FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com March 3, 2016 • THE COURIER SUN 3 QUEENS LIBRARY HAS A NEW CEO: Former Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott Southeast Queens schools are ready for high-tech webcam lessons with NASA Public schools across state Senator James Sanders’ district in southeast Queens will soon receive new webcams enabling them to participate in hightech lessons with NASA and other entities. Sanders pledged to provide the schools with 3,000 cameras, with the devices distributed incrementally. The most recent delivery took place last week at P.S. 160 in South Jamaica. In doing so, Sanders visited with many students and teachers to explain the importance of the devices in advancing the curriculum, particularly the studies of mathematics, science and technology. The webcams can be used for interactive lessons with public institutions and agencies such as NASA, which regularly hosts interactive classes regarding the space program, including interaction with astronauts. Sanders said he plans to invite NASA to visit schools in his district, stressing that interactive lessons could help inspire some southeast Queens children to pursue careers as astronauts. By Robert Pozarycki rpozarycki@qns.com/@robbpoz Opening a new chapter in its history, the Queens Borough Public Library is tapping former Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott as its new leader. The library’s board of trustees announced late on Feb. 29 that Walcott would become the library’s new president and CEO, taking the helm from Bridget Quinn-Carey, who operated Queens Library on an interim basis since September 2014. Walcott served as the city’s schools chancellor under Mayor Michael Bloomberg from the spring of 2011 through the end of Bloomberg’s tenure at City Hall in 2013. He was previously the deputy mayor for education and community development during the Bloomberg administration. Prior to being named the new Queens Library president, Walcott served as monitor of the East Ramapo School District in Rockland County, overseeing the district’s operations. According to Carl Seldin Koerner, chairman of the Queens Library board of trustees, Walcott is expected to begin his service to Queens Library in the middle of this month, pending the approval of the State Education Department. “We are confident that Dennis Walcott has exactly the right skills and depth of experience to lead the library through the challenging years ahead,” said Koerner and Vice Chair Judith Bergtraum, who served as chair of the board’s Search Committee, in a joint statement. “I look forward to working with all the fantastic, creative, dynamic “Someone is going to do it,” he said. “Why not someone from our district?” Photo courtesy of state Senator James Sanders staff and friends and visiting every community library, meeting and listening to their ideas and participating in initiatives that make life better and richer for their neighborhoods,” Walcott said. Walcott, a St. Albans resident, is being looked upon to provide stable leadership at Queens Library, which was the subject of much scandal and upheaval over the last several years. Its former president and CEO, Thomas Galante, was the center of controversy in 2014 over allegations of malfeasance and corruption. When the library’s board of trustees failed to dismiss him, Queens Borough President Melinda Katz and Mayor Bill de Blasio intervened, removing and replacing eight trustees who rebuffed calls for Galante’s ouster. The reconstituted board of trustees suspended Galante in September 2014, then fired him three months later. Galante is suing Queens Library for wrongful termination; the library subsequently filed a countersuit. Katz praised the new Queens Library boss in a statement on Tuesday. “At its core, the Queens Library exists to serve its educational purpose as a community hub of learning, literacy and culture for millions of families,” she said. “I have full faith in the direction and future of the library, and look forward to the great things to come under Dennis’ leadership.” Walcott is a product of the public schools system, having attended P.S. 36, I.S. 192 and Francis Lewis High School. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Bridgeport in Connecticut in 1973. THE COURIER/File photo Then-Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott is pictured at a June 2013 meeting in Glendale. State Senator James Sanders displays one of the webcams while posting for a photo with School Superintendent Mabel Muniz-Sarduy and Principal Tiffany Hicks.
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