DOE allegedly wants to build on Newtown HS athletic field

From Change.org:

The NYCDOE has proposed a plan to build a Pre-K school on one side of our Newtown Field.We cannot allow the department of education to take away a place where young people go to participate in sports and a place where young people learn the value of leadership, character, and school culture. Newtown High School is an entry point for students from all around the world. These students are entitled to use their own field. If a new Pre-K is built, we will lose our tennis courts, handball courts, part of our track field and possibly the field house. Our field is currently utilized by the PSAL for various events, Newtown students would no longer be able to participate in such events, because losing a part of our field would result in losing some of our teams and facilities. Once these facilities and teams are lost, they will not be replaced, thereby denying all future generations usage of their very own field. Please sign our petition and help us in tell the Department of Education that Newtown High School needs its field for current students and future generations.

Someone took "Stars and Stripes Forever" a little too literally

Not sure if this is some kind of political statement or if the groundskeeper is just too lazy to replace the flag, but this beauty was spotted flying over the Newtown High School Athletic Field in Elmhurst.

LIRR fence fix needed

From the Times Newsweekly:

Children in Elmhurst have been taking advantage of a hole in a fence across nearby Long Island Rail Road (LIRR) tracks, according to a local resident—and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) has informed the Times Newsweekly that it is investigating the hazardous condition.

Elmhurst resident Paul Neuendorf, who lives near the fencing, contacted the Times Newsweekly regarding an 80-foot hole in the fence separating the south end of the street at 45th Avenue and 90th Street from the railroad tracks which he claims has existed since October 2012.

The tracks are part of the LIRR’s Port Washington branch; in fact, the old Elmhurst station, which closed in 1985, is two blocks west of the location.

“We have a chronic condition of kids running on the tracks,” Neuendorf stated.

He noted that those youngsters include students from Newtown High

-CONTINUED FROM PG. 1- School, located only a few blocks south of the location.

Neuendorf claimed that Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) representatives had been notified of the hole several times, yet the agency has yet to make repairs.

Schools...good and bad news

From the Daily News:

The Bloomberg administration has abandoned a controversial plan to close 10 struggling city high schools.

Just seven of 17 troubled high schools that the city tried to close this spring ended up on the chopping block in 2012 after many posted gains on city progress reports.

The city had sought to close the schools this summer and immediately reopen them with new instructors, a turnaround plan the teachers union opposed in court.

A court battle that lasted six months, ending with a judge’s ruling in the union’s favor. Now it appears the city has reversed plans to close 10 of those schools.

Students and teachers were thrilled at schools that were spared the axe.

Newtown High School in Queens also jumped from a C to a B on its progress report this year and made it off of the city’s hit list.

From NY 1:

Eleven days after Hurricane Sandy, the Rockaway Beach neighborhood around Scholars' Academy was like no-man's land. Residents fled, leaving behind downed wires, waterlogged debris and sand soaked with heating oil.

But the doors to the school building were open, similar to what we saw at other damaged schools across the city. Contracted crews moved in and out, pumping, repairing and decontaminating, all to get students back as soon as possible.

Yet at some point, school officials say someone must have entered the building and exited with about $100,000 worth of stolen equipment.

"We discovered that approximately 90 iPads were stolen and six to 10 iMacs," said Brian O'Connell, the principal of Scholars' Academy.

It wasn't just pricey tablets and computers. Also reported missing were two automated external defibrillators, each estimated to be worth about $1,600.

This was not an isolated incident. The New York City Department of Education says 30 schools have reported looting so far. Among the items missing include cameras, calculators and a projector.

Officials say they don't yet know the overall value, but there is no insurance to cover it.

High schools to close and reopen

From the Daily News:

The future of eight large Queens high schools — and the hundreds of educators who work there — are in jeopardy as the city plans to overhaul the struggling institutions.

The schools could lose up to half of their staff and receive a new principal and name this fall after the city and teachers union failed to reach an agreement on teacher evaluations.

The move could help the city get up to $60 million in federal funds.

Kathy Carlson, president of the Parents Association at Grover Cleveland High School, in Ridgewood, blames the school’s poor graduation rate on its large number of students who aren’t fluent in English — and therefore take longer to finish high school.

Other Queens schools facing a turn-around include Flushing High School; Long Island City High School; William Cullen Bryant High School, in Long Island City; John Adams High School, in Ozone Park; Newtown High School, in Elmhurst; and Richmond Hill High School.

Queens: Vibrant, diverse and full of dropouts!

High schools on chopping block to stay open

From the NY Times:

There was a sense of relief at nine low-performing city high schools on Thursday as the city’s Department of Education announced they would not be closed next year. The decisions came after months of uncertainty about the schools’ future.

But with the relief came concern and confusion over what exactly would happen to the schools, which instead will go through a federal process known as the restart model, which has not been tried before in New York City.

Each of the nine schools is eligible to receive up to $6 million over three years to transform its lower-than-average graduation rate into an educational success story. But to qualify for the money, the city has to contract with outside organizations to see if they can do a better job managing the school than the city did.

That raises a host of questions about how much authority these organizations, nonprofit groups that will be called educational partnership organizations, will have to lead the schools.

The schools that were announced on Thursday for restart include Herbert H. Lehman High School in the Bronx; John Dewey High School in Brooklyn; and Richmond Hill High School, John Adams High School and Newtown High School in Queens.

Newtown students protest closure

From the Queens Tribune:

With the Dept. of Education eyeing their school for possible closure, dozens of students from Newtown High School in Elmhurst implored Black Friday shoppers at Queens Center Mall, only a few blocks from the school, to help save their 113-year-old home.

"Where will we go?" asked one student, standing in front of the mall entrance, handing out flyers. Another group of students stood along 57th Avenue in front of the Newtown athletic fields, the iconic green cupola of the school in the background.

Another student, who said she immigrated to Elmhurst from Ecuador only a year before attending Newtown, was concerned about others like her. Because of Newtown, she said, she was able to learn English and plans to attend college. "What will others who were in my position do?" she asked.

The flyers asked passers-by to contact the school's DOE representative, demanding the school remain open.

"What a shame," said one woman looking at the flyers. She promised the students her help.

The DOE pondered closing the school earlier this year after it received a "C" on a 2009 progress report, and the school's graduation rate slipped to around 50 percent.

Students, parents and school officials say the problem is not with the school, but rather with statewide standards, which do not work for Newtown High School, where 40 percent of students were recently-arrived immigrants, most of whom do not speak fluent English. Though many high schools will not accept teenage immigrants who are not English-proficient, Newtown does, and though these students do not graduate on time, they do eventually. That, according to the school's administration, is what affects the graduation rate.

Kids flee schools on closure list

From the Daily News:

Overcowding in some of Queens' large, generalized high schools appears to be up this fall - and the culprit could be the borough's high number of struggling schools.

Parents are pulling students out of schools that the city and state have identified as failing, local leaders and parents said. And those students are now exacerbating overcrowding in nearby high schools, they said.

City officials were quick to point out that there was no data to support this claim.

Let's not use common sense, but instead rely on "data".

Stabbing at Newtown High School

From Fox 5:

At least one person has been stabbed at Newtown High School in Queens.

Fire officials say emergency crews are on the scene at 48-01 90th Street in the Corona neighborhood.

According to the school's website , more than 4,000 students attend the public high school.

Details are still coming into MyFoxNY.com.

Vibrant and diverse high school!

From Queens Rules:

...this school is situated in Elmhurst, the most multicultural zip code in the United States, according to the Department of City Planning. Newtown has more than 3000 students who represent over 100 countries and speak 60 different languages.

“Newtown is a typical United Nations,” explained Mary Wang, an associate principal at the school. Facing a wall map of the world in her office, she described how this internationalization helps her wards adapt to an increasingly globalized world.

That's all well and good. But would you want to send your kid to this school?

To be sure, Newtown has had its share of tensions. Students say some classmates belong to gangs and occasional fights break out.

Only one line about this, eh?

Newtown High School & the '39 World's Fair

Olde Elmhurst has a nice aerial shot. What an amazing view during an amazing era.