DOE Bypasses Community
To The Editor:

When the Department of Education [DOE] opened North Queens Community High School in a former parochial school building for students who have failed to function in a regular school environment without informing the community, school officials should not have been surprised that the Kew Gardens Hills community was outraged.

According to DOE and its social service partners, youths attending North Queens are older teens who need a "little help" to graduate from high school because of absences or academic problems. DOE doesn't like the word "truant", but any parent- or former high school student- knows that students whose absenteeism causes a transfer to a special school have problems with "truancy" or worse.

The Department of Education chose not to inform local elected officials, the community board, and the local precinct as well as the neighborhood civic association, all of which could be located with a simple phone call. DOE and its partners in operating the new school, Good Shepherd Family Services and SOC Family of Services, chose instead to sneak North Queens Community High School into Kew Gardens Hills. The only hint that the new school was coming was a brief and sugar coated item in the local parish Sunday bulletin and a phone call from Good Shepherd three days before opening day (Friday before Labor Day). A call to the parish was met with denials of any knowledge of the school or the 20 year, multi-million dollar deal with the Department of Education.

So, not surprisingly, the Kew Gardens Hills Civic Association is calling on the Department of Education to demonstrate that there is adequate security in and around the school; that the location of recreation facilities is on school grounds; and that students will travel to and from the school in a timely and orderly manner.

No one wants the North Queens Community High School [not] to work [nor] succeed [more] than the residents of Kew Gardens Hills. We are still waiting to hear how the Department of Education leadership is going to make that happen. Now they know where to find us. Patricia Dolan President Kew Gardens Hills Civic Association Kew Gardens Hills