What Happened to PS 106?
No books, no clue at city's worst school
January 12, 2014
New York Post

This principal runs a school
of “no.” Students at PS 106 in Far Rockaway, Queens, have gotten no math
or reading and writing books for the rigorous Common Core curriculum,
whistleblowers say. The 234 kids get no gym or art classes. Instead, they
watch movies every day. “The kids have seen more movies than Siskel and
Ebert,” a source said. The school nurse has no office equipped with a
sink, refrigerator or cot. The library is a mess: “Nothing’s in order,”
said a source. “It’s a junk room.” No substitutes are hired when a teacher
is absent — students are divvied up among other classes. A classroom that
includes learning-disabled kids doesn’t have the required special-ed co-teacher.
About 40 kindergartners have no room in the three-story brick building. They sit
all day in dilapidated trailers that reek of “animal urine,” a parent said; rats
and squirrels noisily scamper in the walls and ceiling.
And
the principal — Marcella Sills, who joined PS 106 nine years ago — is a frequent
no-show, sources say. Sills did not come to school last Monday. On
Tuesday, she showed up at 3:30 p.m. On Wednesday, The Post found her at
home in Westbury, LI, all day before emerging at 2:50 p.m. — school dismissal
time. Wearing a fur coat, she took her BMW for a spin. She showed up at
school Thursday, but not Friday. When Sills, 48, does go to work, it’s
rarely before 11 a.m. — and often hours later, say sources familiar with her
schedule. “She strolls in whenever she wants,” one said. The school
hasn’t had a payroll secretary in years. A Department of Education
spokesman said Sills was required to report her absences and tardiness to
District 27 Superintendent Michelle Lloyd-Bey but would not say whether Sills
did so last week. Lloyd-Bey did not return a call. Sills hung up on a
reporter.
When she is out, an assistant principal is left in charge. Yet Sills, who gets a
$128,207 salary, also pockets overtime pay — $2,900 for 83 hours in 2011, the
latest available records show. “This school is a complete s- -thole, but
nobody in a position of power comes to investigate. No one cares,” a community
member said. PS 106 families hope their cries for attention bring newly
installed Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariņa to the rescue, saying they can’t
recall any prior DOE leader visiting the remote school. She would find it
sinking, they say. The isolated building sits a block and a half from the
beach, surrounded by vacant, weed-choked lots, the road behind it strewn with
trash bags and broken TVs. The floods of Hurricane Sandy in October 2012
wrecked a hangar-like annex, called the Early Childhood Academy, which housed
pre-K, kindergarten and first and second grades. It has not been repaired.
Two kindergarten classes moved into “temporary classroom units” in the yard. The
other children moved into the main building, forcing some classes to squeeze
into small offices and storage rooms. The pre-K class sits in the auditorium,
but has to move to the cafeteria during the movies. Kids in several grades
said that last week they watched “Fat Albert,” “Alvin and the Chipmunks” and
“Monsters, Inc.,” but did not relish the downtime. “I like gym. I like to
draw,” said Charm Russell, 10, who added her peers are too restless and bored to
watch the screen. “They’re always making noise, and there’s nothing entertaining
going on. No art, no gym, no music class.”
More alarming, the teachers have gotten no curricula since Sandy. Last February,
the DOE announced several new options, including “Go Math” for grades K-5, and
“ReadyGen” or the state Education Department’s “Core Knowledge” for English
language arts. The books cover the Common Core standards, skills that kids
should master at each level. But five months into the school year, PS 106
classes still don’t have the books or teacher’s guides. “They have no
reading program, no math program,” a source said, adding Sills blames outside
administrators for not sending materials. Teachers muddle through by
printing out worksheets they find online, buying their own copy paper. The
DOE gave no explanation for the missing curricula but said it’s “working with
the school to provide students with physical education.” A spokesman
denied the trailers are rat-infested.
Staffers won’t speak up or even file a grievance with their union because Sills
will retaliate, a source said. Parents wonder if higher-ups know what’s
going on. “Why don’t they get on them? I don’t understand that,” said
Michael Moore, father of a second-grader. Another father, Roland Legions,
added. “They’re not doing right by the kids.” One mom said she couldn’t
get a meeting with Sills to discuss concerns. Another said Sills is “just not
professional.” “She should be here,” the mom said. “How is she going to
run the school if she’s not here?” PS 106 is allocated $2.9 million to
serve a low-income population with 98 percent of its students eligible for free
lunches. As a Title 1 school, it gets extra federal funds, but community members
say they’ve never seen a budget tracking the income and spending.