TIMESLEDGER | QNS.COM | APRIL 1 - APRIL 7, 2022
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Schools Chancellor David Banks talks goals for District 26 in Queens
upon keeping the threshold
as is for the upcoming
school year before reviewing
it again. Banks revealed he
intends to grant more power
to superintendents and local
communities. The executive
superintendent role will be
eliminated, superintendents
will be granted a higher salary
and have greater resources
with which to work and
the community will have a
strong say in choosing their
superintendents.
“I need you and I see you
and I respect you,” Banks
said of the community.
When asked about overcrowding
in the district forcing
some kids to travel long
distances to schools, Banks
shared those concerns. He
said that the focus should be
on the geographic priorities
of students in the district,
though overcrowding has
made it more difficult. Additionally,
the chancellor said
that a lot of funding is currently
focused on building
more schools in Queens and
also pointed to remote learning
as another possible solution
to reducing overcrowding.
According to Banks,
“remote learning is here to
stay,” and said that it’s an opportunity
for some students
to get accelerated learning,
with the possibility of even
graduating early. This would
open up more space for students
at schools that would
otherwise be overcrowded. It
also presents opportunities
for students who may not be
able to make it to school with
the option to stay caught up
on their classes. Additionally,
students who are falling
behind in their classes
would have the necessary
resources available to try to
catch up.
BY ETHAN MARSHALL
NYC Schools Chancellor
David Banks outlined his
plans to improve the school
experience for students in
District 26, along with the
rest of Queens, during a virtual
town hall last week.
Banks discussed necessary
improvements in areas
including security workers,
admissions for gifted
programs, superintendents,
overcrowding schools and
virtual learning.
The meeting began with
comments from District
26 Community Education
Council (CEC) President Al
Suha, who said that the CEC
26 was the best performing
district in New York City, but
one that is also chronically
underfunded.
“Even though about half
of our students are economically
disadvantaged, District
26 is not eligible to receive
grants,” Suha said.
He criticized the previous
mayoral administration
for its lack of transparency
with the community, which
according to Suha, led the de
Blasio administration to “reduce
underrepresentation by
lowering mission standards
and playing shell gains with
our children in so-called
diversity initiatives. He essentially
created a zero-sum
game which pitted segments
of the community against
each other, and by doing so
the previous mayor alienated
our families.”
As a result, Suha said that
many families left the public
school system. He added that
the CEC wants the chancellor
to expand screening for
middle and high school seats
and increase capacity for a
large high school in Queens.
A high school student
who attended the meeting
expressed concerns about an
increase in fights among students,
which Banks said was
due to the district’s current
shortage of school safety officers
responsible for stopping
these fights.
Banks said there would
be a class of school safety
agents graduating Thursday
and while they would put
to work as soon as possible,
the class isn’t large enough
to cover the entire school
system. Additionally, Banks
pointed out the time it takes
to train these officers.
“The challenge is that
even with school safety officers
it takes they have to go
through 17 weeks of training,
so we can’t identify some
people and just put them in
schools,” Banks said.
Banks also expressed
his belief that violence in
schools usually stems from
violence outside the schools.
“We have issues of violence
happening all over the
community,” Banks said.
The chancellor said that
many of the students who
were caught bringing weapons
to school said they were
doing so in order to protect
themselves within their own
communities.
When asked how he intended
to address the lowered
threshold for the admissions
process to gifted high
schools under the previous
mayoral administration,
Banks said that this hot button
was a difficult decision
and required listening to
both sides of the argument.
Ultimately, Banks decided
Chancellor David Banks QNS file photo
/QNS.COM
