The Blaz still has 348 days to fail even more

 

NY Post In 2014, Mayor Bill de Blasio was swept into office after promising voters he’d put an end to “income inequality” that created a “Tale of two Cities” across the five boroughs.

As the lame duck completes the final year of what’s been a rocky two-term mayoralty, critics say he’s not only failed to deliver his central pledge but is on pace to renege on a plethora of other promises before leaving office.

“When it comes to lying, Mayor de Blasio would give Pinocchio a run for his money,” quipped Councilman Robert Holden, a Queens Democrat.

While Hizzoner has delivered on some key promises — including bringing universal pre-K to city schools, expanding paid sick-leave benefits, and reducing stop-and-frisk policing – he’s failed to make headway on much of his progressive agenda and stands to leave City Hall with few legacy projects to show for it.

 Uh oh, looks like the NY Post was premature in praising The Blaz for pre-k:

NY Post

The Department of Education has canceled 105 community pre-kindergarten schools that applied to continue programs this fall, The Post has learned.

That’s 11 percent of the 997 current sites serving families citywide.

The Brooklyn Archdiocese, which will be forced to close pre-K programs at three Catholic schools in Queens and two in Brooklyn, sent a letter to Mayor de Blasio and Chancellor Richard Carranza last week protesting the decisions.

 “It is inconceivable that successful, long-term programs hang in the balance and that families will once again have to try to find suitable options for their children” wrote schools Superintendent Thomas Chadzutko.

The city’s $1 billion-plus universal pre-K program, free to all parents, is considered de Blasio’s signature achievement.  

DOE letters rejecting the applications do not specify reasons, saying only: “Your proposed site location was not selected because the need for services in this area was met by proposals that received higher quality scores.”

The diocese has received no response to its appeals and requests for a more thorough evaluation, Chadzutko wrote.

 

 

Lead is still a persistent problem in Queens public schools

Jackson Heights Post


Classrooms in nearly 50 different elementary schools in Queens tested positive for lead, according to new data released by the Department of Education Wednesday night.

Inspectors hired by the DOE found lead-based paint in 48 borough schools where children below the age of six study, according to the data. Many of the schools have multiple classrooms where peeling lead paint was found.

 In total, the department inspected 797 school buildings across the city built prior to 1985 that house students younger than six years old. More than a third of the pre-K and kindergarten buildings, 302 schools, tested positive for lead, according to Chalkbeat.

Deteriorating lead paint is especially dangerous to young children who may breathe in lead dust or swallow paint chips. According to the CDC, lead poisoning can cause damage to the brain and nervous system, learning and behavioral problems, slowed growth and development and hearing and/or speech issues.

Department of Education decides to put a Pre-K school under a fitness club on a busy boulevard

Queens Chronicle

 
Construction on the street-level space beneath Planet Fitness began several weeks ago and stirred intense interest — and not a few rumors — in Howard Beach.

The city’s Department of Education last week confirmed that the store-front is being converted into three classrooms for pre-K students, ages 4 and 5, under a contract with the building’s new owners, Manhattan-based Gindi Capital.

The new school will accommodate 45 children starting next September, a DOE spokeswoman said.
The opening of the new school raises questions about how it will be able to guarantee the safety of kids on busy Cross Bay Boulevard during drop-off and pickup times.

As well, how will the kids fare with the noise from a busy gym directly overhead?

“I’m not convinced this was the right place,” said Joann Ariola, head of the Howard Beach Lindenwood Civic Association. “I’m worried about parents triple parked on Cross Bay and meanwhile cars are all stacked up behind them.”

3-K operators are not all OK

From the Daily News:

Private preschools hired for Mayor de Blasio’s 3-K for All classes have racked up dozens of health violations for a variety of offenses, city records show.

All but one of the 13 private operators hired by the city to offer preschool lessons under de Blasio’s signature second-term education initiative have been hit with violations over the last three years. They include failing to conduct background checks, putting sick workers on the job with kids and failing to supervise children.

In total, the dozen operators had 72 violations and all have been corrected. But activists and parents said they’re still nervous that kids aren’t safe.

DeBlasio campaign promise: free pre-K for 3-year olds

From PIX11:

Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a plan to expand his pre-K initiative to include 3-year-olds for fall of 2017. His Pre-K for All program launched in 2014 after state legislators allocated budget funds for 4-year-old children to attend pre-K.

“We are doubling down with free, full-day, high-quality 3-K for all for our three-year-olds,” said Mayor de Blasio. “This extra year of education will provide our children with a level of academic and social development that they cannot get later on.”

De Blasio hopes to launch a pilot this year at a cost of $36 million. That cost will more than quadruple to $177 million by 2021 when the program goes citywide. Meeting that goal will require funding assistance from the state and federal government.

New pre-K costs $6.5M

From CBS 2:

New York City is defending the big cost of renovating a Brooklyn storefront school for 20 pre-kindergarten kids.

CBS2’s Tony Aiello reported the city is shelling out $6.5 million for the Bay Ridge facility that’s a former retail space.

Mike Reilly, a public school parent who serves on his local community education council, applauds Mayor Bill de Blasio for enacting universal pre-k. However, he fears money was wasted in the rush to implement it, while schools such as PS-37 – which serves special needs students – wait years for needed improvements.

“This is something that he’s going to hang his hat on. That’s what it’s about. He wants to make sure that this is done, but by the same token he shouldn’t be putting things to the wayside,” Reilly said.

The Department of Education, though, isn’t blinking an eye over the price tag.

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.

So much for universal pre-K

From Capital New York:

With just over a week to go before the first day of school, New York City is closing seven pre-kindergarten sites because of contractual issues, construction problems and recently identified health violations, a de Blasio administration official said Tuesday.

The closures will affect 175 families, all of whom were notified late last week or over the weekend, the official said. The administration has matched 127 of the affected children with new sites and expects to place more over the next week. Pre-K classes begin Sept. 9.

The seven sites are part of four separate programs.

Muslim America Da Al-Dawah in Queens and Elite Kids Service in Brooklyn are each shuttering one site; B'Above in the Bronx is closing two sites and New Covenant Christian Schools in the Bronx is closing three of its sites.

Details about the closings were not provided.

Most Precious Blood to become pre-k center

From the Queens Courier:

The site of the former Most Precious Blood Catholic School, which closed its doors in June after 58 years of serving the Astoria community, will now be used as a pre-K center, according to the Department of Education.

Students and parents at the school located at 35-32 37th St. found out in January that the school would be closing at the end of the school year due to drops in enrollment and the need for costly structural repairs. Even though parents and students rallied to keep the school open, the institution shut down.

However, according to the DOE, which has since leased the building, the site will still be used for educational purposes and there are no plans to change the use of the building.

Pre-K taking up already-used school space

From the Times Ledger:

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s call for universal, full-day pre-kindergarten demands 17,000 new seats citywide by fall, which is causing some head butting with Queens communities, where the greatest portion of new seats is needed.

The mayor’s office has cited studies in its push for “Universal Pre-K for All,” showing that students enrolled in full-day pre-K are better prepared for kindergarten, and score better in math, language and reading.

But to make room for so many new full-day seats, the city is reaching beyond just those new pre-K programs that apply. The DOE selected three public schools in Queens to house new pre-K programs: PS 58 School of Heroes in Maspeth; Winchester PS 18 in Queens Village; and PS 100 Glen Morris in South Ozone Park.

The city has also planned temporary pre-kindergarten classes at five public schools in District 30, which covers Long Island City, Jackson Heights and Astoria as plans develop for a new stand-alone pre-K center to house those seats in later years.

The DOE has been reluctant to describe these locations as “co-locations,” for which an approval process is required, because the pre-K classes don’t really change the use of the public school buildings.

But some of the buildings might be giving up classroom or administrative space to be outfitted for the use of 4-year-old kids. The state-mandated PEP process for instances when two or more schools share a building requires applicants to inform the district community about the plans, gather public input and to gain approval from the Panel for Educational Policy. It’s about a six-month process.

District 30 CEC President Jeffrey Guyton said mayoral priorities have pushed the pre-K expansion on families without any community input, and he cited the bypassing of co-location requirements as a good example.

Pre-K done backwards

From the Observer:

Mayor Bill de Blasio held a press conference today to announce that nearly 22,000 families had signed up for universal pre-kindergarten on the first registration day—but had to confess that his administration had yet to find all the space it wants, or to vet contracts with all the necessary providers with the comptroller’s office.

Convening with top Manhattan elected officials at the Boys and Girls Harbor program in East Harlem, Mr. de Blasio trumpeted that his flagship initiative had attracted 21,938 applicants through yesterday, up from roughly 6,500 last year. The mayor, joined by Deputy Mayor for Education Richard Buery, said the program would increase by almost 20,000—from roughly 53,000 to 70,000—and add 18,000 new seats, even though it still was working to find locations for pre-K programs across the city.

“Do we have all the space we’re looking for? No. We’re still looking. We have a lot of space, but we’re continuing to look for space,” he said.

Can't get a pre-K seat in District 24

From DNA Info:

The Department of Education is short "hundreds" of universal pre-k seats for the next school year in Corona and Jackson Heights and has asked a local politician for help in finding space, she said.

Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras said in her State of the District speech on Feb. 18 that the DOE needed to find space for hundreds of kids who will start universal pre-k in September.

She urged "non-traditional" spaces and nonprofits to come forward if they have accommodations that can be made available for the program.

District 24, which encompasses parts of Corona, Elmhurst, Ridgewood and Middle Village, is the most overcrowded in the city.

Last June, 70 percent of applicants in the district were denied their first choice of programs and kids were waitlisted for other programs as more seats opened up.

Safety of pre-K kids in question

From the NY Post:

Mayor de Blasio’s frenzied push to expand pre-K programs has had dangerous consequences — hundreds of serious violations at unprepared centers since the start of the school year, including at least 78 for hazardous infractions that have still not been remedied, a Post review found.

The most alarming violations were cited at three centers that failed to report significant issues to the Department of Health — allegations of child abuse, the arrest of a staff member or an injury to a child — within 24 hours, as the oversight agency mandates.

And dozens of additional centers failed to conduct required security-clearance checks on their workers, according to DOH records, which show that at least 22 of the programs have not yet done so.

Experts said de Blasio’s pre-K cheerleading could be behind the rash of violations, which include failure to provide “competent” oversight of kids, not properly maintaining fire extinguishers and not having metal guards on windows to prevent a child from falling.

Pre-K programs cancelled right before they were to start

From the NY Times:

Nine private programs that were to offer free, city-financed prekindergarten this year will not open because of safety concerns or other issues, and 36 programs will not be ready to open on Thursday, the first day of school, New York City officials announced on Tuesday.

Extending free, full-day prekindergarten to all 4-year-olds was Mayor Bill de Blasio’s signature campaign proposal and for him, much is riding on the program’s success. The 45 programs cited on Tuesday by the city represent a small percentage of the roughly 1,100 private sites that are scheduled to open on Thursday.

Over 50,000 children have been signed up for full-day prekindergarten programs this year, an increase of 30,000 from last year. The city plans to add 20,000 more seats next year.

About two-thirds of the seats are in private programs, which have undergone rigorous inspections by fire and health officials and employees of the Education Department. The city had said that if sites still had serious health violations or other problems by now, they would not open, but Tuesday was the first time that the city said that some programs would not open at all.

The nine sites would have served 265 students. The Education Department was helping parents at those programs find other places to send their children and had re-enrolled 83 students so far.

Apparently some of the programs are under DOI investigation.

Pre-K certification not going well

From Crains:

City Comptroller Scott Stringer said Wednesday that New York City is far behind schedule in submitting contracts with pre-kindergarten providers, which he says raises possible safety problems with some of the sites slated to be used for Mayor Bill de Blasio's signature program.

Mr. Stringer said that only 141 of more than 500 contracts have been submitted to his office even though school starts in just eight days for 50,000 students in the city's significantly expanded pre-K program. He said failure to provide those contracts to his office—which is required to review all city contracts—is preventing his team from doing safety checks.

"It is risky to be launching a program like this without the proper review," said Mr. Stringer in an interview. "Not getting the contracts means we can't do our due diligence."

"We can't sacrifice safety for expediency," he said.

Officials in the comptroller's office said they have found serious safety issues with a few of the vendors whose contracts they have inspected, including one which employed a staffer who had been charged with conspiracy to commit child pornography.

The sites that do not have approved contracts will still open Sept. 4 even if the paperwork has yet to be submitted by then to the comptroller.

Pre-K in jeopardy

From Crains:

A dozen facilities providing services in the city's new universal prekindergarten program won't open on time if they don't fix serious health and safety violations.

City officials say Friday they'll temporarily enroll children in other pre-K schools if the offending centers can't pass inspections by Sept. 4's opening day.

Violations requiring immediate action include expired fire extinguisher inspections, improperly stored food and blocked exits. Individual Pre-K employees won't be allowed to work if their background checks are out of date.

Health Commissioner Mary Bassett says the city is working aggressively to make sure the more than 1,110 pre-K centers are safe before children are allowed in.

She says 21 facilities were able to remedy their serious violations in the last month and are now set to open on time.

DeBlasio finally chooses DOB Commissioner

From the Observer:

Mr. de Blasio announced that he was making Hunter College’s assistant vice president of facilities Rick Chandler commissioner of the Buildings Department...

The mayor said that Buildings is badly in need of a change both in its dealings with New Yorkers, and in its office atmosphere.

“We have to change the culture of the Buildings Department. There has to be a totally different sense of time and efficiency,” Mr. de Blasio said, blaming bureaucratic delays and excessive fines on internal attitudes among personnel at the agency.

Mr. Chandler was part of the Buildings Department teams that inspected structures surrounding Ground Zero following 9/11 and damaged buildings after Hurricane Sandy, and said he was up to the task of guiding the agency. He promised to cooperate with the mayor in his ambitious goals of creating and maintaining 200,000 units of affordable housing, and of refitting school buildings to accommodate universal pre-K–as well as helping everyday families with work on their homes and properties.

Timing is everything

From Crains:

Less than a month before Mayor Bill de Blasio struck a major contract agreement with the United Federation of Teachers, its parent union, the American Federation of Teachers, gave $350,000 to a nonprofit run by de Blasio advisers, which lobbies on behalf of the mayor's priorities, newly released records show.

The AFT's donation, on April 9, was the largest donation to the de Blasio-affiliated nonprofit, Campaign For One New York, since it was founded after the mayor was elected last November. Its timing raises questions about the ability of outside interests to advance their agendas before the city by supporting a nonprofit close to the mayor.

The group was formed to advance the mayor's signature social reform: universal prekindergarten. It was founded by Mr. de Blasio's campaign manager, and the pre-K campaign was run by consulting firms that worked on the mayor's political campaign. The AFT donation came after the state Legislature approved funding for pre-K in late March. The nonprofit is now transitioning to other areas of importance to the mayor, including signing up children for pre-K.

Less than a month after the $350,000 donation, the teachers union and the city struck a nine-year deal that included raises and retroactive pay for teachers while also promising future health care savings for the city.

A governmental spokesman for Mr. de Blasio said the AFT's hefty donation had no impact on the contract between the mayor and the city teachers' union.

Pre-K coming this way

From the Queens Chronicle:

The outcome of the May 29 vote that gave Mayor de Blasio 10,400 universal pre-K seats in September was never really in doubt; nevertheless, the mayor was jubilant the next day when he discussed passage of his signature initiative in Queens Village.

De Blasio, Public Advocate Letitia James and Deputy Mayor Richard Buery spoke excitedly on a visit to the A to Z Center Too, one of 204 community-based prekindergarten providers approved last week by the Panel on Educational Policy.

“This very location ... here in Queens is now available to parents for application starting right this minute; it’s happening as we speak,” de Blasio said after he toured the classrooms, met the staff and sat down to chat with some of his smallest constituents.

An estimated 4,500 seats will be in Queens, with Flushing and Jamaica slated for more than 500 apiece. De Blasio and Buery said the majority will be in low-income neighborhoods, where they said the availability of free, full-day pre-K will be a great benefit to working parents.

Why are the majority of seats in low-income neighborhoods? Does DeBlasio understand what the word "universal" actually means? Why are there not enough seats?

DeBlasio advocates for more free babysitting

From the Queens Courier:

Not enough of the city’s school four-year-olds are going to pre-kindergarten, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio announced in a new study, especially in Queens.

For Queens, this means that for every five applicants there is one Pre-K seat –- effectively leaving many tots without the early education the public advocate believes they need.

Two of the densest Queens school zones regarding applicants per seat are District 24, in the central and southwest parts of the borough, and District 26 in the northeast.

Only 20,000 of the city’s 68,000 eligible children get to go to Pre-K, according to de Blasio’s report. The public advocate has proposed a plan to allow all four-year-olds to go to Pre-K, along with after school programs between 3 and 6 p.m. for middle schoolers.