SHEEPSHEAD BAY'S ONLY INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOG

Source: Wikimedia Commons

The Panel for Educational Policy, which has the final say on closing schools in New York City, voted last night to approve plans to phase out and ultimately shutter Sheepshead Bay High School and 21 other schools at the end of this semester.

Much like the closure hearing held earlier this month at Sheepshead Bay High School, opposition at last night’s meeting was thin compared to previous years.

The New York Post notes:

While hundreds of parents and teachers came to protest the move, the meeting wasn’t nearly as volatile as in past years, when thousands packed the auditorium and raucously taunted education officials.

… Before last night’s vote, far fewer elected officials spoke out than usual, the crowd thinned within hours, and even the head of the UFT sent his No. 2.

NY 1 reports that some of that scale down in opposition is because the UFT has “given up” on challenging Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s policies, and is now looking ahead to the new mayor. NY 1 reports:

This is the fourth year since a state law was revised to require that the panel votes on school closures, but since the majority of the panel is appointed by the mayor, the panel has approved every single one of the DOE’s proposals to date.

Of all of the DOE’s controversial policies, closing schools consistently generates the most vocal push back. Even if the outcome of the final vote is almost certainly assured, thousands of people show up to the meeting every year. Most are teachers, students or parents at the schools that are being closed, but the teachers’ union has also traditionally brought in hundreds of other members to speak out against the policy.

This year, the United Federation of Teachers has not organized a large protest for the first time. The union president said that he has given up trying to work with the current mayor to get anything done and is focused on the next mayor.

As many as 142 schools have been closed of phased out since Bloomberg took office in 2002.

In addition to closing Sheepshead Bay High School, the panel voted to approve the co-location of four new schools, including two charters, on the 3000 Avenue X premises. A “phase out” period in which no new ninth graders would be accepted to the school begins immediately. Current students would be allowed to graduate or transfer out over the next three years, and, beginning this September, a new public high school, two new charter high schools, and a district transfer high school would all be co-located in the same facility.

The charter high schools will both be managed by New Visions for Public Schools, a nonprofit that manages more than 70 schools across the five boroughs.

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

We reported in November that the New York Department of Education was once again looking to close Sheepshead Bay High School, including it on an “early engagement” list. This week, the school popped up on yet another list of low performing schools targeted for closure, according to an article in School Book.

The planned closing of Sheepshead Bay High has been fought for some time, and teachers and administrators have thus far been successful at keeping the school open despite mounting pressure from city officials. This time around, though, the DOE doesn’t appear to be pushing an immediate closure at the end of this school year, but “phasing out,” meaning no new students can enroll at the school.

According to School Book, the High School’s closing hasn’t shocked its staff:

Robin Kovat, a social studies and law teacher at Sheepshead Bay High School, said the announcement Monday did not surprise her.

“The D.O.E. has been trying to close us for nine years. They are finally succeeding. Even though we knew it was coming, it is still so sad,” Kovat said.

Sheepshead Bay was one of the high schools the city wanted to “turn around” this year. Despite a new principal and additional support systems, Kovat said one year was not enough time to demonstrate results.

“A lot of us put our hearts and souls into the school and into the kids and really know that we made a difference in their lives. You know, maybe the numbers aren’t reflecting that,” she said. “At the same time as our statistics are going down, we have rising stars. Seriously.”

Despite the disappointment from teachers and administrators, Deputy Chancellor Marc Sternberg and the DOE are taking a hard stance against struggling schools.

“We expect success,” he said in a statement. “After a rigorous review of academic performance, we’re proposing to phase out a select number of low-performing schools. We’ve listened to the community and provided comprehensive support services to these schools based on their needs. Ultimately, we know we can better serve our students and families with new options and a new start.”

UFT President Michael Mulgrew, though, called shenanigans on the idea that DOE provided comprehensive report, noting to School Book, “Large comprehensive schools like Lehman and Sheepshead Bay have been further undermined by DOE policies that led to increased concentrations of high-needs students, but with no increase in the services such students need.”

Source: Helena F. via Yelp

Maple Lanes, the beloved Bensonhurst bowling alley that has stood at 1570 60th Street for over four decades is due to close.

At the public hearing to discuss the status of the bowling alley and the proposed construction projects to be erected in its place, Borough President Marty Markowitz put forth several suggestions that would either keep the bowling alley open for a longer period of time or create a new bowling alley in a different location to take its place.

One such suggestion on the table deals with potential overcrowding of Shell Lanes at 1 Bouck Court in Gravesend, the only bowling alley left in the nearby area.

According to the notes from the hearing, Markowitz believes that when Maple Lanes closes, patrons may come to Shell Lanes to continue league tournaments and recreational bowling. However, Shell Lanes does not have any off-street parking to accommodate an influx of people.

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Source: Rita M.

Reader Rita M. has tipped us off again to the emergence of a new restaurant on Avenue X. The last restaurant to occupy 377 Avenue X, Rotisserie Heaven, seems to have shuttered its doors and been replaced by a gyro shop almost as soon as it opened – if it ever did open.

Just like Rita, we are also wondering if this new gyro shop will last longer than its predecessor. Only time, and the deliciousness of the gyros, will tell.

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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Photo by Lenny Markh

THE BITE: I like to eat where our readers send me. I’ve had some interesting recommendations in the past couple of years, but this is the first time I had a recommendation from a reader who also follows Serious Eats. Not only does he follow Serious Eats, he follows recipes from my friend and fellow food writer, James Boo.  This elusive reader has such high regards for the lowly scallion pancake, he actually makes them at home using James’ recipe.

This reader, who will remain anonymous at his request, highly recommended the scallion pancakes at New Star Restaurant (2212 Avenue X – between East 21 and East 22 Streets) which happens to be walking distance from my home.

Oddly, I had never been to this restaurant. Of course, I had to go.

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With the backdrop of Rockin’ Ray Fiore’s heartfelt mural on the handball courts of Bill Brown Park (Avenue X and Bedford Avenue), more than one hundred mourners, neighbors, firefighters from Ladder Co. 169, 61st Precinct officers and local EMS responders gathered last night to remember the lives lost on September 11, 2001.

But it wasn’t just a tribute to those who passed and the heroes of the day, it was a passing of the torch from the eclectic neighborhood character who maintains the memorial mural to his son, who is taking on the responsibility after his father’s move out of Brooklyn.

Fiore moved to Michigan recently, removing from the neighborhood his colorful hand-painted car and, perhaps, one of Brooklyn’s most ebullient sons. His son, Ray Fiore, Jr., took his place, and last night marked the 31-year-old’s first visit to the mural on September 11.

He brought fire engine red and royal blue paint to touch up any chips in the names, as his father does during the event and throughout the year, and he was asked to add two more names to the mural. He spent much of the memorial ceremony up close to the mural, working on it diligently throughout the night, but said he really felt the significance of it when he was able to take a step back and admire it.

Ray Jr. led the mourners in saying the Our Father, like his father had done in years past. A note was read from “Rockin’ Ray” that sent his love in his absence, and the song “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” was played in honor of him.

Read more about the event and view photos and video.

Chernova's (winning) tree bed

Forget the London Olympics, Sheepshead Bay is in the midst of its very own turf war.  The race to win 1 Million Trees’ “My Tree NYC: Beautiful Tree Bed Contest” pits local hero Julia Chernova versus Rob Hickman, from some place called “South Williamsburg” (is that a thing now?).

The contest ends August 3, with the winner taking home a Home Depot gift card ($100 for the grand prize), an official NYC Parks tree bed plaque displaying the category in which they won, recognition at a ceremony in Central Park and true neighborhood glory.

While there are several more contestants than just Hickman and Chernova, throughout the duration of the contest it’s been neck and neck for the two competitors. And Hickman has been sending out play-by-plays announcing the dramatic twists… and sparking a green-thumb war by saying it’s a battle of “South Williamsburg versus Sheepshead Bay.”

As of now, Chernova is in first place with 149 votes and Hickman is at 136.

If you’re not sure about Chernova’s qualifications, with the help of community members, she beautified her block - East 14th Street,  between Avenue X and Gravesend Neck Road – and, more recently, Gravesend Neck Road itself, by adding several over-sized flower pots growing shrubs and colorful flowers.

Her contest entry tree bed features two hand-painted signs in it. The signs were decorated by local kids who wanted to remind passers-by that they care about Earth and their block.

The tree bed showcases marigolds and green leafy plants, all planted by kids from around the way. Chernova and her green-thumbed youth went a few steps further by putting up a dispenser with  bags for dog poop, a self-designed tree guard that guides rainwater into the tree soil, and two solar-powered lights.

Clearly, there’s no contest. Chernova from Sheepshead Bay wins by about 12 miles.

Now, go vote and make your voice heard! You can vote once a day, so be sure to return back every day between now and August 3 so we can show Williamsburg who’s boss.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

A Sheepshead Bay High School teacher is speaking out about feeling pressured to “teach to the test,” saying that administrators from the soon-to-be Academy of Career Exploration of Sheepshead Bay threatened she raise the test scores of two failing students so they could graduate.

Erica Bloom, a 36-year-old geometry teacher who is, according to comments made about her on the Rate My Teachers website, mostly well-liked by her students, told the New York Post that she would receive a “3020” — a disciplinary warning in Department of Education (DOE)-speak — if she didn’t inflate the students’ geometry Regents exam scores from a failing 55 to a passing 65. The warning, she explained would “mean the removal of my license. So I lose my job, my insurance, my pension — everything, after 14 years.”

Bloom says new school Principal John O’Mahoney had insisted that all students take the Regents — and that their scores should count for 10 percent of their final grades.

One of the students notched a 53 on the test. The other failed to show up.

“A guidance counselor [for one student] came in and asked me to change his grade,” she said.

He was followed by the assistant principal “who came in and kept asking, ‘Why are you failing him?’ ”

Another asked about the second student.

“I was pressured by everybody,” she said.

She then went to O’Mahoney’s office but he refused to intervene. “He didn’t say a thing,” she said.

Margie Feinberg, spokeswoman for the DOE, said O’Mahoney did nothing wrong. “The principal acted properly,” she told the Post. “This was not an issue of changing grades.”

The two students graduated this past Friday.

“Bullet Points” is our new format for Community Board 15 meeting coverage, providing takeaways we think are important. Information in Bullet Points is meant only to be a quick summary, and some issues may be more deeply explored in future articles.

Boardmembers push to beautify Manhattan Beach, oppose aesthetic improvements at Knapp Street sewage plant: Parks Department’s Brooklyn Chief of Staff Martin Maher came before the Board last night to provide the community with updates on ongoing projects in the district – including at Bill Brown Park, Galapo Playground, Brigham Street Park and Emmons Avenue – but the presentation quickly turned to Manhattan Beach as members barraged Maher with questions and complaints (video above).

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