36 The QUEE NS Courier • december 5, 2013 for breaking news visit www.queenscourier.com editorial letters THE QUEENS Victoria Schneps-Yunis Joshua A. Schneps Bob Brennan Tonia N. Cimino Amy Amato-Sanchez Nirmal Singh Graziella Zerilli Stephen Reina Ron Torina, Jennifer Decio, Cheryl Gallagher Melisa Chan, Liam La Guerre, Cristabelle Tumola Maggie Hayes, Angy Altamirano Cliff Kasden, Samantha Sohmer, Elizabeth Aloni Cristabelle Tumola Bill Krese Jan DiGeronimo Maria Romero Louise Cavaliere Celeste Alamin Maria Valencia Daphne Fortunate Victoria Schneps-Yunis Joshua A. Schneps Publisher & E ditor Co-Publisher Associate Publisher Editor-In-Chief VP, Events, Web & Social Media Art Director Assistant to Publisher Assistant Art Director Artists Staff Reporters Contributing Reporters Web Editor Editorial Cartoonist Director, Business Developm ent Events Manager Senior Acc ount Executive Classified Manager Controller Office Manager President & CEO Vice President Schneps Communications, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361 718-224-5863 • Fax 718-224-5441 website: www.queenscourier.com e-mail:[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Entire Contents Copyright 2013 by The Queens Courier All letters sent to THE QUEENS COURIER should be brief and are subject to condensing. Writers should include a full address and home and office telephone numbers, where available, as well as affiliation, indicating special interest. Anonymous letters are not printed. Name withheld on request. 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A political read on the pope I’m not a fan of organized religion but this new pope is “the man.” Pope Francis attacked the “idolatry of money” and beseeched politicians to guarantee all citizens “dignified work, education and healthcare.” He asked, “How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly homeless person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points?” He added, “As long as the problems of the poor are not radically resolved by rejecting the absolute autonomy of markets and financial speculation and by attacking the structural causes of inequality, no solution will be found for the world’s problems or, for that matter, to any problems.” And finally, “I beg the Lord to grant us more politicians who are genuinely disturbed by the state of society, the people, the lives of the poor.” I’m waiting for the GOP response to this. Robert La Rosa Whitestone How things have changed Some things can easily be measured quantitatively, and some things cannot. In baseball, for instance, without a doubt, three strikes and you are out. However the strikes and balls thrown at a batter are subjectively determined by an umpire. The umpire is trained and experienced to judge a strike from a ball thrown by the pitcher based on a somewhat specified, but not exactly defined perimeter boundary. In previous years, the procedure for classroom teacher evaluation was based on the supervision of a trained experienced supervisor who was either a principal, assistant principal or department chairman. These people were part of a school’s administration. It was his (or her) main function to oversee the teachers under his (or her) jurisdiction as to effectiveness and suitability, by periodically observing a teacher teaching. To help the teacher grow in effectiveness there were post observation meetings where the supervisor pointed out strengths and weaknesses in the teacher’s performance. As the drive to make education more like the business world increased, supervisors were burdened with more and more responsibility and paperwork aimed at measuring students and teachers quantitatively, rather than qualitatively. I can’t help thinking how a recent Dilbert cartoon (unknowingly) portrayed the evolution of the educational dilemma we are presently seeing in our schools. The manager (read supervisor) approaches his worker (read teacher) and says “How’s your creativity coming along?” The worker grudgingly says, “I don’t have any. Your management style makes me focus all of my energy on staying out of trouble.” Translated to today’s classrooms, teachers are induced to teach towards the (so called) standardized exams. Creativity is a thing of the past! Great amounts of time and effort are devoted by almost all parties involved to look good on the outcome of test results. Manipulating, even cheating, is not unheard of to try and achieve the ends of the very questionable means in place. Years ago you were taught by the teacher. Either you did your homework and your class work and interacted positively with the teacher, and got good grades, or you didn’t and you received a poor mark, maybe even a failing one. Dave Shlakman Howard Beach Teachers deserve fair contract It has now been nearly four years since the contract has expired and New York City public school teachers are still without a new, fair and decent contract. They are still working under the old one. Why isn’t UFT President Michael Mulgrew pushing very hard for a new contract for his members? The UFT and the DOE need to work on getting this serious issue resolved. All of the bickering in the media between Mr. Mulgrew and the DOE needs to stop, and the focus must be on working hard to secure a new contract for all of the hardworking and dedicated pedagogues in our city schools as soon as possible. That should be now! John Amato Fresh Meadows IDENTIFY THIS PLACE Go to www.queenscourier.com and search “Identify This Place” to find out where this is THE GOOD . . . Protecting our homes and infrastructure. More than a year after Superstorm Sandy all but decimated 3,000 homes in Howard Beach, Spring Creek and Jamaica Bay will undergo a multi-million dollar resiliency project that Governor Andrew Cuomo said will better protect homes and businesses. “Like several other communities located by the water, Howard Beach suffered incredible damage from storm surges during Sandy,” Cuomo said. “To strengthen Howard Beach against future flooding and storms, we are moving forward on a major project that improves the natural infrastructure along Spring Creek and the Jamaica Bay coast, with the approval of federal funding.” Roughly $50 million will go towards engineering, designing and executing this project, which will cover 150 acres. Excavation, re-contouring and re-vegetation will be implemented by the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to create a self-sustaining system of wave-dampening barriers intended to reduce storm damage. This is a smart investment in our borough and its homeowners, many of whom are still struggling to rebuild. Hopefully, with this plan and others like it in place, Sandy’s surge will soon be nothing more than a distant memory. THE UGLY . . . Two words: holiday tragedy. Our hearts go out to those whose loved ones were killed or injured this past weekend in the deadly Metro-North derailment. It especially hit home when we learned that one of the victims, Ahn Kisook, 35, was from Queens. Based on preliminary information from the train’s event recorders, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said the locomotive was traveling at approximately 82 mph as it entered the curve, which had a 30 mph speed limit. Speed was a contributing factor in the crash, but the NTSB said it did not know at this time if the accident was due to human or equipment error. Of the approximately 150 people aboard, 45 were treated on the scene or at the hospital and released, 26 remain hospitalized, and two women and two men were killed, said the MTA Police Department. The other deceased individuals are Donna L. Smith, 54, of Newburgh, N.Y.; James G. Lovell, 58, of Cold Spring, N.Y.; and James M. Ferrari, 59, of Montrose, N.Y. Kisook, a Woodside resident, arrived in the U.S. from Korea a year ago and was a nurse. What a shame that her American Dream was cut so short. In this time of grief and loss, we offer our prayers and hope that Metro- North uses the tragedy to enact safety regulations so that a tragedy of this magnitude never happens again.
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