Tag Archives: City Council NYC

Queens Gazette: De Blasio, APICHA Chosen As Pride Parade Grand Marshals

  May 28, 2015 ,

Mayor Bill de Blasio (r.) marches in the 2014 Queens Pride Parade alongside Queens Pride founder and Councilman Daniel Dromm (l.). De Blasio was the first mayor to march in the parade in its 23-year history and will serve as the 2015 Grand Marshal. Multi- Platinum winner CeCe Peniston is the headlining entertainer.

Queens Pride will celebrate the 23rd Pride Parade and Festival on Sunday, June 7 in Jackson Heights. “This year’s theme, ‘Pride – Strength – Unity’ highlights the diversity that is Queens. Queens has the largest number of language/ethnic groups in the whole USA. Despite this linguistic and cultural vastness, we all come together to celebrate our accomplishments and continue to work towards further advancements” said Alan Reiff, Co-Chair, Queens Pride.

The parade’s Grand Marshals will include Mayor Bill de Blasio and APICHA Health Center. De Blasio was the first Mayor to march in a Queens Pride Parade (2014), as well as having a strong stance on increasing LGBT rights and inclusion in the city. Multi-Platinum singer CeCe Peniston will headline the festival celebrating the Lesbian, Gay Bisexual and Transgender Community in Queens.

Councilman Daniel Dromm said,“When I founded the Queens Lesbian and Gay Pride Committee over 20 years ago, I was hopeful that we would increase the visibility of the LGBT community in Queens in a positive and impactful way. Having the Mayor of the City of New York as our Grand Marshal shows just how far we have come. The Mayor’s presence is an acknowledgment that the LGBT community in Queens and throughout the city is visible, welcome and included. I’m very proud of all the people who pour countless volunteer hours into making this event so special every year. I look forward to many more years of this celebration of LGBT pride in Queens.”

Read more here.

DNAinfo: Former White Castle Office Site May Become School, Officials Say

  May 7, 2015 ,

By Katie Honan

The neighborhood may get something it’s been craving at the site of the former White Castle regional office, officials announced.

The School Construction Authority is in contract with the new owners of the site at 69-01 34th Ave. to acquire the land and eventually build a 450-seat elementary school, they said.

Once the process is completed, the building should open by September 2019, according to officials.

SCA officials presented their plan to the land use and education committees of Community Board 3 Tuesday, and the project is currently in the middle of a 45-day comment period before official approval for the purchase is obtained from the city.

Kenrick Ou, the director of real estate services for SCA, said the availability of the space was shared with them by City Councilman Danny Dromm.

“What’s driving this is need,” Ou said, noting that District 30 is the second most overcrowded in the city.

The former White Castle office building was purchased by a developer last November for more than $5 million, and would eventually become apartments, the broker said last fall.

Dromm, who had been working with the SCA to add more schools, said the new plan was “exciting.”

“It’s such wonderful news for all of us,” he said. “Apartments would have added to overcrowded schools.”

The school, if approved, will be four to five-stories high and have 450 seats from pre-K through fifth grade, including at least 4 dedicated pre-K classes, Ou said.

They haven’t started the design process yet, but would try to match the look of houses nearby and find a “cohesive way to compliment the neighborhood,” he said.

Once they gain approval from the city council and the mayor, they’ll begin environmental impact studies and will eventually demolish the building.

In addition to the new school, Ou said the SCA is eyeing the upper floors of the fire-damaged Bruson Building on 37th Avenue between 74th and 75th Streets as potential space for universal pre-k classes.

The building could not accomodate a full school, but they are in talks about adding some classes there, he said.

The SCA will present the new school plans at Community Board 3’s general meeting on Thurs, May 21 at 7 p.m. at the Louis Armstrong Middle School, 32-02 Junction Blvd.

Read more here.

Queens Courier: Queens parents decide to ‘opt out’ kids from state testing

  April 15, 2015 ,

THE COURIER/ Photo by Angy Altamirano

By Angy Altamirano

Parents across the city are coming together this week to stand against standardized testing and the effects it has on their children.

Starting Tuesday and running through Thursday, students are scheduled to have to take the English Language Arts (ELA) test at schools throughout the state. The following week, students are scheduled to take the math standardized test.

Parents and education advocates have spoken against the tests, saying it brings too much pressure onto students and is not being properly used to evaluate the students, but rather to assess teachers. This has led some parents to forbid their children from taking the tests, and the schools have been prohibited from taking any action against those parents.

“I’m here as the chair of the [City Council] Education Committee to call into question the validity of these tests and the reason these tests are being given, and actually question why they are being used the way they are being used,” said Councilman Daniel Dromm, who on Tuesday stood with parents who have decided to have their children opt out of taking the tests. “These tests actually are not tests to show our children’s strength, they’ve become tests to make our children look like failures.”

Having served as a teacher for 25 years, Dromm added that he is not opposed to tests being used as “one piece of a child’s overall evaluation” but he believes that too much time is spent on taking and preparing for these tests.

“We have heard stories about children who have collapsed under the pressure, who get sick from the pressure, who wet their pants from the pressure of these tests. This is not what education should be about,” Dromm said. “I do not believe that our students should be used as guinea pigs in the governor’s battle against teachers.”

Danny Katch, whose daughter is a fourth-grader at P.S. 69 in Jackson Heights, decided to have her opt out of the exams last year and believed the decision served as an educational experience for his daughter because it showed her about standing up for what you believe in.

Katch also said he is not opposed to tests, but the standardized tests do not come from the teachers or schools. Instead, they are being used as a form to evaluate teachers rather than assessing the students.

“If you tell teachers that 50 percent of their evaluation is going to be based on two standardized tests, then you are going to believe that most of what the kids are going to be doing all year is preparing for those standardized tests,” Katch said. “If you want to improve our schools it’s not about shoving more tests down their throats, it’s about improving the resources that they need and they deserve.”

Read more here.

Chalkbeat: De Blasio signs bill requiring annual special education reports

  March 31, 2015 ,

By Sarah Darville

Parents and advocates will have access to new data about how well the city is serving its special-education students next year, thanks to a new city law.

Mayor Bill de Blasio signed the bill, which requires the Department of Education to produce an annual special-education report, on Monday. He was flanked by City Council education committee chair Daniel Dromm and Corinne Rello-Anselmi, the Department of Education’s deputy chancellor in charge of special education.

The annual reports will detail how long students wait to be evaluated and to receive services, as well as the percentage of students whose needs are being partially and fully met across the city and in each of the city’s school districts.

The reports will also break down those statistics by students’ race, gender, grade, English language learner status, and free or reduced-price lunch status, which advocates have said will provide a better look at exactly who is receiving required special-education services and where schools, or the city, are falling short.

“This will help us to determine what changes are necessary to create better, more responsive special education services and ultimately, benefit many thousands of students,” Dromm said.
The city’s first report will be released in February 2016 and will include statistics for the 2014-15 school year. Subsequent reports will be released each November.

Read more here.

Legislative Gazette: NYC council members trek to Albany to push public schools agenda

  March 27, 2015 ,

city_council

By Richard Moody

A caucus of New York City Council members is showing state level officials where they stand on education issues in this year’s budget.

On Wednesday, members of the city council’s Progressive Caucus, including Councilman Daniel Dromm, chair of the Education Committee, came to Albany asking state legislators to adopt a budget that provides funding mandated by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity court decision, excludes additional resources for charter schools, leaves the charter school cap at current levels and provides more local control over the city’s schools.

“We are deeply concerned as council members about the governor’s lack of commitment to provide adequate funding to our public school system,” Dromm said. “The state owes [public schools] about $2.6 billion in funding. We need that funding because, without [it], we will not be able to provide an adequate education.”

Earlier this month, the Assembly proposed an increase to education funding by $1.8 billion, and soon after, the Senate proposed a $1.9 billion increase. Gov. Andrew Cuomo proposed in his Executive Budget to increase funding by $1.1 billion, with stipulations that the Legislature pass reforms he proposed as part of the budget, including placing failing schools into receivership.

The Massachusetts receivership model takes failing schools and hands over control to an expert or program for turning schools around.

“We’re also deeply concerned about the governor’s proposal to place our schools into receivership,” Dromm said. “We need and want local control over our schools. We have always believed that in New York City. We do not believe that the state knows better than the local folks.”

Cuomo’s Executive Budget would extend the New York City mayor’s control of the school system which is set to expire this year.

“We’re not here to tell the folks in Utica or Buffalo or Schenectady how to run their cities. We’re simply here to ask for the ability to control our own destiny in New York City,” said Councilman Mark Levine.

Dromm said the Senate and the governor are taking the wrong approach to fixing the public education system by lifting the charter school cap and increasing funding for charter schools. “You cannot improve our public school system simply by funding charter schools. We need adequate funding for our public schools and opening charter schools is not going to help that problem.”

Read more here.