2 JANUARY 20 - JANUARY 26, 2017 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP PRE-K FOR ALL APPLICATIONS NOW OPEN FOR NEXT SCHOOL YEAR All New York City families with children born in 2013 can now apply for Pre-K for All for the 2017-2018 school year, with the main round of applications set to close Friday, February 24. Pre-K for All ensures free, full-day, high-quality pre-K seats for every four-year old in New York City. Last year, a record 70,430 students registered for the program. To help guide families through the application process (which allows families to rank 12 full-day pre-K programs by order of interest), the Department of Education will host an information session on Tuesday, January 31 at Clara Barton High School, 901 Classon Avenue, at 6 and 7 p.m. Families can complete the application at www. nyc.gov/prek, at 718-935-2067, or at a Family Welcome Center. A second round of applications will begin April 24. DATES ANNOUNCED FOR 2017 FLEET WEEK The U.S. Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard have announced dates for 2017 Fleet Week New York. Now in its 29th year, FWNY will take place May 24-30. This year’s theme, “Celebrating the Sea Services and commemorating the 75th Anniversary of the Seabees,” will pay tribute to members of the Naval Construction Forces. An anticipated 5,000 Sailors, Marines and Coast Guardsmen will participate this year. For up-to-date information on FWNY, visit fleetweeknewyork.com. MAN SENTENCED TO 115 YEARS FOR RAPE A 20-year-old Brooklyn man has been sentenced to 115 years in prison for raping and assaulting an 82-year-old woman inside her Brighton Beach home. According to trial testimony, at around 2 a.m. on July 13, 2015, Asa Robert slipped inside the victim’s apartment near Brighton 11th Street where he choked her and forced her onto the bed. He then held a knife to the woman’s face, demanded money and punched her in the chest, before raping and sodomizing her. He then fled with some of the woman’s belongings. Robert led police on a four-day chase. He was eventually arrested on July 17. The sentence comes on the heels of Robert's mid-December conviction of first-degree rape and first-degree criminal sexual act, among other charges. —Meaghan McGoldrick BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP/file photo Fort Hamilton High School stands to lose the most in federal funding in the city should Title I money be redirected toward vouchers. Brooklyn schools face potential funding loss under Trump administration BY ANNA SPIVAK [email protected] According to a new analysis completed by the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) earlier this month, upwards of 1,200 New York City schools could potentially be stripped of significant funding under President-elect Donald Trump’s voucher plan for city schools – a plan that puts Brooklyn’s own Fort Hamilton High school at risk of losing the most funding of any school in the city. The UFT’s analysis, which details Title I funding for New York City schools for 2016-17, breaks down just how much schools throughout the city stand to lose if Trump’s plan–which would use federal money to finance vouchers for low-income students to attend parochial or private schools – goes into effect. While Fort Hamilton High school stands to lose the most, with $2,564,163 in its Title I entitlement, eight other schools within southwest Brooklyn would also be heavily impacted. Collectively, those eight other schools (New Utrecht High School, Franklin Delano Roosevelt High School, John Dewey High School, P.S. 94, P.S. 169, P.S. 105, Abraham Lincoln High School and J.H.S 220 John K. Pershing) will lose a total of almost $15 million. According to the UFT, more than 700,000 students — including large high schools in all five boroughs — would face higher class sizes, have fewer teachers and lose after-school academic and enrichment programs if President-elect Trump “makes good on his campaign promise to pull billions of federal dollars away from public schools to pay for private vouchers.” Solutions and answers will hang in balance, however, until Education Secretary-nominee Besty DeVos – President-elect Trump’s choice for the post – secures the position. “We need to hear in detail from Ms. DeVos — a fervent advocate of vouchers and charter schools — what the administration’s plan is for Title 1, which is specifically designed to aid poor pupils and which New York City relies on to help serve our neediest students,” said UFT President Michael Mulgrew. “The damage would spread through the system, raising class sizes even in non-Title 1 schools, threatening academic enrichment programs, guidance, art and music and other services our children depend on.” According to the UFT, the Trump administration is “on record supporting choice and voucher programs, but has yet to specify where the administration would find the money to start a national school voucher program.” “If the school system had to make up a $500 million loss of Title 1 funds — money that helps defray the costs of teachers, guidance counselors, aides and administrators — more than these schools would suffer,” added Mulgrew. While UFT chapter chairs at potentially affected schools such as P.S. 105 note that the loss of Title I funding would impact important initiatives, such as after-school and Saturday programs aimed at the arts and the school's large population of English Language Learners, as well as make many technology teaching aids "unaffordable," President of Brooklyn’s District 20 Community Education Council Laurie Windsor isn’t panicking just yet. “As far as I understand, nothing has been put in place yet and details have not been ironed out,” Windsor said. “I think everybody is nervous and making a lot assumptions which is dangerous because we don’t know what it’s really going to be. Like the saying goes, we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. We’ll have to wait and see when he’s in office.”
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