Talk Bronx New York

Lengthy Interview With Councilmember Foster

The Highbridge Horizon has now posted a lengthy interview with Councilmember Helen Diane Foster on our Web site.

On April 11, the Horizon interviewed Foster in her District Office on Jerome Avenue. We published excerpts of this interview in our April issue, but because the Web does not provide the same space constraints as the printed page, we offer a far more expanded version online.

During the interview, Foster was typically candid, as she addressed a wide range of topics during the course of a roughly hour-long conversation. Her words about the killing of Sean Bell, and the trial of the three officers who killed him –words Foster spoke exactly two weeks before the officers were acquitted — have echoed powerfully in recent weeks.

“There is more outrage over the torturing of animals,” Foster said, “than there is over the fact that another Black man is killed at the hands of the police.”

A little later on in the interview, she added: “I think when the verdict comes out, once again like the Diallo case, this city will be looked at and judged on what that outcome is. It appears that we keep going back to Dread Scott, where a Black man has no rights that a white man has to respect, including his own life. And if we see another acquittal in this city, it will be a sad day for all of New York City, and how we are looked at [not only] by ourselves, but by the country. “

Other highlights of the interview:

Read more..

(No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...
 Email This Post

RETC Brings Tech Savvy to Underperforming Bronx Middle Schools

Fordham University’s RETC—Center for Professional Development is helping bring 30 Bronx middle schools up to speed in 21st century instructional technology.

The RETC, along with the New York City Department of Education’s Bronx Office of Instructional Technology (OIT) and the National Staff Development Council (NSDC), has received a $1 million, two-year grant from the federal Department of Education.

“We’re going to train assistant principals, teachers and technology people how to teach better using technology,” said RETC director Steven D’Agustino, Ph.D. “If classes are more integrated technologically, students will be more engaged in their learning, which will take place in a more project-based way and be more effective.”

The first training session, attended by nearly 60 teachers, administrators and technology coordinators, occurred May 9 on Fordham’s Rose Hill campus. Over the next two years, developers from RETC will make site visits to the schools as part of the program, titled Transforming Leadership into 21st Century Schools: Inclusive, Innovative and Interdisciplinary (I3).

While one benefit of the grant program is that administrators and staff will receive Internet and Computing Core Certification, known as IC3, its success will be measured by whether the test scores of English language learners improve, said Crystal Lindsay, director of the Bronx OIT.

“The entire school building will be transformed into a 21st-century environment,” Lindsay said. “Administrators and teachers will be empowered to teach using technology, but we must improve academic achievement.”

The public and non-public schools participating in the program are those that have been deemed “in need of improvement” by the New York State Department of Education as part of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, which was signed into law by President George W. Bush in 2001.

Read more..

(No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...
 Email This Post

Bronx Hospitality, Unnoticed by the Tourist Guides

The folks who published AAA’s 2008 New York tour book had a hard time recommending any hotels in the Bronx. They could only find one, in fact, a rather bland-looking building a mile north of Yankee Stadium by a service road to the Major Deegan Expressway

Hey, the hotel fared better than restaurants, since the automobile club’s guide does not list a single place to eat in the Bronx. As far as the guide goes, Arthur Avenue, Morris Park Avenue or City Island do not exist.

This 45-room Howard Johnson is the only hotel listed for the Bronx in AAA’s 2008 New York tour book.

It is an odd distinction for that lone hotel, a Howard Johnson of no particular architectural distinction. And given the borough’s long battles against hot sheet motels that rent rooms by the hour, a casual observer might assume this place was no different.

But it is a real hotel catering to real tourists. One day last week, the parking lot was filled with cars from out of state, most belonging to guests who had come to see the Yankees play Cleveland. Retirees from Oklahoma and families from upstate New York eagerly hauled suitcases upstairs as they prepared to change into baseball jerseys and take in a game.

Chadd Morris and Brandon Bebout had driven eight hours from Cleveland to score game tickets. They asked a local police officer for the nearest hotel and were directed to the HoJo.

Read more..

(No Ratings Yet)
 Loading ...
 Email This Post