FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com MAY 12, 2016 • THE COURIER SUN 3 Queens Village speaks against school co-location at I.S. 109 By Suzanne Monte ver di editorial@qns.com/@QueensCourier A group of politicians, students and parents gathered outside of Queens Village’s I.S. 109 on Saturday morning to protest the proposed colocation with New Visions High School. Councilman Barry Grodenchik was in attendance to speak out against co-location. “We are here today to continue to reiterate the message that a co-location at 109 is simply out-ofbounds,” Grodenchik said. “They tell me that it works in other parts of the city. Well, this is not other parts of the city. This is our community, and we are not going to stand for that.” Assemblywoman Alicia Hyndman also declared her opposition to the co-location, and had a personal connection to the issue. “I went to this school. I was here when Jean Nuzzi was the principal,” Hyndman said. Hyndman pointed out that the school is already in need of improvements for the students who are already attending the school. “This building needs a lot of work for the children that are already in it,” she stressed. “Give our children everything they deserve. We have co-locations in the 29th Assembly District that are not working. Why do you think this one is going to be different?” I.S. 109’s Parent Teacher Association President Janice Berry echoed Hyndman’s sentiment, and said that improvements for the school were promised in the past but still have not been met. “I have spoken to a lot of the children, and they’re concerned about the after-school curriculum activities that we don’t have,” Berry said. Berry also announced that she was already in possession of 1,370 signatures in petition against the co-location, but still called for more support at the upcoming Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) meeting on May 18 in Long Island City. “May 18 I need at least 50 parents to show up with us to go to the PEP so that we have some kind of foundation to work with,” requested Berry. State Senator Leroy Comrie stated that the push for co-location is a symptom of the larger issue of mayoral control. “The mayor and the chancellor are understanding the depth and anger of this community. They were in Albany on Wednesday for a hearing on mayoral control. I had an opportunity to let them have it,” Comrie said. The crowd reacted with applause. “I explained to them the fact that these children do not need to be treated like second-class citizens. That they should not, as the mayor would say, create a ‘tale of two cities’ by imposing a school and then promising goodies to a school that hasn’t had a capital improvement project done by the DOE in over 18 years,” Comrie said. State Senator Comrie closed the protest by echoing the call for community members to attend the 6 p.m. PEP meeting on Wednesday, May 18, at Long Island City High School 14-30 Broadway to speak out against the co-location. “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t have the things that Assembly member Hyndman had when she was here when Jean Nuzzi was the principal where they had the extra equipment: the band equipment, the opportunities to do the things necessary to have a full, educational experience for children,” Comrie said. Photo by Suzanne Monteverdi Priest gets injured in South Ozone Park drive-by shooting By Robert Pozarycki rpozarycki@qns.com/@robbpoz The NYPD released images Sunday night of a vehicle involved in a drive-by shooting in South Ozone Park earlier that morning in which a visiting priest was injured. Father Damian Ekete, 49, of Bronx’s Church of the Holy Spirit was walking in the area of 134th Street and Rockaway Boulevard at 12:08 a.m. on May 8 when the vehicle pulled up to the location. Seconds later, authorities said, an individual inside the car opened fire, striking Ekete in the right arm. The vehicle then fled the scene. Officers from the 106th Precinct and EMS units responded to the incident. Ekete, who WABC-TV reported had been visiting friends in the neighborhood and was waiting for a cab ride home, was taken to Jamaica Hospital, where he was treated and released. The investigation is ongoing. Anyone with information regarding the shooting that could prove helpful is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 800-577-TIPS (for Spanish speakers, dial 888-57-PISTA), visit their website or send a text message to 274637 (CRIMES), then enter TIP577. All calls and messages are kept confidential. Photo via Google Maps/Inset courtesy of NYPD Police say the vehicle shown in the inset was involved in a drive-by shooting in South Ozone Park on Sunday in which a priest was shot and injured.
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