “early engagement” list, reported on yesterday by Gotham Schools, is comprised of schools that the Department of Education says comes up short on student test results, attendance rates, graduate rates and college preparedness. In addition to high schools, it contains 36 elementary and middle schools.

Sheepshead Bay High School is one of seven high schools on the list that the city tried to close last year using the “turnaround” plan, which mandates closing the school, firing the staff, reopening under a new name and hiring a maximum of 50 percent of the teachers from the previous administration. Courts threw the brakes on the plan, though, after the teachers’ and principals’ unions successfully sued, claiming that it violated their collective bargaining agreement with the city.

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It didn’t take long after Hurricane Sandy’s tidal surge pummeled our coastline for the rumor mill to start churning out destruction anecdotes. According to the mill, Kinsgborough Community College was washed away. Its T buildings were in shambles, its iconic lighthouse-crowned MAC building toppled over and parking lots torn asunder.

We’re glad to report that’s not the case, but in the early aftermath, it was hard to say what was going on.

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P.S. 253 in Brighton Beach (Source: Google Maps)

New York City has worked hard to reopen all public schools as quickly as possible since Hurricane Sandy battered them with flooding, blackouts, and damaged heaters and equipment, but progress has finally taken a significant step forward in recent days.

For the first time this week, students were finally able to return to their actual schools, as opposed to the replacement transfer schools located in other districts, and attendance has surged to over 90 percent according to a story by NY1. That is a massive increase for a school like Brighton Beach’s own P.S. 253, for which only 12 percent of students showed up at their temporary location in Flatbush.

Part of the problem with the temporary locations set up by the city was the lack of reliable transportation. Many parents had no access to cars or the subways in the weeks following the storm, and a citywide school bus shortage limited the amount available pickup sites.

Even in areas where the regular schools have not reopened, like for Coney Island’s P.S. 188, a return to normal school bus service yesterday helped the replacement location at P.S. 281 in Bensonhurst receive an 80 percent attendance rate. While bus service has increased, so has the chaos that ensued for parents and children trying to figure out a way to navigate to their new destinations.

“A bunch of kids screaming, a little girl screaming,” said one student to NY1. “It was confusing.”

Crowding, chaos, and confusion aside, the return to normal attendance numbers is an encouraging sign for students of Southern Brooklyn looking for any kind of normalcy.

The flooded auditorium of P.S. 195 in Manhattan Beach (Source: GothamSchools.org)

Hurricane Sandy didn’t just devastate local homes and businesses, it also took its tolls on approximately 200 school buildings. P.S. 195 in Manhattan Beach and Bay Academy Junior High School were both under water. Others are still without power, or are acting as temporary shelters for hurricane victims. And, yet, classes across the city will resume on Monday for the first time since Hurricane Sandy struck.

Many schools, however, aren’t yet coming back online, and classes will be relocated. Students in these schools will not attend class on Monday, November 5, or Tuesday, November 6, but will attend class at their new temporary location on Wednesday, November 7. Teachers and staff should report to their new temporary location on Monday, November 5, at their regular start time.

The Department of Education has put together a website so that you can find the condition of your child’s school and determine if it will be open or closed, and, if relocated, where the host school will be.

One note: We found that P.S. 195 in Manhattan Beach is listed as open and students are expected in class on Monday. As one of the worst hit schools in the area, we find this hard to believe, and are awaiting confirmation from the city. If your child is a student at P.S. 195, please check this space later.

UPDATE (6:30 p.m.): The Education Department confirms that P.S. 195 will be open tomorrow.

Kingsborough Community College. Photo by Erica Sherman

A year after topping the list of best community colleges in implementing technology, Kingsborough Community College, 2001 Oriental Boulevard, again earned high honors, finishing third overall for large colleges (10,000 students or more), according to the 2012 Digital Community Colleges Survey.

According to Before It’s News:

“Survey questions and criteria examined and scored areas of digital and emerging technologies, such as use of mobile devices and technology integration into curriculum; strategic planning and data management; and delivery models and professional development, including availability of technology tools and training for faculty and students.”

In Government Tech’s breakdown of the rankings, Kingsborough Community College, which has more than 38,000 students, was one of three overall winners from the state of New York, with Virginia leading all states with 10 community colleges cracking the list.

Congratulations are in order for Farhat Sikder, a Class of 2012 Edward R. Murrow High School student, whose painting, “Train Ride” was selected by the Department of Education in ART.WRITE.NOW.DC, a special exhibition of national award-winning work from the 2012 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards.

Farhat’s beautiful painting will hang in the main lobby of the DOE building along with 63 other works deemed examples of the very best creative works by the country’s young artists.

Farhat’s painting also had the honor of winning a national medal at the 2012 Scholastic Awards. Currently Farhat is starting her freshmen year at Pratt Institute.

Captain Chell addresses Amity’s students (Source: Brooklyn Amity School)

Students at Brooklyn Amity School (3867 Shore Parkway) got a visit from Johnny Law last week when the 61st Precinct’s Captain John Chell came by to talk about his life as a police officer.

The NYPD veteran gave a speech about his duties, covering a wide range of topics from how much sleep he gets, his reaction and involvement in the 9/11 tragedy, and even answering questions about having to use his gun in his pursuit of the bad guys.

However, it was Chell’s opinion of donuts, as reported by the school’s own website, that the kids (and Sheepshead Bites’ writers) found most interesting:

When the question and answer session was over, one of the middle school students started to cry softly. When the Chief called on him and asked him why he was crying, he said because he had a question. The officer seemed heartbroken and nicely asked him to ask his question. The child very seriously wanted to know if the Chief always eats donuts. This question came very unexpectedly and brought laughter from the grown ups, including Chief Chell himself. He told the curious student that he loves donuts and asked in return if he likes donuts too. The student, still hiccupping with tears, answered yes, and Chief Chell smiled and said that they are on the same page then.

Rest easy, little Jimmy; yes, cops love donuts, so do the rest of us, and that’s what makes America great.

Source: KF via Wikimedia Commons

Last year, after several high profile SAT student cheating scandals came to light, the College Board – fearful of a repeat performance – tightened its security measures. Unfortunately, it was to the detriment of several students scheduled to take the test at Edward R. Murrow High School, where many students were turned away from taking the test.

According to Gothamist, part of the board’s new security measures involve the showing of identification when arriving at a testing facility, returning from a break and handing in the finished test. Prior to the scandal, students could leave for a bathroom break without any ID verification.

This year, security staff administering the new regulations, turned away several students at Murrow, 1600 Avenue L, creating confusion and disappointment for the students.

Midwood High School senior Prianka Zaman took the test at Murrow. While she did not have any issues, she witnessed a classmate of hers, after not being allowed to take the test, in tears even though she had her ID and admission ticket ready.

Here’s what Zaman had to say:

She was prevented admission to the test because her school ID was faded even though she had a clear photo of herself on her admission ticket. A few minutes later, I saw another student walk out of the school because she was also denied entrance.

Another friend of mine had a faded school ID, but he had another ID from a volunteer organization with his picture on it. They didn’t accept it because it wasn’t a state issued ID. He called his mom, who frantically came to the school with his birth certificate. They still didn’t let him in.

After my test, I left the school and saw one of my friends sitting in the bench outside. Guess what? She was also denied entrance. They told her that her school ID picture was too faded and she would have to reschedule the test.

One student, who was not allowed entry, turned to desperate measures. He asked his mother to show up with his birth certificate. According to what security told them, this was not a valid form of ID either.

“I had a second ID from volunteering and they still said no because it wasn’t government issued. Then my mom got frustrated so she came with my birth certificate,” he said, “and they still wouldn’t let me in. Seriously, not even a birth certificate is valid? So now I have 2 IDs, my mother and a birth certificate. Honestly, use your common sense! Now I have to pay a $26 fee on top of the $50 fee to take it in November. The whole SAT process is messed up and stressful!”

The overzealous security did nothing to quell the anxieties of students who prepared for the SATs months in advance. For those who are applying for early admission would be unable to gain acceptance since taking the following SAT would make them miss the deadline.

“I understand that they are trying to give everyone a fair chance, especially after the recent cheating scandals. But this is just taking it too far,” concluded Zaman.