City
Schools Observe 1st Anniversary of 9-11
By
Katarzyna Kozanecka
September
11th falls on a Wednesday this year. Over a million children will be in school
across the five boroughs. Or will they? “I’m sure many kids won’t show up,
and those who do will be thoroughly upset,” said Alex Herman, speaking of
her classmates at Stuyvesant HS in downtown Manhattan, where she is a senior.
How to spend the first year anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the World
Trade Center is one of the most pressing issues that New York City educators
face as the 2002-03 school year begins.
“It’s
going to be a day of reflection but at the same time as normal a school day
as possible,” said Kevin Ortiz, a spokesperson for the New York City Board
of Education, recently renamed the Department of Education, setting the tone
for 9-11 commemorations in all public schools. In keeping with Mayor Michael
Bloomberg’s directive, schools will observe a moment of silence at 8:46, at
which time the first plane hit. The rest is up to the discretion of principals,
who know the needs of their faculty and children best.
Carmen
Farina, superintendent of Community School District 15 in Brooklyn, will meet
with her principals to discuss those needs. George Greenfield, her executive
assistant, stressed that any commemoration would be “subdued, quiet, respectful.
Were trying to put it behind us, he said. We had a couple of schools who were
right across the river and you could look out a window and see. It was a tough
year.”
One
of those schools, MS 142, the Carroll Gardens Community School, will be the
staging area for the Fireman Steven Siller Tunnel to Towers race through the
Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. According to Michael McVey, the race director, this
5-kilometer walk/run retraces the route that the deceased fireman and father
from Staten Island took on the morning of September 11. He had finished his
night shift at the Squad 1 firehouse in Park Slope, Brooklyn and was driving
through the tunnel when he got the news. He grabbed what gear he had and started
running. The race will take place on Sunday, September 29, and is open to
the public. Older student volunteers will be needed to hand out water and
assist at the finish line. Benefits will go to the Stephen Siller Let-Us-Do-Good
Children’s Foundation.
Elsewhere
in the city, teachers may devote a lesson to Messages to Ground Zero, a collection
of children’s writings and drawings published by Heineman. Ortiz suggested
reading passages aloud. Helen Santiago, superintendent of Community School
District 1 in lower Manhattan, said, “I would use this as a writing experience.
The book could also serve as a jumping-off point for a discussion.” In a similar
vein, Daylin Hull, Senior Class President of Francis Lewis HS in Queens, suggests
displaying student’s artwork and writing in the auditorium or another central
place. The hope is for young people to reflect individually and at the same
time in a familiar setting, their school.
But
for some students, especially those in the downtown area, school will not
be a comfort but a reminder of last year’s horrible events. Students at PS
234, IS 89, HS of Economics and Finance, HS of Leadership and Public Service,
and Stuyvesant will recall that morning’s panicked evacuations. Stuyvesant
senior Christopher Lapinig said, “I do not believe that schools should force
us to go on with our everyday routines of studying and homework.” Herman recalled
her post 9-11 vigils and volunteering as healing experiences that should be
repeated on the anniversary. Stuyvesant history teacher Anthony Valentin said,
“My wish, though it would not be possible, would be to see the students who
were with me at the time of the attack and our evacuation.” Stuyvesant Principal
Stanley Teitel could not be reached for comment.
Some
Stuyvesant parents wonder whether the school will even be in its own building
by September 11th. Public schools are scheduled to open on September 5th,
but Paul L. Edwards of the Concerned Stuyvesant Parents Association (a group
separate from the Parents Association) said that the environmental cleanup
of the school’s ventilation systems, which has been underway since July 12th,
might not be finished on time. Within the last 2 weeks, additional testing
performed by a PA environmental consultant showed that the auditorium is heavily
contaminated by asbestos. “There have been some outright lies,” said Edwards,
citing the BOE’s October 2001 reassurances to parents that the building had
been subject to a thorough cleaning and asbestos abatement, when it had not.
The continued finding of contamination at Stuyvesant should be of concern
to any school in the area. But little action has been seen on the part of
those schools. Edwards said some have dismissed the CSPA as alarmist. Incoming
freshman Innokenty Pyetranker said, “The only thing that worried me is that
[we] haven’t been getting any updates on a situation that is vital to us.”
Poly
Prep Subject of Documentary Film
Poly
Prep, a non-denominational private school whose full name is Brooklyn Polytechnic
Preparatory Country Day School, took its share of 9-11 blows: eleven alumni
died, a student lost her aunt, and a teacher lost her brother. The school
is the subject of a Channel Thirteen documentary, a special of the New York
Voices series produced by John DeNatale. “Lessons of September: One School
Remembers 9-11” airs at 10 p.m. on September 5th. Robert Aberlin, business
manager and history teacher at Poly Prep, co-produced the program, which does
not include graphic footage of 9-11 but rather chronicles grief and recovery
though actor John Turturro’s narration and interviews with members of the
Poly Prep community.
Turning
to nature for solace in the weeks after 9-11, the Poly Prep administration
created a garden. Turning to art, Cameron Bossert wrote a musical about September
11th and performed it with his fellow students. First grade teacher Pat O’Berg,
who lost a brother in the attacks, found strength to carry on in the children,
who built the Twin Towers out of blocks and decided to let them stand.
Many
students were gathered in the chapel, the central assembly room of the school,
when news of the attacks reached them. Later, portraits of the lost alumni
were hung on one of its walls, joining the portraits of alumni who were killed
in wars. A moment of silence was observed for 9-11 victims at every chapel
meeting this past year. This September 11th will begin with an extended chapel,
at which the documentary will be shown. Athletic events but not classes will
be cancelled. Aberlin expects the yearly commemoration of 9-11 to continue
at Poly Prep for at least a decade, because the tragedy was so close to home.
But the school will forever continue to award scholarships, matching current
seniors with families of lost alumni.
In Jewish tradition, there is a prayer called the Mourner’s Kaddish which is recited daily for eleven months by anyone who has lost a close relative. Similarly, the past year has been one of mourning for (and celebrating the good deeds of) dear ones killed on September 11th. This month, with the airing of the Thirteen documentary, Poly Prep will begin a new year along with other New York City schools, all of whom have learned the same lessons.#