22 The Queens Courier • JUNE 6, 2013 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier. Weprin touts district’s superlative diversity BY LUKE TABET editorial@queenscourier.com Newly approved lines have made City Council District 23 the most ethnically diverse in all five boroughs, a lawmaker said. “If you were to travel with me on any given weekend, you might go to five different continents,” said Councilmember Mark Weprin, who represents the district. He said the claim is based on statistics from the 2010 census. Nearly 70 percent of the district is made up of minorities, many of them first- or secondgeneration immigrants. Weprin said almost 40 percent of the district is Asian, the largest single group. According to the nonprofit Asian Americans for Equality, 14 percent of the district is South Asian or Indian, 12 percent Chinese and 10 percent Korean. The district is 14 percent Hispanic, 15 percent Jewish and 15 percent white ethnic, a group that includes Italians, Greeks, Polish people, Irish “WE MIGHT BE THE MOST DIVERSE DISTRICT IN THE COUNTRY” Councilmember Mark Weprin and others. Weprin said representing such a diverse community is a source of pride, though it comes with unique challenges. “It is challenging in that you have to learn how to segue into a lot of different languages and cultural traditions,” he said. “We might be the most diverse district in the country, being that Queens is the most ethnically diverse county.” State sets up teacher evaluation plan for NYC BY CRISTABELLE TUMOLA ctumola@queenscourier.com After New York City was the only district in the state that failed to meet the deadline to approve a teacher and principal evaluation plan earlier this year — thus losing millions in education funding — the state released its own plan on June 1. “It’s time. The students have waited too long,” said State Education Commissioner John B. King Junior. The state’s plan “creates a multiple-measures evaluation system that’s fair for teachers and principals.” “There are strong measures to help remove ineffective teachers and principals, but let’s be clear: New York is not going to fire its way to academic success,” he added. Classroom observation will account for 60 percent of a teacher’s score in grades K-2 and 55 percent for teachers at every other level up to grade 12. The new regimen also includes a pilot period in which the latter group of teachers will have 5 percent of their evaluations based on student surveys. Test scores or other student performance assessments along with measures established by individual schools will account for the remaining 40 percent of all teachers’ evaluations. Teachers will be rated as highly effective, effective, developing or ineffective. For principals, most of their evaluations will be based on visits by their superintendent. The city failed to meet the deadline to set up an evaluation system due to disagreements between the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) and Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Both sides praised the state’s plan, albeit criticizing one another in their respective statements. “Commissioner King sided with the children on nearly every major point of disagreement that we had with the UFT’s leadership,” said Bloomberg. UFT President Michael Mulgrew took a similar tone. “New York City teachers will now have additional protections and opportunities to play a larger role in the development of the measures used to rate them,” he said. “Despite Mayor Bloomberg’s desire for a ‘gotcha’ system, as Commissioner King noted, New York City ‘is not going to fire its way to academic success.’” Parents of students at P.S. 159 in Bayside had mixed reactions to the new evaluation system. Some had reservations about having students rate their teachers. “I would say that the students shouldn’t have a say because some of them may not like the teacher,” said Brian Blainey. Some supported the plan, though. “It sounds fair,” said Chris, who declined to give a last name. “Teachers should be evaluated. People of all professions are evaluated, and in corporate America, if you’re performing poorly, you get let go.” With additional reporting by Johann Hamilton Obtain a FaSt DiVORCE in aS littlE aS 24 HOURS WE aRE HERE tO HElP! Visit us online or Call now! SERVinG tHE COMMUnitY FOR OVER 50 YEaRS! A leader in the fast divorce business has been Divorcefast.com of Massachusetts, a company that has been providing speedy, low-cost foreign divorces for 50 years. The company provides divorces that can be completed in as little as one day in Mexico, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and the U.S. offshore island of Guam. 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