FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM APRIL 18, 2019 • THE QUEENS COURIER 3
Bayside Hills Civic
Association holds
annual spring cleanup
Bayside residents got together this past weekend
for a healthy dose of spring cleaning around
the neighborhood.
On Saturday, April 13, the Bayside Hills Civic
Association (BHCA) and Partnership for Parks
hosted the annual It’s My Park at Bell Malls cleanup
event. Event volunteers raked leaves, planted
fl owers and replaced mulch along the Bayside
Hills malls.
“It is an honor to have such a large contingency
from the Department of Parks, from Partnership
for Parks, BaysideLiveTV, Bayside Hills Civic
Association Board of Directors, our Beautifi cation
Committee and the Boy Scouts of America,” said
BHCA President Michael Feiner in an interview
with BaysideLiveTV.
Councilman Barry Grodenchik and NYC
Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT)
volunteers also lent their helping hands during
Saturday’s cleanup eff orts.
“Th ey’re all working up and down Bell
Boulevard from 48th Avenue all the way to our
9/11 Memorial, sprucing up the community for a
very well worth it neighborhood,” Feiner added.
Th ere are three upcoming It’s My Park clean-up
events in Queens:
Saturday, April 20 - It’s My Park at Margaret I.
Carman Green - Weeping Beech
Saturday, April 27 - It’s My Park at Glenwood
Landing
Saturday, April 27 - It’s My Park at Hoover -
Manton Playgrounds
Jenna Bagcal
Queens lawmakers
introduce bill to expand
bingo games for seniors
State Senator Toby Stavisky and Assemblyman
Daniel Rosenthal joined senior residents on
Tuesday for a game of bingo at Queens Community
House Pomonok Senior Center this week.
Th e lawmakers visited the center at 67-09
Kissena Blvd. in Flushing to announce their legislation
(S.3917/ S6212) to expand the operation of
bingo games for seniors and community centers.
“New York’s restrictions around bingo have
been long overdue for a change,” said Rosenthal.
“Bingo provides our seniors with an opportunity
to build friendships and keeps spirits high. I had
a great time joining Senator Stavisky and constituents
at Pomonok Senior Center for a few lively
rounds. Given the robust diversity of Queens, we
look forward to expanding social activities within
our community.”
New York has stringent and longstanding laws
governing all games of chance with monetary
prizes, even of nominal amounts. Th e current
statute limits the number of days community
organizations can host bingo games to 15 days per
year without a state-issued license. While rarely
enforced, many facilities expose themselves to
risk by providing games as a form of recreation
for the community.
Th e bill would expand the allowable number of
bingo games to twice a week and also cover nonprofi
t and religious organizations under the provisions.
Th e bill recently passed the state Senate with
unanimous support and is currently before the
Assembly for consideration.
Carlotta Mohamed
Photos by Carlotta Mohamed
Parents and educators vent at Queens
specialized school tests hearing
BY CARLOTTA MOHAMED
cmohamed@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Th e fi rst forum discussion on the
divisive issue regarding school diversity
and the specialized high school
admissions process held April 11
at Queens Borough Hall brought
an angry crowd of parents protesting
Mayor Bill de Blasio’s proposal to
abolish the exam.
Inside Queens Borough Hall, members
of the state Senate Committee
on New York City Education — state
Senators John Liu, Kevin Parker, Toby
Stavisky and Velmanette Montgomery
— listened to over three hours of testimony
from community members
who shared their thoughts, concerns
and ideas arguing that the current single
test used to determine admissions
into the elite schools should remain
in place.
Th e senators were also joined by
Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman
and Councilman Peter Koo.
Liu, chair of the Senate’s NYC
Education Committee, said there is an
issue of diversity in specialized high
schools and it needs to be addressed
head on.
“We’re going to face this issue not by
throwing out a plan and asking people
to comment on it; we want everyone
who has an opinion about this to
tell us what you think the problem is.
Th is is what hearing the community is
all about,” said Liu.
According to Liu, the city’s proposal
to diminish the SHSAT exam excluded
many parts of the city — in particular
the Asian community, describing
de Blasio’s plan as “racist.”
“Th ey kind of knew what the input
would be from the Asian American
community, so they excluded that
point of view — not inadvertently,
but intentionally and deliberately,”
said Liu.
Many argued that the test is an unbiased
measure and called admissions
changes discriminatory against Asian
students, who make up the majority
of enrollment at the specialized high
schools — despite making just 16 percent
of public school enrollment citywide.
David Lee, Brooklyn Technical High
School alum.
“Taking away the test will marginalize
opportunities for thousands of students,
mostly low-income and immigrants,
and also mostly Asian students,”
said David Lee, a Brooklyn
Technical High School alum, who has
been working with the Asian community
advocating for keeping the SHSAT
test. “Testing is essential for many
careers, for example the Civil Service
Exam in New York City. Furthermore,
let’s create more schools, create more
seats, and let’s fi x the crisis in K-toeight
schools, in particular for African
American and Latino students.”
Some speakers called for restoration
of the gift ed and talented programs in
black and Hispanic communities to
better prepare a more diverse group of
students for admission to the schools,
and for more specialized high schools
to be built.
“If you take a look at Queens, we
have one specialized high school,
every year 125 students. Queens is the
second largest borough with 2.5 million
residents … that’s one seat for
every 18,000 graduates. We can do
better than that,” said Horace Davis,
president of the Caribbean American
Society of New York and a Brooklyn
Technical High School alum. “Just
imagine what we can do with more
programs and more seats in communities
that serve the black and
Hispanic communities.”
According to reports, among the
4,798 students who received an off er
to one of the city’s specialized high
schools based on their exam score,
only 506 black and Hispanic students
received off ers to schools, including
Stuyvesant High School, Bronx
High School of Science and Brooklyn
Technical High School.
At Stuyvesant High School, of the
895 students admitted, only seven students
were black.
Parents and former alums of the
eight specialized high schools stressed
anger and frustration toward Schools
Chancellor Richard Carranza, who
made a statement saying that those
who weren’t on board with the elimination
of the test were racist.
Charles Vavruska
“I was very upset. Chancellor
Carranza called me a racist,” said
Charles Vavruska. “He called all of
us a racist. As soon as he got here, he
tweeted, ‘Angry white parents.’ Th en
he said, ‘Asians-only admissions system.’
Th ere are so many things we can
do to improve education. We don’t
need to do this political scheme and
keep racial division going.’”
Many also argued the city’s proposed
admissions changes have pitted
communities against each other.
“Th ere is so much vilifi cation of
Asian parents who are fi ghting to
help their children,” said Jo Ann Yoo,
the executive director of the Asian
American Federation.“We must give
all of our kids access to the best education
possible.”
Th e event was the fi rst in a series of
planned citywide forums for state senators
to facilitate an inclusive dialogue
with all community stakeholders in
the city’s public schools. According to
Liu, there will be an announcement of
upcoming forums in each borough for
constituents to state their opinions on
the matter.
“We are united in the idea that we
want to hear what people have to say,”
said Stavisky. “We don’t want to present
a plan and say, ‘Th at’s it’ without
hearing the community’s input.”
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