Schools

Monroe Soccer Places Fourth Nationally

In its most successful season ever, Monroe College’s men’s soccer team came within two games of winning the national junior college championship. At the national tournament in Tyler, Texas, in mid-November, the second-seeded Monroe Mustangs won their first game against Otero Junior College (Colo.), before going down in the semi-final to Cincinnati State, 2-1, in double overtime. “We lost to a deep and classy team,” Coach Marcus Dibernardo told the Monroe Mustangs website. “Yes, it doesn’t feel very good now, but soon we’ll realize that we had a great season.”

Black is the New Schools Chancellor, Bronx Pols Divided

After much debate and political maneuvering, Cathleen Black, the veteran publishing executive, is the city’s new schools chancellor. She replaces Joel Klein. Black was put forward for the job by Mayor Bloomberg in early November, but her candidacy had been in jeopardy after the State Education Commissioner David Steiner questioned her lack of related work experience. Schools chancellors need a professional certificate in educational leadership and other qualifications. Black has had a successful career in business and publishing — she’s been called the “First Lady of glamorous glossies” — but she’s never been a teacher, and her resume boasts just a single day as a guest principal in the Bronx.

Venerable High School in Spotlight After Day of Fights

A raucous food fight and student scuffle at DeWitt Clinton High School last month has brought some bad press to the large, century-old institution on the Mosholu Parkway. Police were called to the school on Oct. 1 after fights broke out in the morning during a change of period, said Department of Education spokeswoman Marge Feinberg. School staff was low that day because of a severe rainstorm, and while no arrests were made, eight students received disorderly conduct notices and “one student who had an emotional outburst was treated at a local hospital,” Feinberg said. Since the incident, The Riverdale


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Milestone in Construction of Lehman Science Building

City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, several Bronx politicians, and CUNY officials gathered at Lehman College on Oct. 28 to celebrate the placing of the last beam of steel on the college’s new science facility. The $70 million, 69,000-square-foot building has been under construction since 2008, and is scheduled for completion in 2012.

Bronx Pol Says New Schools Boss is Bad Fit

Add Bronx Assemblywoman Vanessa Gibson to the growing list of legislators and school advocates criticizing Mayor Bloomberg’s appointment of media executive Cathleen Black as the city’s new Schools Chancellor. Joel Klein resigned from the post to take a job with News Corp., which publishes the New York Post and Wall Street Journal.