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Volume XVIII • Number 19 • April 14 - 20, 2011 •
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Reporters and public barred from skate rink meeting By BRENDAN McHUGH Despite growing concerns from community leaders and elected officials over a proposed ice-skating rink, reporters were turned away from the April 6 meeting of the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy. In the past month, many have questioned the lack of public input from the Riverdale community over the decision to put a skating rink facility in Van Cortlandt Park, and the Riverdale Review planned to attend the meeting with the hope of finding answers. "I don’t think they would view you as a disinterested observer, but they should probably let you in," former parks department commissioner Henry Stern said in a phone interview. "It depends on the circumstances," he said. "People are legitimately concerned."
In March, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz wrote a letter to Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe asking why public hearings have not been held on this matter. Community activists Karen Argenti and Jane Sokolow wrote letters to city Comptroller John Liu, pointing out that there are a number of less utilized sites that would fit a skating rink. Members of Community Board 8 are split over the process and its corollaries, and Community Board 12 has publicly asked for a skating rink for years, raising the question “why not us?” The Review went to the Conservancy meeting at Horace Mann School ready to get answers over the many concerns but was quickly told to leave. Afterward, Dinowitz arrived at the meeting, and despite not being a board member, was allowed to stay. "I went to the meeting to get more information about
the skating rink and I was able to receive answers to several of my questions, which I was pleased about," he said. "However, I was shocked when the chair announced at the beginning of the meeting that they had barred the press from the meeting, and I was even more surprised when the Bronx parks commissioner [Hector Aponte] announced that the conservancy is not subject to the Freedom of Information Law." Argenti, when told two reporters were denied access to the meeting, was alarmed, but not totally surprised. The parks department has a history of giving out public land for private use without much public input, she said, citing tennis courts at Mill Pond Park and a museum in a public building. "Keeping the press out and refusing to divulge inforContinued on Page 19
St. Margaret School is on the cutting edge of educational technology
By MIAWLING LAM around textbooks and book using iPads in school and keepKeenan refuted claims the learning. Children as young as five are initiative would spell the end He said the idea was borne bags that weighed, on average, ing heavy textbooks at home,” swiping, pinching, and tapping for textbooks and said instead out of a desire to eliminate 32 pounds. he said. Continued on Page 19 iPad screens as part of an instruc- said the iPads would supplement the need for students to lug “Students have the benefit of tional overhaul at a Riverdale primary school. St. Margaret of Cortona School, located at 452 West 260th Street, is transforming student learning by using cutting-edge tablet computers to augment their curriculum and instruction. Under the pilot program, dubbed "Toss the Textbooks," teachers and students are being equipped with 95 first-generation iPads. The four-month trial—an archdiocese first—began last week when K-2 students were given their tablets. Kindergarten and first-graders will share the devices, while second-graders will be given an iPad each. Authorities will review the program’s success in September before deciding whether it should be rolled out to other grades next year. Principal Hugh M. Keenan said he was excited about the bold initiative as it put the school at the forefront of the new educational frontier. “We keep using the phrase 21st-century skills—how students and teachers need 21stcentury skills but we keep giving them 19th- and 20th-century tools,” he said. “I think this will really transform the way that students learn. This is not the magic bullet, but certainly, a major step in the Second graders at St. Margaret School use the iPads to supplement learning. They use it to complete arithmetic and online quizzes. right direction.”