RSS Feed
|
|
|||||||||||||
|
CEC 30 Holds Legislative Dinner
The annual CEC 30 Legislative Dinner was well attended by district educators and elected officials who have made funding education a priority on their agendas. Assemblymembers Jeffrion Aubrey, Michael Gianaris, Ivan Lafayette, and Margaret Markey and City Councilmembers, Eric Gioia, Helen Sears and Peter F. Vallone Jr. joined District 30 Superintendent Dr. Philip A. Composto, Jeannie Tsavaris-Basini, president of CEC 30, Sandy Brawer, Deputy Executive Director of Business Services, Queens Integrated Services Center, Santiago Taveras, Executive Director of School Quality, Yvonne Torres, Executive Director, Queens Integrated Service Center, and Eric Goldstein, Chief Executive Officer of School Support Services, at the head table for the meeting. As freezing rain fell outside of CEC District 30 headquarters at 28-11 Queens Plaza North, Tsavaris-Basini called the meeting to order at about 6:45 p.m., giving the attendees time to gather and help themselves to the abundant buffet. She singled out Audrey M. Toro, CEC 30 administrative assistant, for the outstanding food display.
"We want to acknowledge Eric Gioia for all the hard work in the community, especially during the blackout. We have an outstanding leader dedicated to the public. Councilmember Eric Gioia is a resident of Woodside Queens and a product of the local schools. He was elected in the district in which he was educated [at] P.S. 11 and I.S. 125," Tsavaris-Basini said. Gioia was complimented for making education a priority and presented with a plaque that included accolades that singled him out for "being a public servant of the highest order. He was the first to fund a youth baseball league, has secured $4 million for district schools for computer labs, smart boards and new science labs making them Internet ready for the 21st century. He has successfully expanded extracurricular opportunities by funding the first ever youth baseball league in the Queensbridge housing development and a range of other programs including a basketball league, Chess-in-the-Schools and theater and arts programs".
Tsavaris-Basini then cited Assemblymember Michael Gianaris as "committed to providing our children with an educationally enriching environment from overcrowded and deteriorating conditions and works tirelessly to ensure that his leading continues outside the classroom. He secured vital funding for neighborhood libraries and after-school programs". "Thank you for this award," Gianaris responded as he accepted the award. "The work I do would not have been accomplished without the help from the entire New York State Assembly."
• In-building classroom space for special education students, many of whom are getting instruction in schoolyard portables. • The need to speed up the six-month wait to process school crossing guard applicants. • The need for more playgrounds for student recreation needs, since many schoolyards are currently taken up with portable classrooms. •. The need to upgrade the electricity in many school buildings, as previous upgrades did not take into account the need for the necessary electrical support needed to run the computer systems. • The need to have a school nurse in every school, although the district was appreciative of the effort last year that put nurses in most schools. • The need for air conditioners in schools for the hot months when students are in the buildings. Tsavaris-Basini suggested that the list would have been longer if the elected officials had not been so helpful in previous years in addressing the needs of District 30. |
for larger version       |
||||||||||||
)
)