8 MARCH 30, 2017 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM Irate parents want answers over Maspeth high fi asco BY ANTHONY GIUDICE [email protected] @A_GIUDICEREPORT Frustrated parents got the chance to air their grievances over the Maspeth High School (MHS) admissions fi asco and get answers as to what happened from Department of Education (DOE) personnel during Tuesday’s Community Education Council (CEC) 24 meeting at P.S. 88 in Ridgewood. Concerns regarding the MHS enrollment lottery arose when it was discovered that the school committed a “clerical error” which left 500 private school students from across the city out of the lottery (207 of whom attended a school information session). Anger grew when students who did not meet the requirement for priority in the draft were matched to MHS, while students who fulfi lled the requirements were passed over. According to the DOE, 46 students from District 24 public schools who did not attend an information session were given off ers to MHS, while only 323 off ers were made to District 24 public school students who did attend an information session. James Guarneri, whose son is a student at Our Lady of Hope in Middle Village, was irate that his son was passed over for admission twice. Guarneri wanted to know why his son, who met all the requirements to be marked for priority during the MHS admissions lottery, was fi rst left out due to the “clerical error” since he attends a Catholic school, and then did not get selected again during the second lottery with the private school students. Things got heated when Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley announced that she is draft ing legislation to ensure that the admission process is more transparent and accessible in the future. “I don’t care about the future, I care about his future,” Guarneri said, pointing to his son in the audience. “Why did you wait to do it now?” asked Alicia Vaichunas. “In 2012 you said to the parents of Maspeth you will advocate for people from this community and you never did a thing.” The issue is that more than 4,000 prospective students are applying for only approximately 250 seats. MHS is Angry parents made their voices heard during the Community Education Council 24 meeting in Ridgewood. just too small to accommodate the number of students interested in attending. Another option Crowley proposed to alleviate this kind of tension in the future was to look at expanding MHS. “The two buildings near Maspeth High School are available,” Crowley said. “And School Construction Authority has been notifi ed of their Photos by Anthony Giudice/QNS availability and is in the process of investigating the two building properties to see whether there could be a deal or an off er made to acquire those properties to expand the high school.” Many parents left the meeting, however, just as frustrated as when they came in, as none of the answers provided would help their children who did not get into the school they wanted. High school snafu sparks transparency bill push BY ANTHONY GIUDICE [email protected] @A_GIUDICEREPORT As parents continue to fume over what has been described as a “clerical error” that left hundreds of prospective students out of the running to gain entrance to Maspeth High School (MHS), one lawmaker is calling on the Department of Education (DOE) to make sure this oversight doesn’t happen again. Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley plans to submit two bills that would require the DOE to be more transparent with the application and student selection process, and to publicly disclose how its admissions algorithm is formulated and used to select students for high schools. “We need greater transparency in the admission process so New York City families can rest assured that they are not being discriminated against,” Crowley said. “I stand with my constituents and call for real, meaningful change.” The first proposed bill would require the DOE to post the application process for admission to each public high school on the department’s website, and to disclose the number of applications received along with the number of students admitted each school year. The legislation also requires that lotteries for admittance — such as the one held for MHS — be held in a public setting where students and parents can attend to witness the results. The second proposed piece of legislation would mandate that the DOE disclose the ZIP codes of students admitted to zoned high schools each school year on its website. Earlier this month, it was discovered that the admissions lottery at MHS did not include 207 students who should have been a part of the selection process. DOE quickly fi xed the problem and added in those students, 66 of whom received off ers to the school. “It is unacceptable that any student is denied the chance to go to the high school of their choice, whether they come from parochial, private or public education,” Crowley said. “When human error is responsible for excluding a group of students, someone must be held accountable. Policy must be put into place to ensure this does not happen again.” Crowley said the bills are in the process of being draft ed for introduction into the City Council. Photo: Anthony Giudice/RIDGEWOOD TIMES City Councilwoman Elizabeth Crowley at a March 28 meeting Ridgewood.
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