Phil DePaolo

Fudged Test Scores: School teachers left holding the bag

July 22, 2012 By Phil DePaolo Leave a Comment

Stunning recent charges of cheating at PS 31 in Greenpoint and PS 257 in Williamsburg have rocked the two communities. The schools have been regarded as two of the city’s best public elementary schools. In March I wrote about the problems that have now arisen: “The best way to keep effective teachers in our public schools is to have principals who are knowledgeable educators. I have spoken to many teachers who feel today’s principals are driven solely by test scores, since principals and teachers receive merit pay based on the results of standardized tests. Well-rounded curricula, arts, and even gym time are sacrificed year-round for additional test prep time in many of today’s public schools. If we are serious about improving our schools, we must take steps to improve the conditions teachers are forced to work under, while also selecting the best teacher candidates, providing higher salaries to compete with those of suburban schools, offering better support and mentoring systems, and ending merit pay.”

It seems that teachers at IS 318 (a middle school that just won the chess championship) saw a huge drop in the test scores of students coming into the school from from PS 31 and PS 257, the same students who had higher scores from tests administered the prior year.

According to a staff member at the IS 318, who was quoted in the New York Times, “In some cases, students with perfect scores dropped from being in the 99th percentile to the 30th percentile. It was impossible.”

PHIL ON FIRE: What’s Up With Domino? / Problems at Northside Piers

May 3, 2012 By Phil DePaolo Leave a Comment

Bald Punk Northside-Williamsburg-Waterfront14.JPG

I have received countless emails and phone calls regarding the problems development partners CPCR and Isaac Katan are having at the former Domino refinery, which was rezoned for up to 2,200 units of housing. CPCR and Katan purchased the site in 2004 for 55 million dollars.

This is a very complex story that is impossible to explain in one article, but in a nutshell, the developers were given a huge density bonus on the premise that they were going to build 660 units of affordable housing, even though there is no legal obligation for them to do so. Now, it seems that the main developer, CPCR, has defaulted on its loans and is having financial problems, and that CPCR has agreed to give its lender, Pacific Coast Capital, an 84 percent stake in the property in exchange for forgiving its debt. Also, the current partner, Isaac Katan, is suing CPCR. Katan claims that CPCR has mismanaged the project for eight years. Katan wants to block the sale of the site to Pacific Coast Capital. His lawsuit alleges “breach of fiduciary duty, breach of contract, breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, negligent performance,” according to the court filing.

OP-ED What Charter Schools Were Meant to Be

March 12, 2012 By Phil DePaolo Leave a Comment

By Phil DePaolo

The latest contested issue in Williamsburg is the attempt by former Manhattan City Council Member Eva Moskowitz, who turned entrepreneur, to open her brand of for-profit charter school (Brooklyn Success Academy Charter School) at the same location as JHS 50, at 183 South 3rd Street. The school, which houses 470 middle school students, also houses another public school, the Academy for Young Writers, which is scheduled to move elsewhere. At a recent hearing, hundreds of local residents came out to oppose the opening of the Success Academy charter school. It’s been documented that Moskowitz bussed in hundreds of Harlem residents to give the appearance of community support.

Charter schools in New York were started by the late Al Shanker, the former president of the American Federation of Teachers, among others. Shanker believed that charter schools couldn’t change education if they were disconnected from regular public schools. He wrote in a 1994 column in the New York Times: “Charter schools must have autonomy to get where they want to go, but they must also be part of a system that has a central purpose, and that means a system that has decided what kids need to know and be able to do. Otherwise, they will end up like all those alternative schools of the 1960s, relevant only to themselves and useless to the system as a whole.”

Commentary: No Jail Time for Scarano, Business as Usual

December 15, 2011 By Phil DePaolo Leave a Comment

I’m not big on conspiracy theories, though you’ve got to wonder if the mere slap on the wrist architect Robert Scarano received had anything to do with politics. Was the City using Scarano to accomplish their notsohidden agenda to remake Brooklyn into high density, highrise neighborhoods? The best the City accomplished was to take away Scarano’s ability to professionally certify his filings with the Department of Buildings. The City did not go after his architect’s license, which is what was demanded by the public. So in essence, the bad get rewarded; his license (017739) to practice architecture is still active.

Scarano attempted to have the punishment lifted. The case was heard by the New York State Court of Appeals on October 25th and was not successful for him. But the punishment never did fit the crime.

Over the years, Scarano has consistently flouted building laws and zoning regulations, as well as caused the destruction of numerous adjacent properties and allegedly the death of at least one worker. Now that the Buildings Department is suddenly aware of this the department’s commissioner, Robert LiMandri, said in a statement, following the ruling: “Today’s decision sends a clear message that there are serious consequences for those who flout the law to make a profit. In his attempts to circumvent the City’s Building Code and Zoning Resolution, Mr. Scarano showed a disregard for the laws that ensure safety and quality of life for all New Yorkers.” They should have revoked his license and put him in jail if they were serious.

Bloomberg Takes the Stand

October 14, 2011 By Phil DePaolo Leave a Comment

It was a rare event. Mayor Michael Bloomberg took the stand in the trial of political consultant John Haggerty, who is accused by the Manhattan District Attorney of stealing $1.1 million from the Mayor. $600,000 of that was paid to Haggerty himself. The money was said to be used for poll watchers on Election Day when the Mayor was running for his third term.

Manhattan D.A. Cy Vance claimed that Bloomberg gave $1.2 million from his personal account to the New York State Independence Party, to Haggerty and his Special Elections Operations. But Haggerty used the funds to purchase his late father’s estate in Forest Hills, Queens. Haggerty’s lawyers questioned Bloomberg’s spending habits and tactics. Haggerty’s lawyers also questioned why the Mayor paid for ballot security in such an indirect fashion: donating $1.2 million to the state’s Independence Party, which then transferred most of it to Haggerty.

“From an election lawyer’s point of view, the interesting issue is the transfer of the funds from the Mayor,” said Henry T. Berger, an election lawyer who represents the Democratic Party. “It appears to most election lawyers that I’ve talked to that there’s at least one, and possibly two, violations in that transfer.”