Mayor de Blasio visits PS 154 in the Bronx, a Renewal and Community School Part Two

This is the second grade class which Mayor de Blasio was to visit at 10:45 AM. with Chancellor Carmen Farina. There are only 19 students in this class rather than the normal class size of 30 or more children. That is because this school is a Renewal School, a fancy name for a failing school. The mayor arrived 30 minutes late and it was local Assemblywoman Carmen Arroyo and not Chancellor Carmen Farina who was at the school with the mayor. 

Above - The mayor and Assemblywoman greet Ms. Adams the teacher.

Below - The mayor speaks with Ms. Adams while the assemblywoman looks at the future voters.

Above - Mayor de Blasio watches as the students form groups of three or four and then do a lesson by answering among themselves the question the teacher has given them. 

Below - After the lesson is done the mayor gives high fives to all the students.

Above - The mayor Principal and staff walk around to the side of the school to see a school project. That is the Major Deegan Highway in the background.

Below - You can see the mayor is holding a half-dozen fresh eggs which the chickens in the chicken coup behind have laid. Visual Arts teacher Kendra Brown is the teacher in charge of the year round 'PS 154 Chicken Project'. Principal Coviello watches as the mayor asks Ms. Brown about the Chicken Project. The area is cleaned by the school custodian Ms. Lukry Tejeda.

The mayor took no questions, and then departed for the Manhattan school he was to visit followed by the last school visited in the five boroughs in Staten Island.

Mayor de Blasio visits PS 154 in the Bronx, a Renewal and Community School Part One

PS 154 is a Renewal and Community school. 

About the Renewal School Program

The Renewal School Program is a call to action. The NYCDOE will work intensively with each Renewal School community over the next three years, setting clear goals and—with support from Central—holding each school community accountable for rapid improvement. The NYCDOE has selected as Renewal Schools those schools that met all three of the following criteria and others that were added per the Chancellor’s discretion:

1. Were Identified as Priority or Focus Schools by the State Department of Education 

   Priority: The bottom 5% lowest-performing schools statewide

   Focus: The bottom 10% of progress in a subgroup
2. Demonstrated low academic achievement for each of the three prior years (2012-2014): 

   Elementary and middle schools in the bottom 25% in Math and ELA scores 

   High schools in the bottom 25% in four-year graduation rate
3. Scored “Proficient” or below on their most recent quality review                                

   Key Elements of the Plan

   1. Transforming Renewal Schools into Community Schools, with deepened support from and for families and community partners. Partnerships with community-based organizations will enable these schools to offer tailored whole-student supports, including mental health services and after-school programs.
   2. Creating extended learning time – an extra hour added to the school day to give all students additional instructional time.
   3. Supplying resources and supports to ensure effective school leadership and rigorous instruction with collaborative teachers.
   4. Performing school needs assessments across all six elements of the Framework for Great Schools (rigorous instruction, collaborative teachers, supportive environment, effective school leadership, strong family-community ties, and trust) to identify key areas for additional resources.
   5. Bringing increased oversight and accountability including strict goals and clear consequences for schools that do not meet them                                                      

      List of Renewal Bronx Schools                                                                                              07X154 - P.S. 154 Jonathan D. Hyatt

      07X162 - J.H.S. 162 Lola Rodriguez De Tio
      07X547 - New Explorers High School
      08X123 - J.H.S. 123 James M. Kieran
      08X301 - M.S. 301 Paul L. Dunbar
      08X332 - Holcombe L. Rucker School of Community Research
      08X375 - The Bronx Mathematics Preparatory School
      08X405 - Herbert H. Lehman High School
      08X424 - The Hunts Point School
      08X530 - Banana Kelly High School
      09X022 - J.H.S. 022 Jordan L. Mott
      09X117 - I.S. 117 Joseph H. Wade
      09X145 - J.H.S. 145 Arturo Toscanini
      09X219 - I.S. 219 New Venture School
      09X227 - Bronx Collegiate Academy
      09X276 - Leadership Institute
      09X313 - I.S. 313 School of Leadership Development
      09X324 - Bronx Early College Academy for Teaching & Learning
      09X325 - Urban Science Academy
      09X328 - New Millennium Business Academy Middle School
      09X329 - Dreamyard Preparatory School
      09X339 - I.S. 339
      09X412 - Bronx High School of Business
      10X080 - J.H.S. 080 The Mosholu Parkway
      10X085 - P.S. 085 Great Expectations
      10X331 - The Bronx School of Young Leaders
      10X363 - Academy for Personal Leadership and Excellence
      10X391 - The Angelo Patri Middle School
      10X438 - Fordham Leadership Academy for Business and Technology
      10X440 - Dewitt Clinton High School
      11X112 - P.S. 112 Bronxwood
      11X289 - The Young Scholars Academy of the Bronx
      11X370 - School of Diplomacy
      12X092 - P.S. 092 Bronx
      12X217 - School of Performing Arts
      12X286 - Fannie Lou Hamer Middle School
      12X384 - Entrada Academy
      12X463 - Urban Scholars Community School
      12X692 - Monroe Academy for Visual Arts & Design

MAYOR AND CHANCELLOR KICK OFF FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL WITH NEW EQUITY AND EXCELLENCE FOR ALL INITIATIVES REACHING OVER 800 SCHOOLS

New initiatives will raise the bar: 80 percent of students will graduate high school on time, and 2/3 of students will be college-ready

Building on Pre-K for All and Community Schools, City promotes academic excellence, student & community support, and innovation

  Mayor Bill de Blasio and Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña today joined students, families, and educators to celebrate the first day of school, starting the day with a 7^th-grade student and her new Single Shepherd at IS 392 in Brownsville. This will be the first full school year of the Equity and Excellence reforms first laid out by Mayor Bill de Blasio last September. The Equity and Excellence initiatives will support progress across all schools so that, by 2026, 80 percent of students graduate high school on time, two-thirds of graduates are college-ready, and all students are reading in 2^nd grade.

There is momentum across the Equity and Excellence for All initiatives; below is a by-the-numbers breakdown for the 2016-17 school year:

Single Shepherd

Single Shepherd is pairing every student in grades 6-12 in District 7 in the South Bronx and District 23 in Brownsville with a dedicated school counselor or social worker who will support them in their school on the path to graduation and college enrollment.

This school year, approximately 120 Single Shepherds are serving all16,000 grade 6-12 students at all 51 middle and high schools in Districts 7 and 23.

Universal Literacy

Through Universal Literacy, every school will receive support from a dedicated reading coach who will work with teachers to ensure all students are reading on grade level by the end of 2^nd grade. Within six years, at least two-thirds of students will be able to read proficiently by the end of 2^nd grade, with the target of 100 percent of all 2^nd graders reading at grade level by 2026.

This school year, 103 Universal Literacy reading coaches are supporting all107 elementary schools in Districts 9 and 10 in the Bronx and Districts 17 and 32 in Brooklyn.

Algebra for All

Through Algebra for All, by 2022, every student will have access to Algebra in 8^th grade, complete Algebra no later than 9^th grade, and there will be academic supports in place in elementary and middle school to build greater Algebra readiness.

This school year, 67 elementary schools are “departmentalizing” 5^th-grade math – having their math instruction led by a specialized teacher who received intensive training the spring and summer. Including those schools, over 400 elementary, middle, and high school teachers across 205 schools are returning to their schools with expanded expertise in math instruction.

AP for All

AP for All is adding Advanced Placement courses at underserved schools across the City; by fall 2021, students at all high schools will have access to at least five AP classes.

This school year, 63 high schools are offering new AP courses, including35 that offered no AP courses during the 2015-16 school year. An additional 71 high schools are receiving pre-AP support to strengthen student and teacher readiness for AP courses in future years.

Computer Science for All

Through Computer Science for All, every student will receive computer science education in elementary, middle, and high school by 2025.

This school year, 246 elementary, middle, and schools are participating in Computer Science for All, including 98 offering full-year or multi-year sequences. Across these schools, 457 teachers are receiving rigorous professional development and support to implement these programs.

College Access for All – Middle School

Through College Access for All – Middle School, by the 2018-19 school year, every middle school student will have the opportunity to visit a college campus.

This school year, 167 middle schools across ten districts will bring over20,000 students to college campuses during the school year, and offer new workshops and resources for students and families around high school, college, and career success.

College Access for All – High School

Through College Access for All – High School, by the 2018-19 school year, every student will have the resources and supports at their high school to graduate with an individual college and career plan.

This school year, 100 high schools are receiving new training and funding to build a schoolwide college and career culture. All 68,000 New York City high school juniors will be able to take the SAT free of charge during the school day on April 5, 2017.

District-Charter Partnerships

District-Charter Partnerships will pair district and charter schools to foster strong relationship and share best practices. Partnerships include facilitated conversations among schools, organized visits, and sharing of resources and strategies.

This school year, over 130 district and charter schools will partner around sharing best practices. Currently, this includes 108 schools – 11 co-located schools building campus community and sharing practices; 19 schools in District 16 in Brooklyn participating in a district-wide district-charter partnership; and 78 schools in Districts 18, 19, and 23 in Brooklyn engaged in the DOE Uncommon Schools-Impact Partnership. An additional 28 schools will be identified for new collaborative learning partnerships this fall.

Pre-K for All

Pre-K for All is in its second year of providing a free, full-day, high-quality pre-K seat for every four-year-old in New York City – better preparing our youngest students to learn and be successful in kindergarten and beyond.

  

This school year, 70,430 children are registered to attend free, full-day, high-quality pre-K, more than triple the 20,000 children who attended before the Pre-K for All expansion. Last year, on the first day of school,65,504 children were registered. Families can continue to find free, full-day, high quality pre-K seats by calling 311 or visiting nyc.gov/prek.

Community Schools

New York City’s 130 Community Schools recognize that in order for students to achieve academic excellence, we must support the whole child, as well as their family. Community Schools support students, engage families, and strengthen communities from all sides; integrating academics, health, youth development, and family engagement and providing access to critical programs and services like vision screening, mentoring, expanded learning programs, adult education, and mental health counseling. Each school is paired with a lead Community Based Organization partner that works collaboratively with the principal and the school community to do this work.

The Mayor and Chancellor will continue to highlight these initiatives with five-borough tours. After the visit to IS 392, the Mayor will visit the expanded pre-K program at PS 161 in Queens; PS 154 in the Bronx, a Renewal and Community School; and the KIPP Infinity Charter School in Manhattan.

Street Naming for Reverend Luis F. Serrano

  You should know that on Saturday, September 10, 2016 at 11:00AM, Chatterton Avenue, between Virginia and Puglsey Avenues in Bronx County will be renamed in honor of Reverend Luis F. Serrano.

As you already know, for many years, Reverend Luis Serrano has served as a Chaplain for the New York City Police Department, and as such, he has been one of the spiritual counselors for more than 30,000 men and women who comprise the NYPD, serving equally without regard to anyone’s race, color, creed, national origin, disability, gender, sexual preference, marital or veteran status, or any other legally protected status.

Reverend Luis Serrano has also been one of the Officers of the Assembly of God in the Eastern Hispanic District. He serves as the Parochial Vicar of the Assembly of God Church in Brooklyn. Reverend Luis Serrano is the Pastor of the Pentecostal Assembly Church located at 320 47^th Street in Brooklyn, on the corner of Third Avenue.

Since he came from Puerto Rico, his homeland, where he resided in El Barrio San José, Toa Baja, Reverend Luis Serrano has resided in Bronx County where he has humbly served people from a variety of ethnicities including Jewish, Black, Italian, Irish, Asian, and Dominican, in many capacities.

It is important for you to know that Reverend Serrano’s social and religious efforts and contributions to families and residents of Bronx County has drawn the attention of New York City Council Members Annabel Palma and Rafael Salamanca, who have obtained approval of the New York City Council to change the name of the block where Reverend Serrano resides at 1965 Chatterton Avenue to Reverend Luis F. Serrano Way.

For this ceremony, they have chosen Saturday, September 10, 2016 at 11:00AM , when the Council Members together with other elected officials, community leaders, ministers, and Members of the New York City Police Department will be officially declaring Chatterton Avenue as Reverend Luis F. Serrano Way.

I am Councilman Reverend Rubén Díaz and this is what you should know.

Johnson Avenue Block Festival Next Sunday, Sept. 18th

BRONX DISTRICT ATTORNEY DISMISSES ASSAULT CASE AGAINST MAMADOU DIALLO

 Bronx Man Will Not Be Prosecuted in Death of Wife’s Attempted Rapist 

 Bronx District Attorney Darcel D. Clark today announced that a 61-year-old Bronx man will not be prosecuted in the death of a man he had beaten for trying to rape his wife in their apartment. 

 District Attorney Clark said, “This case was a tragedy for all whose lives intersected in that Bronx building on the night of May 30, 2016. 

 Mamadou Diallo’s wife was brutally assaulted in her home by Earl Nash. Diallo rushed to save her and struck Nash with a tire iron as he tried to escape. Nash died from cardiorespiratory complications associated with his injuries, acute cocaine intoxication and heart disease. “Mamadou Diallo was charged with Assault, and the Diallos’ lives were changed forever. Earl Nash’s family mourned him while expressing compassion for the Diallo family,” District Attorney Clark continued. 

 “We waited for three months for the autopsy results, and after a thorough investigation as well as discussions with the deceased’s family we have determined that no grand jury action is warranted. We are dismissing the charges against Mamadou Diallo,” District Attorney Clark said. 

  Assistant District Attorney Jennifer Cruz told Bronx Supreme Court Justice Marc Whiten during a court appearance for Diallo today, “The District Attorney’s Office has reviewed all of the evidence in this case and has analyzed the relevant law. We also have spoken with and consulted both the decedent’s family and the Diallo family, and finally have reviewed the Medical Examiner’s report which detailed the contributing factors which caused Mr. Nash’s death. 

  “After this intensive review, the District Attorney’s Office has made the decision to move to dismiss all charges against Mr. Diallo stemming from the May 30th incident. The events of May 30th were truly tragic and the Office commends both families for their empathy in this most difficult of circumstances.”

  Assistant District Attorney Cruz read a statement from the Nash family that said in part, “We truly believe that both the Nash and the Diallo family have suffered a great deal of pain as a result of May 30, 2016….While we cannot undo the damage that was done that evening, we hope to bring some closure not only to our family but to the Diallo family as well. As such, we wholeheartedly recommend that District Attorney Clark dismiss all charges against Mamadou Diallo.” 

 According to the investigation, Nash, 43, had forced his way into the Diallos’ Claremont Village apartment after he saw Diallo leave. He pulled his pants down, ripped off the wife’s clothes, beat her and tried to rape her. She called her husband saying she was being raped. Diallo called 911 on his way back to the apartment, and confronted Nash in the elevator, striking him with a tire iron. 

 Police and Emergency Medical Service arrived and took Nash to Lincoln Hospital, where he died. Diallo was charged with Assault, Criminal Possession of a Weapon and Harassment on May 31, 2016. 

  On August 26, 2016, the Medical Examiner ruled that the death was caused at least in part by the actions of another person and therefore was a homicide. The cause of death was cardiorespiratory complications associated with blunt force trauma of the head, torso and upper extremities, acute cocaine intoxication and hypertensive and atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. 

Owner And Chief Executive Officer Of Beauty Products Company Sentenced In Manhattan Federal Court For Multimillion-Dollar Accounting Fraud Scheme

   Preet Bharara, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, announced that EMANUEL COHEN, the former chief executive officer of a Florida-based wholesaler and distributor of beauty products (the “Company”), was sentenced today to 27 months in prison for orchestrating a fraudulent scheme to obtain millions of dollars in loans by making false statements and providing fraudulent documents to two commercial banks based in New York (the “Banks”).  COHEN pled guilty on June 23, 2015, before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sarah Netburn.  Today’s sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Lewis A. Kaplan.

Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara said:  “Emanuel Cohen and his co-conspirators blatantly lied about their company’s financial condition to obtain millions of dollars in loans, which the company later defaulted on.  I want to thank the FBI for their excellent investigative work on this case.”

According to the allegations contained in the information to which COHEN pled guilty, other documents filed in Manhattan federal court, and statements made in court proceedings:

From 2007 through March 2014, COHEN and others engaged in a scheme to fraudulently induce the Banks to lend millions of dollars to the Company.  Among other things, COHEN knowingly made false representations to the Banks, concealed material facts from the Banks, and submitted false and fraudulent documents to the Banks, including fabricated borrowing base certificates.  Specifically, COHEN falsely inflated the Company’s sales and accounts receivable on borrowing base certificates that were provided to the Banks pursuant to loan agreements between the Banks and the Company.  COHEN used those falsely inflated sales and accounts receivable to mislead the Banks about the Company’s true financial performance so that the Company could secure and draw down millions of dollars in loans from the Banks that the Company would not otherwise have been entitled to receive. 

In March 2014, the Company defaulted on the loans at issue.  At that time, the outstanding balance on the loans was more than $4.8 million.

In addition to his prison term, COHEN, 73, of Boca Raton, Florida, was sentenced to three years of supervised release, and ordered to pay forfeiture and restitution, both in the amount of $4,888,460.35.

Three other defendants in this matter, Jay Sosonko, the chief financial officer of the Company, Thomas Thompson, the sales manager of the Company, and Marc Wieselthier, the Company’s outside accountant, pled guilty for their roles in the fraudulent scheme.  Sosonko, Thompson, and Wieselthier were sentenced to 16 months, 21 days, and 27 months in prison, respectively. 

Mr. Bharara praised the investigative work of the FBI.

Statement From A.G. Schneiderman On Closure Of ITT Technical Institute

Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman issued the following statement on the announcement that ITT Technical Institute, a for-profit college operated by ITT Educational Services, Inc. (“ITT”), with campuses in Albany, Syracuse, and Buffalo, will be closing its doors:

“Many hardworking New York students have enrolled at ITT campuses across the state and invested significant time and resources into their education. That is why my office wants to ensure all students affected by ITT’s closure clearly understand their options moving forward. I encourage those with student loans to consult tips from my office and from the Department of Education in order to advance and restart their education as quickly and inexpensively as possible.”

ITT’s announcement follows a decision of the United States Department of Education to suspend federal aid to new students enrolling at ITT on the ground that ITT failed to meet its accreditor’s standards.

How to Apply for Debt Relief

Certain ITT students are eligible for a full discharge (erasure) of their federal student loans due to ITT’s closure.  This type of loan discharge is called a “Closed School Discharge.” Students eligible for a Closed School Discharge include students who were enrolled when the school closed or on an approved leave of absence when the school closed; or who withdrew from the school in the 120 days prior to the school’s closure. 

For instructions on how to apply for a “Closed School Discharge,” students should click here.  Students will not be eligible for a Closed School Discharge if they choose to transfer credits and complete their program of study or a comparable program at another school. 

Students who are not eligible for a “Closed School Discharge” may be eligible for debt relief if their school committed fraud or otherwise violated state law.  This type of loan discharge is called a “Borrower Defense to Repayment.”  To obtain a “Borrower Defense to Repayment” discharge, students must submit a claim to the Department of Education that describes the school’s misconduct.  The Department of Education is currently developing a new process for submitting such a claim.  Borrowers may wish to wait for information about this new process to be made available before applying.  If students choose to submit claims before the new process is available, claims may be submitted via e-mail to FSAOperations@ed.gov or by mail to: Department of Education, PO Box 194407, San Francisco, CA 94119.  For instructions on what information to include with a “Borrower Defense to Repayment” claim, visit here.