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And ask how you could get a 300 reward card. 5 Public Schools on long island are among 144 schools statewide placed under receivership by the state education department. Hempstead high school and several middle schools in roosevelt, central islip, and wyandanch have been put on notice. Local Community Organizations are demanding a seat at the table and pushing for the School Districts to shape up and improve student performances. Joining us this afternoon is dennis jones, a Hempstead High School parent and member of the board of new york communities for change, along with blanca villanueva, a long island education organizer for the alliance for quality education. Thank you so much for being here with us. Of course, kids are going back to school. This. Blanca, i want to start with you, and i want you to explain to the viewers what receivership means for a school. So, as of now, what the receivership means is that certain schools are struggling. Theyve been on a list either from 2006 or, recently, 2012, 13. And it means they have either one year, if youre persistently struggling, to change things around before an independent receiver, someone that the state appoints, comes and takes over your school. And theres no Community Control over this. If you are a struggling school, you have two years to change things around before theres an independent receiver. But as of now, theres still control taken away from the community, because those schools who are struggling, the board really doesnt have a say over it. Its the superintendent for this amount of time. In both cases. In both cases. And Hempstead High School is one of those persistently struggling schools, correct . Yes. So the superintendent in both cases now has most of the control. Yes. But parent groups, Community Groups they dont have a say at all about what happens . Or are they supposed to be part of the decisionmaking process . So, one of the things about the receivership is theres supposed to be a Community Engagement team. With a Community Engagement team, theres parents, teachers, administration, also stakeholders who should be involved in order to review the superintendents plan, as well as provide suggestions and change the plan before the deadline on september 30th. So, its very important for stakeholders to be a part of this team. Sometimes, in certain School Districts, you know, theyre not being selected to be on it, which is also another problem. But it also varies in a lot of the different School Districts. Hempstead is not the same as roosevelt or even wyandanch or central islip. So this varies in a lot of School Districts. So, dennis, we really wanted to talk to you, because you this. You have a son at Hempstead High School. Yes. You are also president of the chamber of commerce in that community, and chamber of commerce, right . Yes. All right. So, really, you know, i want you to, if you can, explain to us what your concerns are, as far as this receivership and how it affects Hempstead High School, and what it is that you believe needs to happen to take this school from being a persistently struggling school to a successful one. Well, as a member of new york communities for change, we have been doing much to engage the community to understand what blanca just said about what is a persistently struggling school, and what is this receivership, and how does it affect our high school and our middle school and what were gonna do about it. So we have engaged our parents, engaged our community, our in what is called a Community Engagement team. This Community Engagement team is something that is the law that it has to be formed so that they can help to, you know, empower the school to do better. And decide, you know, how best to push the school in the right direction, is my understanding. Do you feel like, at this now, this is the first year for this receivership at hempstead. Has that process started . Are you being engaged as members of the community to help decide how to move the School Forward . Well, the process has started, but theres been so much its almost like a blanket over it. You know, were looking for transparency. Were looking for the school board and the superintendent to talk about this out in the community, give an opportunity for the community to understand each step and each stage and where they can fit to do something thatll help, because, you know, the community is a big community, and were able to do things to help the situation. But if we dont know anything about it, if it just goes on in never know. Are you feeling like people process . Are you feeling like theres too absolutely. This is something that has been going on for a very long time, even before the school went into receivership. Our school has been cited for having so many emergency meetings and so many meetings without the community involved, that this is something that is usual for them. Blanca, i want to ask you about this idea of receivership. Mmhmm. Are there good things about it, or. So, the receivership is never the answer. Its not the answer. Its another way of the topdown approach, right . But now its law. Its here. Aqe, we fought it with nycc, trying to make sure it doesnt happen, and we were able to have it just the School Districts and add the importance of the Community Engagement team. And also, Governor Cuomo was calling it failing schools, which puts a stigma into the students who go to that school. And through the parents talking about it, going to the board of regents meetings, we were able to change it to struggling schools. So, the receivership is not the answer. It is here. Now it is law. So you have to make it work. So now we have to make it work. But we have to view it from the community. The Community Voice is key to changing things around. Like i said before, hempstead, roosevelt, wyandanch, central islip, theyre not the same. The same approach is not gonna be the answer for each School District. And thats why it is important to hear the communitys voice and the stakeholders to know what is needed. Is it more esl classes . Is it more Health Clinics in your schools . Is it a saturday academy so that way, students who maybe parents came and dont speak english can bring them there to help them with their homework over the weekend . Do you feel like, under receivership, that someone is turning a deaf ear to the fact that all schools arent the same . The easy way out for the state is to treat all the schools the same instead of taking the time and energy, or pushing the receiver, the superintendents, to take the time and energy, in this case, to figure out what each school needs individually . Correct. Honestly, the receivership, from my point of view, is a way for the billionaire hedgefunders to be able to privatize our Public Schools. Now it even says that its easier to convert it into a Charter School with the regulations. And its a way for them to make profits, throwing money toward politics now that its a law. So its not the answer. Its just another way of privatizing our schools. Our schools are different, so the positive portion is the Community Engagement team. But the right people have to be on the Community Engagement team, people who actually represent the community. And i know, dennis, you have some very specific ideas about how you would like to see Hempstead High School treated. Well, absolutely. Absolutely. Its called a Community School. Its a Community School model that weve been talking about for at least over a year now. Weve brought workshops to hempstead to explain this, even to our school board, District Board members, just so that theres another option. And this will bring in all of the services that are necessary for our particular community. And wed be able to do that inhouse, where itd alleviates a lot of the pressure of the community and the parents so that now the kids can concentrate more on learning. And whatever that upanddown is, it can be addressed, you know . But as far as blanketing with the whitewash with, you know, what one district is to another and this law that has been placed down on us, were gonna end up with a problem. Now, i want to ask you before i let you go and were running out of time to play devils advocate here. There are a lot of people that would say, you know, were talking about schools that have been failing pardon that description for a long time. Theyve had problems. The community has had ample time to try and do something about it. Where have they been . And now that the state has decided to step in, they want to complain. Just your response to that. Well, i can tell you that theres been a real strong push to clean up our School District. And our School District has failed our community and failed our kids. And for 30 years, weve had that problem. And weve placed all of that weve had a comptroller do a report over a period of time. And that was given to the district attorneys office, and nothing was done. Weve had failing issues in our School District that has been coming handed down from our board and from our administration. So its really not the communitys fault, and its not the kids fault. Okay. And with aqe, you know, i talk to people throughout long island and with aqe statewide. And the community is mad. They are doing something about it. They are talking to their legislators. They are going, buses and buses, to albany to talk to their legislators about this. So they are doing something. But we do need those resources. Yes, 20 School Districts are gonna get some of that funding for the persistently struggling schools, but theres 124 others that are not getting any money, and they want to do all these changes. So the community is speaking out, but they also need the resources to be able to implement these changes. All right. Best of luck to both of you. You can go to the website, nycommunities. Org, also aqeny. Org, to find out more information about this receivership and some of the other work that your organizations are doing. Thank you both. Thank you, sandra. Sandra bookman and weve been talking this afternoon about the long island schools placed under receivership by the state education department. That includes Hempstead High School and the alverta b. Gray middle school. Joining us now to continue the conversation is Hempstead School board president lamont johnson. Us this afternoon. Youve been on the school board one. President for one year, yes. So, this receivership, what you explained to me, the exact plan hasnt kicked in yet. Its still sort of being formulated. Right, it hasnt kicked in yet. And when it comes to this, we understand the way its been set up at Hempstead High School is that the superintendent will sort of be in charge of the proposals. What role will the school board play . We play a very important part. We have a fivemember board. Were still gonna be very much involved in the everyday happenings of the school. There are some people that have expressed reservations about a receivership. I think they feel like, you know, the local folks, they feel like the control is out of their hands and maybe the superintendent has too much power. But you have an interesting perspective. You really think its about getting the assistance you need to make the schools better. I think its an opportunity for us to show the world, the nation, the county, the state, and everyone that we can perform, that we will do well. And since we have a sense of urgency now that we have to get things done, im very confident that we will. And i think not only the school board but i think if youre a School Board Member in any School District, i think you would all say, we really need the communitys support, and we really need the parents to be involved. How important is that, do you think, that parental and community involvement, to turning things around . And are parents and Community Members involved to the degree, at this point, that you think they need to be . I think the parents need to get more involved, but i want to also congratulate the parents that have been involved. We have many parents that have been involved. We have many parents that are very active. They come to all the school board meetings. They give us advice. They give us their opinion. They tell us how their children feel. And they just want a Safe Learning environment for their children. Thats what were trying to provide. We have certain members of the community that have been very helpful. Certain members of the clergy have been very helpful. And i appreciate their help. If you had to pinpoint some areas that you really are hoping will be the focus of attention push things, improve things, what would you say those areas would be . Well, we definitely have to increase the Graduation Rate at the Hempstead High School. We also have to increase the school. We have more than 8,000 students. Its just not the Hempstead High School and alverta b. Gray schultz middle school that we have to be concerned with. District. Mmhmm. And, you know, you talk about the state coming in, and, so, you know, maybe focusing efforts to improve, but there are other people that will tell you the problem is complex. Its not just about getting the Graduation Rate up or getting test scores up, that there are so many other factors that can affect a School Environment poverty in the neighborhood. Talk to me about some of those things that it has been difficult for the school board probably not only your school board but others to dont get the attention they need when we Start Talking about fixing schools. Well, as a community, as a village, we face certain challenges. Some of those challenges come into the school. We have somewhat of a gang problem. We have a problem with poverty. But we also have many groups that have been very helpful to try to make a difference. Mmhmm. And do those things get enough attention to you . I mean, do people the argument by a lot of parents is that we look so much at test scores that its almost unfair, because then the kids arent really getting were not really necessarily solving root problems. Is it possible at a school to deal with some of those other issues, like the gangs and the poverty, that affect how students learn . Well, actually, we have several social workers thats working at different schools. Theyve been very helpful with helping the children and students deal with social problems that they may have at home. So when they come to school, they can speak to someone that has been very helpful to the students. So you do try to address some of those issues. And what would you say the mood in the district is now . Are people by and large excited about the idea that, you know, theyre getting this focused attention . Or are people feeling like they would rather be able to do it themselves to get things, you know, moving in the right direction themselves . Of course, we would love to do it ourselves, but we do need help. We need help from the federal government. We need money. We need help. Mmhmm. And were getting that help. There are many people out there thats willing to help. Politicians and im not just saying that because its that time of the season, but many local politicians such as the deputy speaker, senator hannon, kemp hannon they all reached out, and theyre trying to help us now. And what would you like to see at the end of this school year . Youve gone through this process, done as much as you can, tried to marshal the forces whether it be the students, the parents, other community leaders. What would you like to see at the end of this school year that tells you, you know what . This was a good idea. We are moving in the right direction . Results. If they start doing well they come and the school is safe, and they start Getting Better test grades, and the atmosphere is better, the positive will overcome the negative. Know . Everyones talking.