Riverdale Review, January 6, 2011

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Volume XVIII • Number 6 • January 6 - 12, 2011 •

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Two years too late: Klein gets reform ‘religion’ By BRENDAN McHUGH Senator Jeffrey Klein’s leadership in the state Senate is going down the drain faster than that Four Loko he poured out after announcing he had stepped down as deputy leader of the Democratic Conference, the second coveted position he’s lost in a month. Klein told the Daily News he is “disgusted” by the Democratic Party’s actions this past year, saying he “can no longer stand by and support Sen. Sampson as conference leader.” Sampson released a statement earlier this week stating the entire conference is undergoing change. “As part of what has been a broad and ongoing restructuring of the Democratic Conference, we have accepted the resignation of Sen. Klein as deputy leader,” he said. “Moving forward with that continued reorganization, we plan to announce final leadership and committee assignments this week.”

Sampson is expected to retain his leadership post, as he is currently unchallenged despite a difficult two years leading the conference while holding the majority in the Senate. Decisions for leadership posts are decided on Wednesday, January 5. Klein said the “final nail in the coffin” was the recent Daily News revelation that the Senate Democrats under Sampson had overspent their $29 million legislative budget by $7 million. Klein’s decision to step down from the deputy leader position will cost him $20,500 and a state car. His office did not responded to a written request for information. Frank Vernuccio Jr., Klein’s Republican opponent in last year’s election, was pleased to hear the news and attributed his race against the Albany incumbent as among the reasons the Democrats are reeling. “The campaign, although I did not win, exposed a number of flaws in the prevailing Democratic philosophy, and

Principals’ union asserts that P.S. 24 should have a ‘properly credentialed’ Assistant Principal By ANDREW WOLF The union representing principals, assistant principals and other school administrators has become involved in the controversy regarding the assistant principal vacancy at P.S. 24. For the first time in memory, there now are no assistant principals at the school, which doesn’t sit well with the Council of Supervisors and Administrators. Chiara Coletti, the spokesperson for the union confirmed the discussions have been taking place and told the Riverdale Review that it is their view that “all schools need at least one properly certified assistant principal,” and for a school as large as P.S. 24, “two certified assistant principals would be appropriate.” In recent years, the school had two intermediate supervisors, an assistant principal and a special education supervisor, given the large special ed population at the school. Last year principal Donna Connelly appointed her former colleague from P.S. 69 in the south Bronx, Emanuele Verdi, a guidance counselor as Assistant Principal. But it turned out that Verdi did not possess the required New York State certification. When questioned about the vacancy earlier in the school year, the school’s official spokesperson, Joseph Zizzo, insisted that Verdi was the assistant principal. He quickly called back to correct himself, stating that Verdi Continued on Page 17

Klein in particular.” Vernuccio attacked all incumbents for wasteful spending and poor ethics. Klein, for example, gave a state-sponsored $50,000 grant to the Westchester Italian Cultural Center for a series of cooking classes in 2010, all while running his campaign on attacking wasteful spending in the government. “Klein is a relic of the old Democratic Party, and I think that is coming to an end,” Vernuccio said. This isn’t the first leadership post Klein has stepped away from. In December, he resigned as head of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee. Klein insists he stepped down, but Albany insiders claim Sampson ousted him after a poor showing in the midterm elections. Sampson criticized Klein for allocating money to some races that were deemed lost causes instead of helping two incumbents, in Buffalo and on Long Island, who ultimately lost, costing the

Democrats their majority. Three other Long Island Democrats lost, as did other key upstate allies. The Republicans took back the state Senate, 32-30. Sampson needs only 16 of 30 votes from the Democrats on Wednesday to retain his position. Sen. Liz Krueger has been mentioned as a possible replace-

ment for Klein. Klein has not said whom he will support for either position, but he did say he does not plan to run for minority leader despite past ambitions of being conference leader. Bronx Sen. Jose M. Serrano told the Daily News he has not heard from any other senator about challenging Sampson.

‘Development’ Corp. passes the hat By MIAWLING LAM Help us help you: That’s the message being projected by a controversial local community organization. The Kingsbridge Riverdale Van Cortlandt Development Corporation sent out an e-mail last Wednesday urging residents to dig deep in their pockets and support its community betterment initiatives. Citing the “success” of last month’s one-day shopping shuttle service, the organization said more funds were needed so it

could continue to promote local mom-and-pop businesses. “We ask that you help KRVC help our community,” the e-mail reads. “We are hard at work day and night serving our community through events, projects and initiatives. “With more resources, KRVC can do more to serve our community. We ask that you make a financial contribution to KRVC in any amount you can in these tough economic times.” Continued on Page 17 Continued on Page 3

SILLY HAT DAY – P.S. 81 student Noa wears a witch’s hat during Silly Hat Day in Ms. Perez’s kindergarten class last month. Kids in all grades donned silly hats as part of a quirky change of pace to liven up the classrooms.


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