DOE Report Card Gives MCSM an "A" !!

MCSM scored an A rating in the DOE’s first-ever Progress Report. This new system uses a variety of factors to assign a single letter grade, from A to F, to every public school in NYC. For high schools, these grades are based on a combination of last spring’s parent, teacher, and student surveys, average daily attendance rate, four- and six-year graduation rates, Regents exam pass rates, and the percentage of students accumulating ten or more course credits each year. Citywide, 22.3% of all schools received an A rating.

Getting an A is always great, but a close look at MCSM’s report card shows that we cannot afford to rest on our laurels. There is plenty of room for improvement, especially considering that MCSM’s underlying score was 67.6 out of a possible 100, the lowest possible score to still earn an A grade.

To see MCSM’s Progress Report on your computer, click on the blue text below or type it, exactly as shown, in the address line at the top of your browser page: http://schools.nyc.gov/schoolportals/04/M435/default.htm.

Then click on the word “Statistics” on the left side of the screen, then click on the blue words “High School” (2006-2007) where the next screen says Progress Report. This will allow you to download MCSM’s Report Card onto your computer.

A detailed explanation of the MCSM Progress Report will be available to parents as a hand-out at every PTA meeting. Those wishing to receive a copy by email should contact Steve Koss at mathman180@aol.com.

C-30 Update

The C-30 Committee met for a second time on the evening of December 10, 2007 to interview candidates for Principal at MCSM. A panel of parents, teachers, staff, and one current student listened to each candidate’s answer to a set of questions developed by the Committee at its earlier meeting on November 29.

Following the interviews, the panel discussed the candidates, rated each one, and made its recommendations. This information will be presented to High School Superintendent Francesca Pena who will conduct further evaluations and background checks before making a final appointment. We anticipate a decision by early January.

On behalf of MCSM’s parents, we would like to thank our network manager, Ms. Sanda Balaban, for leading the C-30 meetings and making a conscientious effort to ensure that parent and staff concerns about the selection process were properly addressed.

Con Edison Update - 12/17/07 Meeting

Following up on their presentation to MCSM and Isaac Newton parents at October’s PTA meeting, representatives of Con Edison, the DOE, and NY State Department of Health returned to MCSM on December 17th for further discussion of the issue of toxic contaminants (specifically, coal tar from a former coal gasification plant) buried under the school building and grounds) and Con Edison’s remediation plans. MCSM was represented by Principal David Jimenez, Assistant Principal Devorah Zamansky, and 10th grade parents Deirdre Rose, Don Redish, and Steve Koss. Also in attendance were David Palmer of NY Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI), Simeon Banister from NYC Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum’s office, and Yvonne Przybyla from State Senator Serrano’s office.

The main purpose of this meeting was to discuss next steps following upon the October PTA meeting, with particular focus on environmental safety testing. Everyone at the meeting agreed that indoor air quality and soil gas testing during the heating season is essential for monitoring environmental safety at the MCSM site. Con Edison has committed to conducting indoor air and soil gas tests, working with the NYCDOE and NYSDOH, during the mid-winter school recess in February and again during the summer break and the following winter (heating) seasons. Results of these tests will be made available to the MCSM school and parent community in written and electronic form.

Because Con Edison cannot enter a NYC public school without a signed access agreement letter from the DOE, Bernie Orlan from the DOE’s Division of School Facilities committed to conducting similar air quality tests during the winter holiday break (December 22 – January 1). Results from these tests will give MCSM parents earlier feedback on the winter season air quality in the building and provide an early alert in the event of negative readings.

Con Edison offered at the December 17th session to meet with parents, teachers, and other members of the community upon request, as reasonably needed, to assist them in understanding the site remediation plans, processes, and results. However, in response to a request from NYLPI for funding to enable the community to engage an independent consultant to review the testing data and remediation plans, Con Edison indicated that it is not their corporate policy to provide such funding.

Remembering MCSM’s Founder – Colman Genn

This 25th Anniversary year for MCSM gives us an opportunity to look back at the extraordinary life of our school’s founder and first Principal, Mr. Colman A. Genn. Most of us have probably never heard of Mr. Genn or know that his picture can be found on a memorial plaque on the wall next to the entrance to Room 126, the College Office.

One of five children in a Brooklyn family, Genn grew up as a Bensonhurst “tough,” looking for gang fights and being, by his own admission, a “very poor” student. After getting a Bachelor’s degree in health and physical education from Brooklyn College and a Master’s degree in the same area from Michigan State, he began his education career in 1958 as a math teacher at Brownsville Junior High, eventually moving on to teach social studies and physical education in East Harlem.

By the 1980’s, Mr. Genn had begun actively working with local superintendents Anthony Alvorado and Carlos Medina to help found three alternative, public choice schools in East Harlem: the Academy of Environmental Sciences, the Harbor School for the Performing Arts, and MCSM. Genn and Alvorado were early supporters of the small school movement for NYC. From 1982 – 1986, Mr. Genn was Principal of the newly-founded MCSM, operating in the old Benjamin Franklin HS building where typical daily attendance was below 50% and graduation rates below 10% before that school was closed. Mr. Genn led MCSM’s first class, the 143 students from the Class of 1986, to a 100% graduation rate that earned our school a front page story in the New York Times.

By all accounts, Mr. Genn achieved his greatest fame as a witness to the Gill Commission, formed by Mayor Koch to investigate fraud and illegal activity in the public school system. While working as Superintendent of District 27 in Queens, he wore wires to record meetings over a period of eight months in which school board members discussed creating phony jobs and filling them with friends. His testimony before the Gill Commission made him a star witness in disclosing to the public the pervasive corruption that permeated the City’s community school boards. His courage in speaking out against corruption won him the great honor of being profiled on a 60 Minutes story.

Even after he retired as a school superintendent in 1991, Mr. Genn remained active in education as a senior research fellow at the Center for Educational Innovation, where he continued to support school reform and helped found more small schools in NYC, Chicago, Baltimore, and Newark. He passed away in 2004 at the age of 68. The NY Times (June 30, 1986) described Colman Genn’s dream for MCSM: “what Cornell University was for Ithaca, N.Y., his high school would become for East Harlem.” It’s up to all of us to make and keep our founder’s dream a reality.

Con Edison Representatives Attend November PTA Meeting, Address Parents about Toxic Contaminants at MCSM

On Tuesday evening, November 13, representatives of Con Edison, the NYS Department of Health (DOH), NYS Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), and the NYC Department of Education (DOE) appeared before an audience of MCSM and Isaac Newton parents concerning the toxic contaminants known to be buried beneath the school building and grounds. Also in attendance were representatives of the UFT (teachers’ union), the NYC Public Advocate’s office (Ms. Betsy Gotbaum, Public Advocate), and Mr. David Palmer from New York Lawyers for the Public Interest (NYLPI). Earlier that day, the same Con Edison and NYS representatives had met with MCSM teachers and staff as well as the School Leadership Team to make the same presentation and answer questions.

Three different Con Edison representatives – Laura Mascuch, Horace Davis, and Elena Skorobogatov – spoke about the history of the MCSM building site, the role of manufactured gas in the 1800s and early 1900s, the types of chemicals and toxic substances associated with manufactured gas plants (MGP’s), and the testing and remediation planning that Con Edison has performed to date. They noted that Manhattan alone contains 24 MGP sites, with another 27 sites located in outer boroughs and Westchester County and over 200 Statewide. In 2002, Con Ed reached a voluntary agreement with the State of New York under which the company would work with State agencies to remediate (that is, clean up) each of these sites to the greatest extent possible. Depending on the site, remediation might mean full excavation and removal of the toxic wastes, or it might mean partial removal by excavation or other technologies combined with methods to cap, control, and monitor whatever remaining contaminated materials could not be removed.

In MCSM’s case, Con Edison first came to the school in 2002 to determine the extent of the problem in response to an agreement on cleaning up MGP sites they had reached with the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation and Department of Health. They found toxic waste material, mostly in the form of coal tar, beneath the school building and underneath the school grounds at the rear (FDR Drive side) and south sides of the building.

According to Con Edison, these wastes were found between six and forty-one feet below ground. No toxic materials were found at the surface where anyone could come in contact with them. Con Ed also determined that there were no unacceptable toxic chemicals in the air around the building or inside the school hallways. They conducted limited further tests in 2003 and 2004, in part to begin planning a remediation program to either remove or cap the toxic materials found in the ground beneath the school property. Their 2003 and 2004 studies were also intended to check sediments in the Harlem River as well as the boundaries of the MCSM property on behalf of the residences along Pleasant Avenue and 116th Street. They did indeed find coal tar related substances in the Harlem River sediments. A report of Con Edison’s findings can be found on the company’s website, or you can click here: Con Edison Remedial Investigation Report.

The three Con Edison representatives were followed by Mr. William Ottaway of the NY State DEC and Ms. Dawn Hettrick of the NYS DOH. DEC’s role is to oversee Con Edison’s plan and work on behalf of NY State citizens, while DOH’s role is to monitor the public health and safety issues related to chemical contaminants from MGP sites. Dr. Mark Wilkenfeld, a paid consultant to Con Edison, addressed parents' questions about health and medical concerns.

Con Edison and their consultants have not returned to the MCSM school site since 2004. They have been working on a draft report that proposes several different alternatives for remediating the toxic chemicals under the MCSM site. The company now states that they will need to pilot test one or more methods of removing the coal tar before deciding on their final remediation plan. Once that is approved by the State DEC and DOH and then by the public, they can go forward with actual remediation. They will also need to prepare a plan for ongoing monitoring and maintenance if any of the contaminants cannot be removed. Based on statements presented at the PTA meeting, it appears likely that the toxic contaminants will not be removed from MCSM’s building site for at least another 4-5 years, and quite possibly longer.

Parents and the PTA Executive Board are asking Con Edison and the DOE for updated and continuing environmental assessments of the school building and grounds, beginning as soon as possible. No further tests have been performed since 2004, despite substantial renovation and reconstruction in and around the school building and major excavation, foundation setting, and construction at the River East Plaza site directly across 116th Street. We as parents of MCSM and Isaac Newton students are demanding of the City that a new, updated environmental assessment take place in light of all this activity and that the results be made public. We are demanding further that regular, continuing assessments take place with public disclosure of results until such time as Con Ed has completed their site remediation work. These environmental assessments must continue on a scheduled basis in perpetuity if some toxic substances remain on the site and cannot be removed with damage or destruction of the school building.

Con Edison representatives stated publicly on Tuesday night their agreement that more interim testing and monitoring needs to be done at MCSM. As more definite statements of their plans and intentions become available, we will post updates on this site. Please check here periodically to learn more as this story develops. If you have any questions, you can post them as comments on this site or you can contact Steve Koss, PTA President, at mathman180@aol.com, Deirdre Rose, PTA Co-VP at birdrose12000@yahoo.com, or Don Redish, PTA Co-VP at dredish.mcsm@hotmail.com.

FOX NEWS STORY ABOUT TOXIC CONTAMINANTS AT MCSM

On Tuesday, October 30, Fox 5 News reported that MCSM (along with Beacon HS in Manhattan and the Mott Hall II site in the Bronx) was one of three New York City schools located on brownfields, sites known to contain toxix substances underground.

Parents who want to view the full video of the Fox News report can see it on the Fox News website. I have tried repeatedly to set up a link from here directly to that story, but it does not appear that Fox is making it directly accessible from outside its own site. Instead, please follow the directions below. READ ALL THE DIRECTIONS BELOW BEFORE CLICKING ON THE LINK

First click here: FOX NEWS REPORT. This will take you to the Fox News website. Then, on the top left of the screen where it says SEARCH, type in the words "toxic school sites". A list of Fox News stories will automatically appear in red letters beneath the white SEARCH box. As of today, five stories will appear. The story that includes MCSM is the fourth story, the second one from the bottom (note, this could change, so in the future, you might have to click on a couple of them to get ours).

To learn more about Con Edison's presentation at the November 13 MCSM PTA meeting, read the posting PARENTS DEMAND REGULAR AIR QUALITY TESTING AT MCSM on this blog site.

EMERGENCY DISCUSSION OF OUR SCHOOL'S ENVIRONMENTAL SAFETY AT NOVEMBER 13 PTA MEETING -- PLEASE ATTEND!!!

For the sake of your child’s health and well-being, please make every possible effort to attend the November 13 PTA meeting. We will be holding an important emergency discussion of our school site’s environmental safety. Representatives of Con Edison, the DOE School Construction Authority, the DOE Office for Health and Safety, and the New York State Departments of Environmental Conservation and Occupational Health will be present to discuss a serious health concern at our school.

On Tuesday, 10/30, Fox 5 News reported that MCSM was one of three New York City schools located on brownfields, sites known to contain toxic substances underground. Fox News stated correctly that the MCSM school building site formerly contained a coal gasification plant beneath which are buried industrial contaminants called coal tars. These substances are chemically similar to the cancer-causing tars found in cigarettes.

Since that report aired on Tuesday, we have learned that the shopping plaza construction site directly across the street was once the location of the Washburn Wire Factory. The current contractor at that site has determined that the soil there also contained industrial contaminants that had to be removed during their excavation work. We have also discovered that the MCSM site was reported to have been a swamp back in the 1880s, at the time the coal gasification plant was opened.

Air and soil quality testing have been conducted at MCSM in past years, most recently in 2002 and 2004 under the authority of Con Edison, our school site’s former owner. Although additional air quality tests have been made inside the school building last year and again just this week through the teachers’ union, no comprehensive air, groundwater, and soil tests have taken place since the construction and renovation.

As of Friday, November 2, there has been no response from the NYC DOE and no attempt has been made by the DOE to reach out to the MCSM parent community. Consequently, the MCSM PTA Executive Board, in conjunction with the Isaac Newton PTA, will be delivering a letter on Monday to Chancellor Klein demanding that a comprehensive and independent environmental site assessment be conducted immediately and the results made public. Copies of this letter will be sent to the Mayor, the Manhattan Borough President, two City Council members, the President of the Teachers’ Union, the NYC Public Advocate’s Office, the local Community Board, and others.

If you have not seen the original Fox News report, you can do so on the Internet. Go to www.myfoxny.com and click on the red News button at the top left of the screen. Then click on the last blue button, Education, on the left side of the next screen. Under Top Education News, click on “View More Education News” and look for the story “Fox Investigates: Toxic School Sites, Part 3.” The full story lasts about 8-9 minutes; MCSM’s portion is roughly in the middle. While in some parts of the Fox story are sensationalized and appear to be factually incorrect, the existence of coal tars under the building and grounds is a documented fact.