Hundreds of staff, parents and students gathered in front of Grover Cleveland High School in Glendale at 7 a.m. last Thursday morning to protest its possible closure due to what the Education Department refers to as a lack of improvement.
Protesters marched around the perimeter of the school, at 21-27 Himrod Street, holding posters denouncing Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s educational policies and shouting “save our school,” before locking arms to form a human chain in front of its entrance.
“I want my school to stay open,” said Tatyana Taskova, a music teacher and Grover Cleveland graduate, whose son is currently a senior honors student at the school.
She said the school has a high non-English speaking population, which the staff should be praised for taking on instead of threatened with closure.
“We’re doing a good job, we’re going out of our way to help children and we do get children with a lot of problems,” Taskova said.
“We do a lot more than we are believed to do,” she added. “We’re blamed for something that’s really not our fault and our children are doing the best they can but we just have a lot of issues that need to be resolved in the school.”
According to the Education Department (DOE), graduation rates at Grover Cleveland were at or below 55 percent for the last five years. In addition, the school is named one of the “Persistently Lowest Achieving” schools in the state.
Although DOE currently has no specific plans for Grover Cleveland, options include a turnaround method which would eliminate 50 percent of its staff, possibly including the principal.
The school could be phased out by not accepting new students, helping current students graduate and bringing in a new district or charter school to the building.
According to DOE, bringing in mentor teachers with higher salaries and introducing new education programs are also options.
But staff at the rally said DOE would hire cheaper, less-experienced teachers. If the turnaround method were implemented, the school’s entire staff would have to reapply for their jobs and go through an interview process.
However, the excessed teachers would remain on the city’s payroll, they said. In addition, all students currently enrolled in the school are guaranteed a seat in September, but could have 50 percent less teachers.
“If they’re guaranteeing seats and they’re going to let all the teachers go, what are they going to do with those students?” asked Dorina Barretta, a teacher.
Students want Grover Cleveland to stay open and fully staffed because they love their school, several said as they stood on Metropolitan Avenue chanting and asking passing cars to honk their horns in support.
“When I come back to visit Grover Cleveland, I want to be able to come back to visit my old teachers,” said Vashtee Ragoonanan, a senior. “I don’t want to come back to a different high school.”
She added, “I grew up here.”
Josue Perez, a junior, said more than 1,000 students could have their futures jeopardized if the school closes.
“Despite what people say, it’s a great school,” he said. “Don’t let this happen.”
Perez said Grover Cleveland is the first in his student career to make him feel school spirit. He said its students arrive on time, study and strive to pass their classes.
In addition, the school’s “unity and diversity” motto teaches them tolerance and respect, he said.
“You’ll find a table full of African American kids and West Indian kids and Hispanic kids, sitting together, because kids get along,” Perez said. “Cleveland has to stay together and fight for our school. Let Bloomberg give us a fighting chance.”

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Ridgewood may be home to a new Planet Fitness, if a special permit the corporation is submitting to the Board of Standards and Appeals passes.
A representative from the company visited a Community Board 5 meeting in the Christ the King High School cafeteria in Middle Village on Wednesday, February 8, as the application has to win its members over first.
Board members were skeptical of the gym’s lack of off-street parking, but welcomed graffiti cleanup at its proposed site, 329 Wyckoff Avenue. The building is said to have the worst graffiti vandalism in the district.
“You realize you’re landlocked on two sides,” said board Chairman Vincent Arcuri, Jr. when asking about the parking situation. “I think that’s a problem.”
However, Josh Rinesmith, who spoke on behalf of Planet Fitness, said a study showed that 85 percent of its members who live in areas with mass transit use it for transportation to the gym, or they walk.
“Planet fitness tries to make itself accessible and affordable to all members of the community,” Rinesmith said, adding that the location is in close proximity to the M and L trains.
“Right now, the property owner is doing an extensive renovation,” he said. “Once that is complete, we’d like to be able to come in and renovate the rest of the interior of the building to have a fitness center.”
Planet Fitness would occupy a small portion of the first floor of the 29,000-square-foot two-story building for a reception area, and the entire second floor for physical activity.
The gym would occupy about 17,300 square feet in total, Rinesmith said. It would be wheelchair accessible.
The gym would operate 24 hours, seven days a week, with roughly 135 people per hour in its peak hours.
“We’ve been particularly well regarded and popular with municipal workers,” Rinesmith said, specifying “hospital workers who work these 12-hour shifts and are able to stop in and work out either before they go in to their late-night shifts or after.”
One board member asked if Planet Fitness would be willing to consult the local supermarket to possibly share its parking lot. Rinesmith said the company would be open to that idea.
As for the graffiti, “the least we would expect from anybody utilizing their property is to clear every inch of graffiti,” Arcuri said, “and maintain the cleaning. We need that kind of commitment before we can approve anything.”
The application will go before Board 5’s Zoning and Land Use Review Committee next.

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Due to what the Department of Education refers to as a lack of improvement, Grover Cleveland High School in Glendale is slated for possible closure, sparking outrage among community members, staff and students.
According to the Education Department (DOE), graduation rates at Grover Cleveland were at or below 55 percent for the last five years. In addition, the school is named one of the “Persistently Lowest Achieving” schools in the state.
But students and teachers attended a recent Community Board 5 meeting to speak out on the closure, saying their school has a legacy of academic achievement and giving back to its community.
Student Association President Geline Canayon said at the meeting that Grover Cleveland recently beat specialized high schools in a citywide science fair.
“We hope to continue this legacy, but in order to do that we need the support of the community to keep our school open,” she said.
Teacher, dean and coach Michael Irizarry said his students do graffiti removal in the area, volunteer in senior centers, donate to food banks, and work with students from local elementary schools.
“Kids giving back to kids is very important,” he said. “That’s what we do at Grover Cleveland, and I want to continue doing it.”
Lydia Martinez, a Grover Cleveland teacher and Board 5 member, said Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott visited the school in October and was “very impressed with what he saw.”
She said Walcott assured staff members that he was visiting on a positive note, and would not close the school. However, in January, they were told that 50 percent of the staff, including the principal, could be cut.
“The DOE has turned Grover Cleveland into another roller coaster ride,” Martinez said.
She added that the struggle to keep the school open gets in the way of its progress.
“The professional adults that have anything to do with the decision-making of these schools should be ashamed of themselves when they see students fighting to keep their schools open,” she said. “Students should be concentrating on their school grades and their future, not on attending meetings and rallies to keep their schools open.”
According to DOE, possible plans for Grover Cleveland include staff replacement and leadership change. However, bringing in mentor teachers with higher salaries and introducing new education programs are also options.
The school could be phased out by not accepting new students, helping current students graduate and bringing in a new district or charter school to the building.
The DOE has no specific plans for the school at this time.
The community is hosting a human chain-link march around the high school on February 16. It will begin at 7 a.m. outside the school.