By Howard Koplowitz
“This city has been discriminated against in Albany year after year,” Klein told a meeting of Community District Educational Council 29 at IS 192 in St. Albans last week, referring to the decades-old lawsuit by the Campaign for Fiscal Equity calling for state legislators to appropriate education money the city is entitled to under the law. “Our kids are getting the short end of the financial stick. As a result, our capital plan is in peril.”He noted that because the city has not gotten the money, the city Department of Education cannot lower class sizes or provide pre-kindergarten classes or student support. Klein's visit to IS 192 marked the second time he had a meeting in District 29 since the start of the school year.”I'm not a stranger to District 29,” Klein said. He was at PS 147 in Cambria Heights in October to update the community during a special meeting of the Cambria Heights Civic Association.Inside IS 192's packed auditorium, a PS 34 teacher told Klein that many of her students only speak Creole but she does not. She asked how the situation could be alleviated. PS 34 has a large Haitian population.”You have more translators here than at my school. When (my students) are with me, what am I supposed to do?” she asked Klein. Translators were sitting at the back of the auditorium for Creole, Mandarin and Spanish-speaking observers. Region 3 Superintendent Judith Chin addressed the question by saying that a dual-language program is in the works where students will learn in both Creole and English. She said those students should be taking an ESL class, but the teacher complained that was only for a portion of the school day.”And we're hoping that they learn English as soon as possible,” Chin said, arousing hollers from the crowd.Klein said the school may need another ESL teacher but also said the best way for students to learn English is when “they see it being spoken.”Frustrated District 29 parent Gary Sterling screamed at Klein because his special education son, who attends PS 191 in Rosedale, gets picked up for school at 8:25 a.m. when school starts at 8:20 a.m., and arrives back home one hour after the school day ends.Sterling said he would be “in (Klein's) face,” until the matter gets resolved.”The first rule of management is 'everything's your fault',” Sterling said, noting that when he called the city DOE to complain about the situation, he was put on hold on two occasions and said the blame falls on Klein.After noting that the city's curriculum has been geared toward writing, CDEC 29 President John Tillman asked Klein if CDEC's could have input before a new curriculum is introduced.Klein said he had no objection to Tillman's request and noted that the method has been successful.”These programs are working,” the chancellor said. “In the 21st century, if our kids can't write, they won't do well in the global economy. The demands on our kids in the 21st century are going to be enormous. We have to raise the bar for our kids,” he said to thunderous applause.”We no longer have a dumbed-down curriculum in New York City. Low expectations have killed us for far too long.” Reach reporter Howard Koplowitz by e-mail at news@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 173
