NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY PUBLIC HEARING ON THE GOVERNANCE OF THE NEW YORK CITY SCHOOL DISTRICT ASSEMBLY STANDING COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION College of Staten Island Center for the Arts Williamson Theater 2800 Victory Boulevard Staten Island, New York Thursday, February 12, 2009 10:40 a.m. EN-DE REPORTING SERVICES 212-962-2961 1 NYS Assembly – Committee on Education – 2-12-09 2 A P P E A R A N C E S: CATHERINE NOLAN, Chairwoman, Assembly Standing Committee on Education DANIEL J. O’DONNELL, Member of Assembly MICHAEL BENEDETTO, Member of Assembly MICHAEL CUSICK, Member of Assembly JAMES BRENNAN, Member of Assembly LOUIS TOBACCO, Member of Assembly MATTHEW TITONE, Member of Assembly EN-DE REPORTING SERVICES 212-962-2961 1 NYS Assembly – Committee on Education – 2-12-09 3 LIST OF SPEAKERS TOMAS MORALES, President, College of Staten Island 6 LYNDA BERNSTEIN, Member of the Executive Board, 31 IDEAL 13 JOANNE WOJCIK, Co-President, Staten Island Federation of PTAs 18 MICHAEL LASHER, Executive Director Public Affairs, Department of Education 25 DR. MARCIA LYLES, Deputy Chancellor, New York City Department of Education 27 LOIS KESSLER, Office of Special Education Initiatives 28 BONNIE BROWN, Superintendent, District 75 42 ANDREA ANNA LELLA, CEO and Program Director, Families Helping Families Resource Center 119 EDWARD JOSEY, President, Staten Island, NAACP 131 SAM PIROZZOLO, President, CEC 31 138 FRANK SQUICCIARINI, First Vice President, CEC 31 142 JOAN McKEEVER-THOMAS 159 ANNE MARIE CAMINITI, Program Director, Parent To Parent, NY, Inc 165 DR. JERRY CAMMARATA, Dean of Student Affairs, Touro College of Osteopathic Medicine 175 SUE DIETRICH, Co-President, Staten Island Federation of PTAs 204 DARLENE WOODHOUSE, President, PTA PS 29 (read by Joan McKeever-Thomas) 208 EN-DE REPORTING SERVICES 212-962-2961 1 NYS Assembly – Committee on Education – 2-12-09 4 LIST OF SPEAKERS (Continued) GINA MOHAMED, Treasurer, PTA PS 29 (read by Joan McKeever-Thomas) 211 JOSH BENCE, Student 213 LORETTA PRISCO 218 EUGENE PRISCO 224 TAMMY GREER BROWNE, CEO and Program Director, Celebrating Real Family Life 237 KRISTY NGUYEN, Executive Director, APEX 248 NIEVES KAUFER, Executive Board member, PTA, PS 60 and IS 72 252 DAVID SEELEY, Professor Emeritus, College of Staten Island 254 EN-DE REPORTING SERVICES 212-962-2961 1 NYS Assembly – Committee on Education – 2-12-09 5 2 CHAIRWOMAN NOLAN: Good morning. My name 3 is Catherine Nolan. As the Chair of the 4 Assembly’s Education Committee, I’d like to 5 convene this hearing and start by introducing our 6 really terrific colleague, the very hard working 7 Assemblyman Mike Cusick from Staten Island. 8 Thank you, Mike. 9 ASSEMBLYMAN CUSICK: Thank you. Well, 10 thank you Chairwoman Cathy Nolan and thank you to 11 my colleagues, Jim Brennan and my colleague, Lou 12 Tobacco and my colleague Michael Benedetto. I’m 13 sorry, I get stage struck here at the College of 14 Staten Island -– Mike Benedetto from the Bronx, 15 Jim Brennan from Brooklyn, and of course, you all 16 know Lou Tobacco from Staten Island. 17 I want to thank my colleagues for coming 18 out here to Staten Island because this is a very 19 important issue, not only for the City of New 20 York, but for the parents and the teachers and 21 the PTA and all those involved in education here 22 on Staten Island. So we’re having this hearing 23 today out here in this great borough to discuss 24 governance for the educational system here in the 25 City of New York. EN-DE REPORTING SERVICES 212-962-2961 1 NYS Assembly – Committee on Education – 2-12-09 6 2 At this time I’d like to introduce our 3 host today, President Tomas D. Morales, the 4 President of the College of Staten Island. Tom, 5 would you say a few words? 6 MR. MORALES: Thank you. Madam Chair 7 Nolan, members of the New York State Assembly 8 Committee on Education, welcome to the College of 9 Staten Island. I want to give a very special 10 welcome to my two favorite Assembly persons, Lou 11 Tobacco and Mike Cusick. They’ve been 12 incredibly -- they’ve been extraordinarily 13 supportive of public higher education and 14 supportive of the College. 15 I can’t think of a more appropriate venue 16 for this hearing. CSI is the only public 17 institution of higher education on Staten Island 18 and has granted thousands of degrees, both on the 19 undergraduate and graduate level to public school 20 teachers, especially public school teachers in 21 New York City. All told, CSI boasts nearly 3,500 22 graduates in education. They join more than 23 55,000 CSI alumni worldwide and nearly 30,000 CSI 24 graduates living in Staten Island and Brooklyn. 25 So as you gather testimony and weigh opinions, be EN-DE REPORTING SERVICES 212-962-2961 1 NYS Assembly – Committee on Education – 2-12-09 7 2 confident that many people in this borough are 3 well acquainted with the important issues, are 4 passionate about public education and these are 5 the issues that, of course, you will be 6 evaluating as Committee members. 7 I know that what you hear in the course 8 of the day will add to your knowledge and help 9 guide your wisdom in thinking about this 10 important legislation. On the day when we 11 celebrate the birth of our nation’s greatest 12 president, I’m sure these proceedings will bear 13 the mark of democracy and the voice of the people 14 that Lincoln so esteemed. Thank you so much for 15 coming to CSI. 16 ASSEMBLYMAN CUSICK: Thank you, President 17 Morales. At this time, I will turn it back over 18 to the Chairwoman of the Education Committee in 19 the State Assembly, Assemblywoman Nolan. 20 CHAIRWOMAN NOLAN: Thank you, Mike, and 21 thank you, President Morales and everyone for 22 giving us such a cordial and warm welcome on a 23 windy day here on Staten Island, and really a 24 great turn out as well. 25 I want to just say, first off, I tried to EN-DE REPORTING SERVICES 212-962-2961 1 NYS Assembly – Committee on Education – 2-12-09 8 2 meet some of the people in the audience -– 3 although this is a very beautiful room, I want 4 the President and the school to know that I 5 actually prefer at a hearing if I could just sit 6 at the same level as people who are testifying, 7 so I don’t want anybody to think we’re getting 8 too grand up here on this stage. We want you to 9 feel comfortable when you speak and speak as you 10 see it -- as we go forward on these critical 11 issues, we have many parents here today -- I want 12 everyone to feel comfortable and welcome. 13 I would also ask, we’ve had a lot of 14 people at the two prior hearings with signs and 15 posters and you know, everyone has that First 16 Amendment right, but I would just remind people 17 to be courteous to the people sitting in back of 18 them and just generally to be as civil, and I 19 know that’s the tradition here on Staten Island, 20 to do that, but I just want to make that little 21 reminder because we had two very interesting and 22 exciting public hearings, one in Queens and one 23 in Manhattan. 24 I also want to say by way of 25 introduction, I have been to Staten Island many EN-DE REPORTING SERVICES 212-962-2961 1 NYS Assembly – Committee on Education – 2-12-09 9 2 time and many of you I’ve had the opportunity to 3 meet through our great friend and advocate for 4 special education, the late John LaValle, 5 (phonetic) and it was about over a year ago now, 6 two years ago that John actually had me meet a 7 number of parents before his sad and untimely 8 passing, and it actually energized us on the 9 Committee and Speaker Silver, to create a 10 subcommittee on special education, which is one 11 reason why I know Assemblyman Benedetto, who has 12 great experience in this field is now going to be 13 our Chair of our subcommittee on Special Ed and 14 why he made the trip from the Bronx. We thank 15 you, Mike. And we thank John’s memory because 16 that helped initiate the process. 17 I also want to say an Assemblyman who 18 worked very closely with both Eric Nataliano and 19 again our late colleague, the great Betty Conley, 20 I have had that real privilege to have learned 21 about Staten Island over the course of a long 22 career in the Legislature from them and from Mike 23 and Matt and Janell and all the people who 24 represent the Island, Lou and the Senate people. 25 So I’m really glad to be here and really glad to EN-DE REPORTING SERVICES 212-962-2961 1 NYS Assembly – Committee on Education – 2-12-09 10 2 be back. 3 I just want to also note, because I do it 4 at every hearing, in 2002 and 2003, the 5 Legislature approved comprehensive changes to the 6 way the New York City school district was managed 7 and governed. Those laws will sunset on June 30th 8 of this year. And so our Committee is interested 9 in having hearings throughout the City on the 10 impact of mayoral control on the system, and 11 interested in using our oversight function to see 12 how the system has worked these six years, the 13 development, execution for example, of the five- 14 year capital plan, concerns about a parents’ 15 access and ability to influence the system and a 16 number of concerns as to how mayoral control has 17 affected the education of English language 18 learners, students with disabilities and all the 19 other areas that have been covered by mayoral 20 control.