Vol. 26 No. 1 September 2D09 • aSSlC Townsend Harris High School at Queens College 149-11 Melbourne Avenue, Flushing, NY 11367 Rally kicks off Election Simulati<;> n DOE approves appeal ~, - ---., for additional funding oe -=~ by Sarah Mahmood time for instruction, but we ~'" The Department of [teachers] didn't want the kids .=~ Education (DOE) approved ' to suffer," said Ms. D'Souza. = the appeal the administration "We recognize that you need , 00-= made last June for an the activities to get into college ~ -=.s additional $240,000 to offset and to pursue interests." e the $354,000 budget cut for For per-session funding -=e, the 2009-2010 school year. for tutoring and.activities such The approval did not as practicing for plays, Harris occur smoothly. After initially will use the $32,000 it received approving the appeal over the in Contract for Excellence summer, the Department of funds for the "time on task" Education later reduced the program. sum to $180,000.However, an Time on task "is to be used increase in student enrollment · for tutoring and afterschool Senior Jerome Bethune interrupts Mayor Bloomberg's (Aziz Rahman) speech to say, "I'rnma resulted in the DOE increasing activities that can't otherwise let you finish, but I just wanted to say my man Thompson made the best speech of all time." the funding back to $240,000. be funded," said Ms. Fee. PrincipalKennethBonamo The school also received by Esther Whang didates, special interest groups, For mayor, Solomon and 'Assistant Principal of a grant of ' approximately Red and blue streamers, and the media the chance to in­ Cohen, Andrew Goodman, Organization Ellen Fee believe $40,000 from the Carl D. balloons and posters decorated troduce themselves. and Aziz Rahman are playing that the school's letter-writing Perkins Career and Technical the courtyard walls as the se­ This year's candidates, Reverend Billy Talen from the campaign to politicians asking Education Improvement Act niors kicked off the annual selected randomly in their Par­ Green Party, William Thomp­ for a reduction in cuts last IV, which will be used for the Election. Simulation on Sep­ ticipatory Democracy classes, son from the Democratic Party, year influenced the DOE's music and arts program. tember 23. are contending for comptrol­ and Michael Bloomberg from approval. Harris originally received The Kick-off rally, held ler, Public Advocate, mayor, the Independent Party. "I believe this gift was a budget of $7.2 million for during seventh band, gave can- and positions on City Council. continued on page 7 directly related to the letters, this year, but $1.2 million phone calls and demonstrating of that was later cut through New schedule saves enrichment activities on the part ofall ofour school a citywide reduction in Fair by Pearl Bhatnagar based-options (SBO), which stay an additional 37.5 minutes community," said Ms. Fee. Student Funding. The DOE The club fair on September permit the administration to after school from Monday to The funding, however, then gave Harris $854,000 22 launched the enrichment modify schedules as long as Thursday to provide students is "still much less than we via the American Recovery period that was put in place 55% of teachers vote in favor with extra help. needed, so the result has and Reinvestment Act Federal to maintain extracurricular of the change. In a vote last Since these tutoring been that there is not enough Stimulus funds, resulting in a activities in the face of budget June, 83% of Harris teachers sessions were poorly attended, money for supplies, and no net loss of $354,000. cuts. The administration approved the new schedule. administrators used those money for clubs," according to "If we didn't get the shortened band lengths in In a letterto superintendent extra minutes to lengthen class United Federation ofTeachers Federal Stimulus money," said order to create a period at BonnieLaBoyandotherschool time instead. To cope with the (UFT) representative Mariet Ms. Fee, "we would have lost the end of the school day officials, principal Kenneth loss of per-session spending D'Souza. up to 10teachers, which would officially designated for club Bonamo explained the need this year, the administration "We lost two school have seriously impacted our advising, athletic coaching, for an enrichment period: reverted back to the original aides and eliminated teacher program." and tutoring. "The school community is idea. Instead of holding four overtime. That's why we have "Last year, our average As the school received committed to providing a 37.5-minute tutoring periods, the new bell schedule, so teacher salary was $78,094 no funding to pay club well-rounded education to however, the school will that the enrichment activities and this year, it"is $79,884 advisors for the 2009-2010 our students, which is why we provide enrichment for 50 are .part of the regular work (because the UFT contract fiscal year; the administration went for an SBO that would minutes each from Tuesday to day [for teachers]," said Mr. gave teachers a raise), so with proposed fitting club time into allow some teacher time to be Thursday each week. Bonamo. 60 teachers, we had to cover the regular schedule. Since used for tutoring, clubs, and Some teachers are worried Teacher overtime, or "per- that increase of $107,400 just teachers will remain in school teams." about the loss ofteaching time. session," funds, are used to to keep the current staff we only for the time mandated by Althougheachband isnow "It might make it difficult to pay teachers who advise clubs. have," she said. their contracts, the enrichment at least four minutes shorter, finish certain lessons," said To continue extracurricular The appeal money was period will eliminate per­ the average time that each math teacher Stephen Mazza. activities despite having no also used to retain teachers; session spending. class meets per week is still Art teacher Margherita money for per-session, the without it the school would According to its website, 16 minutes longer than what is Wischerth feels the school faculty agreed to change the have lost three teachers. the United Federation of mandated by the state. community needs to be bell scheduleso that clubsmeet Mr. Bonamo isn't sure.if Teachers (UFT) allows school The enrichment period flexible. "Sometimes you have during the required school day Harris will be facing further personnel "the flexibility to comesfromwhatwasoriginally to look at the greater good. In for teachers. To make room cuts. "You always have that collaboratively craft creative intended to be tutoring time. the end, what the students gain for the activities, though, class threat that the state or the city solutions specific to [the] Starting in 2004, the UFT is what is most important," she time had to be shortened.. will make a mid-year cut as school's needs" through school contract required educators to said. "It's better to have more they did last year," he said. I- I- I- - Faculty Changes College Stats Entertainment 9/11 Memorial pg. 3 pgs. 4-5 Reviews Concert pg. 6 pg. 7 T I T I } 2~ThA Classic September 2009 Responding to intolerance Members of the Westboro Baptist Church staged a protest outside Creative rescue for clubs Brooklyn Technical High School on September 24. Throughout that When we heard last year about the impending budget cuts, we week, they also protested at numerous other sites, including the United thought the results would be devastating. There was talk about Nations, in New York City and in Long Island. They weren't protesting losing all extracurricular activities, which would leave us with war or world hunger or genocide. They were protesting tolerance. nothing more than a minimal academic education. With such bud­ This group is infamous for its bigotry and intolerance ofJudaism and getary deficiencies, how could the school maintain its energy and homosexuality. They protested at Brooklyn Tech because the school character? taught that it was "OK to be gay"; they went to Great Neck South High Luckily, the administration found the perfect answer: chang­ School to protest its large Jewish population. Their website is full ofepi­ ing the bell schedule in order to allocate time for after-school ac­ thets that seem like they came from a textbook about Europe during the tivities. While classes are a few minutes shorter now, the extra Dark Ages. «enrichment" time set at the end ofthe day allows us to participate Their hatred is not confined to Jewisll and LGBQT people. The Caris­ in clubs and attend vital tutoring sessions. It's too early to tell tian President of the United States is not only called the "Anticllrist whether this enrichment program will work out in the long run, Bloody Beast Obama," but is also referred to as "Obama-rhe-Meslim," but so far, it seems to be running exceptionally well. as ifthis were a negative attribute. They were at Saint Patrick's Cathedral By specifically designating time in the bell schedule for en­ to protest the Catholic "sinners" as well. Like all bigots, they hate anyone richment, the school is encouraging students to stay in the build­ who isn't like themselves. ing after class ends. We appreciate this initiative, and hope that These protests should serve as a reminder to everyone that intalerance people will take the opportunity to become more involved in Har­ still exists. They should motivate us to fight back (peacefully, ofcourse). ris life. The school day ends half an hour earlier than it used to; While we can't stop them from spreading their message ofhatred, we can students should take advantage ofthat extra time to do something spread our own message oftolerance and respect.