Co-op City’s official newspaper serving the world’s largest cooperative community. © Copyright 2010 Co-op City Times
Vol. 45 No. 31
Saturday, July 31, 2010
25¢
P re s id e nt A t ki n s a pp o i nt s D i r e c t o rs t o c ha i r B o ar d co m m i t te e s
Helen Atkins, President
Jose Rodriguez, Audit Committee
BY DEREK ALGER Riverbay President Helen Atkins officially announced the selection of Directors who will chair respective Board Committees over the coming year, which has historically always been a balancing act in trying to satisfy everyone. Atkins could have waited until September to select Committee chairs but decided not to delay the announce-
ment of her choices so the Board could move on and consider serious issues facing cooperators. “I recognize that different Directors had strong preferences to chair certain committees,” Atkins said, “but the bottom line is there can only be one chairperson for each committee and I tried to assign committee chairs with consideration for what was best for everyone
Al Shapiro, Construction Committee
Eleanor Bailey, Budget Committee involved, including Riverbay and ultimately, cooperators.” Since financial issues are of the utmost concern at the moment, Atkins stated she gave considerable thought to the Budget, Audit, and Construction Committees, as well as the Contract Compliance and Inventory & Purchasing Committees. “I am not minimizing any committee, but we are facing a horrible
economic climate and we must ensure that operations at Riverbay deliver essential services in the most cost effective manner,“ she said. Director Eleanor Bailey has been named as the head of the Budget Committee, with Directors Al Shapiro and Manny Torres serving as co-chairs. (Continued on page 4)
Co-op City schools outscore Violent storm brings down District 11 averages on state tests two dozen trees; cars damaged but no major injuries reported
BY JIM ROBERTS More students scored lower grades on this year’s state tests, but educators say the higher standards this year will produce better education in the future. Tougher scoring this year on New York state tests, announced this week, show that the schools in Co-op City outperformed schools in District 11, but that students, in general, aren’t doing as well as previous testing indicated. Test results for third through eighth grade English and Math show that students at IS 181, MS 180, PS 153, PS 160 and the Equality Charter School generally did better than other schools in District 11, while scores at PS 178 were lower than the average District 11 scores. The state Department of Education raised the number of correct answers that students needed to be judged as proficient this year because past tests weren’t tough enough, the department said. “The problem is that those exams didn’t sufficiently test students’ abilities – the bar was set too low,” said Senior Deputy Commissioner John King. “But we are changing that now. It’s time to end the annual debate about whether our tests have become easier and to put to rest questions about what it means to achieve proficiency in New York.”
Last year, a fourth-grader had to get 37 out of 70 points on the math test to reach grade level while this year a student had to earn 51 out of 70 points to reach that level. Statewide, the majority of students in grades three through eight, 53% in English and 61% in Math, met or exceeded the new proficiency standards this year. Last year, that number was a lot higher - 77% of students met or exceeded standards in English and 86% did so in Math. In New York City, the number of students scoring proficient in English fell to 42% this year from 69% in 2009. In math, 54% of city children scored proficient this year, down from 82%. Overall, scores for Black and Hispanic students fell dramatically in the new test standards. Proficiency for third grade through eighth grade in English for Black students dropped to 34% from 64% last year. And Hispanic student scores in English dropped to 37% from 65% last year. Co-op City schools showed some strong test results compared to the state and District 11 scores. For example, at PS 153, 65% of third grade math students scored at the proficiency level compared to 47% of District 11 students. Fifth grade (Continued on page 12)
BY BILL STUTTIG A violent late afternoon summer storm, believed to be the remnants of what the National Weather Service said was a tornado that touched down in Riverdale caused significant damage to the landscape around Co-op City Sunday, but
Sunday’s severe winds brought down a huge tree adjacent to the Power Plant, crushing a parked car and ripping up a huge slab of the sidewalk.
luckily no major injuries were reported. The storm that reached Co-op City at approximately 3 p.m. began as an F1 tornado that struck first at the Hebrew Hospital Home, a residence for the aged
Photo by MA Sowah
(Continued on page 16)