FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM DECEMBER 7, 2017 • THE QUEENS COURIER 39
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The holiday shopping season is in full swing, so this is the perfect time to show you what one of Queens’ busiest shopping
strips looked like years ago. This 1959 shows the Myrtle Avenue streetscape in Ridgewood, facing west toward Wyckoff
Avenue. Note Woolworth’s and S.S. Kresge, two popular “fi ve-and-dime” stores, on the north side. Featured prominently
on the left is the Loft Candy Store at the corner of Myrtle and Onderdonk avenues. Send us your historic pictures of Queens
by email to editorial@qns.com (subject: A Look Back) or mail printed pictures to A Look Back, The Queens Courier, 38-15
Bell Blvd., Bayside, NY 11361. All mailed pictures will be carefully returned to you.
A closer look inside
our public schools
BY SCHOOLS CHANCELLOR
CARMEN FARIÑA
As an educator for 52 years, I
know that all of our schools’ most
important work happens in the
classroom.
In my fi rst four years as New
York City schools chancellor,
we’ve invested in our classrooms
through our Equity and Excellence
for All agenda – our belief that every child, no matter what ZIP
code they live in or where their parents were born, deserves a
great education.
By any measure, our schools are the strongest they’ve been,
with record-high graduation rates, record-high numbers of students
going on to college, record-low dropout rates, and improving
test scores. We’re building on this progress with 3-K for All,
Computer Science for All, and Community Schools. Many of
our investments in classrooms across the city – particularly in
training teachers and improving classroom instruction – are less
splashy and oft en overlooked, but are just as critical to our vision
of Equity and Excellence for All.
Here are a few of those “under-the-radar” investments that are
making an impact in our classrooms:
• 80 minutes of teacher training. Nearly four years ago, one of the
fi rst things I did was set aside 80 minutes at every school every
week for teacher training. Th is is a game-changer for schools
and the children and families we serve. During the 80 minutes,
teachers learn how to use new cutting-edge resources; plan for
upcoming lessons; and look closely at students’ performance
on tests and essays to fi gure out what they’re teaching well and
what they need to do better.
• Passport to Social Studies. Since I was a child and my father read
Spanish books with me about the history of Spain (his native
country), Social Studies has always been my favorite subject.
Unfortunately, it was not seen as a priority in schools, but it has
to be. We must prepare students to be thoughtful, productive
citizens, and they absolutely have to understand history, civics
and current events.
• Investments in middle school. We now provide an aft er-school
seat for every middle-school student, and also started a program
called “Teen Th ursdays,” where seventh-grade students
can visit many local cultural institutions. It’s not a given that
kids and families feel welcome at their local museums and cultural
centers; programs like this connect our students and parents
with their city in a new way. We’re also homing in on middle
school math through our Algebra for All initiative – making
sure students get the math instruction they need in fi ft h grade
and middle school so they’re ready to take on advanced math
courses in high school.
• Collaboration over competition. Last school year, we tapped into
that collaborative spirit and brought the “co-located campus
initiative” to 20 campuses across all fi ve boroughs. Participating
schools are on a single bell schedule so all students on the campus
can share AP and enrichment courses, increasing access to
more rigorous coursework. Teachers come together for shared
professional development, there are family welcome centers to
encourage all parents to get involved, and there have even been
campus-wide proms. By coming together, schools that would
have been siloed are sharing best practices and strengthening
campus culture – and students are benefi ting.
• Family engagement. We’ve increased the number of evening
parent-teacher conferences to make them more convenient for
families – resulting in a 40 percent increase in conference attendance
– and provided additional training to parent coordinators
on engaging parents in their school communities.
Th ese “under-the-radar” eff orts – and many like them – are
making a real impact for children and families across the city.
Th ere’s a lot of work our teachers and principals are doing every
day to put us on the path to Equity and Excellence for All, and put
our children on the path to success.
GIVING COPS A LIFT FOR
DEALER PARKING BUST
Th e Auburndale Improvement Association wishes
to publicly thank the 111th Precinct for their recent
actions to remediate problems with many of the
auto dealerships and some of the other auto related
businesses along Northern Boulevard in Bayside.
Th e police have also made many other attempts to
address problems with these businesses over the
years.
Our thanks also extend to state Senator Tony Avella,
Assemblyman Ed Braunstein and Councilman Paul
Vallone for their support in addressing all of the
complaints that this civic organization receives
regarding these auto businesses. We have been
working for years trying to get these businesses to
mend their ways and to become good neighbors to
the residents of the area.
We have also worked with Community Board 11
and other civic groups including the Bayside Clear
Spring Council headed by Mandingo Tshaka.
You would think that with all of this community
cooperation, conditions would improve.
Unfortunately, problems still continue that adversely
aff ect local residents.
It is not our goal to put any of these companies
out of business. All that we ask is that they obey the
law, that they follow conditions in their certifi cates
of occupancy and/or variances and that they be considerate
of the residents of the community.
Th is civic organization will continue to advocate
for the residents and cooperate with city agencies
and elected offi cials in trying to resolve these issues.
Th ese auto related businesses are not worlds unto
themselves. Th ey are part of the community and
must act in a responsible manner that shows respect
for the residents who live near these businesses.
Terri Pouymari, president, and Henry Euler, fi rst
vice president,
Auburndale Improvement Association
BIKE LANES SEEM TO
DEFY DRIVING LOGIC
As a Schwinn Cruiser Deluxe biker, I have been
biking along Queens Boulevard in the new green
bike lanes, while serenading myself with some songs
from Th e Wizard of Oz. Follow the green brick road,
follow the green brick road . . . (a parody of Follow
the Yellow Brick Road), as I dodge vehicular traffi c
from all sides in the green bike lane.
According to the state Department of Motor
Vehicles driver’s manual, bicyclists “must stay near
the right curb or edge of the road, or on a usable
right shoulder of the road, to avoid undue interference
with other traffi c.”
Yet, the cited bike lanes have been designed and
constructed near the left edge of the service roads, in
violation of the bicycle rule of the right.
Further, motor vehicular traffi c may cross diagonally
at some points from the main road, through
the bicycle lane, onto the service road, and ongoing
cars, buses and trucks traverse the bike lane to pass
slow or backed up traffi c in the single service road.
Th ere are no provisions for law enforcement of illegal
motor traffi c within the bike lanes only demarcated
with yellow and white painted lines.
Ironically, despite the dangerous hazards of these
bike lanes, a bicyclist “must ride in a bicycle lane, if a
usable one is available.”
We need new safety, environmental and business
impact studies of these nascent bike lanes.
Joseph N. Manago, Flushing
TERRORIST ATTACKS HIT
ALL OF HUMANITY
As reported, Islamic extremists killed 235 worshipers
during prayers and wounding many others
on Nov. 24. Two dozen children were also murdered.
Th is occurred at the Al Rawda mosque in Bir
al-Abed, Egypt.
As a Catholic and a grand knight in the Knights
of Columbus, I fi nd this carnage to be a most nefarious
act. It seems no religious faith is sacred from
ISIS’ heinous and murderous acts against innocent
people.
When one person is killed by terrorist, it is an
attack upon all of humanity.
My heartfelt prayers go out to these Egyptian families
who lost loved ones that were murdered and
wounded in this unprovoked attack in Egypt.
Frederick R. Bedell Jr., Glen Oaks Village
Email your letters to editorial@qns.com (Subject:
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our stories at QNS.com. All letters are subject to
editing. Names will be withheld upon request, but
anonymous letters will not be considered for publication.
Th e views expressed in all letters and comments
are not necessarily those of this publication
or its staff .
A LOOK BACK
