Community Education Council 24

P.S. 91 Room 119 68-10 Central Avenue

Glendale, New York 11385
Phone: 718.418.8160 / Fax: 718.418.8168/ Cec24@schools.nyc.gov
New York City Department of Education
Nick Comaianni Dmytro Fedkowskyj Debbie Tscherne Ernest Cury Secretary
President 1St Vice President 2nd Vice President Treasurer Shwe Zin OO

Council Members Department of Education Officials

Maria D’Amico Catherine M. Powis
Bill Kregler Community Superintendent District 24
Brian Rafferty
Evelyn Sanchez
German Sarmiento
Peter Vercessi

FINAL BOARD APPROVED MINUTES

Minutes of Annual Meeting
July 10, 2007
PS 58, School of Heroes, 72-24 Grand Avenue, Maspeth, New York

1) Pledge of Allegiance

2) Call to order and Roll Call -- The Annual meeting convened at PS 58, at 7:00 PM

Roll Call – Present

• Nick Comaianni
• Ernest Cury
• Maria D’Amico
• Dmytro Fedkowskyj
• Bill Kregler
• Winnie OO
• Brian Rafferty
• Debbie Tscherne
• Peter Vercessi

Roll Call – Absent

• Evelyn Sanchez
• German Sarmiento

Also in attendance:

Community Superintendent, Catherine Powis

3) Election of Chairperson Pro Tem

Nick Comaianni nominated Bill Kregler, Dmytro Fedkowskyj seconded; Bill Kregler
accepted nomination, a roll call resulted in Bill Kregler being elected Chairperson Pro
Tem

4) Election of Officers

President

Dmytro Fedkowskyj nominated Nick Comaianni. Debbie Tscherne seconded the

nomination. Mr. Comaianni accepted. All were in favor of Nick Comaianni for
President.

1st Vice President

Nick Comaianni nominated Dmytro Fedkowskyj. Ernest Cury seconded the nomination.
Mr. Fedkowskyj accepted. All were in favor of Dmytro Fedkowskyj for 1St Vice
President.

2nd Vice President

Nick Comaianni nominated Debbie Tscherne, Dmytro Fedkowskyj seconded the

nomination; Debbie Tscherne accepted. All were in favor of Debbie Tscherne for 2nd
Vice President.

Secretary

Nick Comaianni nominated Winnie OO. Debbie Tscherne seconded the nomination.
Winnie OO accepted. All were in favor of Winnie OO as Secretary.

Treasurer

Dmytro Fedkowskyj nominated Ernest Cury; Nick Comaianni seconded. Ernest Cury
accepted the nomination. All were in favor of Ernest Cury as Treasurer.

5) Adjournment

Mr. Comaianni motioned to adjourn. Dmytro Fedkowskyj seconded. Annual meeting

adjourned at 7:20 PM.
 Community Education Council 24
P.S. 91 Room 119 68-10 Central Avenue
Glendale, New York 11385
Phone: 718.418.8160 / Fax: 718.418.8168/ Cec24@schools.nyc.gov
New York City Department of Education
Nick Comaianni Dmytro Fedkowskyj Debbie Tscherne Ernest Cury Secretary
President 1St Vice President 2nd Vice President Treasurer Shwe Zin OO

Council Members Department of Education Officials

Maria D’Amico Catherine M. Powis
Bill Kregler Community Superintendent District 24
Brian Rafferty
Evelyn Sanchez
German Sarmiento
Peter Vercessi

Minutes of Calendar Meeting

July 10, 2007
PS 58, School of Heroes, 72-24 Grand Avenue, Maspeth, NY

1) Call to order and Roll Call -- The Calendar meeting convened at PS 58 at 7:30
PM

Roll Call – Present

• Nick Comaianni
• Ernest Cury
• Maria D’Amico
• Dmytro Fedkowskyj
• Bill Kregler
• Winnie OO
• Brian Rafferty
• Debbie Tscherne
• Peter Vercessi

Roll Call Absent

• Evelyn Sanchez
• German Sarmiento

Also in attendance

Ms. Catherine Powis, Community Superintendent

2) Approval of Minutes
Nick Comaianni moved to approve the June 26, 2007 minutes, Dmytro Fedkowskyj
seconded. Minutes of June 26, 2007 were approved, 8 yes, 1 abstention.

3) Report of the President

Mr. Comaianni stated that everything is status quo and there is not too much information
to be given this month other than the fact that the reorganization of the Department of
Education is completed.

4) Report of the Community Superintendent

Ms. Powis opened her report by thanking the Community Education Council District 24
and Mr. Dmytro Fedkowskyj for their intervention in getting summer school
transportation for students attending PS 239. Mr. Fedkowskyj wrote a letter to the
Chancellor explaining the situation and the issue was resolved immediately.

Ms. Powis stated summer school began on Monday, July 2, 2007 and will end on
Wednesday, August 8, 2007. Attendance for the K to 8 schools for 2007 is at 68.23%
compared to 2006 which was 55.33% for the first week.

Ms. Powis also stated that Governor Spitzer and the New York State Legislature have
approved an unprecedented increase in educational aid for the New York City schools.
She further stated that when the Governor proposed his FY2008 education budget he
affirmed many of the school improvement principles that New York City has embraced
through the Children First school reforms. Governor Spitzer laid out a plan that
empowers districts to choose the path that will help their students succeed. His plan also
holds districts accountable for ensuring that students achieve. He has created the new
“Contracts for Excellence”, agreements between school districts and the State.
Chancellor Joel Klein has proposed a plan for spending the $228 million through the
State’s “Contracts for Excellence”. These Contracts are the accountability mechanism
created by State law that will hold school districts accountable for spending education aid
on programs and initiatives that increase student achievement. She further stated that
New York City is proposing to use the new State resources and Contacts for Excellence
funds in the following ways:

• Class Size Reduction

• Creation of additional teaching classrooms
• Reduction of teacher-student ratio in schools that do not have sufficient space to
create new classrooms
• Time on Task
• Lengthened school day beyond the contractual 37_ minutes (e.g., increase in the
number of school-day or after-school program hours, increase in the number of
students served, etc.)
• Lengthened school year (e.g., new or additional summer program offerings,
increase in the number of students served, etc.)
 • Dedicated instructional time (e.g., instructional blocks for core academic subjects,
additional instructional periods for areas of greatest student need, Response to
Intervention (RTI) and/or intensive individual intervention, etc.)
• Individualized tutoring provided by highly qualified staff as a supplement to
general curriculum instruction and targeted to students not meeting State
standards
• Teacher and Principal Quality Initiatives
• Programs to recruit/retain Highly Qualified Teachers (HQT)
• Professional mentoring for beginning teachers and principals consistent with State
Education Department mentor-teacher certification requirements and limited to
1st and 2nd years of teacher/principal assignment
• Instructional coaches for teachers to provide support in content areas needed to
attain learning standards
• School leadership coaches for principals to provide instructional leadership
development across all curriculum areas.
• Middle School and High School Restructuring
• Implementation of instructional and structural changes (e.g., Small Learning
Communities; CTT classes; dual language programs; teaming; Academic
Intervention Services; accelerated learning, including AP courses; etc.)
• Full-Day Pre-Kindergarten
• Creation of new or expansion of existing full-day Pre-Kindergarten classes

Ms. Powis closed her report by stating that parents and community members are also
invited to attend a series of public hearings in each of the five boroughs from July 9-12,
2007. A full schedule of dates and locations follows:

Borough Date and Time Location

Bronx Monday, July 9, 2007 Bronx School for Law, Government and Justice
6:00 p.m. 244 East 163rd Street
Bronx, NY 10451
Brooklyn Tuesday, July 10, 2007 Brooklyn H.S. for the Arts
6:00 p.m. 345 Dean Street
Brooklyn, NY 11217
Manhattan Wednesday, July 11, 2007 Millennium High School
6:00 p.m. 75 Broad Street
New York, NY 10004
Staten Wednesday, July 11, 2007 Michael J. Petrides H.S.
Island 6:00 p.m. 715 Ocean Terrace,
Staten Island, NY 10301
Queens Thursday, July 12, 2007 Thomas A. Edison Career & Technical Education H.S.
6:00 p.m. 165-65 84th Avenue
Jamaica, NY 11432

Ms. Powis took questions from the Council.

Nick Comaianni asked Ms. Powis if the Department of Education knew the number or
percentage of students who did not show up for summer school but had seats allocated
for them. Mr. Comaianni reminded Ms. Powis of a situation a few years back where
students missed out on attending summer school because there were no seats yet there
was a large group of students who did not show up and the students who were originally
shut out were notified too late of openings. Ms. Powis stated that the deadline to offer
seats will be on Thursday and parents will be notified of open seats should there be any.
Mr. Comaianni stated that he would hate to see any wasted seats.

Peter Vercessi asked if part of the initial funding that the chancellor has earmarked for
hiring teachers, did the chancellor give a plan to the district superintendents regarding
hiring new teachers to which Ms. Powis stated that he has not.

5) Guest Speaker – None

6) Resolutions -- None

7) Formation of Committees and

8) Assignment of School Liaison

Nick Comaianni stated that the 6 committees need to be formed, Gifted and Talented, to
be chaired by Debbie Tscherne, Building Zoning and Maintenance, chaired by Dmytro
Fedkowskyj, ELL to be chaired by Ernest Cury, Website to be Chaired by Brian
Rafferty, Legislative to be chaired by Nick Comaianni, and Special Education to be
chaired by Winnie OO.

Mr. Comaianni asked that each member write down which committee they would like to
serve on as well as the schools in which they would like to act as liaison. He also stated
that he would try to accommodate everyone regarding the schools they pick to act as
liaison and urged the council to visit their liaison schools as well as attend PTA meetings.

9) Old Business – None

10) New Business

Dmytro Fedkowskyj stated that he and Debbie Tscherne attended a Parent Advisory
meeting at the Queens Borough President Helen Marshall’s office in which Mr.
Fedkowskyj explained that educational issues that occur borough wide are discussed.
The Parent Advisory Board decided to form committees at the last meeting and Mr.
Fedkowskyj stated that he will be chairing a committee regarding the Five-Year Plan. He
stated that these Parent Advisory meetings are another way in which parents can get
involved. He stated that another meeting will be held Tuesday July 17th from 6-8 PM at
Borough Hall. He stated that these meetings are open to all parents and urged the public
to attend.
Mr. Fedkowskyj also stated that summer school students from PS 81 were not eligible for
busing to PS 239. Ms. Gloria Morgenstern, Parent Coordinator PS 239 contacted the
CEC with the information that these children who were in need of extra schooling were
not attending due to lack of transportation. Mr. Fedkowskyj stated that he wrote a letter
to Chancellor Klein explaining the situation (after attempting to work out the problem
directly with the Office of Pupil Transportation to no avail) and the students were
approved for transportation immediately following his letter to the Chancellor. Mr.
Fedkowskyj thanked all those involved in the quick resolution of this particular busing
issue.

Ms. Haiti Zabrana from the Latin Women in Action stated that since 1999 they have
started a back to school fair which is like a festival and there are sponsors who join us
and who brings school supplies for children from kindergarten to college. Ms. Zabrana
stated that she feels many students could benefit from this festival and announced the
date and location as being 114th street and 34th Avenue, next to the Grand Central
Parkway, August 19th from 10am to 6pm. She stated that there will be rides for the
children as well as computer raffles and the like. She encouraged the public to attend.

11) Public Agenda Session – The council took questions from the public.

12) Adjournment – Nick Comaianni motioned to adjourn, Dmytro Fedkowskyj

seconded; meeting was adjourned at 7:45 PM.
.