Talk Bronx New York

Bronx To Build New Branch Of N.Y. Public Library

Residents and local officials came out Friday for the groundbreaking of the New York Public Library’s new branch in Kingsbridge, Bronx.

The 12,000-plus-square-feet library will have a community room, reading rooms, public computers and wireless internet, among other features.

“We’re gonna have a lot more programs. And just a lot of what the community needs in terms of having more space for our teenagers,” said library network manager Michael Alvarez.

“Brick-and-mortar libraries are very important,” said Bronx Deputy Borough President Earl Brown. “An opportunity for young people to have access to books, and magazines and other artifacts is critical in forwarding their education.”

“Oh, to have a brand new library,” said resident Frances Ziccardi. “And a big library where they can really put the books in. And you could really have new books too, which they don’t have the space now.”

The new building will be nearly twice the size of the current library.

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Eleven schools in Bronx will have new play spaces for September 

When students at 11 Bronx schools return in September, ready to buckle down to work, they’ll also have a place to play for the first time.

The nonprofit Out2Play is building playgrounds this summer at elementary schools that have dilapidated play spaces or lack playgrounds altogether.

Andrea Wenner, the group’s founder and director, said a recess period without a playground can lead to trouble.

“They’re not being physically active,” she said. “They’re getting into fights and not interacting in a constructive way.”

A lack of exercise coupled with overeating is a serious problem in the Bronx, where the obesity rate is 42% - the highest in the city - according to a report by Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrión’s office.

The three-year-old organization has already put up 15 city playgrounds, but Wenner said there are still more than 120 elementary schools, including 25 in the Bronx, lacking a place for kids to play.

At Public School 55, a playground has meant fewer fights and falls, fewer scraped knees and fewer bloody noses, said Principal Luis Torres.

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Bronx Students Scramble To Find School 

Parents are stunned to find their children shut out of the Bronx Early College Academy due to building size accommodation.

New York City’s Department of Education said in a letter to parents that it could not find a building big enough to house the increasing number of students. A department representative said that splitting the school in two is one of the proposed solutions.

Parents and teachers have said the academy has been struggling due to a shortage of resources, support and leadership, reported the New York Post.

The academy opened in 2006 for students in grades sixth and seventh and was to expand this year to include grades up to twelfth. Officials expect to reopen the school for its first class of ninth graders in 2009, but parents are doubtful.

In the meantime, the department has recommended that eighth-graders apply to other schools.

A part of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s Early College Initiative, the Bronx academy was created to prepare middle-school students for college courses by earning course credits through advance placement. The school is supported by the City University of New York and partnered with Lehman College.

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High Test Scores, and Criticism, Follow a South Bronx Principal

A South Bronx elementary school that adopted the motto “The Best School in the Universe” on the strength of soaring tests scores is being investigated for allegations that teachers helped students cheat on state tests.

Several students who attended P.S. 48 said last week that teachers would examine their answers during official test administration periods and point out mistakes and how to correct them.

“They would give you the answers on the state tests,” a graduate of P.S. 48, who is now in seventh grade, said. “You’d say, ‘I need help,’ and then they’d tell you what the answer was.”

The Department of Education is also investigating cheating allegations at a nearby school, M.S. 201, which this year was taken over by P.S. 48’s former principal, John Hughes.

Mr. Hughes moved to the middle school after running P.S. 48, to great acclaim. He told the Web site InsideSchools.org that he oversaw a 30-point jump on a math test in 2004, and that year Chancellor Joel Klein spoke at the school’s graduation — reportedly while wearing a “Best School in the Universe” T-shirt.

The test scores subsequently oscillated, but the general upward trend won Mr. Hughes favorable profiles in the New York Times and on PBS, and he has developed a good rapport with a teacher-recruitment nonprofit, Teach For America.

In his first year at M.S. 201, scores have also shot up; the percentage of students passing math tests this year jumped by 17 points, and the percentage passing reading increased by nine points. (Citywide, scores rose by nine points in math and seven points in reading.)

Yet Mr. Hughes has butted heads with many of the teachers at M.S. 201, many of whom have not been invited to return next year when the school is restructured.

Some of those teachers said in interviews that they fear Mr. Hughes is importing a culture of cheating to their school.

In a recent letter to the Department of Education, a group of teachers reported that Mr. Hughes asked several teachers to help students during the state tests.

One teacher, Sandra Ameny, who came to M.S. 201 through Teach For America, said Mr. Hughes asked her to help her students on the math test, but that she refused.

“He asked me to guide my students to the right answers during the test, and I said that’s helping them; I’m not supposed to do that. And he said, ‘Well, just guide them towards the right answer,’” Ms. Ameny said.

She added: “He basically said during the exam that I should go over close to them, and for example if they mark ‘D’ and ‘D’ is not the right answer, tell them, you know, ‘That’s not the right answer, try something else,’ and just keep guiding them until they get the right answer.”

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Bronx teen gets his wish: a summer job

After looking for a job for a year, Anthony Hunt landed a summer job with Ramon Falu’s employment firm.

There was something about Anthony Hunt that grabbed Ramon Falu’s attention.

Falu, the president of Bronx employment firm Pink Diamond Staffing Services, read a Your Money cover story this month about Anthony, a 17-year-old junior at Frederick Douglass Academy III Secondary School, who had spent a year looking for a job without getting an offer. But after reading about Anthony’s dedication, Falu, 69, tracked him down and offered him a summer job at his office in the Hub section of the Bronx. Anthony will work Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. for $8 an hour.

His first day of filing, computer work and office maintenance is Tuesday.

“I felt welcome, I like the environment,” Anthony said of his employer. He added that the Your Money story on the tough job market for students prompted calls from several employers. “It’s kind of funny, ain’t it?” he said.

Falu said he was impressed by Anthony’s story and his determination. Experts recommend kids show the same kind of drive as they search for work.

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