14 THE QUEENS COURIER • DECEMBER 19, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Borough President candidates want to bring more
equitable resources, desegregation to all schools
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
Th e six candidates for Queens Borough
president have distinct ways they want to
address the education issues the borough
currently faces — but they all agree that
in addition to building new schools, there
must be more resources distributed equally
throughout the districts.
Education was the main topic at a Dec.
10 forum, which was hosted by Astoria
and Long Island City nonprofi t Zone 126,
and moderated by NY1 reporter Rocco
Vertuccio.
About three dozen people sat in the
small theater space at the Variety Boys
and Girls Club to hear the candidates
— Councilmen Costa Constantinides,
Donovan Richards, and Jimmy Van
Bramer, Assemblywoman Alicia
Hyndman, former Councilwoman
Elizabeth Crowley, and retired President
of the Latino Officers Association
Anthony Miranda — address chronic
absenteeism, charter schools, equity,
diversity and inclusion, overcrowding as
well as students and families dealing with
temporary housing.
Vertuccio wasted no time in asking
how they would combat chronic absenteeism,
a national issue that’s aff ecting
many Queens schools at alarming rates.
Constantinides not only blamed the
amount of trailers in Queens for the high
rate of absences, but added that another
reason students are late to school or missing
class altogether is due to the transportation
system. He wants to have a
borough-wide transportation plan that,
“ensures we’re not getting what the MTA
gives us, but giving the MTA a list of
Queens demands to make it easier for our
families to get to school every day.”
Van Bramer said that he’s learned from
educators that a holistic approach to dealing
with chronic absenteeism is the best
way to address the issue, which includes
school representatives going to the home
of those students and talking to parents so
that they understand what’s at stake when
their child misses class.
He added that bullying can be another
reason students miss school.
“As a gay child, bullying, we know, is one
of the worst things that happens to children
in school that makes them a lot less
desiring to go to school,” Van Bramer said.
“It is absolutely critical that every school
community is safe, that we’re addressing
bullying and any other instances of violence
against children that might make
them less likely to go to school.”
When Vertuccio asked about charter
schools and mentioned how Success
Academy has a “limited presence in
Queens,” all of the candidates’ resounding
response was to focus their resources
to public schools that serve the whole
community.
Hyndman, a self-described parent
advocate, was adamant about the detrimental
eff ects that co-locating (or sharing
building space with another public
school) can have on students, citing
Success Academy’s current battle with
the city.
“We have four charters in the 29th
assembly district, of those charters two
are co-located and two have their own
building,” Hyndman said. “I know parents
want choice … but what I don’t agree with
is co-locations. In every school, in order
for them to thrive, and students and leadership
to feel like they’re being included,
they have to have buildings where they’re
standalone.”
Richards said he echoed Hyndman’s
views on co-locations, but supports community
charters.
“When you look at the disparities, and I
know that we’ve seen in district 29, where
a charter was housed in a public school,
the children who were in the public
school would feel inferior because the
technology would look better or the fl oors
would look better that housed the charter,”
Richards said.
He added that he’d also ensure that
every public school would get what they
deserve in terms of funding, regardless of
their zip code.
When Vertuccio asked how the candidates
plan to make schools more equitable
and diverse, the candidates had a
more varied approach to addressing those
issues.
Constantinides said he’d emphasize
STEM classes and fi ght to desegregate
schools; Hyndman talked about how she
got rid of zoned middle and high schools
when she served as president of the
Community District Education Council;
Crowley committed to appointing leaders
who “respect diversity, transparency
and equity;” Richards said he’d push for
a diverse curriculum and teacher pool;
and Van Bramer said that he’d give more
resources to public schools that serve students
who are homeless or living in temporary
housing.
Miranda, who sets himself apart
by being the only non-elected offi cial
in the race, focused his ideas overall
on strengthening Parent-Teacher
Associations, addressing overcrowding
and working with the community to fi x
years of other “wrongdoings.”
“Students perform better when the
school’s more diverse,” Miranda said.
“As a parent, we’re going to look for
whatever institution is available to us
that provides the best education and
opportunity. You can’t run from that.
When we have schools where we’re
housing 30 to 45 kids in one class
then we’re housing them, not educating
them.”
Although none of the candidates
argued that Queens doesn’t need more
schools, some did challenge the part
of Vertuccio’s question about underutilized
buildings in the borough.
“We absolutely need new school
buildings, we could use at least 10,000
high school seats in Queens and almost
15,000 additional elementary school
seats,” Crowley said. “So underutilized
schools are not happening in the district
that I served and is not happening
in much of Queens.”
Photo: Angelica Acevedo
Councilman Costa Constantinides, former Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley, NY1 Reporter Rocco Vertuccio, Councilman Donovan Richards, Zone
126 Managing Director Anju Rupchandani, Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, Zone 126 Executive Director Anthony Lopez, Anthony Miranda, and
Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman at the Queens Borough President Candidates Education Forum.
/WWW.QNS.COM
