FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM FEBRUARY 6, 2020 • THE QUEENS COURIER 27
UNWANTED
ANIMALS
DESERVE BETTER
On Jan. 31, it happened
again. Someone did the
unthinkable in leaving a
domesticated bird (a parrot)
to fend for himself (clipped
wings and all) on a cold, drizzling
day.
Th ere were reports in the
neighborhood of someone
dumping the bird in a
fi lthy cage, opening the door,
and then just driving away.
Word spread quickly through
social media. Th e parrot
left his cage, climbed and
hopped onto the branches of
the nearest tree until he was
approximately 35 feet high
on a thin branch.
A domesticated bird that
fi nds itself outside will always
fl y (or climb) to a high point,
to get altitude and deal with
the terrifying disorientation
it is experiencing in this alien
situation. An extraordinary
pair of rescuers worked all
aft ernoon and into the night.
Th ey kept working and were
able to bring him down safely.
What a cruel, stupid, disgraceful
thing to do to an
animal that had learned to
trust people — he turned out
to be friendly, tame and completely
socialized and was
happy to be placed in a warm
car. Th is is a tropical bird that
was left in 35 degree weather
— so many places would
have been better to “unload
him” or “dispose” of him. Th e
owner could have left him
outside of a vet’s offi ce, at a
fi rehouse or police station,
or even a supermarket. But
abandoning him on a deserted
street along a golf course
was inhumane.
Th ere’s this consideration: a
tame, trained, beautiful parrot
in the Pet Trade is worth
about $2,000 and this one
was tossed away like garbage.
Th e message is simple:
abandoning any animal to
fend for itself against the elements
should be considered
criminal behavior. If the temperature
was a few degrees
colder, the parrot would have
frozen to death, or become a
meal for the migratory hawks
that inhabit the golf course in
winter. Th is parrott was lucky
to be rescued by two knowledgeable,
responsible people.
Anyone seen “dumping”
any animal in this neighborhood
will be reported and
prosecuted; even a partial
plate number will be recorded.
And remember, there are
many people who will “foster”
or care for an “unwanted”
or “home situation
changed” animal that fi nds
itself homeless. Th ink before
you act, as there’s never a reason
to do something like this
to an animal.
Mary Anne McGowan,
Bayside
WE MUST ENSURE
HISTORY DOESN’T
REPEAT ITSELF
Th e Auschwitz concentration
camp was liberated by
the Soviet Army 75 years ago.
Within the camp, over 1 million
individuals were killed
by brutality, starvation and
gas. Th eir belongings and
gold teeth were gathered as
bounty by the Nazis. Th e
horrors and smells remain in
the minds of those who survived,
their saviors, and the
families and children who
came aft er.
I was born in the shadow
of the Holocaust. Th ose like
me, born as Baby Boomers
to Jewish families, listened
to the names of loved ones
who cruelly died. Th e lives
lost, their stories, their very
names became part of us.
Not to believe the soul-impacting
reality which is
a voice heard within the
recesses of my mind would
simply be a lie.
As Americans blessed to
reside in a nation wherein
the guiding principle is freedom
of religion, news of new
outrages and hatred seem
foreign and of no immediate
threat. Yet synagogues
are now guarded and nightly
reports of anti-Semitism
are frequent.
Th e United States has never
sustained such constant televised
hate speech as today,
attacking anyone deemed
diff erent. Th e fear of caravans
of immigrants surging
our borders, the changing
of the American demographic
landscape to a nation
with a white minority, the
age of technology destroying
blue collar employment,
have many of our citizens in
need of fi nding “others” as
the reason.
Our national history has
had episodes of prejudice,
hate and fear. Th e “Yellow
Peril,” Japanese internment,
the KKK, the John Birch
Society, McCarthyism and,
today, militias.
Over time and with the
strength of leaders of morals
who were committed to
the ideals of American exceptionalism,
sense and moderation
were restored to the
national discourse. In the
absence of leaders today who
will speak truth to power
there is no reason to believe
the mania that allowed the
creation of Auschwitz could
not happen here.
Ed Horn, Baldwin,
Long Island
oped letters & comments
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My kids deserve a school
BY JOSE
ROSARIO
I’m tired.
And it’s not
b e c a u s e
being a public
school
principal is
an intense
job. It certainly is that — like so
many public school principals in
America, I work around the clock.
But I love being the principal of
Success Academy Far Rockaway.
Laughing with my kids and watching
them fl ourish and fulfi ll their
potential as readers and writers,
dancers and chess players, scientists
and artists, makes the hours of each
day fl y by.
No. I’m tired because since the
start of this school year, I have been
helping my fourth-grade scholars
and their families cope with the
almost unbelievable reality that they
may be forced to leave the school
they love because Mayor de Blasio
won’t provide them with adequate
space for a middle school, even
though there are district buildings
that could share space because they
are under-utilized.
Parents from my school and three
other Success Academies in Queens
have been waiting for a permanent
space for a middle school for
three years. Success made the initial
request in January 2017, and since
then parents have been patient and
cooperative, even as the city repeatedly
reneged on its promise to provide
a solution. Now, these parents
are facing the imminent eviction
of their fourth-graders: Success
Academy middle school starts in
fi ft h grade, there are less than six
months left of the school year, and
their children have nowhere to go.
Supporting my families as they
face this looming threat is draining,
particularly because I have an acute
understanding of what’s at stake.
I grew up in Washington Heights,
sharing a one-bedroom apartment
with my mother and two siblings. I
didn’t have access to many resources,
let alone a top-tier education. I
was able to make it through high
school and on to college thanks to
my mother’s unfl agging support and
the strong value for education she
instilled in me. But it should have
been so much easier — and it would
have been, if I had attended a school
like Success Academy.
I have watched Far Rockaway
parents move from palpable anxiety
to deep anger. Th ey see the
tremendous opportunities that
Success Academy middle and high
schools provide for kids: Advanced
Placement courses and extracurriculars
in the high school, where students
are acing the SATs and gaining
acceptance — and generous fi nancial
aid packages — to top colleges.
Th ey see a middle school experience
just out of reach, where their
kids would be known, loved and
supported, where they would have
access to great programs in sports,
debate, chess and art, where they
would take — and excel in — three
high-school Regents courses by the
end of eighth grade.
And they see the possible alternatives,
refl ected in the community
around them. Only one in three
adults in Queens have completed
college. Th ey want something different
for their kids, and that’s why
they chose Success Academy Far
Rockaway: to make sure a path to
college would be opened.
Th e deepest source of their anger
is the fact that this problem has
a straightforward solution. Th ere
are six public school buildings in
this part of Queens, each with 400
to 1,000 empty seats. Th ey know
that Mayor de Blasio is dodging
his responsibility by hiding behind
the widespread misperception that
co-location poses a burden on existing
schools. Th e reality is that twothirds
of all public schools in New
York City are co-located — in most
cases, it is either utterly unnoticeable
or actually benefi cial.
Take the co-location in my building,
for example. As participants
in the NYC DoE’s District-Charter
Partnership initiative, we share professional
development opportunities
so that educators in all our
schools benefi t. And we are a community:
We just enjoyed a building
wide Halloween celebration. Far
from being burdened, our co-located
district schools are thriving.
Since Success Academy opened four
years ago, both district schools have
experienced a rise in enrollment and
test scores — a trend that research
has found to be the rule rather than
the exception for district schools
co-located with charters.
Each day, as I contemplate the
mayor’s cynical obstruction, I think
of my fourth-graders. Th ey are some
of the hardest-working kids I have
ever met. Th ey truly love to read —
half the time I have to tell them to
keep their noses out of a book! Th ey
are also really, really funny — I regularly
fi nd myself laughing on the way
home as I think about what they did
or said that day. And fi nally, they are
some of the best singers and dancers
I’ve ever seen. I have a high bar
for singing and dancing — but they
make me feel like I have two left feet.
Th ese kids are amazing. Th ey
deserve everything. But day aft er
day, the mayor gives them nothing.
Wouldn’t that make you tired?
Jose Rosario is the principal of
Success Academy Far Rockaway.
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