Brooklyn – Councilman David G. Greenfield hosted New York City Schools Chancellor Cathie Black at his office in the Boro Park section of Brooklyn yesterday. The Councilman and the Chancellor met for over an hour to discuss critical education issues impacting the Councilman’s district, which encompasses Boro Park, Bensonhurst and Midwood.

“I am grateful to Chancellor Black for coming to Boro Park to meet with me one-on-one during this busy transition period,” said Councilman Greenfield. “I thought our meeting was productive and I believe that Chancellor Black is committed to improving the education of all of New York City’s school children. Her knowledge of even the most arcane education issues that I brought up was impressive,” stated the Councilman, who has spent many years as an education advocate. “Chancellor Black is clearly committed to her new role as the steward of our city’s education system.”

Councilman Greenfield has many public schools in his district, but also represents more children in religious schools than any other member of the New York City Council. Greenfield took the time to address issues related to both of these populations. Specifically, the Councilman and the Chancellor discussed FDR High School, charter schools, innovative public school programs like ‘School of One’ and the state’s ‘last-in first-out’ hiring policy. Greenfield also addressed the challenges unique to parents of religious school children including the rising cost of tuition, the need for expanded busing services and the city’s stewardship of the federally-funded Title I remedial program. Greenfield was instrumental in working with the Department of Education and non-public school representatives to change the program to ensure that tens of thousands of non-public school children were able to benefit.

Councilman Greenfield, an early supporter of Mayor Bloomberg’s selection of Cathie Black for Chancellor, drew on problems in his own district to highlight his concern that, in a large school system, some schools get lost. To help combat this, Councilman Greenfield encouraged the Chancellor to engage in more communication with local legislators who know their local schools as well as anyone. For example, FDR High School, the largest secondary school in the Councilman’s district with a sizable English language learning (“ELL”) population, was slated for closure because of seemingly arbitrary guidelines. Specifically, many recent immigrants are unable to graduate high school in four years, as these guidelines require, because of their language gap. As a result, the four-year graduation rate at FDR is low and the school was deemed a “failing” school.  Greenfield protested this designation and encouraged the DOE to review FDR’s tremendous academic gains and ability to graduate successful ELL students, even if it took longer than the traditional four years. As a result of Greenfield’s insistence, instead of closing the school and replacing it with several smaller schools, the legendary high school remained open and was given more resources to help their ELL population.

Greenfield also asked the Chancellor to support his proposal to allow for a coupon to subsidize door-to-door busing for private school students. Greenfield’s proposal would help private school parents pay for busing, while saving the city money due to the lower cost of private busing. Greenfield arranged for a meeting in November with Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott and several key religious and school leaders to explore a framework for the door-to-door busing proposal.

Finally, Greenfield discussed his concern that the city is making it more difficult for parents to access special education services provided by the Department of Education. Greenfield asked the Chancellor to place a renewed focus on working with parents of special needs children to educate them about the services their children are entitled to, and find a mutually agreeable plan for the education of those children.

“We had a wide-ranging discussion on many critical education issues impacting my district,” Greenfield explained. “I believe that Chancellor Black brings a fresh approach to the Department of Education. I am hopeful that those who have criticized her for political reasons will realize that now is the time to come together and work with Chancellor Black to ensure that all of our schoolchildren receive the best possible education,” concluded Greenfield.

(YWN Desk – NYC)