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QUEENS WEEKLY, FEBRUARY 9, 2020
BY JENNA BAGCAL
Schools Chancellor
Richard Carranza issued
an apology to District 26
parents at a Panel for Education
Policy (PEP) meeting
last week.
His mea culpa came
nearly two weeks after the
notorious Jan. 16 meeting
and pushback from elected
officials and parents. At the
Jan. 29 PEP meeting in Manhattan,
Carranza promised
to personally meet with the
M.S. 158 parents in Bayside
who had come forward with
allegations of sexual assault
and physical violence
against their children.
“I, in no way, shape or
form want to show any disrespect
to any parent that
wants to be heard and I apologize
because as a parent
myself, I can only imagine
the pain parents are feeling
when their children have
been hurt,” Carranza said.
He reiterated points he
made during a press conference
on Tuesday, saying
that high ranking school
leaders are actively working
with M.S. 158 to ensure the
environment is “safe and
secure.”
“I would be happy to
meet with those parents
that wanted to express a
concern. I will personally
meet with them. What we
will not do is have a public
Chancellor Richard Carranza at a Jan. 28 press conference. Screenshot via YouTube video
spectacle. But I will
meet with you and I want
to assure you that I’m getting
almost daily updates
about what is happening
in that school and if there
are any concerns that are
yet to be resolved, from the
chancellor’s office, we will
make sure that they are resolved,”
the chancellor said
at Wednesday’s meeting.
The apology comes on
the heels of comments he
made at the mayor’s NYC
Community Schools event,
where the chancellor called
the CEC meeting a “setup”
and blamed “outside agitators,”
in part, for the meeting’s
early end.
Northeast Queens elected
officials requested that the
chancellor and Department
of Education work to reschedule
a school safety meeting
for District 26 parents but it
is unclear whether that will
happen in light of Carranza’s
recent comments.
A DOE spokesperson
said that they were “exploring
options” for potential
meetings.
The next PEP meeting
is scheduled for Wednesday,
Feb. 26, at M.S. 131
in Manhattan. All meetings
are live streamed and
recorded.
Reach reporter Jenna
Bagcal by e-mail at jbagcal@
qns.com or by phone at
(718) 260-2583.
Three men steal
three ATMs in three
days across NYC,
including Astoria
BY JACOB KAYE
The NYPD is looking
for several individuals involved
in a citywide pattern
of ATM robberies.
On Monday, Jan. 6,
around 1 a.m., two men approached
two employees of
Hotel BMP, located at 139
33rd St. in Sunset Park,
Brooklyn. The men threatened
to shoot the employees
if they didn’t get on the
floor, according to the police.
The men then assaulted
the 66-year-old woman
and 64-year-old man working
at the hotel, removed
the ATM from the hotel’s
lobby with a hand trolley
and fled in an unknown direction,
cops say.
The next day, on Tuesday,
Jan. 7, around 11:30
p.m., two men entered an
Astoria deli located at 24-
01 31st St., while a third remained
outside as a lookout,
according to the NYPD.
One of the men went up to
the counter and pretended
to be a customer while the
other attempted to remove
the ATM with a hand truck,
cops say. The 66-year-old
man and 30-year-old man,
who were both employees
of the deli, tried to prevent
the theft but were both cut
with a sharp object by the
fake customer, according to
police.
The two men ran out of
the store without the ATM.
The robbers, including the
lookout, fled in two different
cars, described as a
light colored sedan and a
dark colored sedan.
Both of the victims suffered
cuts to their hands,
necks and torsos. They
were treated and released
from NYC Health and Hospitals/
Queens.
The day after that, on
Wednesday, Jan. 8, around
10:20, two men picked up
an ATM outside of Villa
Mia Pizza, located at 526
3rd Ave. in Murray Hill,
Manhattan, according to
the NYPD. They placed the
ATM inside of a gray van
and fled south on 3rd Avenue.
Anyone with information
in regard to this incident
is asked to call the
NYPD’s Crime Stoppers
Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS
(8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-
57-PISTA (74782). The public
can also submit their tips by
logging onto the CrimeStoppers
website at WWW.
NYPDCRIMESTOPPERS.
COM or on Twitter @NYPDTips.
All calls are strictly
confidential.
Carranza apologizes
to District 26 parents
ASTORIA TIMES ■ BAYSIDE TIMES
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Bagcal, Jacob Kaye
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