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Parents W ant To Clean Up SchoolsIn Slope/So. Brooklyn/Sunset ParkBY ROB TAYLORCommunity School Board member FelixVazquez has charged that patronage wasruining the maintenance at local schools, ascustodians hired family members to complete work, instead of qualified individuals.The comments came during a discussion ofcustodial care at Slope/South Brooklyn/Sunset Park schools, at a Community School Board 15 meeting, September24.The short but pointed discussion was partof a meeting that included a presentation ofthe drug prevention program in the District15 schools. A city-wide drug abuse educationday had been planned for September 30, andGinay Marks, District 15 drug coordinator,discussed the programs at local schools withthe parents.According to audience members, custodialcare is an on-going problem many of thedistrict schools are struggling with. BoardPresident Phil Scala said he is trying to grapple with the poor state many of the schoolsare in and find out where responsibility lies.Some of the parents at the meeting complained that custodians do not appear to takeresponsibility for many of the chores theparents had assumed they were supposed todo. One parent, Heather Lewis, told the boardthat the custodian at her school would notshovel the snow until parents brought considerable pressure on the custodian, and P.S.107, where her children attend school.According to Scala the problem, in part, isthe contract the Central Board of Educationsigns with the custodians, which limits manyof their responsibilities. But after a survey oflocal schools, he said that he felt much of theneglect was the fault of the Board of Education staff and not the custodians in eachschool. Scala said that the maintenance staffis small at the Board of Education and hasnot returned to pre-1975 levels, a time whenthe City was forced to reduce its maintenanceemployees because of financial difficulties.EFFORTS UNSUCCESSFULEven with the District 15 Board%u2019s examination of the problem, board member NormFruchter said he felt the efforts would be unsuccessful. %u201cWe may get one or two buildingsrepaired and not the 15 that we need thisyear,%u201d he said. %u201cThe only way we will get themoney for the repair is to have them includedin the budget by the Board of Estimate.%u201dFelix Vazquez, another board member, saidthat too much leeway was given the custodians in their contracts. He accused thecustodians of being able to hire familymembers who never reported to work in theschools but still collected their paychecks.%u201cIt%u2019s a city-wide scandal of major proportions,%u201d he said, %u201cwhen a custodian is able toretire and take all the tools he purchased withtaxpayers%u2019 money with him.%u201dScala said the board was continuing its efforts to understand the problem and askedparents to work with their school principalsand board liaison to make sure repair problems are known and understood by theschool board.Despite maintenance problems, the morepervasive problem of city-wide drug abusedominated the meeting.%u201cThis is the largest number of questions Ihave ever received on this issue since thedrug prevention program began in District 15in 1973,%u201d said Ginay Marks, the director ofthe community school district%u2019s drug education program. %u201cBut never before has such adangerous drug like crack taken off with suchrapidity.%u201dNational concern over the drug abuseepidemic fueled questions about the district%u2019sprogram and what Marks, a counselor, coulddo for the children if a substance abuse problem occurs. Marks had been asked to attendthe meeting to discuss both the city-wide anticrack effort as well as an on-going districtprogram that began 13 years ago to preventdrug and alcohol abuse. The state will fundthe program with $483,540 for the currentschool year.FACED EPIDEMICS BEFOREMarks tcld approximately 80 parents andthe nine board members that while the cityhas faced drug epidemics before, short termsolutions have always kept the problem incheck. %u201cBut then we always find anotherdrug,%u201d she said.%u201cToday we%u2019re talking about crack, buttoinonow we have io worry aboui designerdrugs,%u201d she added. %u201cBut for the first time in18 years, a recent Gallup poll indicated thatdrugs is the number one problem inAmerica.%u201dFor the city-wide anti-crack effort, Markssays that District 15 will begin an on-goingeducation program for students. %u201cAlthough ithas been mandated as a one-day saturation,%u201dshe said, %u201cwe will be continuing our programthrough the school year. We%u2019re not going tosaturate all the kids on crack but we are going to break up the curriculum.%u201dAccording to Marks, assemblies,classroom sessions and rallies will be held ineach of the district%u2019s 25 grammar and juniorhigh schools, but the program will not continue throughout the entire day as it will inother city schools. %u201cScare tactics do notwork, so we have decided to spread the curriculum out,%u201d she said. %u201cTwo or three periodsthat initial day is enough for the children.%u201dMarks met with principals of each of theschools to decide on the program.Parents, however, appeared more interested in the drug program that has beenoperating for a number of years. Marks toldthem that it is an intervention, preventionand counseling program that operates in allthe junior high schools and some of theelementary schools. %u201cWe%u2019re preventionoriented with a curriculum approach and inSyracuse last summer Governor Cuomocalled for this type of program statewide,%u201dshe said.TAKE PROGRAM TO ARMSStudents in schools that do not havecounselors can still receive the service andMarks has a bilingual staff and offersmaterials that are printed in Spanish. %u201cWewill also be taking the program into theBrooklyn Arms Hotel,%u201d she said. %u201cWe knowthere is a need and we have identified whatthose needs are.%u201d Some parents from thehotel attending the meeting, however, wereskeptical because they thought there wasmore than enough information availablealready about the dangers of crack. Marksresponded that parents would be surprised toknow that with all the publicity, there is still alack of understanding about the problem.During an open session, parents of childrenat P.S. 38 in Boerum Hill questioned theboard about how some of the early schoolyear problems with the students were beinghandled. The school enrolls children whoreside in the Brooklyn Arms Hotel, a temporary housing facility for homelessfamilies, and parents were concerned thatthe board was acting too hastily by blamingthese children for some of the school%u2019sdisciplinary problems. Scala said a specialcommittee was being formed to give the problem a serious examination.Parents of students enrolled at anotherBoerum Hill school, P.S. 261 were also concerned about overcrowding, an issue thatplagues a number of schools in the district.According to one parent, Dori Blitz, thestudents are being forced to use therestrooms for studying. Parents of thatschool said they would like to see the District15 Committee on the Handicapped officesremoved from the classrooms it now occupies at the school. Blitz says that the program%u2019s space is infringing on space thatcould be used for the students.Scala told the parents that District 15 wasinvestigating possibilities for the removal ofthe Committee that was given the space at atime when the school%u2019s enrollment was lowand there was no overcrowding.The next meeting of Community SchoolBoard 15 is scheduled for October 22 at P.S.124, 515 Fourth Ave. Call 330-9283 for moredetails. Ginay Marks can be reached at330-9368 for any questions about the districtdrug and alcohol prevention program.Sister City Project PlansSlope Memorial ServiceThe Brooklyn Sister City Project will hold amemorial service at noon, Sun., Oct 5 in frontof the Park Slope Methodist Church, 8th St.and Sixth Ave., for seven people who werekilled in August in San Juan de Rio Coco,Nicaragua. The church%u2019s paster, Rev. A.Finley Schaef will officiate.Donna Mehle of the group says that fivemen and two women were killed when thevehicle they were riding in struck a landmine and was then fired on by the Contras. Inthe Nicaraguan tradition, crosses which willbear the names and date of death of the victims will be placed on the church lawn duringthe service.The Brooklyn Sister City Project has beenseeking to extend aid and initiate a culturalexchange program between the SouthBrooklyn area that is designated as Community District Six and the Nicaraguan town.* ** * if ** * %u201d *** * ** * * * * * * * * * ** * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * V* * * * * * * * %u00a3 * * * * * * * ** j %u00bb * z . * * ** * * * %u2605 *C e l e b r a t eyour. 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