The co-located elementary schools ... have been covered in scaffolding for three years, blocking all sunlight into classrooms and creating a neighborhood eyesore. Local politicians and DOE officials who toured the schools in early June were shocked by what they found. It was enough to compel the SCA to take “drastic actions,” firing Kafka and bringing in an emergency contractor to complete the work, ostensibly by the beginning of next school year.
After parents of The Neighborhood School (PS363) and The Star Academy (PS63) elementary schools gathered 600 signatures in just two days on a petition alleging three years of health hazards at their schools created by ongoing construction work — including rodent infestation in classrooms, homeless encampments at fire exits and drug paraphernalia and human waste at the school’s entrance — the NYC School Construction Authority (SCA), on June 13, terminated Kafka Construction’s contract. The company’s completion date over the three-year period had been postponed twice, and they showed no signs of intending to complete the work or caring about the ramifications.
The co-located elementary schools ... have been covered in scaffolding for three years, blocking all sunlight into classrooms and creating a neighborhood eyesore. Local politicians and DOE officials who toured the schools in early June were shocked by what they found. It was enough to compel the SCA to take “drastic actions,” firing Kafka and bringing in an emergency contractor to complete the work, ostensibly by the beginning of next school year.
Parents could no longer keep silent when they discovered that each morning before school started, school administration had been forced to clean hypodermic needles, vomit and feces, found on the premises, before the children’s arrival. This was a problem created by the ongoing scaffolding surrounding the building which created conditions for all kinds of undesirable behavior after school hours.
The school’s cleaning efforts didn’t prevent used syringes from being found during a daytime fire drill or by an after-school group playing in what is left of the school’s yard, which is largely covered by construction equipment.
The flower boxes in front of the school, which once housed beautiful plants, are now rat infested, as is the area behind the school where construction equipment is stored. The entire building now has a problem with vermin, and children have been known to shriek when they see a rodent scamper across the room during class.
Parents are relieved that Kafka has been fired, but remain concerned and skeptical that their kids will have a facility that is safe and an appropriate learning environment by September.
The Neighborhood School (aka TNS, aka PS 363) is a diverse public school on East 3rd Street in the East Village. Over 45 percent of the students live below the poverty line. In 2011, the school’s art funding was cut drastically, which quite frankly blows. Thankfully, celebrity chef and Food Network star Chris Santos has stepped in to help — again. In 2012, he hosted a fundraiser at his restaurant Beauty & Essex; on Wednesday, he’ll be hosting one at Stanton Social (99 Stanton between Orchard & Ludlow), from 5 pm to 1 am.
Santos will donate $10 to the school for every person who reserves in advance (5pm-1am) and mentions TNS. He’ll also donate $5 for every non-TNS cover that night, PLUS he’ll match whatever the total is. The money will go toward supporting the school’s wonderful art program.
In the past, the school raised half the money for the art program itself; Title I funding and Studio in a School provided the other half. But the removal of federal assistance paired with NYS’s drastic budget cuts mean that TNS has to raise the full amount in the future. That’s why the school community is touched and honored by Santos’s commitment.
There are often tensions between diverse public schools and snazzy new neighborhood businesses; Santos is mindful of the potential divide. And TNS is grateful for his outreach. We hope everyone who values public education and tasty pre-Valentine’s-Day noshes (because going out on Valentine’s Day itself is for amateurs – it is the Whitman’s Sampler of urban dining experiences) will come on out and support the school.
To support the school: Call Chef’s Assistant Erica at 212.995.0099 or email her for dinner reservations on 2/12/14 – be sure to mention TNS when you book!
The Neighborhood School’s ArtisanFEST: Art, shopping, snacks and all your holiday gifting under one roof!
The Neighborhood School’s ArtisanFEST is back! On Sunday, Nov. 24, from 10 am to 4 pm, come out to support a local public school and get all your holiday shopping done in one fell swoop. Admission is free and open to the public. Scoop up silk-screened clothing, hand-printed linens, sample-sale items, home decorations, jewelry, fine art and more.
Confirmed artisans include: Lucky Fish (gorgeous screen-printed clothes and home goods); Vale (edgy yet dainty vintage-y jewelry); Wovenplay (imagination-sparking clothes and accessories for wee adventurers and artists); Interior Provisions (affordably luxurious home products with a conscience; Small Trades (men’s and women’s classic clothing inspired by Irving Penn’s 1950s photos); Winter Water Factory (boldly printed organic clothing and accessories); Atsuko & Akiko (exquisite and playful clothing, home décor and jewelry); Jillian Sherry (delicate ripped silk paintings and textile prints); Billie Beads (polymer beaded, bejeweled objets and killer tchotchkes); MUNY (Indian, boho, fair-trade, handcrafted textiles evoking both Mumbai and New York – hence the name); Odette Williams (delightful retro-hip aprons, kid clothes and wall art) and many more. There will also be homemade treats, kids selling their own beaded and Rainbow-Loomed jewelry, and some of those groovy food trucks.
A portion of the proceeds goes to Studio in a School, the wonderful organization that brings together professional artists and public school kids, and to The Neighborhood School PTA, a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization. The Neighborhood School is at 121 East 3rd Street, between First Avenue and Avenue A in the East Village.
[Last] week my fellow parents and I were alarmed to find out that the scaffolding surrounding our school is there to take out asbestos and remove lead paint. I was even more upset to discover that no work was done over the summer and that the contractor wants to start now when school is session. We cannot allow this to happen!!! Asbestos and lead that are airborne due to construction pose serious health threats.
Last year, families at The Neighborhood School on East Third Street (aka P.S. 363, aka TNS) found out that due to a perfect storm of craptastical budget crises on both the local and federal levels, the school had lost funding for its library. We now have to raise an additional $40K a year to keep our library and wonderful librarian Cheryl Wolf — no small feat for a school in which a third of the children qualify for free lunch and many more live just above the poverty line, and the PTA is already stretched to its limit.
So we're doing an online auction of children's book art to raise funds. Some of the amazing artists who’ve donated original paintings, prints and/or autographed books include Maira Kalman, Sophie Blackall, Paul O. Zelinsky, Mo Willems, Calef Brown, Betsy Lewin, Jaime Zollars, Javaka Steptoe (whose psychedelic portrait of Jimi Hendrix from Jimi: Sounds Like a Rainbow will thrill music fans), Betsy Lewin, Beth Krommes, Emily Arnold McCully, David Milgrim, Raina Telgemeier, Dave Roman and many more.
The auction runs though June 21. New items will be added regularly, and of course, straight-up donations can be made here — fully tax-deductible, as The Neighborhood School PTA, which funds the library, is a 501(c)3 charitable organization.
Why bother? Because research shows that having a school library and librarian is strongly correlated with student achievement, and the less wealthy the school, the stronger that correlation is. Our school also has one of the largest percentages of children with Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) in our district, and Cheryl is a magician at reaching reluctant and emerging readers.
Our PTA is already stretched to its limit providing art, music, field-trip subsidies and supplies for students. That's why we're reaching out to the public. There’s nothing left to cut from the budget: In the last three years, we’ve cut our Reading Recovery program, our math coach, our literacy coach, our assistant principal, a school aide, all professional development contracts and our supplies budget, and we’ve increased class size in all grades. We don’t want to lose our library too!
The good news is that the heroic efforts on the part of the P.S. 363 community have underlined the value of librarians in the life of students — it's perhaps even more so today, when children have virtually unlimited computer access to information but need guidance putting it into context. The bad news is that the plight of the school puts into stark context just how dramatically the budget crisis has affected the city's public education system.
Thanks to drastic budget cuts, we have lost funding for the library at The Neighborhood School. TNS is not a wealthy school (40 percent of our students qualify for free lunch) and our parent body is already stretched to the limit providing art and music education and field trip subsidies ... We need to raise $40K by June 27 to save our library.
A perfect storm of budget disaster issues converged on us at once. There were Title I issues (the threshhold was raised to 60 percent, so even though our school is still 40 percent free lunch, we get no financial aid from Title I the way we once did), Fair Student Funding issues (the fact that our teachers tend to be very experienced punishes us financially) and other crises.
Our amazing librarian Cheryl empowers kids to love reading, teaches them the research skills and media literacy they’ll need for the real world, and encourages them to use the web safely. She brings in wonderful authors, nurtures reluctant readers and does curriculum work in all our classrooms. Losing her will be devastating.
The Neighborhood School’s Holiday Fair:
A FUN FAIR FOR A GREAT CAUSE!
The Neighborhood School’s beloved Holiday Fair is back! On Sunday, December 5, from 11 am to 5 pm, come out to support a local public school and have a blast. There’ll be carnival games, arts & crafts, face-painting, print-making, henna and temporary tattooing, a huge kid-built maze (made of deconstructed cardboard boxes — the Avenue A equivalent of a corn maze), a raffle and great food from neighborhood vendors including Ciao for Now, Solo Pizza and Mudspot.
And of course there’s the silent auction. A mere sampling of items up for bids this year: Gift certificates to terrific local shops, salons, spas, yoga studios and gyms; passes to the Landmark Sunshine; museum memberships; theater subscriptions; Knicks tickets; Doyle & Doyle jewelry; family portraits by professional artists and photographers; meals at fave neighborhood spots like Mama’s Food Shop, Esperanto, Il Buco, Sugar Sweet Sunshine, Café Mogador, Caracas Arepa Bar, Balthazar and many more! Bid online or in person. Neighborhood School dad and EV institution Richard “Handsome Dick” Manitoba and writer Zoe Hansen will host a live auction at 3pm. Bidding closes at 4pm.
Admission to the fair is free and open to the public. Wondering what a progressive public school in the East Village is like? Come check us out! This is a great (and cheap) way to have fun indoors with your kids on a chilly winter’s day; you can have a nosh and shop for some great items while your kids run around playing and art-making with their friends. Proceeds from the fair support the Neighborhood School PTA, a 501(c)(3) non-profit charitable organization that pays for the school’s art and music education, field trips, classroom supplies, special programs and teacher support. The Neighborhood School is at 121 East 3rd Street between First Avenue and Avenue A
