School boosts morale after principal's ouster

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The cold weather on Tuesday morning didn’t stop Destiny Lucien, a fourth-grade student at the Spuyten Duyvil School (P.S. 24) from getting outside to do some gardening with her class.

“We just put the seed thingie inside the dirty stuff,” she said, creatively explaining the process of planting a daffodil bulb in a small trench that P.S. 24 parents had dug.

Destiny’s class was not the only one that ventured outside to plant flowers — over several days, every student in the school has gotten the chance to plant a bulb. Parents’ Association (PA) co-president Laura Moukas explained that her group and the administration wanted to organize an activity to boost spirits in the wake of the principal’s abrupt resignation and an ongoing struggle to keep an annex for fifth-grade students open.

“Morale here is rather low,” said Ms. Moukas. “This is to hopefully set us in the right direction for our school.”

“I think it’s a good joint effort,” said Assistant Principal Manny Verdi. “We’re looking forward to a hopeful spring.”

It has been a rough semester for P.S. 24. Citywide media lambasted Principal Donna Connelly in October for removing some teachers’ desks and filing cabinets from their classrooms. Several days later, parents learned that the Department of Education (DOE) had neglected to renew a lease for the annex at the Whitehall co-op, putting students there at risk of eviction. With the school already operating above capacity, officials are scrambling to find a space for the fifth-grade classes for the 2015-2016 school year — and keep them at the Whitehall through June.

The events precipitated the Nov. 1 resignation of Ms. Connelly. Assistant Principal Andrea Feldman has been the supervisor in chance since then. On Tuesday, she said she was in the process of applying to become the school’s interim acting principal.

“Our goal is to make our school and community beautiful inside and out,” Ms. Feldman said during the bulb planting. She explained some students plant daffodils every year, but this fall, the school included every child. “We’re trying to build community.”

P.S. 24, daffodil bulbs, Andrea Feldman, Laura Moukas, Bob Heisler, Jeff Moerdler, Isabel Angell
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