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Volume XIX • Number 49 • December 20-26, 2012 •
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P.S. 24 music gets $19G boost from Sen. Klein By TESS McRAE Local elected official and newly minted state Senate co-leader Jeffrey Klein will allocate $19,000 toward arts enrichment at P.S 24. School principal Donna Connelly announced the funding injection at last Tuesday’s parents association meeting. Klein, who visited the school in October, said he was happy with the educational offerings but was interested in helping to expand the school’s music program. “I wanted to make sure we got some money to the school so that students not only have access to a good academic education but access to wonderful and meaningful arts education as well,” Klein told the Riverdale Review. Funding will begin in January, when Klein’s senate term begins. The $19,000 grant will be distributed through Project Boost, a program run by the nonprofit Center for Educational Innovation–Public Education Association that encourages public school children to engage in the arts. Once the allocation comes through, Project Boost will work with P.S. 24 to assess which programs to enhance. Connelly told parents that funding would most likely go toward the music department, keeping intact the school’s existing partnerships with the New York Philharmonic and the Little Orchestra Society and retaining a keyboard program facilitated by Music and the Brain, a program for public schools.
Connelly said the money could also bankroll the school’s new vocal program, due to start in the spring, adding that the voice classes would be taught by a new part-time teacher and a parent with vocal experience. News of the substantial grant comes after three staff members, including one musical instrument teacher and one voice teacher, were excessed on June 15. At the time, P.S. 24 interim acting assistant principal Emanuele Verdi said officials were forced to lay off the teachers because three staffers with seniority were returning from leave. However, as word of the music department cuts spread and many in the community bemoaned the decision, officials rehired the instrumental music teacher, Maryellen Shepley. The new funding coincides with the release of the Arts in Schools report for the 2011-2012 school year, a report meant to help school leaders evaluate their delivery of arts education. There are no grades and a school cannot be closed for having a “bad” arts program, but the New York State Education Department determines how well specific requirements are met. For elementary schools, the NYSED requires instruction in dance, music, theater and visual arts in every grade. In middle schools, students must achieve one half-unit of study in visual arts and one half-unit of study in music, while high school students are required to take at least
two credits in the arts in order to graduate. At M.S./H.S. 141, 96 percent of eighth-grade students who graduated in June took at least two half-units while attending. A further 88 percent of graduates from the class of 2012 took three or more credits of study in the arts. At P.S. 81, dance is offered to third- and fifth- graders for 21 to 40 hours per academic year, and theater is offered to first-, fourth- and fifth-graders for up to 30 hours per year. Annually, music hours per class at P.S. 81 ranged from 21 to 70 hours and visual arts averaged 21 to 50 hours. Meanwhile, P.S. 24 increased its average number of arts instruction hours across all mediums—dance, music, theater and visual arts. In grades one to five, each class participated in up to 10 hours of dance class per year, 21 to 30 hours of music, 21 to 30 hours of theater and 21 to 30 hours of visual arts. Data for the report was gathered before P.S. 24 school officials instituted major cuts to the music program,so the effect of these cuts—and the effect of Klein’s infusion of money—won’t be observed until the next Arts in Schools report is released next year. “We need to be exposing young people to the theater, to music, to the visual arts,” Klein said. “That’s why I wanted to make sure we got some money into this program.” As of press time, Connelly did not respond to requests for further comment.
Community board rejects proposal for fundraising affiliate By MIAWLING LAM Members of Community Board 8 have nixed controversial plans to establish an auxiliary organization that would raise money to support board operations. Members last week voted 2113 against a proposal to create a Friends of Bronx Community Board 8 following frenzied discussion and opposition. Three members abstained from voting. Under the proposal, conceived four years ago, the Friends of CB8 group would raise extra funds by soliciting bids from vendors to host street fairs and other public events. The group, which would have been registered as either a 501(c)(3) organization or a community foundation, would also have applied for grants from charitable corporations, foundations, trusts and government agencies. CB8 treasurer Philip Friedman said the idea was designed to address the chronic lack of city funds for community boards. Friedman, who was one of four members appointed last September to evaluate the plan, revealed that CB8 received $206,895 this year to perform and carry out its City Charter-mandated responsibilities of evaluating the needs of its communities and advocating in their behalf. “The subcommittee thought
it may be in the best interests of the board to look for outside funds (over) what we’re provided by the city,” he said. “We’re just looking to create funds in order to perform all the functions of the board.” Of the board’s entire operating budget, 95 percent goes toward paying the salaries of three fulltime employees, he said. According to SeeThroughNY, an independent website that provides payroll data on all public servants, CB8 district manager Nicole Stent earned $102,471 last year, making her the fifthhighest-paid district manager in The Bronx. In comparison, community associates Patricia Manning netted $55,611 and Diane Bay pulled in $38,922. Many local members voiced their concerns about the idea of auctioning off the right to host street fairs and other public events to the highest bidder. CB8 member Charles Moerdler expressed reservations, especially given that the existing budget boasts “an awful lot of fat.” “There are times for organizations like ours…to be lean, to do the things that they should do when the budget constrains,” Moerdler said. “We need to get off that underfunded notion and get to
the notion of ‘Our mission is X, do we have enough money to do it?’” Moerdler, who abstained from voting, said the board could also face allegations of impropriety and be forced to navigate through murky waters. “My nose twitches when somebody contributes because unfortunately, in our society, I
don’t know too many people who contribute without some motive at the other end of the tunnel,” he said. CB8 member Martin Wolpoff said allowing the Friends of CB8 group to host events was akin to “opening a Pandora’s box,” while fellow member Rosemary Ginty believed that fundraising would dilute the board’s mission.
“I understand there is a need, but I don’t see there is a compelling need,” she said. “To me, what we deal with is land use, budgets and service-delivery issues, and fundraising just feels like mission creep. It’s beyond what I think our primary mission is.” A handful of the city’s 52 community boards have already formed Continued on Page 19
NYPD Commissioner Raymond Kelly (fourth from left) joins Manhattan College officials to break ground on the new student commons building, set to open in 2014. See story on page 7.