March 8, 2020 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
LOCAL
CL ASSIFIEDS
PAGE 11
Carranza responds to District 24 parents’
safety concerns at Elmhurst town hall
BY ANGÉLICA ACEVEDO
Schools Chancellor Richard
Carranza’s District 24 town hall
on March 2 proved to be much
calmer and organized than District
26’s contentious education
event earlier in the year — but it
still had its moments.
More than 1,000 parents, students
and educators attended
the Department of Education’s
town hall at I.S. 5 in Elmhurst,
taking up the auditorium where
Carranza sat with the Community
Education Council (CEC)
24 members, the gym and the
cafeteria, where it had to be live
streamed.
The growing size of the town
halls prompted CEC 24’s President
Phil Wong to joke that the
next town hall would “have to go
to Shea Stadium or Yankee Stadium.”
Carranza began with opening
remarks in which he addressed
the coronavirus by encouraging
people to wash their hands, and
told parents to keep children at
home if they’re sick. He then answered
several pre-written questions,
with topics that ranged
from school integration to safety,
for one hour.
The first question of the night
was on Carranza’s mission to integrate
schools. A CEC member
asked why they DOE is attempting
to create a “one size fits all
citywide approach” when D24
has 39 schools that are “working
so well.” They noted that their
schools are committed to retaining
locally zoned schools.
Carranza said he agreed with
many of the things they said
about the district.
“What I’m going to, in a very
friendly way, push back on is
the notion that I have a plan to
CEC 24 members and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza at March 2 town hall.
Photo: Angélica Acevedo/QNS
Vol. 9 8 No. 10
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integrate District 24 — there is
no such plan,” Carranza said.
“What I have talked about is that
in schools and school communities
that diversity isn’t as apparent
as what is being stated in the
question, we should have a conversation
about what it would
look like to have more diverse
schools. Unfortunately, not all
schools everywhere are as diverse
as what has been stated
here today.”
When asked about specialized
testing, or SHSAT, Carranza invited
supporters of the practice
to show him research proving
it’s the best way to identify intellectually
gifted children. He also
called for the state and city legislature
to “get out of the school
board business” and repeal the
Hecht-Calandra Act.
There were also many questions
about school safety.
Carranza pushed back on the
notion that the DOE has a “lax
discipline policy” when asked
about how they plan to deal with
violence in schools, using the
various incidents at M.S. 158
(Marie Curie) as an example.
“There is a zero tolerance for
any physical abuse, zero tolerance
for anything that we could
consider to be breaking the law,
and, believe me, we work with
NYPD in those situations,” Carranza
said. “But we also know
that we’re an educational institution.
And as an educational
institution, forgive me, but we
think it’s part of our job to help
students learn what it’s like to
be a law abiding citizen, a caring
individual with those around
them, to understand how they
function in this society.”
Carranza said that when the
DOE was informed of the various
incidents in M.S. 158, central
and field staff monitored
the school on a daily basis, provided
additional training for
staff members, sent letters to the
community, had several meetings
with parents and met with
elected officials.
Lucy Accardo, a former CEC
24 president, asked what the DOE
is planning to do for D24 schools
with “more than 2,000 students,
but only one security guard.”
Accardo mentioned that parents
tend to disagree with having an
armed security agent or a retired
police officer, but want more security
overall.
Carranza said he’s “not a supporter
of making our schools
look like jails.” And while he
thinks the school’s security
agents are doing a “phenomenal
job,” he said they’re open to listening
to specific cases where
they need more assistance.
Success Academy made its
own statement with a large
group of parents and children
wearing orange shirts and holding
signs that read “Kids Over
Politics” at the town hall. CEC
24’s President Phil Wong asked
Carranza if he had any updates
for them, to which the chancellor
responded by saying that they’re
working with SA on two temporary
co-location proposals.
“We had a school site that
we thought was perfect, they
wouldn’t even have to co-locate
but there turned out to be a number
of issues,” Carranza said. “We
expect to post proposals later this
week. I just want to assure Success
Academy parents, staff and
students, that we hear you and
we’re engaging with you.”
Although the town hall was
fairly organized, there was a
brief moment toward the beginning
of the meeting in which Dao
Yin, a candidate for Queens Borough
President, stood up and addressed
Carranza before walking
out of the auditorium.
Yin told QNS that he left
because he felt Carranza was
“showing off.”
“The chancellor needs to listen
to different voices and not
show off,” Yin said. “It’s a serious
community education meeting,
not anybody’s showtime.”
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