Safety, crowding are board’s top concerns

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At the close of a year that saw the death of autistic student Avonte Oquendo and a report on overcrowding released by the city Comptroller’s office, school safety and class size reduction topped Community Board (CB) 8’s list of education budget requests for 2016.

As part of its capital budget, the board called for the repair of all exit doors in elementary and special education schools in the district, before alarms are installed on the doors.

The alarms would prevent students from leaving the school without ad- ministrators’ knowledge, as Avonte Oquendo did when he exited his school in Queens in fall 2013 and went missing, starting a search that ended in tragedy as his remains were discov- ered in January.

Meanwhile, its expense budget called for funds to provide a “mean- ingful reduction of class size” for all grades in the district.

In Comptroller Scott Stringer’s July report, seven schools in Community Education Council (CEC) District 10 were described as over-crowded, including the Sheila Mencher School (P.S. 95), the Rober t J. Christen School (P.S. 81), P.S. 7 Kingsbridge and the Spuyten Duyvil School (P.S. 24).

“That’s a good selection of items that are do-able,” said Marvin Shelton, president of the CEC, though he voiced skepticism that overcrowding could be fully resolved at CB 8’s request.

Reducing the student-to-teacher ratio, he said, could call for a seven-figure sum, he added.

But he praised CB 8 for its attention to safety measures at schools in the district.

“A lot of our schools have a large number of exits that aren’t monitored,” he said. “You’d never know if the kids bolted.”

The budget also called for upgrading gymnasium equipment in CB 8 schools in an effor t to combat student obesity, along with funding for small high schools to join the Small School Athletic League.

A few specific requests made the list as well, including electrical upgrades for computers at the New School for Leadership and Arts (M.S. 244), upgrades to air conditioners and new lockers at the Marie Curie High School for Medicine, and new air conditioners and cafeteria tables at P.S. 81.

Community Board 8, budget, Marvin Shelton, Dan Padernacht, education, Maya Rajamani
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