16 THE QUEENS COURIER • NOVEMBER 7, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
DOE selects new Queens North superintendent
BY MAX PARROTT
mparrott@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Aft er Queens North Superintendent
Larry Pendergast transitioned into a new
role overseeing teaching and learning for
the city’s entire school system, a southeastern
Richmond Hill woman transfers to
LaGuardia CC to escape student debt
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
A Richmond Hill woman transferred to
LaGuardia Community College to escape her student
debt.
Aft er graduating from the Mathematics, Science
Research and Technology school at the Campus
Magnet Educational Campus in Cambria Heights,
Andrea Mattis thought she was ready to pursue her
dream at a four-year private college in Brooklyn.
But aft er a year-and-a-half she came to the realization
that she could not stay at Long Island
University Brooklyn due to her mounting student
debt.
“I thought aft er taking a college prep course in
high school I felt ready and I really wanted to go to
a four year school and not a community college,”
Mattis said. “It turns out I didn’t really understand
much about college and I realize now I had no idea
how student aid worked. Now you could say it was
ignorance.”
Mattis had taken out $20,000 in loans to attend
but when she realized how fast the debt was growing
and how hard it was to pay down she decided
to switch to LaGuardia Community College in
Long Island City, where her older sister attended.
She assumed the 20 credits she had earned would
be transferred to LaGuardia and was shocked to
learn LIU won’t release her credits until she pays
her debt.
Mattis currently owes about $9,000 in back tuition.
“LIU off ered no guidance, they fl at out said if
you don’t pay we’re not transferring those credits,”
Mattis said. “I’m paying it off every month. It’s a
slow process but it’s working.”
But in the meantime, Mattis, 21, is taking introductory
courses intended for fi rst-year students at
LaGuardia when she should be well into her second
year courses.
“I had to decide whether to start over or wait
until I paid off my debt,” Mattis said. “I had no idea
that my credits could be held up because of the
debt, but they are. I have nothing at all to show for
my year and a half at LIU, nothing at all.”
Despite her troubles, she said she’s happy to have
found her way to LaGuardia.
“Not only am I not accruing any more student
loan debt, but I feel like I’m getting a better education,
too,” Mattis said. “Th e professors are really
nice and they actually care. I’m also fi nding it easier
to make friends here.”
Mattis expects to graduate with her associate
degree in political science in June 2021. Her goal
is to fi nd a career where she’s able to connect with
people. She joined the CUNY ASAP program at
LaGuardia, which helps her pay for her tuition,
textbooks and transportation, and connected her
with an advisor to help guide her to graduation.
“LaGuardia is more in-depth when it comes to
fi nances where LIU was vague,” Mattis said. “I’m
not bashing LIU, every school is a good school.
LIU is a good school but there are some people
who don’t help you navigate your way. At
LaGuardia they navigate me very well.”
In retrospect, Mattis wishes she had listened
to her older sister from the beginning. She also
regrets that her high school guidance counselors or
her college prep course did not teach her about the
benefi ts of attending a community college.
“My experience has taught me a lot about how
college works,” Mattis said. “I wish I’d started at
LaGuardia and never took out any student loans.
I want to share my story so that other folks learn
from it and don’t make the same mistakes I did.”
To apply to LaGuardia Community College
or schedule a campus tour, visit https://www.
laguardia.edu/Apply/. For same-day admissions,
call 718-482-7206, email admissions@lagcc.cuny.
edu or come in person at 29-10 Th omson Ave.,
Room C-102, Long Island City, Queens.
Queens educator will move north to
take over his former position.
Current Superintendent of New York
City School District 28 Mabel Muñiz-
Sarduy began her new role as Queens
North Executive Superintendent on Nov. 4.
“We thank Executive Superintendent
Muñiz-Sarduy for her leadership in District
28 and look forward to the experience she
will bring and the work she will do for the
Queens North community in her new role
as Executive Superintendent,” said First
Deputy Chancellor Cheryl Watson Harris.
Since becoming district superintendent
in 2014, Muñiz-Sarduy has served
schools across South Jamaica, Rego Park
and Forest Hills with a student population
of approximately 42,000 students.
In this role, she increased student performance
in ELA and Math, according to
the DOE. She began her career as a teacher
at P.S. 86 in Jamaica 30 years ago before
working her way up to assistant principal
and then principal.
“I thank the District 28 students, teachers,
principals, parents, and parent leaders
for their partnership and look forward
to hitting the ground running in my new
role supporting all of our Queens North
districts and schools,” said Muñiz-Sarduy.
In her new role,she will use her experience
to bridge the gap between district
superintendents and the Queens North
Borough Offi ce, which perform tasks ranging
from hiring and training staff to counseling
and providing support for students
with disabilities or those learning English.
In Muñiz-Sarduy’s absence, Seiw Kong
will take on the role of Acting district
superintendent starting Monday. She has
served as deputy superintendent for the
last fi ve years and has 22 years of experience,
serving as a teacher, bilingual coordinator,
assistant principal and principal
within the DOE.
Th e process to select a new, permanent
superintendent will begin in the
coming weeks, which will involve taking
community input as Kong and Executive
Superintendent Muñiz-Sarduy will begin
meeting with district leaders and community
stakeholders.
Mabel Muñiz-Sarduy (left) will begin her new
role as Queens North Executive Superintendent
on Nov. 4, while Seiw Kong (right) will take on
the role of Acting district superintendent.
Courtesy of LaGuardia Community College
When Andrea Mattis of Richmond Hill transferred to
LaGuardia Community College she was shocked to learn
her 20 credits were being held hostage until she pays off
her student debt.
Rosedale fourth-grader ‘mad’
to learn she will lose her seat at
Success Academy next year
BY BILL PARRY
bparry@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
A Rosedale student finally
earned a Success Academy fourth
grade seat, only to learn it is her last
year at her new school.
Nine-year-old Mariam Jimoh
loves math, reading and dance, and
has just started fourth grade as a
new student at Success Academy
Rosedale this year. And for the fi rst
time, she feels academically challenged.
She has started reading at a new
level and is mastering math concepts,
but now Jimoh is one of the
Success Academy fourth-graders
without a middle school next year.
Aft er 33 months of families waiting,
Mayor Bill de Blasio has yet
to fulfi ll his promise that the city
would provide a permanent school.
“I love to do diff erent things and
I love to learn what I’m capable of
doing,” Jimoh said. “Success is an
amazing school that challenges me
in ways other schools would not be
able to do.”
Next year, Jimoh and 226 other
children will have to return to district
schools, where on average
only one in three students are able
to read or do math at grade level.
She is zoned to attend fi ft h grade
at PS 183 in Rockaway Beach,
where 24 percent of students meet
state standards in ELA and 20 percent
pass math.
Jimoh was among the hundreds
of fourth grade students, parents
and educators from southeast
Queens who rallied on the steps
of City Hall last week pleading for
space to learn. Mayor Bill de Blasio
ignored the protestors on his way
into the building.
“I was really surprised, and I
was a bit mad when he just walked
past,” she said. “I thought he was
going to stop and take into consideration
the kids who need a school.
I really want the mayor to give us a
middle school. It’s just a building.”
At an unrelated press event
in Corona Th ursday, the mayor
deferred to his Schools Chancellor
Richard Carranza when a reporter
asked about Success Academy’s
need for space.
“Th ere is an engagement process
that we’ve engaged with all of the
communities, not only the Success
Academy community, but also
the communities of the schools in
which there could or could not be
space,” Carranza said. “So we are
right in that process, we’ve been
communicating and meeting with
Success Academy offi cials on a regular
basis. Th ey know the timeline
but our goal is to make sure they
have the space that they need in
the appropriate amount of time for
them to open on time.”
According to city data and an
analysis by independent researchers,
there are seven public school
buildings with 450 to 1,000 empty
seats on southeast Queens, any one
of which the city could use to serve
these students.
At Success, Jimoh says she has
discovered a new sense of courage
and appreciates her teachers and
new friends.
“Th ey are always so encouraging
and when we’re trying new
things, they say stuff like, ‘No one
will laugh at you, we’re all learning,’”
she said.
One new discovery is a love for
dance, an elective Jimoh chose this
year.
“Dance is a way to be free and do
some exercise and move my body,”
she said. “It’s nice to dance during
the day to mix things up, it’s a different
type of learning.”
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