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QUEENS WEEKLY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2019
Bayside High fi ghts for funding
PTA urges the community to join the fight for equal resources
Bayside High School PTA and Councilman Paul Vallone demand school funding equity Photo via Google Maps
BY JENNA BAGCAL
Parents of students at
Bayside High School are
calling on the community
in their fight for fair
school funding.
In July, reports
surfaced that the topperforming
Bayside
institution only received
83 to 90 percent of
the funding amount
determined by the
Department of Education
Fair Student Funding
(FSF) formula.
Instead of receiving
approximately $17.47
million for the upcoming
school year, the PTA said
DOE shortchanged the
school by $3 million.
Since then, the
school’s PTA called out
the injustice and have
contacted 3,000 parents
and 12,000 community
members to inform them
of the lack of funding.
The mailers encouraged
locals to contact Mayor
de Blasio, Chancellor
Richard Carranza
and City Council
Speaker Corey Johnson
concerning the issue.
“Call or email these
decision makers to
tell them to fully fund
Bayside High School 2019-
2020! Students, families
and your community are
worth your tax money,”
read the mailer.
PTA President Paul
DiBenedetto told QNS that
the school’s graduation
rate rose from 60 percent
to 98.7 percent in
recent years.
The school has the
city’s third-highest
graduation rate, including
SHSAT schools.
“The city should be
rewarding excellence,
not punishing it,”
said DiBenedetto.
But due to the state’s
failure to direct more
money toward city schools
per the Campaign for
Fiscal Equity settlement,
there is a $750 million
shortfall in FSF. Politico
reported that DOE has
invested over $800 million
in FSF, which raised the
f loor from 81 percent to
90 percent for all schools.
“This administration
has added $4 billion
in education funding,
including raising the
Fair Student Funding
percentage at Bayside
High School from 84
percent to 90 percent and
adding dedicated Career
and Technical Education
and College Access
funding at the school.
We’ll be able to fund all
schools at 100 percent
Fair Student Funding
when the state pays the
$1.2 billion it owes the
city,” DOE spokesperson
Danielle Filson.
Most FSF money
is unrestricted and
can be used at the
school’s discretion. But
DiBenedetto said that
the current funding they
receive is not enough
to match the school’s
budget and has resulted
in larger class sizes,
fewer teachers, guidance
counselors and security
and cuts to their career
and technical education
program (CTE).
DiBenedetto, whose
son is in the program at
school said that DOE did
not provide enough funds
to run the CTE program.
The program allows each
student to take an elective
and gain work-based
experience through job
shadowing, mentorships
and internships.
DOE said that they
currently supplement
the program through
$500,000 in grants and
additional funding.
D i B e n e d e t t o
encourages parents of
students and community
members to reach out
to De Blasio, Carranza
and Johnson via phone
or email.
Mayor Bill de Blasio:
212-788-2958 or visit
www1.nyc.gov
Chancellor Richard
Carranza: 212-374-0200 or
Rc a r r a n z a@s cho ol s .
nyc.gov.
Speaker Corey
Johnson: 212-564-7757
or District3@council.
nyc.gov.
Reach reporter Jenna
Bagcal by email at
jbagcal@qns.com or by
phone at (718) 260-2583.
Bayside top cop
assists in arrests
111th Precinct police officers Photo courtesy of NYPD
BY JENNA BAGCAL
The top cop at Bayside’s
111th Precinct helped his
fellow officers cuff two
Jamaica men earlier
this month on a slew
of illegal drug and gun
possession charges.
According to
authorities, officers
from the command on
Northern Boulevard
arrested 31-year-old
Wilmer Clotter and 63-
year-old Rafael Toscano
on Aug. 15.
An NYPD
spokesperson said that
day tour and plainclothes
officers apprehended the
suspects in the rear of
Infiniti of Bayside at
217-07 Northern Blvd.
just before 1 p.m. Cops
then arrested the pair
and brought them to the
precinct around 3:17 p.m.
that afternoon.
Law enforcement
sources noted that
Captain John Hall,
commander of the 111th
Precinct, helped facilitate
the arrest.
Police charged Clotter
and with second-degree
criminal possession
of a loaded firearm,
third-degree criminal
possession of a defaced
weapon, criminal
possession of a firearm,
fourth-degree criminal
possession of a firearm or
weapon, seventh-degree
criminal possession of a
controlled substance and
third-degree aggravated
unlicensed operation of a
motor vehicle.
Clotter’s accomplice
Toscano faced the same
four criminal weapons
charges in addition to
fifth-degree criminal
possession of a controlled
substance with 10 counts
of intent to sell.
The NYPD praised
police from the
Bayside-based precinct
for getting illegal
firearms and drugs off
the streets.
“Illegal firearm and
drugs? Not on this team’s
watch,” the NYPD official
account tweeted on Aug.
23. “The @NYPD111Pct
day tour patrol and Anti-
Crime team got an assist
from their Commanding
Officer to make sure these
dangerous items didn’t
make it to the streets
of Queens.”
link
/nyc.gov
/nyc.gov
/www1.nyc.gov
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