for breaking news visit www.timesnewsweekly.com JUNE 18, 2015 • times 13 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.couriersun.com JUNE 18, 2015 • THE COURIER SUN 27 oped A LOOK BACK letters GETTING AN INCLUSIVE CARNIVAL FOR LOCAL SCHOOL “You get what you pay for.” That’s known as the new Monroe Doctrine, named after Joan Monroe, the Queens elementary school principal who barred poor, predominantly immigrant students from participating in a carnival because their parents couldn’t come up with the admission fee. In the absence of repentance from the school leader or a timely, if any, correction by her employer, some local officials and others, including Gary Pincus, the president of the Send in the Clowns company, have stepped into the breach. “I just want everybody happy, the kids happy. At the end of the day, it’s for the kids,” he said. So together with the F&T Group, a Flushing-based global development company that believes in modeling what it means to be a good corporate citizen, and the Chinese-American Planning Council, which ministers to folks of all cultures, they have scheduled a new carnival to be held on June 30. This time, all children will be welcomed, regardless of their family’s bank balance. With the F&T Group as a chief sponsor and the CAPC as host and under the watchful eyes of a caring community, this carnival will be a celebration of inclusion. Credit is due Assemblyman Ron Kim, Rep. Grace Meng, state Senator Toby Stavisky and City Councilman Peter Koo for their conscientious intervention. Ron Isaac, Fresh Meadows A TRIBUTE TO LATE FRESH MEADOWS BISHOP I would like to express this heartfelt tribute to the late Most Rev. Msgr. Dr. Ignatius Catanello, priest, monsignor, doctor, Episcopal vicar (South Queens Vicariate), principalrector (Cathedral Preparatory Seminary), and auxiliary bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn, who was my professor in New Testament theology during the fall 1973 term at St. John’s University. I fondly recall Father Catanello as a warm and flexible professor whose course reflected on select New Testament chapters and verses that were significant in Christology and the gifts of the Holy Spirit. But Father Catanello also was the one who challenged my adolescent fascination with philosophical rationalism — the pantheism of Spinoza and Einstein — and logical positivism, both of which were antithetical to Christian theism, theologically and philosophically. He assigned a book report to me on a work of the Vincentian priest and Scripture scholar, the Rev. F. Bruce Vawter, C.M., “This Man Jesus.” In response to my quote of Einstein’s words in my paper, “I believe in Spinoza’s God who reveals himself in the orderly harmony of what exists,” that is, “Reason,” Fr. Catanello pointedly commented to me in person, paraphrased, that “You mentioned Reason with a capital R, so you admit that Reason is a person!” So, I am profoundly indebted to Bishop Catanello as my teacher and pastor, who let “no one captivate me with an empty, seductive philosophy according to human tradition, according to the elemental powers of the world, and not according to Christ” (Colossians 2:8). Father Catanello, you were patient as a saint with my apostasy at the time, and gave me an “A” in your course on earth, so this day I give you an “A” as you rest in eternal peace in heaven with all of God’s angels and saints. Joseph N. Manago, Flushing Time running out on education reform BY STATE SEN. TOBY ANN STAVISKY The clock is ticking on this year’s legislative session and one of the most important issues that still must be addressed is public education. Two weeks ago, my Senate Democratic colleagues and I introduced a comprehensive package of bills to resolve the many issues that arose because of the Common Core’s rushed implementation and a faulty Education Budget bill. Within our legislative package is a bill that I am proud to sponsor, which would make the use of an independent, outside evaluator optional instead of required as written in this year’s budget. This unfunded mandate is one of the reasons that I voted against the Education Budget, which I believe unfairly demonized good teachers and did not go far enough to support students. That is why I am proud to stand with my Democratic colleagues behind these bills which would restore school construction funding and fair teacher evaluation polices that the budget was missing. Highlights of this legislative package include the following: • Improved teacher evaluations that would make them more equitable by restoring use of the locally negotiated “student achievement metric,” which more fairly assesses children who are above grade level as well as students with special needs • Repeal of a provision that allows the state to withhold additional school aid from districts should they not have their “Annual Professional Performance Review Plans” approved by the commissioner of education by Nov. 15, 2015 • An Education Infrastructure Bank to rebuild crumbling public schools across New York State and help create good local jobs by investing $682 million from bank settlement funds paid to the state • Creation of the “Community Schools Grant Program” to fund community schools that also offer social services to fund culturally relevant health, social and emotional services in high-needs communities My colleagues and I have also been lobbying for Senate hearings on mayoral control—a move toward transparency that the Senate Republicans have repeatedly blocked. I believe mayoral control must be extended, but also improved to include more local input on issues like colocations and more parental involvement. These are the reforms we must pass to improve public education—not penalizing teachers with unfair evaluations, not over-testing students, and not taking away public education for all to fund private education for the few. These are the constructive, thoughtful changes we must implement to move our education system forward. I hope you will join the Senate Democratic Conference and me to support these bills and the idea that every child in New York, regardless of where they are from or how much money their parents make, deserves an excellent education. Senator Stavisky represents the 16th Senatorial District, which represents parts of neighborhoods across central and eastern Queens. This undated postcard shows the intersection of Fresh Pond Road and Madison Street, looking east, in Ridgewood during the early part of the 20th century. The apartment houses lining Madison Street remain home to hundreds of residents, but the corner stores in the foreground are vastly different today. A gyro shop now occupies the storefront at left, and the shop at right is now a bodega. Do you have historic pictures of Queens that you’d like to share with us? Email them to editorial@queenscourier.com, and they may be featured in an upcoming edition!
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