By:Scott Brinton
State says closing troubled school and sending kids to other districts remains option
Reports that the state will decertify the failing Roosevelt Junior-Senior High School and send its students to the Baldwin, Bellmore-Merrick, East Meadow and Oceanside districts have swirled for the past six months, making people fearful and angry.
Education Commissioner Richard Mills did little to relieve residents' concerns on Tuesday when he issued a report to the Board of Regents that keeps decertification as an option for Roosevelt High.
People in and out of Roosevelt had hoped the commissioner would take that plan off the table.
Mills did, however, add an option that would allow Roosevelt to remain whole. For this plan, the state Legislature would remove Roosevelt's school board this summer and take complete control of the district. Until now, the community has elected its own board under state supervision.
According to an Education Department report, The commissioner would assume all powers and duties of the board of education until appointment of a new board by the Board of Regents.
The Regents would also hire all district administrators. In effect, the Education Department would manage Roosevelt from Albany.
State Sen. Charles Fuschillo Jr. (R-Merrick) said he is fighting hard to save Roosevelt High. The senator, who has met weekly with Commissioner Mills for several months, said, I made it very clear I would not support closing [Roosevelt] down. I advised him that he has to go back and find other options to keep that school open.
The senator added, Closing down a school is an easy way out, and it's a bad precedent to set. It's an easy way for the state to solve the problem. Roosevelt needs stronger state intervention and financial aid, he said.
Residents cry foul
In 1996, the education department took over the Roosevelt district after charges of school-board incompetence were made and the high school's high failure rate on benchmark tests came to light.
Busing Roosevelt students to outside districts was seen as a last-ditch effort to educate them, as they have continued to fail important exams at an alarmingly high rate, including the Regents now required for graduation. Only 50 percent of Roosevelt students passed the 2000 English Regents, and just 29 percent scored above a 65 on the exam, which will be the passing score as of 2004.
From the beginning, however, residents of Roosevelt and surrounding districts have decried the busing plan.
Closing the high school and shipping the kids to other schools would not work,said Robert Summerville, president of the Roosevelt-Freeport chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and a retired New York City police officer.
In the mostly white, middle-class surrounding districts, parents said an influx of Roosevelt students would cause overcrowding in their schools.
In the minority, low-income Roosevelt district, parents said that ferrying students to other districts would waste valuable learning time and tax dollars, while destroying any pride residents might feel in their ailing school system.
They also said Roosevelt students would be earmarked for special education in the other districts because they would be ill-prepared to compete academically.
Diana Coleman, a long-time Roosevelt activist and health-plan administrator who has fought the breakup of Roosevelt High, said the school is no better off than it was in 1996, despite the five-year state takeover.
The state has acted like it's status quo over these five years. We're basically in the same position we were in before. Actually, worse, because our spirit has been broken,she said.
Coleman said South Shore residents and educators must lobby the state to take charge of Roosevelt with a firm grip and provide the district with the money it needs to truly help students. Otherwise, the state could send Roosevelt students to other districts at any time.
Breakup of the high school will loom until we get serious,said Coleman. Sometimes, it takes us all going to the edge of the cliff and looking over to understand we've all got to grab the rope and pull us back, and I think that's where we are.
This week, the Herald examines the Roosevelt School District and its high school, which are wracked by austerity budgets, collapsing facilities, short-term administrations and violent gangs. The idea behind this article is to give readers a glimpse into Roosevelt to foster awareness and understanding of the complex issues surrounding it. We begin at the beginning, with the students.
Gangs in control
Roosevelt students say the biggest problem they face in high school is gangs.
Thomas, a 15-year-old student who describes himself as a Christian, easily ticked off seven gangs at the high school: Mara Salvatrucha, reputedly Long Island's most violent gang, Latin Kings, Bloods, Crips, Lost Boys, BGF and LGF.
Thomas said street fighting is common inside Roosevelt High. Just last week, an unidentified assailant fired four shots from a passing car into the school, authorities said. No one was hurt, but someone could have been, as the time was around 3:45 p.m., when the high school was still full of students.
Thomas said, It's bad. All these gangs cuttin', cuttin' people they don't know with blades, knives. The security guards don't do nothin'.
He also said, The teachers are teachin', but the kids keep talkin' back. They need to do something better with the school.
Thomas hopes to become an engineer or doctor to help his mom pay the rent.
Chris, a 14-year-old member of Roosevelt's junior-varsity football team, at first said that gang fighting wasn't that bad.
Later, he said, It's not just like they fight for the fun of it. If a Blood don't say nothin' to a Crip, there won't be no beef. Different gangs associate. As long as you don't throw up a sign or wear your color, your flag, there's no beef.
If gang members wear their colors or show their signs, however, violence breaks out, Chris said. The teenager added that his hope for the future is to stay out of the gangs.
Only three months ago, a Roosevelt gang member was shot fatally during a turf battle off school grounds, said county Legis. Patrick Williams (D-Uniondale), who attended the young man's funeral. It was a matter of somebody wearing the wrong colors, and an opposing gang saw them,he said.
Williams, who recently convened a hearing on gang violence in the County Legislature, added, We have certainly been in denial that there is anything such as gang activity in suburbia.
The legislator noted that, because of Nassau's funding cuts for social services last year, Roosevelt lost its only youth center, which had provided mentoring, job training and psychological counseling. The county restored 50 percent of the cuts it made, which has returned some youth-center services for Roosevelt, but not all.
The county has a responsibility to fund after-school programs, any type of activity that will keep young people off the streets instead of the way it is now,Williams said.
We have cut those programs. ... The consequence is that you see more kids hanging out on the street. Most gang activity occurs between 3 to 7 p.m.
Coleman believes stepped-up security is desperately needed at Roosevelt High, so students can learn without feeling constantly threatened by gangs.
She said many students carry weapons in school because they fear for their safety. Why are the kids responsible for their own protection?
