58 THE QUEENS COURIER • BUZZ • MAY 2, 2013 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com Program ends after funding dries up BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO [email protected] For students at the Queens Centers For Progress’ Apple Tree Nursery School, a little bit of exercise and concentration can go a long way. But due to a lack of funding, the program that helped move these children has come to a grinding halt. On Thursday, April 25, Lauren Kahn’s pre-school class sat together for its last session with Ruth Finkelstein, a certifi ed yoga instructor and social worker. “This has given them the experience they won’t have at home,” said Kahn. “No matter your disability, everybody could participate on their own level.” The three-year-old yoga program’s funding from a private foundation grant will run out at the end of the school year. Nancy Glass, director of children’s services at Apple Tree, hopes to fi nd other funds to continue the popular class. “It’s a wonderful program,” said Glass. “The children respond very positively to it. It has adapted to each child’s physical ability.” Apple Tree offers nursery school and pre-kindergarten classes to children with and without developmental disabilities. During her time at the school, Finkelstein worked with Apple Tree students who have partial to total lack of movement and various mental Lauren Kahn’s pre-school class get ready to say good-bye to their beloved yoga program. disabilities. She also worked with the students’ speech, occupational and physical therapists to cater yoga methods to students’ individual needs. The courses were divided into sections focusing on breathing, movement and song. Along with getting the students to move, the yoga program provided a relaxing time that allowed them to focus the rest of the day and take directions from others. “This is very important because it teaches them structure and eye-hand coordination,” said Finkelstein. “It’s really special. I found that all the children loved it.” With the program coming to a close, Finkelstein will work at a children’s health clinic that is helping patients deal with obesity. Still, the yoga instructor hopes Apple Tree teachers, therapists and directors will find a way to continue the classes. “We made it work for them,” said Finkelstein. “I learned more from them than they ever learned from me.” Education task force takes on overcrowding BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO [email protected] The newly–formed District 21 education task force held is fi rst meeting to discuss concerns such as overcrowding. On Thursday, April 25, Councilmember Julissa Ferreras gathered with Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott, local educators, parents and education advocacy groups at the Langston Hughes Library for the inaugural meeting of the Educational and Overcrowding Improvement Task Force. It is designed to address key issues facing schools in the area. “With the help of Chancellor Walcott, the School Construction Authority and our community partners, I am happy to say that the task force is here,” Ferreras said. “Not only will it go far in improving communication between our schools and parents, but it will also develop solutions to address some of the longstanding issues our schools are facing.” Ferreras and elected offi cials shared details of several goals to improve overcrowding. The goals include more community and parental involvement in rezoning and actively considering capacity in planning for co-locating two or more schools in one building. Partners in the education task force include members of Community Education Council Districts 24 and 30, representatives from local schools and Parent-Teacher Associations. Although the fi rst meeting focused on overcrowding, future meetings to be held throughout the year will cover other topics. The ultimate goal is to come up with short- and long-term solutions. “I look forward to having many more meetings this year and tackling more issues in our schools, such as obesity, safety and after-school programming,” said Ferreras. DEEP CUT RALLY TO SAVE AFTER-SCHOOL PROGRAMS FOR MORE THAN 47,000 KIDS BY ANGY ALTAMIRANO [email protected] Come summer, 2,400 children in the borough will lose access to their mainstays outside of school. Offi cials have told the Queens Community House at J.H.S. 190 and the Samuel Field Y at M.S. 158 that due to budget cuts, they must close their doors on July 1. “The constant attacks on day care and after-school programs have to stop,” said Councilmember Donovan Richards. “Every time a new budget is proposed, the children are the fi rst to suffer.” Elected offi cials rallied together with parents, kids and the Campaign for Children on Wednesday, April 24 against $130 million in citywide cuts to after-school and child care programs proposed by Mayor Michael Bloomberg. The cuts are poised to affect more than 47,000 children total. “Children are so important to us,” said Borough President Helen Marshall. “The world is theirs. We want these centers to stay opened.” Those gathered on the steps of Borough Hall urged Bloomberg to fully fund the programs in his Executive Budget, which is expected to come out this month. If the cuts are not reversed, thousands of children will lose access to the programs, which advocates say “provide critical educational opportunities.” “I hope they get the mayor to stop from cutting our program because after-school really works,” said Jordon Taylor, 12, a student at P.S./I.S. 116 Q. “Without it I’ll just go home, do homework and it’ll just be boring.” Cutting the programs will also mean parents have to fi nd a safe place for their children while the mothers and fathers work. “All working parents need a trustworthy place for their children,” said Marisol Pagan, a single mom who works full-time and relies on an after-school program at P.S. 50 for her fi rst grader son. “Without after-school, where will my child go while I am at work? For families in need, these services help us stay out of poverty and reach our goals.” “If we love our children, we should fi nd programs for them,” said Councilmember Jimmy Van Bramer. “We should never propose to cut the programs that help educate children. We need to do more after-school, not less.” READING, WRITING, HEALTH Flushing school fi rst to offer all-vegetarian menu BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA path,” Schools Chancellor Dennis [email protected] Walcott said. A Flushing public school is the fi rst The menu includes roasted chickpeas, in the city to serve an all-vegetarian braised black beans with plantains, menu every school day. tofu vegetable wraps with P.S. 244, the Active Learning cucumber salad, vegetarian chili Elementary School, is also one of the with brown rice, falafel and roasted fi rst public schools in the country to tofu with Asian sesame sauce, the do so, according to the Department of DOE said. Education (DOE). “We created P.S. 244 based on “I am proud of the students and a principle of a healthy lifestyle staff for trailblazing this extraordinary and academic achievement,” said Principal Robert Groff, one of the school’s founders. “We discovered early on that our kids were gravitating toward our vegetarian offerings, and we kept expanding the program to meet the demand. The vegetarian menu fits right in with our mission and we are thrilled that our students in pre-kindergarten all the way up to grade three understand the importance of healthy and nutritious meals.”
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