FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com NOVEMBER 10, 2016 • THE COURIER SUN 23 oped OUR SCHOOLS, A LOOK BACK OUR VOICES BY PUBLIC ADVOCATE LETITIA JAMES As parents, we should have a say in every aspect of our child’s life, especially letters & comments HOPING FOR A ONE-WAY CONVERSION OF LOCAL STREET Community Board 8 approved a capital and expense budget that places the upgrading of our area’s roads, schools and parks at the top of its list. As a Kew Gardens Hills resident who’s lived on 77th Avenue near Park Drive East for 72 years, I’m glad CB 8 gave top priority to rebuilding both roads. But another thing must be done: convert 77th Avenue into a one-way, eastward-bound venue from Park Drive East to Vleigh Place. Cars now going in both directions nearly collide and threaten the safety of children and parents who face two-way traffi c with no stoplight to enter P.S. 164 at 135th Street. Chaos reigns when school opens at 8:30 a.m. and closes at 2:30 p.m. All you hear are horns blaring and people shouting while crossing guards try to impose some order. Turning 77th Avenue into an eastbound-only road will solve the problem. Drivers heading west can use 78th Road. I hope CB 8 pursues this measure and I urge Councilman Rory Lancman, Assemblyman Michael Simanowitz and state Sen. Joseph Addabbo to support it. Richard Reif, Kew Gardens Hills NOT EVERYONE THRILLED WITH LIC STREET REPAIRS Regarding plans to renovate streets in Long Island City: Why are the bus stops shifting from Vernon Boulevard and Borden Avenue and Vernon and 50th Avenue? There is no need. You’re shifting end stops to in front of residences and further from subway transfer. Regarding the sidewalk extension, please do not place any benches. We don’t need to encourage the drunk noisy bums to hang out there anymore. QNS user LICParent THANKFUL FOR FLUSHING PLAYGROUND RENOVATIONS On plans to renovate the playground at Bowne Park: Great news! I wonder though if they will address the three main issues the previous playground had: The young child play structure was several hundred feet away from the older kid structure (a nightmare if you have kids of different ages); no fence around play area; and no benches in the shade near the play area. I took my kids to that playground twice a week for a year and no one ever approached me, or to my knowledge the other regular parents there, about our insights to the playground. QNS user Emily GLEN OAKS MAN SAYS ‘GO CUBS GO!’ The Chicago Cubs’ curse has ended after 108 years. I myself was stationed in Great Lake, Illinois, as a member of the United States Navy and traveled by train into Chicago to Wrigley Field. I would attend games when they were in town and sometimes they would win and sometimes they would lose and this was over 40 years ago. Now I am proud of the Chicago Cubs who fought the good fi ght and has made America proud. Bravo Chicago Cubs for proving when you believe, nothing is impossible. Frederick R. Bedell Jr., Glen Oaks Village the ones that will be most consequential. But far too often, I’ve found parents to be shut out of the decision-making process in their child’s school. For example, meetings in our city’s public schools where important policy and budget decisions are made have been strictly closed to the public, including parents. But there’s good news: thanks to a lawsuit I worked on along with courageous education advocates, parents will once again be welcomed to share input on how our schools are run. Every New York City public school is required to have a School Leadership Team (SLT), which includes the principal, parent association president, teachers union representative, and an elected parent and staff member. The point of an SLT is to create roadmaps for the school’s annual goals, which are required to be refl ected in the school budget. The teams are also consulted for new hires and new policies. Since the establishment of mayoral control in 2002, SLT meetings have been closed to the public, robbing parents and community members of an opportunity to engage with school governance, denying them a voice in decisions that directly impact their children. Behind closed doors, SLTs decide the future of our schools. They decide where the school’s budget will be spent. They decide where to allocate that money, whether it be to books, computers or class trips. They decide how our classroom spaces will be improved and how suspensions policies will be changed, and even discuss the potential for co-locations and school closings. Parents and teachers have a right to participate in this process, so when a former teacher was barred from attending an SLT meeting at his former school, I went to the Department of Education (DOE) to advocate for his right to attend. But instead of working together, the DOE pushed back against increased transparency and instead engaged in a lengthy legal battle. Just last week, the New York State Supreme Court Appellate Division ruled unanimously in favor of our lawsuit against the administration, concluding that the DOE must make School Leadership Team meetings open to the public. Our schools should be like parks with open fi elds and boundless room for ideas and knowledge, not dark dungeons with concrete walls that keep people out. By not allowing community members to participate, DOE created a veiled practice that cast a shadow of secrecy and opaqueness. Our success in opening up the SLT process is not only a victory for parents, students and educators, but for all New Yorkers who believe in a transparent and accountable government. As public advocate for the City of New York, Letitia James is the second-highest ranking offi - cial in the city and serves as a watchdog over city agencies, and investigates complaints about city services. In honor of Veterans Day, we take you back in time to 1943, at the height of World War II. In Middle Village, the Elm Civic Association erected an honor roll at the corner of Eliot Avenue and 71st Street, which is now the site of Our Lady of Hope School. The honor roll bore the names of those who served in the Armed Forces. Send us your historic photos of Queens by email to [email protected] or mail printed photos to The Queens Courier, 38-15 Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. All mailed pictures will be carefully returned to you upon request.
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