A Press news analysis

Readers weigh in on school dispute

188 readers give their opinions in survey on troubled school

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It seems that sometimes school officials find a show of support for one of their own more important than education-related issues.

In the Oct. 13 editorial “Let’s talk about schools,” The Press invited readers to share their views on the situation around the Spuyten Duyvil School (P.S. 24) through an online survey.

The school – once one of the city’s best, and lately one of its most troubled – is severely overcrowded, currently serving twice the number of students it was designed to accommodate. Assistant principal Manny Verdi is suing education authorities and Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, accusing them of interfering with his job in a supposed attempt to prevent minority students from enrolling. Mr. Dinowitz maintains he and his allies only seek to uphold school zoning rules and denounces the suit as “frivolous” and as an attempt by Mr. Verdi to safeguard his job while neglecting to address the overcrowding problem.

By midnight on Oct. 21, when the survey closed, The Press had received 188 responses, which included an array of persuasive arguments, sharp criticism of the authorities’ handling of the situation and impassioned expressions of support for the children. 

The responses also included a trickle of votes in support of Mr. Verdi – from people who apparently took the survey only to vote for Mr. Verdi. 

The poll makes no claim to statistical validity — it was intended as a platform for discussion. One of its questions asked readers about which party in the legal dispute, if any, had their sympathies. 

Mr. Dinowitz drew the largest single group of supporters, with 78 responses in his favor. If all responses in the survey are counted, that gives Mr. Dinowtiz a 41.5 percent support, compared to slightly more than 14 percent, or 27 votes, in favor of Mr. Verdi. 

But a dozen respondents who voted for Mr. Verdi – or nearly half of all responses in his favor – only answered one question in the survey and ignored others. Many of those respondents also submitted the questionnaire from the same IP address, belonging to the Department of Education. These factors cast doubt on those respondents’ motives for taking the survey, and raise questions as to whether the 27 votes Mr. Verdi received came indeed from 27 respondents – or from a smaller group of people answering the survey repeatedly. 

The Press could not rule out the possibility that some of Mr. Dinowitz’s supporters also took the survey more than once. But all of respondents who backed Mr. Dinowitz answered the survey’s other questions, giving their responses at least the appearance of validity and thoroughness. Mr. Verdi’s supporters often did not even bother. 

Following supporters of Mr. Dinowitz, the second-largest group of respondents — 35 votes, or nearly 19 percent — said they supported neither side in the legal dispute, finding both Mr. Verdi and Mr. Dinowitz to be in the wrong. Another 16 respondents, or 18.5 percent, said both Mr. Verdi and Mr. Dinowitz offered some reasonable views, but neither was entirely right. A total of 32 respondents, or 17 percent, chose the survey option titled “other” and filled in their own responses. While space limitations prevent The Press from publishing all responses to all of the survey’s questions, today we print some of the responses — with our apologies to the readers whose comments were not published. (A summary of survey results and the full list of comments are also available on The Press' website).

A majority of respondents — 116 people, or 66 percent of those who answered the question — said they followed the situation around P.S. 24 closely. Another 44 respondents, or 25 percent, said they try to stay up to date, but may have missed some developments, followed by 12 respondents or about 7 percent who said they read or hear about the situation occasionally. A total of two respondents said they did not know much about this particular school, and one person commented to report mostly knowing about the school from having attended it “many years ago.”  

In a question that asked about ways P.S. 24 should deal with overcrowding, half of respondents who answered this question — 88 people, or 50 percent — said the school should follow zoning rules to the letter, accepting only those students who are eligible to attend. Another 29 respondents, or about 16.5 percent, said that given the school’s level of overcrowding, it should restrict enrollment and accept only Riverdale’s children, while 23 respondents, or 13 percent supported generally following the rules but making some exceptions for hard-working out-of-zone students, agreeing they would only make the school better. 

Calls for more school space

A total of 29 respondents, or 16.5 percent, offered their own solutions to the overcrowding problem. 

The most popular approach seemed to focus on various ways of adding more space, either by building new schools or enlarging P.S. 24: 

“They should follow zoning rules for P.S. 24, but they need to build a new K-8 school that should serve as a new zone between P.S. 24 and P.S. 81 to relieve overcrowding at both schools. If it is a big enough school, they can also bring in other students.”

“Dinowitz should let the city build an addition and stop blocking it.” 

“Go through re-zoning process [and] build additional school in south Riverdale.”

“Build another school after a feasibility study on enrollment projections for the area.”

“Follow school zoning rules, but Riverdale is growing - single family homes are being replaced with multi-family dwellings increasing the population of children who need a bigger school.We need to build an addition to the school. Not kick kids out.”

Lost annex

P.S. 24 had occupied more space until recently, having for years rented an annex at the nearby Whitehall co-op apartment building. But the Education Department let the lease expire, and a new tenant, a childcare program, moved in this summer. The issue was noted by a number of survey respondents. 

“Space had been leased — and lost — because of the ineptitude of the Department of Education. We have to question whether this issue would have become so prominent if the situation had not been handled in such a manner as to lose several classrooms in the nearby annex.”

“Since the annex closed, they need more space which will not be solved unless more space is built or leased... Kids from the zone should be enrolled as well as kids with variances or waivers, and the other schools in the district should be paid more attention to so that they get better.” 

Changing admission rules

A number of respondents called for taking a closer look at who gets admitted to the school — possibly along with building more school space in the northwest Bronx — rather than simply enlarging P.S. 24. 

“The ‘zone’ needs to be reconfigured. There are not enough schools in the area to accommodate all of the families who live here. The DOE and city need to find space/create more schools immediately. This situation is detrimental to our children’s education and is a safety hazard. Where are the building inspectors and NYFD?”

“Create super zones with lotteries.”

“Require a copy of the tax return of the parent to prove residence. Minimal proof is needed to avoid scammers.”

“I don’t think an elected official is doing anything wrong by trying to enforce school regulations in order to represent and protect his community — e.g., Yonkers children sneaking into a school they don’t pay taxes to.” 

Out-of-zone students 

A number of respondents expressed support for admitting a few students from outside the zone served by P.S. 24. Some individual circumstances, according to survey responses, could justify such exceptions.  

“I’d advocate for a form of [exceptions for hard-working out-of-zone students], although I’d also consider situations such as a single parent working in the [P.S.] 24 zone whose child is zoned for a distant school. I can understand in that case where an exception may make sense.” 

“Follow zoning rules and other DOE policies, such as students that come in with transfer letter from enrollment office due to attending a failing school.” 

The author of the comment above is self-identified as a current or former employee of P.S. 24, who does not support either Mr. Verdi or Mr. Dinowitz, according to the survey. 

“Generally follow the rules, but make some exceptions only if there is space — which there isn’t at this time. If more forms of identification are required, that should be mandated by the city. Not the school.”

Some respondents called for preserving or even expanding special programs, such as gifted and talented classes:

“Follow zoning laws but make exceptions for kids who have a specific reason to attend: sibling in the school, G&T [gifted and talented], ICT [integrated co-teaching], or started there but moved outside zone. Lease or build more space should be in every option above [in the survey].”

But others suggested restricting those programs: 

“Knowing how overcrowded it is, they should remove extra programs such as G&T and now it also has special education classrooms, to a school without overcrowded population. It can’t contain the children in regular program.”

Yet one other respondent proposed a quick fix to improve the situation, saying: “Get rid of Manny Verdi.” 

Citywide problem

Overcrowding is a problem facing many schools in the city, reaching far beyond P.S. 24 or the northwest Bronx in general. In the survey, the largest single group of respondents — 82 people, or 47 percent of those who answered the question — sided with the view that alleviating overcrowding should be a top priority for the Education Department, with other problem likely to persist until overcrowding is resolved. 

Another 48 respondents, or 27 percent, said that overcrowding presented just one of many problems, which should all be tackled together. Yet another 28 respondents, or 16 percent, agreed with the view that overcrowding is a fact of life that was not going away overnight, and the schools’ priority should be to offer the best possible education in this difficult situation. Six more respondents, or nearly 3.5 percent, said that rather than focusing on alleviating overcrowding, schools should develop a different approach to education, while another 12 respondents, or 7 percent, commented to offer other views or elaborate on the answer choices. 

“I ... wanted to state that even with the school’s overcrowding issue, happening all over NYC, teachers and staff need to make an extra effort to go above and beyond in their teaching skills to actually fully educate our kids. A lot of parents have complained this past school year that their children have learned nothing! Just as New Yorkers are able to adapt quickly to fortunate and unfortunate circumstances, teachers should be able to do so as well and put this overcrowding and lack of permanent principle behind them and focus on teaching our kids.”

“Charter schools should not be allowed to collocate within public school space without paying rent that would provide alternate space for displaced students.”

“We must question what the political and educational leadership on the city, state and federal levels, are doing to address the severe problems of education in our country, let alone our city, of which overcrowding in the public schools is only one.”

Verdi vs. Dinowitz

Mr. Verdi has refiled his lawsuit against Mr. Dinowitz on Oct. 18, the assistant principal’s lawyer, Ezra Glaser, said. Mr. Verdi is accusing the assemblyman of defamation and of trying to get him fired and is seeking $9 million, according to the lawsuit. 

The survey question asking readers about their support for either side in the dispute drew the highest number of comments among the survey’s questions. A total 32 respondents wrote their comments.

“I’m not a fan of Dinowitz in general, but Manny Verdi and [former principal] Donna Connelly were warned at least six years ago by parent leadership that they had many, many out of zone students in the school and if they continued to be less than diligent it was going to become a crisis. They could be black, white purple or orange. It didn’t matter. All that mattered is that they didn’t live in the zone. Manny and Donna weren’t interested in due diligence and that has resulted in the overcrowding you now see. Sadly, [former acting principal] Andrea Feldman, a dedicated hard working advocate for the kids, has been collateral damage. I also cannot fathom how Manny Verdi, with all his legal issues, is still allowed to be inside the school. For shame!”

“There may have been a registration impropriety. However I blame Manny Verdi for holding the school hostage with his opportunistic and wildly inappropriate lawsuit.”

“Dinowitz’s racism was evident when he pressed to re-zone 141 to exclude Marble Hill and some Kingsbridge residents and when he helped turn down the state’s offer to build a pier at Riverdale station because he feared Dominicans would come and fish. Verdi is protecting his career, but his accusations about Dinowitz ring true.”

“Manny Verdi is not qualified to educate children. The most notable events in his career seem to involve some type of fraud. Not that I am a fan, but I believe that the fall of the last permanent principal was engineered by Dinowitz. The direct use of his staff in the ID check was a mistake. Agree with his objective, tactics.”

“The school is too crowded and out of zone children should not attend. There is no space for them, it is not racial. Also, Dinowitz should not block expansion of the school. They both should be fired!”

How many are out-of-zone? 

Enrollment at P.S. 24 has expanded to more than 1,000 students now from about 700 children a decade ago. Mr. Dinowitz and his allies maintain that the increase far outpaces Riverdale’s population growth, meaning that many of the students come from outside the school’s zone. Supporters of Mr. Verdi counter that Riverdale has seen a far greater surge in the number of young children lately, compared to the area’s overall population growth. 

Which of the views is more accurate has yet to be established. But the question of how many out-of-zone children are attending P.S. 24 drew comments from some survey respondents – who offered divergent views on the topic. 

“Every school district in NYC deals with out-of-zone issues and the recent NY Times publication — http://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/06/nyregion/bronx-public-school-racial-bias.html? — shows that only a very small percentage of students, amounting to 30 out of over 1,000 students, are from out-of-zone. Dinowitz would like to say overcrowding is due to out-of-zone enrollment and blames it on the school’s administration, but it is really due to a surge in young families moving to this neighborhood for the very good schools, among other reasons. He is trying to protect the interests of his constituents who line his coffers, and that group of people do not like to see the changing demographics of Riverdale as a whole. It is also interesting to note that Dinowitz had no problem enrolling his children in PS 24 as out-of-zone students.”

Official Education Department data, such as the numbers cited in the New York Times article, indicate that the number of out-of-zone students at P.S. 24 is small, but critics argue that a number of families misrepresented their addresses on their school applications. If true, this would make many students appear in Education Department data as residents of the area served by P.S. 24, while in fact they come from outside the school’s zone. 

Some respondents noted the issue: 

“I know numerous people who have scammed the system – for example by listing a grandparent as the place of residence.” 

Support children, not officials

Several respondents said they did not have enough information to favor a side in the dispute. Many others said they supported children, parents or teachers – and at least one respondent sided with “the new principal.” The Education Department named a former teaching coach, Steven Schwartz, as the school’s interim acting principal. 

“I side with the teachers who are caring for my children and trying to give them a positive educational experience.”

“I sympathize with the parents.”

“[I support] the families who were subjected to the added scrutiny.” 

“Is Dinowitz trying to block access to minority kids outside the district? Is Manny’s lawsuit justified? Who knows. I’m on the side of the kids, who are the one’s suffering here. We need new blood - not Manny or some DOE puppet.”

More comments and details about survey responses are available online on The Press website. 

PS24, survey, Jeffrey Dinowitz, Manny Verdi, Anna Dolgov

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