Students, staff and parents packed the auditorium in Grover Cleveland High School for a hearing on the future of the school on Monday, April 2.
Grover Cleveland is being considered for the “turnaround” method, which would give the building a new name and eliminate 50 percent of its staff come September. Schools are slated for turnaround when they’ve been on the state’s Persistently Low Achieving (PLA) list, meaning graduation rates were below 60 percent, for the last three years.
Currently, Grover Cleveland’s graduation rate is at 58 percent, 5 percent below the city average.
But speakers in the public comment period of the hearing said the school is not being considered fairly by the city.
The school, which started the 2011/12 school year under the federal restart model, got a new principal midway through September and therefore did not get the chance to prove its ability for success yet, they argued.
In addition, Grover Cleveland is one of nine test sites in the city for iZone – a program that lets students perform their studies any time, any where.
Students also work with the community, holding music concerts at a local senior center and hosting holiday events, such as a haunted house, speakers said, adding that if the turnaround method is implemented, the school could lose its plant science program, its music instruction and other services.
Alumni also attended the hearing, including Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan, class of 1976, and the Queens representative on the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), Dmytro Fedkowskyj, who also graduated from Grover Cleveland, as did his mother.
Deputy Schools Chancellor Mark Sternberg stressed before the public comment period that the Education Department wants to help the school, not hurt it.
“It comes from a place of wanting to help our students,” he said of the turnaround proposal. “The structures and the staff that come with a new school can more quickly accelerate the pace of reform.”
In addition, he said, under the turnaround model, the school would receive upwards of $2 million in federal funding for reform programs.
But Nolan, who was wearing the school pin she saved from when she graduated Grover Cleveland, said she worked in Albany to help secure funding for the school under the restart model last year.
“I did not sponsor this so my high school could be closed,” she said.
In addition, Nolan added that the school operated under the restart model until the city struggled to reach an agreement over teacher evaluations, and then the turnaround model was proposed.
“I am deeply concerned about the effect this sudden change in course will have on the students at Grover Cleveland High School,” Nolan said. “Even just the announcement of the possible closing has probably done damage to the school’s future prospects.”
Master English as a Second Language (ESL) teacher Maria Rozos said the school’s graduation rates are low in part because many students don’t speak the language when they enter the school, and sometimes are illiterate in their native tongues.
She said it takes a second-language learner five to seven years to acquire academic-level English.
“However, the ESL students are held to the same standard as the mainstream native-English speakers and are expected to graduate in four years even though this goes against language theory and research,” Rozos said.
“As a school, we work tirelessly to prepare our ESL students for college and careers,” she added, citing multiple grants and programs the school received.
In addition, she said six out of seven of the last school valedictorians were did not speak English as their first language.
Selena Vasquez, a 10th grader at Grover Cleveland, said she and her peers want to go to college and get careers, which they are striving for under the instruction of their teachers.
“Many of the students that attend or have attended Grover Cleveland High School have formed great relationships with current staff and grown to trust them,” she said, giving examples of her favorite teachers.
“The staff in the school should not be penalized for something that is not their fault,” Vasquez added. “The teachers don’t have control over the students’ decisions and it’s the parents’ responsibility to make sure their child is going to school and passing.”
Further comments and questions about the proposal can be sent to D24proposals@schools.nyc.gov, and calls can be made to 212-374-7621. An analysis of the public comment and question-and-answer session at Monday’s hearing will be available online before the PEP votes on the proposal on April 26.

A swastika spray-painted on a building on Grand Avenue is just the latest incident in a rash of hate graffiti in the 104th Precinct.
A swastika appeared sometime before Wednesday morning on a metal door frame at 69-38 Grand Avenue.
When this newspaper brought the offensive symbol to the attention of Michael Terry, president of the Maspeth Chamber of Commerce, he said he’s noticed an unfortunate upswing in graffiti vandals in the area recently.
“It’s never a happy time to see anti-Semitic or racist symbols coming up,” he said, examining the graffiti drawn across the door.
Terry said he will bring the incident up at the next Chamber meeting, to be held on Tuesday, April 2nd at noon in Connolly’s Corner on Grand Avenue.
The swastika is drawn in blue paint marker over another tag, “MR,” which is written in dozens of places along Grand Avenue. In graffiti culture, it is an insult to draw over someone else’s tag.
Gary Giordano, district manager for Community Board 5, said the 104th Precinct has one of the highest graffiti arrest-rates in the city.
“But yet the vandals continue to do graffiti in this precinct where a lot of arrests are being made,” he said. “You would think that they would get the message.”
Giordano provided insight into why he thinks New York City’s graffiti epidemic persists – although he admitted that he does not know what is going through someone’s mind when they draw a swastika or other offensive symbol.
“I think that there’s some sort of unfortunate thrill with avoiding getting caught,” he said. “And I also think that some of it has to do with a lack of self-esteem and they can get a name for themselves by doing this and bragging about it.”
A representative from the 104th Precinct said officers responded to the location and saw the swastika along with an abundance of other graffiti.
The building owner was contacted and a report was generated, according to police.

For the past three summers, residents along the East River in Brooklyn have been deprived of the stunning Macy’s Fourth of July fireworks show and are now demanding that the show return to the Brooklyn waterfront.
Residents and local elected officials from Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens held a rally on Monday, April 2, urging Macy’s to bring the fireworks display back to the East River this year.
“New York’s Fourth of July fireworks should be a citywide celebration,” said State Senator Daniel Squadron. “Instead, the millions of New Yorkers who live in Brooklyn, Queens, and the East Side of Manhattan are kept out of the party, while we send visitors and business to New Jersey. That simply makes no sense.”
Squadron and other elected officials sent a letter to Macy’s Chief Executive Officer Terry Lundgren, requesting that the 36th Annual Macy’s Fourth of July Fireworks include the East River.
In 2009, Macy’s moved the fireworks to the Hudson River to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s journey up the river.
Since then, there has not been a Fourth of July fireworks display on the East River.
“Despite initial claims from Macy’s that the 2009 move to the Hudson River to celebrate Henry Hudson’s voyage was only temporary and that they were interested in moving the display around the city, I am disappointed that again this year it’s likely more New Jerseyans and residents along the west side of Manhattan will get a front row seat, excluding Brooklynites and a large part of the city that is home to Macy’s flagship store,” said Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz.
“Macy’s is a New York institution and they should bring the fireworks back to the East River where more New Yorkers can enjoy the show,” said Ward Dennis, co-chair of Neighbors Allied for Good Growth.
He echoed statements from many groups and businesses along the waterfront, including the DUMBO Neighborhood Alliance, the Open Space Alliance for North Brooklyn, Community Boards 1 and 6, and the DUMBO Improvement District.
The leaders also say that bringing the fireworks show back to the East River will further emphasize the nation’s history, as the East River served as the doorway for immigrants arriving in New York City. They also noted that it would be a huge boost to local businesses.
But one Macy’s spokesperson Orlando Veras, said that the Macy’s Fireworks show will not be changed this year and will continue to take place on the Hudson River.
Stating that the fireworks have been fired from various waterways and locations in New York City for more than 30 years, he said that Macy’s Fireworks will, “continue to take place in and around all of New York City’s waterways and will not be a permanent fixture in any one location.”
“Exclusively limiting the show to any particular area would greatly hinder the creative freedom that has made it the nation’s best and largest Independence Day display,” he said.