Page 79 - Demo

January 31,1974 PHOENIX Page 3iiiiiiiiNiiiiiimiiiiiimiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigiiiijiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiifiiiiiiiiiiiiimiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiMPupil-Teacher Ratio RuleMay Bring JayStaff CutsBY CORR1NE COLEMANA new Board of Educationcalculation of pupil teacher ratiothreatens the imminent loss of atleast 18 members of the John JayHigh School staff, and has putparents and teachers alike up inarms.Members of the Park Slopeschool%u2019s P.T.A. and its teachers,are protesting the formula whichcounts only the pupils in regularattendance at the school, and thus,as they say, penalizes schools likeJohn Jay which house a largetransient and low incomepopulation.According to Mrs. RosemaryMerola, President of the HighSchool%u2019sP.T.A., 5305 students wereenrolled in the school as of Oct. 31,1973. However with the Board nowdetermining the Feb. term%u2019s rosteron the basis of 400 supposed Jan.graduates, (although she says onlyabout 260 of that number will actually be given their diplomas) 400truants per day, plus a certainamount of expected dropouts, theyhave come up with a projectedfigure of only 4100 students as ofMarch 1974.On this basis Mrs. Merola explains, 33 positions will have to fallby the wayside at the end of thisweek, %u2014by Feb. 1%u2014although theabsorption of 15 of these spots viasabbaticals and other leaves willreduce the actual number ofdismissed teachers to 18.Aghast at the circular system ofproviding special programs (asJohn Jay does) for truants, andthen wiping out the truant%u2019sexistence, Mrs. Merola cites theovercrowded conditions with splitsessions %u201c where every childbecomes a Delaney card%u201d as partof the reason for the great amountof no shows.She wonders too, whether theBoard of Ed. is operating on aneven more cynical basis by gettingrid of higher paid teachers now,while preparing to place new andinexperienced teachers whosesalary scale is lower when theinevitable rise in John Jay%u2019sstudent population warrents theadditions next fall.Whatever the Board%u2019s reasoning,teachers in the school are irate toeabout the loss of specialcurriculum allowances which willgo, along with the teachers.Feeling doubly vulnerable becausetheir already difficult situation hasbeen the spur toward added difficulties, the teachers and theirUnion are attempting to restore thepositions in their school and on acity-wide basis.Local elected officials have beencontacted in this effort andAssemblyman Michael Pesce hasreleased a letter that he forwardedto Board of Ed. Chancellor IrvingAnker charging that the %u201cdecreasein staff will cause a severe declinein attendance and consquently, thequality of education at John Jaywill be adversely affected.%u201dPesce also declares that the newformula %u201c obviously will notalleviate overcrowding at JohnJay, nor will it satisfy thedesperate need for a new highschool in South Brooklyn.\Attributing part of the School%u2019struancy rate to the overcrowdingwhich makes for added difficultiesfor minority group students inparticular, who are caught in asituation %u201cin which an attempt atindividualized attention doesn'teven exist.\proposed teacher cuts %u201c wouldinvite utter disaster,%u201d and asksthat the Board reconsider.llllll!ll!IIMIIIIIIIII!!!IIIIIIH!!lill!l!l!i|l!!iUII!l!t!l)I!!t!it!E!!tiitllHtttthtttiltihhtllttffit{tiH!t;itt(tfIIKt6Htltliltlll!illlllMt||tlin!'tlUt!illiH!tllHIII!!!H!l!t!ll!|)il!iil||ill!ltlll(llttllllltll!!llllllltl!!llllllllllll!!llll!lil!t!!!ll!lljl!l!!!i!ij!!l!iii!)t!t!ttt!titttHt!IHMtit!UIWidening Myrtle Ave. This SpringThe City Highways Departmenthas announced plans to widen andrebuild Myrtle Avenue and plant122 trees along its length from JayStreet in downtown Brooklyn toBroadway in Bushwick. The $15-month $1.9 million work is set toget underway this spring.The work is proceeding over theobjections of local landmarks buffswho fear that the Avenue willbecome a major traffic conduit atthe expense of its development as acommunity shopping street forFort Greene and Clinton Hill.Protests have also been made tothe Landmarks PreservationCommission because part of theaffected street is included in theproposed historic district area forFort Greene.Borough President SebastianLeone, too, has sought assurancesthat the construction wouldenhance neighborhood shoppingand retail services and not turn theroute into a major traffic artery.In a letter to Michael A. Lazar,new Transportation Administrator, Leone noted community fears that rehabilitation ofthe avenue; from Brooklyn Heightsto the Bushwick section, mightmake Myrtle Avenue %u201can artificialhighway for trucks, commercialtraffic and the fast movement ofpassenger vehicles.%u201d%u201cYou will recall.%u201d Leone wrote,%u201cthat just three years ago, in theyear 1970, we in Brooklyn accomplished a long awaited objective when we demolished theMyrtle Avenue elevated railroad.With the disappearance of thiseighty-five year old blight onBrooklyn%u2019s landscape, we set oursights on achieving an environmental improvement ofsubstantial proportions along theentire route on which this oldtransit spider used to crawl.%u201cThe Fort Greene area took onnew vitality when sunlight began tolight up its future and the entirearea shows added investment inhome improvement and betterquality of community life. FromBrooklyn Heights to Bushwick,Myrtle Avenue may with and die.%u201c We in Brooklyn needassurances that any improvementscontemplated by your administration will be dedicated totile improvement of the quality oflife along Myrtle Avenue in amanner that will enhance itspossibilities for residential, localretail and community servicedevelopment.%u201c I think that if the fears expressed by the Brooklyn HeightsAssociation, the Fort GreeneHistoric Designation Committeeand others can be laid to restimmediately with an informedstatement of your policy by youradministration, it would have amost constructive effectthroughout an important segmentof this Borough of Brooklyn.%u201cLet me say that my own feelingwith regard to this matter is that ifthe rumors of arterial exploitationof Myrtle Avenue were to provetrue, it would indicate a planningmistake of the first magnitude. Ifthey are untrue, they should lx? laidto rest immediately so that theheartening renaissance that isgoing on in many communitiesalong the route can continue.%u201dSanitation Department employees on a Brooklyn Heights street collect newspapers, properly bundled, along with the garbage, as they do at all regular pick-ups throughout Sanit District No. 30. Newspapers are recycled for future use. To date, says N.Y.C. Environmental Protection Adminis%u2018\Map for regular collection areas)Brooklyn MuseumGetting $Three National Endowments forthe Arts grants totaling $61,170have been awarded to TheBrooklyn Museum for the purposeof cataloging and exhibition reinstallation. For assistance incataloging the collections ofAmerican Art and in preparationfor the Museum's Bi-CentennialProject, the sum of $10,500 hasbeen allocated. The balance isearmarked toassist the Museum inthe re-installation of its Africanand its Japanese and Koreancollections.Possessor of one of the majorcollections of American Paintingsin the United States, The BrooklynMuseum has long telt a need tocatalog and publish an illustratedchecklist of its holdings. Thepresent grant will enable theMuseum to catalog and publishsuch a checklist to cover artistsborn before 1876, the date of thefirst Centennial of the UnitedStates. The publication will includesome 640 paintings by 334 artists,representing more than one half ofthe total collection.The grant to the Department ofPrimitive Art and New WorldCultures will permit the reinstallation of its existing gallerieswhich comprise one of the mostcomprehensive collections ofAfrican Art in the United States. 50important pieces never beforeshown because of inadequatefacilities will be exhibited.u n Rfmm130 Clmton Street Brooklyn, New York 11201 Tc! 643 1032surrounding Downtown Brooklyn