18 THE QUEENS COURIER • MARСH 12, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
DOE provides temporary space for SE
Queens Success Academy students
Carlotta Mohamed/QNS
Parent Osa Ekpeti (c.) with her three kids who
attend Success Academy South Jamaica protesting
for a new middle school at St. Alban’s Roy
Wilkins Park last September.
New York Jets star busted at LaGuardia with a gun: PAPD
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Jets defensive tackle Quinnen Williams
was arrested and charged with criminal
possession of a weapon aft er he tried to
board a fl ight at LaGuardia Airport while
allegedly carrying a gun on March 5.
A spokesman for the Port Authority
Police Department said Williams was
detained for possessing an unloaded
Glock 19 pistol around 9:15 p.m. at the
Delta check-in counter.
Williams had a permit for the pistol
issued in his home state of Alabama.
Williams was issued a desk summons for a
court appearance on March 25, according
to the Queens District Attorney’s offi ce.
Williams and his agent Nicole Lynn
were not available for comment but a
team spokesman said, “We have been in
contact with Quinnen Williams and are
fully aware of the situation. We will have
no additional comment as this is a pending
legal matter.”
Williams, 22, was the Jets fi rst-round
pick and the third player chosen overall
in last year’s draft , making him the highest
draft ed defensive player in team history.
As a rookie out of the University of
Alabama, Williams had 28 tackles and 2
½ sacks.
Th e defensive tackle is listed on the
team’s roster as 6-foot-3, 303 pounds. He
signed a four-year, $32.5 million contract
with the Jets.
It was not clear where Williams was
heading from LaGuardia Airport, according
to the PAPD spokesman.
Photo via Wikimedia
Jets defensive tackle Quinnen Willams was arrested at LaGuardia Airport for allegedly trying to
board a fl ight with a handgun Thursday night.
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Th e Department of Education is fi nally
granting two temporary co-locations for
227 fourth-grade Success Academy scholars
in southeast Queens entering middle
school next year.
Aft er three years of relentless advocacy
from Success Academy, the DOE has
agreed to off er a two-year co-location
for Success Academy Far Rockaway students
at their current building, M.S. 53.
Th e department will also propose a oneyear
co-location for additional students
from I.S. 238 Susan B. Anthony Academy
in Hollis.
Th e Panel for Educational Policy will
vote on the co-located sites during its
April 22 meeting.
“I fought tooth and nail for a school
for my son, and this morning I got
to tell him that he won’t have to leave
Success Academy next year,” said parent
Giselle Valiente-Sukh, whose son
attends Success Academy Far
Ro ckaway.
“Finally, it
really is
‘kids over
politics.’
I’m grateful
to all
the Success
Academy parents
who advocated
on behalf of
these scholars —
they deserve nothing
less than what is
guaranteed to students at district schools.”
Th e decision comes aft er thousands of
Success Academy parents, teachers and
scholars led a fi erce campaign demanding
Mayor Bill de Blasio to secure public
school seats. Without additional seats,
about 227 Success Academy students
would have been relocated to their zoned
school.
In November 2019, Success Academy
parents had rejected de Blasio’s proposal
of a small, aging Catholic school deeming
it “inadequate and not comparable to
Department of Education facilities.”
Th e building, which the city
claimed could house 500 students,
has about half the
square footage that district
school stu- dents are
provided, lacks
a gym o r
audit
or i -
u m ,
a n d
would
require millions of dollars of repairs to
be usable, according to Success Academy.
According to church offi cials, the previous
occupant, Our Lady’s Catholic
Academy, enrolled about 250 students.
Success scholars would outgrow the space
in a year.
Approximately 91 Success Academy
parents with hand-painted signs of “Kids
Over Politics” and “Time is Running
Out” attended a Queens Town
Hall on March 2 to press Schools
Chancellor, Richard Carranza, for a
permanent middle school.
“We are going to continue
to engage w i t h
Success
Academy on the long-term options,”
Carranza told parents at the meeting.
“We’re also ready to work with them
to secure a long-term plan for the
Rockaways, and we expect a proposal
later this week.”
Since then, no long-term plan has been
made, according to Success Academy.
While relieved to have a place for their
children next year, parents vowed to stay
the course until the city fulfi lled its legal
obligation.
“I am relieved and fi lled with so much
gratitude that our kids will not be forced
out of their schools,” said Jamaal Salah, a
father of a SA Far Rockaway second grader.
“Th is is a huge win for all our families
that did not know where to turn to or
if their child would even have a school
next year. It has been a long process,
but I’m thankful that we were able to
get through to the mayor.”
“However, the fi ght still continues!
In two years,
my daughter and
hundreds of
others won’t
have a middle
school
based on
the current
cond
i t i ons
— we
can’t let
the mayor
off the hook
until we have a
long-term, permanent
solution,” Salah added.
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