Vol. 9, No.2, January,1993 .
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Townsend Harris High SChool at Queens College
75-40 Parsons Boulevard. Flushing, NY 11366
Violence infringes on safe haven by Diana Tuite While in many schools everyone races out the moment the bell rings, Townsend Harris pupils hesistate to abandon the safety of their building. Since the beginning ofthe school year, twelve incidents of violence within the vicinity of the school and involving Townsend Harris students have beenreported to the Dean. In all but one case when a group of girls were harassed, freshmen, sophomore, and junior boys were physical ly attacked by students from other schools.
are around . ''They get away with it one time and they try it again," theorized Mr. Rossman.
Police presence·sought
Some parents have worked with local politicians to secure police presen ce and improve transportation, steps which Mr. Rossman feels are helping. Other parents voluntarily patrol the area after dismissal. Most of the incidents occurred within three blocks of the school with only one taking place Increased Security directly on the steps outside. On this occasion, Reacting to these incidents, the Board of December 9, two youths approached one junior Education allotted the school money to improve boy who was standing in front of the school, security . Secur ity officer Leroy Howard will knocked him to the ground and began to kick remain in the building every day until 6 PM as of him. "At first I thought they were play fighting; . February 1. On a voluntary basis, some teachers thenhisheadhittheconcrete,'~saidonejuniorfewill begin to stay after hours. Administrators are male who witnessed the event. Turning to a socurrently establishing counseling programs for phomore boy, whom one parent witness describedas "minding his own busine ss," one of the victims to be headed by the guidance office. Administrators traced some of the perpetrators attackers punched him in the nose. Both boys to Parsons Junior High School, League School in were able to get into the building before sustainBrooklyn and P.S. 75 in Rigewood. Many of the ing further injuries. Police responded to a telephone call from biolyouths, whose names and addresses school officials obtained, are area residents. According to ogy teacher Odile Garcia. On the following day, Assistant Principal of Organization Malcolm two sergeants from the 107th Precint visited, Rossman, there are probably two differentgroups promising to "rearrange schedules to give addiresponsible for the attacks . Usually in groups of tional school saftey." Pressing charges about five, they have most often accosted boys Faculty members stress that witnesses should between 3:30 and 4:00 PM when fewer people
identify the youths and that victims press formal charges in addition to filing school incident reports . Without formal charges , no arrests can be made.Incidentreports, which are filed with Dean Wand a Nix, are sent to The Division of School Safety to determine the number of security officers stationed at the school. "Unless students who have been victims file reports and press charges, we won't be successful in keeping a policeman to safeguard the area," said Assistant Principal of Guidance Sheila Orner. " We are hoping for the prosecution of those responsible," agreed Ms. Nix . Identifications are all the more important since photographs taken on Halloween; when violence officiallyerupted,constitutetheonlyactualproof school officials have. During the entire week before Halloween, members of the Townsend Harris community were bombed with eggs, threatened, and physically assaulted. Haunting the roof unobserved, Mr. Rossman took pictures ofyouths defacing the building with eggs. These photographs went to Parsons Junior High School, whose administrators identified some of the young people. When the Mobile Task Force from the Division of Schoo l Safety arrived the next week, the "major egg thrower" was apprehended. "Basically, he was told what would happen to him if this happened again," said Mr. Rossman. Despite such measures, the assaults have in-
creased in seriousness. One boy suffered from a broken jaw and another suffered a concussion. Another incident occurred across the street from the school, near the bus stop. According to a witness, a group confronted one junior boy and someone punched him in the face "to gain respect." "Everybody at the bus stop spread out. They just left him there. He was trying to get them away," said a sophomore girl. Having been notified; security guard Leroy Howard intervened before the boy, whose nose was broken, was hurt more seriously. One bystander even attempted to get the boy safely into his car. However, the assailants dragged the boy from the vehicle.
Faculty offers advice Foremost, faculty members advise students to travel in groups and remain aware of their surrounding environment. Encouraging them to avoid the situation altogether, Ms. Nix suggests students go straigh t home after school. Leroy advises them to look potential aggressors directly in the eye. 'They can see the fear in a young person," he said. In addition, he instructs witnesses of an assault to come to him or run into a nearby business for help. "1 think that as a school, we should stand to gether and not let one person look out for themselves," said one anonymous female sophomore. Alee ma Bacchus contributed to this article .
Recycling program to resume despite problems by Alison Gabriele After three years, the New York City schools are finally on their way to fulfilling the requirements of the city's Residential Recycling Program. With assistance from the Environmental Action Coalition (EAC), all schools should be recycling to the extent of the law by September, 1993. Local Law 19, which was put into effect in July, 1989, required the Department of Sanitation to develop collection programs throughout the city, including public, private and parochial schools, to satisfy the recycl ing goals. While the residential recycling program has been very successful, the school recycling program got off to a slow start. In a Waste Watch Report, recently put out by the Natural Resources Council, this delay was blamed on the Board of Education. Cindy Sweatt of the EAC, who has worked alongside the Board of Education in developing school recycling programs, declares these accusations to be unjustified. "Yes, it is a shame that schools could not have' been recycling sooner. The Board of Education could have sent notice that schools should begin participation in the program. But the program the schools must follow is very complex. Instead of having to deal with each school's individual problems, they thought by reaching the schools on a system-wide level, which is being developed, the program would be easier to deal with, " said Ms . Sweatt. Kirby Codlin of the Board of Education's Division of School Facilities agrees that the delay was not due to the Board of EducaI
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it'~'11111!!iillllll:lllI1111i!~1I~!~li~1iil!~1111~11iiii!i:~;ii~'iiilllliiiliiiiil!!!!!llill!~li i i i :i i i iI1i i i:i i i:!i 'Yes, it is a shame that schools could not have been recycling sooner.' SPE supplied the blue pails. .and the Department of Sanitation provided the folders and cartons in which the school depos ited its paper. The Depar tment of Sanitation .alsoprovided the large bin in which all of the containers were then emptied . When the bin was nearly full, Odile Garcia, advisor of SPE, would then have to call the Department, and they would usually come to the school the next day to collec t the paper . Difficulties were created whenever it rained becau se the bin, which was kept outside the school, had rio lid. It had to be covered
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with plastic by members of SPE to keep the paper dry. (If the paper got wet, it would not be picked up by the Department of Sanitation.) After it rained. the water which had collected on top of the plastic would then have to be carefully discarded. Due to budget difficulties, the Department of Sanitation is no longer supplying the bin. For now , the individual schools are forced to purchase plastic bags which meet the Department of Sanitations' requirements for paper recycling. ''This year, the school-wide recycling is being treated the same way as residential recycling. We will still pick up the paper as in our regular Curbside Recycling Program, but we need for the schools to purchase their own bags and get the paper to the curb on their own," said John Cho of the Department of Sanitation. Mr. Cho had helped SPE organize the paper recycling program last year . Purchasing the bags is not the main problem at To wnsend Harris. However, purchasing a collection bin whi ch will also protec t the bags and paper in inclement weather, is a major obstacle. "We are concerned that the bin may be vandalized or the contents set on fire. Squirrels and other critters could also damage the contents of the bin," said Becky Lee, President of SPE. In addition, the collection bin is very expensive and the Board of Ed will not be supplying either the bins or the funding for their purchase. However, in collaboration with the EAC, the Board of Educatio n
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tion's negligence. "All areas are required to meet the demands of the law... by September, 1992. By then we will be distributing bags to schools and meeting the requirements ," said Mr. Codlin. Because the programs did not exist in schools, the Department of Sanitation went around to each school and developed individual recycling programs. Townsend Harris started recycling paper last year under the auspices of Students for the Preservation of the Earth (SPE).
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