Community Education Council 24

P.S. 91 Room 119 68-10 Central Avenue

Glendale, New York 11385
Phone: 718.418.8160 / Fax: 718.418.8168/ Cec24@nycboe.net

New York City Department of Education

Visit our website at www.myschoolonline.com/ny/cec24
Nick Comaianni Dmytro Fedkowskyj Dominic Coticchio Ernest Cury Nancy Carbone
President 1St Vice President 2nd Vice President Treasurer Secretary

Council Members Department of Education Region 4 Officials

Lelani Bomani Reyes Irizarry
Cecilia Chavez Reg ional Superintendent
Dan Creighton Charles Amundsen
Marge Kolb Deputy Superintendent
JoAnne Scichilone Catherine M. Powis
Community Superintendent

FINAL BOARD APPROVED MINUTES

Minutes of Calendar Meeting
November 15, 2005
At PS 58, School of Heroes, Maspeth, New York

1) Call to order and Roll Call -- The Calendar meeting convened at PS 58 at 7:00
PM

• Roll Call – Present

• Cecilia Chavez
• Nick Comaianni
• Dominic Coticchio
• Ernest Cury
• Dmytro Fedkowskyj
• Joanne Scichilone

• Roll Call – Absent

• Nancy Carbone
• Marge Kolb

• Roll Call – Late

• Lelani Bomani

Also in attendance
Community Superintendent Ms. Catherine Powis

2) Vote on Appointment of New Member to Fill Vacancy on Council

A roll call was taken regarding the appointment of Daniel Creighton resulting in 6 yes
votes. Nick Comaianni stated Daniel Creighton is officially a member of Community
Education Council District 24 and congratulated him.

3) Approval of Minutes

On motion duly made and seconded, the minutes of the October 25, 2005 meeting were
unanimously approved.

4) Report of the President

Nick Comaianni stated that he attended a meeting at TWEED and was troubled to hear
the news that the health curriculum for the City of New York was actually already in hard
cover. He further stated that he was very disappointed because the curriculum was
something that needed to go through the councils who would have held hearings in the
district in order to obtain parental input regarding approval or non approval of the
curriculum. In the past District 24 has been a more conservative District with different
items regarding health curriculums. As of today we have no idea what does and does not
appear in the new health curriculum because the CEC was not given a copy. We will
have a speaker at the December 2005 or January 2006 meeting to go over what is in the
curriculum. Mr. Comaianni also stated that he was not happy to hear that in the 4th grade
the students will be taught about sexually transmitted diseases and so forth which he
personally does not feel is something he wants his children to learn from a teacher; it is
something he wants to teach his children at home. Mr. Comaianni stated that he could not
fully comment on the curriculum because he has yet to see a hard copy. Mr. Comaianni
closed his report by stating that if there is something in the curriculum that District 24
does not want then it would be something the DOE would have to change. He further
stated that the DOE should have gone through the CEC and have had prior approval of
the parents in the District.

5) Report of the Community Superintendent

Ms. Powis stated that at the first Gifted and Talented Implementation Committee the
following was discussed: certification criteria for Teachers, Tweed Curriculum,
Professional Development, Curriculum Adaptations, D24 Alignment to Region 4 and the
Department of Education. Ms. Powis also stated that the New York City Department of
Education announced that each of the DOE’s ten regions will host orientation fairs in
November for parents of preschool children with disabilities entering kindergarten in the
fall of 2006. The fairs will provide information about the transition from pre-school to
school-age special education services including the timeline for evaluation and
recommendations for kindergarten programs. Each year, approximately 10,000 pre-
school children with disabilities enter kindergarten and early parental involvement is
essential to ensuring a smooth transition. The orientation fairs will be held in each of the
ten regions throughout the month of November. At each fair, senior special education
administrators, including District 75 personnel will be on hand presenting information
and answering questions. Parents will be given an orientation guide that summarizes the
transition and will be invited to sign up for tours of representative school-age programs.
Ms. Powis then announced the dates of the New York City Department of Education
Turning 5 Orientation Fairs in Regions 4.

6) Resolutions – None

7) Guest Speaker – None

8) Report of the Committees

Ernest Cury, Chair of the English Language Learners Committee stated that there was
nothing new to report.

Dmytro Fedkowskyj, Chair of the Building, Zoning and Maintenance Committee

stated that there was nothing to report this month but added that there will be a full report
next month.

Joanne Scichilone, Chair of the Special Education Committee, stated that there was
nothing to report.

9) Old Business – None

10) New Business—the motorized lift for handicapped students at PS 229 is

continuously broken and Mr. Comaianni asked Ms. Powis to look into it. Mr. Comaianni
also announced that the next meeting will be held on December 20, 2005 at PS 58

11) Public Agenda Session

The council took questions from the public

12) Adjournment
Nick Comaianni motioned to adjourn, Dmytro Fedkowskyj seconded; meeting adjourned
at 7:45 pm.