My Experience With “School Safety” Isn’t All That Safe

Assignments at local schools are among my favorite stories to cover. There are usually a group of eager students waiting to have their pictures taken and it’s not that difficult to get them riled up about appearing in their hometown newspaper. I also enjoy the welcoming feeling I receive from administrators and guards at the front desk of any given public school where I’ll be interviewing students and teachers about their achievements.

Usually, after I sign in at the front desk and a security guard has looked at my identification, they’ll give me a sticker with my name scribbled on it, which I’ll slap on my shirt or jacket. Security  then sends me to the main office – always located in the same place, to the right of the security desk – where I’ll ask someone to track down the teacher or coordinator of an event I’m about to cover. In the main office, there are usually a few ladies – some who have no clue that the Canarsie Courier is scheduled to make a visit – ready to page whoever I need to interview.

Who's protecting our schools?

After getting instructions on which room the festivities are taking place in – if they’re not in the auditorium or cafeteria – I’ll be told where to go and which staircase to take so I can reach my destination.

Seems simple enough.

 

Well…that’s the problem – it’s TOO simple! I may be the one of the safest people you want walking through the halls of a public school, but I don’t understand why our schools don’t provide SOME type of escort to make sure guests make it to the classrooms without an incident.

What is the Department Of Education’s (DOE) real policy on transporting guests from the main office to a classroom? Most of our public schools – not including high schools – don’t have metal detectors. We follow suburban models of schools like Sandy Hook Elementary School – where all of the school doors are locked, but if someone finds a way in and they’re armed…Are our schools ready for the possibility of an irrational mass shooting?

I sometimes ask myself why the public school I’m visiting isn’t concerned if I’m in possession of weapon. What if I did carry a firearm – for my own safety – and one of the students got a hold of it? Could someone else – including an outraged parent or guardian – just walk in, go through the same standard screening process that I did, and be told to go to the second floor without an escort to make sure they arrive at their destination without anything going wrong?

No matter who has business in a public school, there should be two guards on duty at all times during school hours – one at the entrance desk and another to take visitors to whatever room they’re going to. What about irate parents who might be dangerous and take matters into their own hands? Are our schools prepared for any dangerous situation that might arise?

I had an experience a few months ago that disturbed me while covering a school story. As I made my way to the front desk, I saw the security guard on her phone, which was flat on the desk. I had to sign in, so I waited, assuming she was in the midst of messaging someone – or that maybe she had an imperative note she was entering in her Smartphone. When I got closer, I saw that her head was buried (she didn’t even know I was standing there) and that she was playing a game that looked like Bejeweled or something as equally distracting. It took her three minutes, in counting, to look up – away from her mobile game – and notice I was standing there waiting to be signed in.

What if I’d been a crazy ex-student who was armed like Adam Lanza? Could I have just as easily made it past this distracted security guard? Even after she finally noticed me, apologized and signed me in, all I needed was a flimsy paper pass to go to the third floor – where I roamed the halls looking for the classroom I needed to visit.

Is THIS what the DOE wants?   
Even a newspaper reporter, whose bags weren’t checked, whose pockets weren’t inspected, can freely walk the halls of a building where children are learning?

Actor Vince Vaughn recently said he supports guns in schools to prevent mass shootings. But which are the best schools to equip with guns – if it was legal to have them there? And who would be armed with these guns? The security guards who are too busy laughing on their phones instead of examining visitors’ pockets and baggage?

Let’s get real! In addition to lacking a completely safe environment inside the school, kids lack a safe atmosphere outside of school. In New York City, kids get shot while they’re walking home. They get shot or stabbed during gang melees right outside the building where administrators and teachers worked with them all day – trying to educate them, protect them and possibly deter them from a life of criminal activity.

While the DOE and Governor Andrew Cuomo are concerned about state funds that will go towards testing and the Common Core debacle – and paying for dozens of administrative training programs which may or may not be an advantage, our schools remain vulnerable and our children remain seated in a waiting room for the next massacre.

Unpublished as of June 2, 2015

Taking A Holiday Off From School Is Getting Easier Every Year

What did your child do on their day off last Monday? How will they spend their day off on Thursday, June 4th? Let me ask you THIS, how often do our kids even go to school any more?

I’ve been waiting a while to voice my opinion on two Muslim holidays that will be observed by New York City public schools in the coming year. In addition to the Jewish holidays they already have off when school starts – including Rosh Hashanah on September 14th and 15th and Yom Kippur on September 23rd – classes also won’t be in session on September 24th for the observance of Eid al-Adha. The other Muslim holiday falls on July 17th, so children attending summer school will have this day off as well.

So…when WILL our children go to school?

I have nothing against giving our students off on a day that religiously or politically affects our citizens. However, students will soon be able to plan the upcoming school year and how many MORE days they’re going to have off.

On the other hand, if we’re going to be fair to the mélange of cultures and causes that exist, we need to observe all the other holidays that make a mark on our lives.

Are children given off a day to observe the Chinese New Year? Public schools haven’t allocated a day so that children of Asian decent can ring in the new year. Hey, we observe our new year in America and students have this day off – why leave out new year’s celebrations recognized by another culture?

Also, with the increase of Haitian immigrants living in the city, why can’t we add some of their holidays to the school calendar?  A calendar of Haitian holidays lists October 17th as Dessalines Day – which is a national/legal holiday. Even though it falls on a Saturday, why can’t we give our students a day off that week to observe this holiday? November 18th falls on a Wednesday and is Vertieres Day. Why won’t public schools close every year on this day as well? According to next year’s school calendar, middle school kids’ schedules will not be affected on this day anyway for parent-teachers conferences.

What upsets me more than anything – and maybe it upsets thousands of people across the country – is that we’re quick to observe Muslim holidays – without hesitation – but we’re still not observing the day our city – our COUNTRY – was attacked: September 11th! We’re still not giving students off on a day that changed history… a day that our country was torn apart by terrorists…a day we lost so many FDNY and NYPD heroes and first responders who risked their lives.

The same way we honor veterans, laborers and those faithful Americans who perished at war, why aren’t we giving students off on a day when some of them might have lost a loved one in the World Trade Center attacks? Where’s de Blasio’s sense of patriotism when it comes to observing a day that changed our country forever?

Another angle we haven’t looked at is – how are students going to make up holidays as they’re added? Good for you Mayor de Blasio! You’re giving observational rights to the increasing number of Muslims living in the city but you’re also going to send our kids to school when there’s a blizzard. Sure! Keep public schools open when it’s dangerous for parents to drive their children around!

Let’s get real! There are so many days that children have off from school for so many academic reasons adults have created – parent-teacher conferences, superintendent and principal meetings…Shouldn’t we be a little more particular when it comes to which holidays they observe?  We’re so focused on students being able to excel, being able to opt out of standardized tests, and we’re obsessed with keeping them off the streets and helping them create a future for themselves.

Well…If they’re not learning because they’ve got five holidays coming up where they won’t be in school, when are they catching up on their studies? Another day off to some kids is just another day they can be lazy and give their brain a rest from productivity.

I know I’d love more days off from work! Give me off for Valentine’s Day…Ground Hog’s Day…Boss’ Day, Administrative Professionals Day…Then again, if we had all of those days off and the Canarsie Courier was closed, no work would get done and our newspaper would be less productive. That’s an observation that wouldn’t benefit anyone…

The Curtain’s Going To Remain Down At This Theater

Some of you who have lived in Canarsie for over 20 years might remember the last movie you saw at the Canarsie Movie Theater on East 93rd Street and Avenue L. Some of you might remember what you did that day on Avenue L when the theater showed its last movie. Perhaps you can still remember the sticky floors and the tight seats you tolerated – after all, the theater was close enough to all of those fun eateries on the commercial strip and your house wasn’t that far away, so who cared about a couple of hours of discomfort? 

Those who have only lived in our community for a little over 10 years don’t know what the old days of Canarsie were like – and, if you ask me, they’ve accepted the doomed fate of the property that once gave so many residents memories of a lifetime.

I’ve received so many letters and calls about the condition of the defunct movie house, which was, at one point, slated to be a catering hall…and then a skating rink. You guessed it – NONE of that happened and everyone just accepted that, too. Sadly, the letters and calls we get are mostly from old timers and those who see the horrible recent photos posted on Facebook. Some memories of the good old days overshadow the carelessness of the punks out there and plenty of people want to know why “we’ve” let things deteriorate so badly.

Our decrepit movie theater remains...decrepit!

Residents don’t seem to care about the condition of the beloved old movie house. They and their children are too busy defacing its property, with overflowing trash bags near the corner, leaving the ruins of the building…ruined! With all of the negative attention that location gets, who would be attracted to that parcel of land?

Let’s get real! Canarsie is not a community where millions upon millions of dollars are spent on renovating private businesses. While the Kings Theater is thriving in Flatbush after being closed since the 1970s, what’s our excuse for leaving our old theater abandoned? Are we waiting for Donald Trump to rediscover real estate on our next-to-empty shopping strip? If any business owner looks to establish something at the huge property, where else would the hundreds of patrons go on the avenue? One of the Chinese food take-out places with less than 10 seats? Maybe they’d get their nails done…

Since Avenue L really has little to offer shoppers, what would the incentive be to place anything of substance at that corner? 

If you visit well-to-do towns in the suburbs, you’ll see their communities reviving old movie houses and making progress. Just for the hell of it, I looked up theater renovations that took place in the suburbs within the past couple of years.

According to The New York Times, the Westbury Theater, built in the 1920s, was a local movie house in Nassau County that featured art films through the 80s and 90s. In the 2000s, it closed and fell into disrepair. Like our theater, it was riddled with graffiti and derelicts until a real estate developer saw an auction for the property and toured the crumbling building in 2004. By 2013, the property was acquired for about $1.7 million and the entire site was renovated with about 1,000 parking spots (imagine having to make this kind of space on Avenue L!). For this project, The New York Times noted, plenty of Long Islanders wanted to get involved and utilize the new and exciting space.

Why can’t that be our story? The truth is, no one CARES enough! For all the people writing in about Avenue L’s fate – do YOU have the money to put into our community? Can you easily take out millions of dollars in loans and remodel the building you’re bragging that once meant so much to you?

Is it really a shame when there are no developers out there who are willing to take a chance on our crappy-looking commercial strip where there are no popular restaurants, no clothing stores, no franchises, no variety of specialty shops and no recreational facilities for children?

I propose that a developer think on a much smaller scale when it comes to this eyesore. Knock down the whole building and don’t worry about its “potential” to serve as one establishment. The only thing that might survive the nightmare of Avenue L is a strip of average-performing shops that don’t require extensive parking or massive crowds. Turn that one site into three or four small stores – and rent them out to business owners who want to offer something different to our community.

The fact that nothing is being done – period – irks us even more than the decrepit conditions of the old movie house. Constant complaining and choosing to not take any action to bring something to our community doesn't make things better, don’t you think? I grew up a couple of blocks from Avenue L and remember ‘the good old days,’ but since I don’t have the money and I’m not business savvy enough to get a sustainable idea going, I choose not to get annoyed. Another bag of microwaved popcorn please!

This Memorial Day, Let’s Not Celebrate – Let’s Commemorate!

Having a three-day weekend is always a pleasure – especially when the weather warms up. Plenty of holidays fall on a Monday – and not too many people truly observe the honors or celebrations that they get off from work and school. Canarsie, as a community, observes Memorial Day by hosting a parade every year. Whenever the Canarsie Courier has a photographer cover the parade, it seems like fewer people participate each year. Sure, there are still local organizations and youths who lead the parade – but where are the hundreds of residents who are thankful for those who died for our freedom?

Do the scant amount of people who join the parade even know what and who it’s really for?

I recently spoke to Canarsie Lion Josephine Bolus who’s been involved in the parade since 2000. She noted that the lack of surviving war veterans still living in Canarsie is one of many reasons for our skeletal parades. Lack of understanding what Memorial Day truly commemorates is an even bigger obstacle.

Memorial Day Parade in Canarsie -circa 1980.

Josephine told me that most residents, when they see the parade coming through, just hear the noise and see the small crowd making its way along local streets. There are no thoughts about what our war heroes experienced while serving our country.

“A lot of people don’t know what it’s like to be drafted and to be told ‘you’re going to war,’” she said. “Many who served came home with missing limbs and had to be treated at V.A. hospitals.”

Do our children see the parade from this angle? How about residents who simply take free American flags – just because they’re handed out – and DON’T hang them outside their homes to show how grateful they are for our heroes?

It’s fair to say that back in the 1970s and 1980s – even into the early 1990s – Canarsie had a lot more residents who were patriotic – and more children took part in the parade because their parents had patriotic values too! No matter what country you’re from – you’re living in America and there’s a reason you’re here! Aren’t you grateful to be able to live in a country where citizens have sacrificed their lives so YOU can live in freedom in the United States?

In decades-old issues of the Canarsie Courier, we ran full pages with photos showing residents lined up along their blocks outside of their home, waiting for the parade and cheering on – proudly waving flags. They joined civic leaders for honorary salutes at our local cemetery and at the Veterans’ Circle located right at the foot of the Belt Parkway.

Is it fair to assume that a lot of those residents lost a family member to war and honoring their heroes helps them feel more connected to their loved ones?

Let’s get real! Big events led by war veterans and honorable residents are dwindling down.  Canarsie used to have organizations like the Joint Council of Senior Citizens Club and the American Legion Post 573 Ladies Auxiliary. Civic organizations – with plenty of members to fill our streets – were in full force with regular meetings. Invitations to join their board were even published in our newspaper every week.

Instead of our parade attracting more residents as it travels through our streets, you might, instead, see confused spectators standing with their arms folded as if to say, “What the hell is going on here?” Sadly, that’s what parade organizers are asking as volunteers and participants try to recruit more people who are truly grateful for their freedom…

Adults Should Also Write Their Way To The Top!

Canarsie organizations and elected officials are always sponsoring essay contests for our youths. I enjoy reading the topics at hand – such as, “What would you do to improve your community?”…“How would you ease racial tensions in your neighborhood?”…“How would you stop bullying?” and “Who inspires you to perform at your best?”

 

Essay contests are typically open to students who will receive an honor at some community event – like the Canarsie Bridges Festival. Some teens are honored by local councilmen and assemblymen – awarding the winners with scholarships, savings bonds and a citation for their well-written ideas and excellent display of civic engagement. 

Parents - get out your pen and paper!

The ideas some kids present are great when it comes to improving their community. However, their ideas aren’t tainted by political red tape and dead ends. We can only hope their experiences in school help them develop independent ideas that they can utilize when they become adults.

Ah…Adults… Whether you want to admit it or not they, or we, are a BIG part of the problem when it comes to improving our community. So why isn’t there an essay contest for older folks who need a lesson in civic and quality of life improvement?

To answer this question, I formally propose that civic leaders, politicians and other organizations host an essay contest for adults! Whether you know it or not – or agree with me or not – grown-ups need lessons in making our quality of life better, too!

We’re asking young people to conjure up ways of making their community a better place to live – but then you’ve got a disrespectful neighbor, who’s an adult, blasting music all hours of the night and blocking the sidewalk with their vehicle. You’ve got adults, who refuse to go to meetings and help make a difference, complaining about changes that need to be implemented! Then, you’ve got sloppy residents and local business owners who dump their trash anywhere they want and contribute to deplorable conditions. And we say what’s the matter with kids these days?

Let’s get real! If someone in the community hosted an essay contest for adults, they could use the following themes to get residents thinking about how bad they treat their community:

• “As a tenant/homeowner, I can stop being a nuisance to my neighbors by…”

• “I keep to myself instead of talking to my neighbors about what’s going on because…”

• “The excuses I make for not going to community meetings to help myself and my fellow neighbors includes…”

• “Instead of dumping my household trash somewhere it’s illegal and deplorable, I can…”

• “Instead of playing loud music in my home while having a get together during the summertime, therefore disturbing everyone on my block, I will…”

• “As a driver/pedestrian, I can help prevent accidents by…”

These are just a few essay topics that will get ADULTS to realize they can improve the neighborhood themselves – and that a lot of problems stem from THEIR lack of consideration.

What can adults get out of this literary challenge? I think many will come to realize just how hard it is to get their ideas on paper – and believe me, plenty of us need to brush up on our basic writing skills (remember, officials are asking YOUTHS, who are still in school and write all the time, to formulate their ideas. If you’ve been out of school for decades, you’re probably a little rusty when it comes to English 101). I also think an adult-only contest will generate ideas that are applicable in real life.

And what’s the incentive gonna be? I propose contest sponsors offer generous gift cards for various retail shops and restaurants, along with an honorable plaque that declares the residents’ selfless civic awareness.

Consider this - children who enter essay contests don’t yet own a home, pay a mortgage or deal with property taxes. They’re not paying for home renovations, so they don't feel the need to dump their old furniture and fixtures in the back of an alleyway and leave it there. Our youths are usually not the ones calling 9-1-1 or 3-1-1 about suspicious activity in a common driveway, stolen cars on their block and garbage pileups. Most of the problems here are caused by ADULTS and can only be solved by…ADULTS!

Sure, you want to train youngsters to think about their habits before they grow into that selfish mind frame. But let’s look at all of the people who can make a difference in the our community and get them to put their ideas on paper. I’m sure we’d get some interesting feedback from our neighbors on the “write” way to conduct ourselves!

Talk To The Hand – The Only Body Part That’s Actually Listening!

Teens who need emotional support might not feel all that comfortable talking to adults about their problems. With depression and other mental health issues at the forefront of growing up – coupled with fitting into an academic environment – the toxic combination of feeling alone and like an outcast,  a teenager can make some dangerous life decisions.

"Help, I'm addicted to my cell phone!"

I experienced a short bout of “depression” when I was 13 – but I now know that it wasn’t really depression. It was a period of time where I just didn’t feel like I fit in with my peers.  Had cell phones existed and were popular back in the early 1990s, I would have known not to tell my counselor at Bildersee Junior High School that I had thoughts of ending my life – because I could have texted someone for support.

Text someone for support?

Talking to a trusted counselor, psychologist or therapist recently went out the window when Chiara de Blasio and the Health Department’s First Deputy Commissioner Oxiris Barbot helped launch a pilot program called “NYC Teen Text,” which kick started at about a dozen city schools.

At the selected schools, the program allows teens to get help from an anonymous professional source by using their mobile phones Monday through Friday from 2:30 to 9 p.m. and on the weekends from 1 to 9 p.m. What if you’re a teen who’s up late at night – at home – and you desperately need to talk someone? Guess you’re plumb out of luck!

Forget about confiding in your parents, with whom you live – you know, the ones who are raising you? I think the first thing we need to do is encourage teens to speak to adults – maybe even educators –who can guide them in the right direction. For those who don’t want to talk to their parents or live with grandparents, aunts and uncles, there has to be someone who KNOWS these teens in real life and THAT’S who should be the go-to guidance.

Chiara boasted the program in March through the New York City Health Department, saying trained crisis counselors with access to mental health services will provide ongoing support to those who need it. How receptive will teens be? The only way this program will be proactive is if the recipient of the desperate text can advise the teen to talk to a REAL LIFE person who will feel out the severity of a teens’ “crisis.”

By the way - cheers to Chiara!! Your dad just lifted the cell phone ban from public schools and THIS is one hell of a way to facilitate and exercise your right to carry a phone with you at all times.

Another thank you to the Health Department, which claims teens feel a lot more comfortable texting their woes with their fingers instead of using their voice to express themselves to someone face-to-face. I guess this is the reality we want our teens to accept.

Let’s get real!! A lot of teenagers you see on the streets, trains and buses are CONSTANTLY on their phones. This is the age of technology – where kids cling to their devices like infants sucking on a pacifier. Youngsters are also being robbed, attacked and harassed for their phones…So you’re going to encourage them to whip their gadgets out in school and remain attached to the electronic while they’re telling a stranger their deepest, darkest secrets?

By the way, what teen is willing to stay in school until 9 at night so they can hash out their problems to someone they’ve never met and probably never will?

NYC Teen Text is a nice idea – in theory. But the person on the other side – skilled or licensed – doesn’t even know if the plea for help is real or just a joke. Our teens are distracted enough with Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat… forgive me if I’m out of the loop on the dozens of other networking sites – I have a tendency to live in the real world and get help from REAL people who can see my reaction to their advice.

These days, most people let their fingers do the talking about everything – but when it comes to this pilot program, they can talk to the hand!

Let’s Not Waffle On This Type Of Food Control!

From Coney Island to Union Square you’ll find those elusive unlicensed vendors – usually women – selling delicious churros to the public. Delicious? Okay, most churros, by the time they hit the streets, are hard and cold. But they’re supposed to taste like soft and tubular waffles decorated with cinnamon sugar.

Hail to the churros!

Selling churros – and other foods that I like to call free-for-alls, meaning it doesn’t matter where you sell it or to whom you sell it – is no big deal in New York City. We’re always looking to save a few bucks on a snack by purchasing something on-the-go. We also trust that the vendor hasn’t poisoned or spit in our food. Vendors usually don’t know who their customers are and they’re simply looking for a way to make quick cash selling their homemade portable goods.

There’s one little – okay BIG – thing wrong. These vendors aren’t licensed by the Board of Health and the Health Department hasn’t issued any paperwork that permits them to operate. Unlike hotdog vendors, who are mandated to obtain permits and other licenses, there’s nothing legal about standing in the middle of a crowded walkway with a shopping wagon and a huge tray of pastries.

I don’t feel bad for the women who were recently victims of the NYPD’s crackdown on churro sales. I understand some of these women have families to feed – but they’re selling illegal goods to the public that could make them sick. The food is most likely stored and handled improperly – you’re lucky if you don’t get a stomach virus or food poisoning.

A few times when I went to Canarsie Pier during the summer, there were guys selling homemade empanadas for a few dollars apiece. Stored in plastic coolers, the salty, meat-filled pastries were sold in tin foil. Under what conditions the guy – or maybe his wife – made these Spanish treats, I have no idea.

If you happen to go up East 92nd Street, near the Canarsie Courier’s office, you’ll sometimes catch someone selling food from the back of their SUV. Complete with Styrofoam containers and plastic cutlery, a woman pulls up on any given day and dishes out mounds of rice and chicken to the mechanics working at the nearby auto body shop. How safe is this food? We want to believe that she’s simply providing a hearty and warm meal, but how old is that food? How long was it sitting in her car before she brought it to our streets?

When you’re buying food off of someone in the street whose environment isn’t regulated by the government, you don’t know if the person had bugs in their house or if they practiced good hygiene habits.

Let’s get real! It’s bad enough that the “roach coaches” people get their meals from legitimately are under close scrutiny from the city. Vendors receive letter grades – just like restaurants receive – for cleanliness and confirmation that their vehicle has been inspected. Wouldn’t you want to know that the person you’re buying your lunch from has undergone some valid legal process?

Maybe entrepreneurs feel it’s too expensive and inconvenient to get a vending license. Won’t the vendors, who are whipping out churros and getting fined or arrested, pay in the end anyway? I don’t think illegal vendors have any right to fight for, well, their rights!

News reports stated that cops consumed one churro vendor’s goodies after they arrested her. For real?? Okay, maybe it’s disturbing that they’re eating “criminal evidence,” but there’s no justifiable reason to complain once your unlicensed stuff is confiscated by law enforcement.

In addition to food being confiscated, the penalties should be harsher for ANYONE selling food that’s not prepared in a legal and safe/clean setting. Hungry people already have to worry about their health and safety when they order food from a normal eatery!

Whatever food you’re looking to bake, fry, handle and sell to the public, you’re better off selling to people you know, like close friends and family. Those convenient – yet illegal - treats might be a good money-maker in theory, but if you can’t afford to get a vending license – eat your heart out  and get ready to answer to the law!