Overcrowding Affecting Studies At Dewitt Clinton

Bronx community groups and elected officials rallied on the steps of the Bronx County Courthouse in April to protest overcrowding in Bronx schools. The rally included students from Dewitt Clinton High School, where overcrowding has become a growing problem over the years.

Every morning hundreds of high school students line up in front of the doors at Dewitt Clinton waiting for their turn to go through the metal detectors before running to a class they may already be late for.

“I hate entering the building because it feels like a prison with the metal detectors,” says Clinton freshman Alicia Rodriguez. “The number of students waiting on line, even if you get there early, causes me to barely make it to class most of the time.”

Overcrowding is a huge issue in NYC High Schools

According to inside schools.org, an independent guide to New York City public schools, Clinton is one of the largest high schools in the city, and over the years the number of students enrolled in the school has increased greatly. Most of the students enrolled come from low-income families in the Norwood community and can’t afford to go to nearby private schools or send their children to schools elsewhere in the city.

In 2002 the school enrollment was 3,772. Soon after, schools like Roosevelt, Taft, and Walton were reorganized into much smaller schools with a limited enrollment. Clinton’s enrollment for the following years grew. According to the October 2007 New York City Department of Education calculations for Capacity, Utilization and Enrollment, Clinton is 1103 students over capacity. In a school that is supposed to serve 3,362, about 4,465 students were enrolled.

Principal Geraldine Ambrosio has learned to deal with the crowding. She has had to give up her office for daily class sessions. Several other classes are held in the basement where hot weather can be cruel. Teachers have to carry their own materials from class to class because they don’t have their own rooms.

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Norwood Community Absent From Budget Meeting

Community Board 7 in the Bronx

When the Budget, Personnel and Ethics committee of Community Board 7 met to vote on how the city should spend millions of dollars in the Norwood and Bedford Park neighborhoods of the Bronx, only six people were there.

While the meeting, held at the headquarters located at 204th street and Bedford Park, only consisted of six attendees, the main topic of conversation before the meeting was not the turnout, but the troubles with the heating system.

“Just one of the many constant issues we’ve got to deal with here” said treasurer Barbara Stronczer laughing.

According to Stronczer, the boards meetings lack community involvement.

The Board, which serves the communities of Bedford Park, Fordham, Jerome, Kingsbridge Heights, Norwood, University Avenue, and Mosholu, lacks the publicity that according to it’s members would make it easier to get others involved.

“People don’t know that we are here to help them and it’s a problem,” says District Manager Fernando P. Tirado. “It’s the reason why I try to get our existence out there through various vehicles.”

The board’s last huge media covered contribution to the communities it serves was the demolishing of plans to redevelop the Kingsbridge Armory, which mayor Michael Bloomberg was displeased with because of the jobs that it was believed would be brought to the surrounding Bronx communities.

News about the armory was on local news channels, newspapers and Internet sites and therefore many community members were aware of the plans.

As Tirado stated, community boards are among the smallest of all city agencies and so their functions are as a monitoring and advisory group and not an official decision making body, which then makes visibility in the community difficult.

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