The annual St. Ann’s Puppet Parade—Brooklyn Heights’ own version of a kiddie Mardis Gras—made its way down Montague Street to the Promenade at 1 p.m. Monday, filling the streets with clowns, jugglers, 10-foot-tall marionette puppets and the rat-a-tat of percussion, accompanied by hundreds of pre-school, primary, middle and high school students.

Puppets were created in classes led by St. Ann’s teacher Ronnie Asbell at the private school located at 129 Pierrepont Street. (See a cavalcade of photos below.)

And if you’d like to relive past Puppet Parades via BHB coverage (of course you would): 2011 is here, 2010 here and 2009 here.

Check out video footage from BHB pal “Grumpy Bert” here.

(Photos: Chuck Taylor)

New York Times National Editor Sam Sifton recalled a rough-and-tumble childhood growing up on Willow Street, learning tricks like heading down Grace Court, which would trick pursuers seeking to “yoke” him into thinking he would be trapped on a dead-end street, then going over the fence and walking above the BQE to safety on Remsen Street. As the Times’ former restaurant critic, he also had memories of Heights food establishments, especially the old Queen Pizzaria on Court Street and Fascati’s, which he said was for him the defining slice. Other places he remembered fondly were China Chili (a favorite of your correspondent when he first moved to the Heights in the mid 1980s), the Promenade Restaurant, Mr. Souvlaki (“no place like it in the world” Sifton thought at age ten) and Capulets, where he said most of his St. Ann’s teachers could be found from about three in the afternoon until midnight.

He said he thought Brooklyn’s entry into the world of haute cuisine began with the opening of Patois on Smith Street, at a time when it was still a decidedly seedy area. This led to the proliferation of fine restaurants there. He sees the same thing happening in other places in the Borough. Asked where he thinks the next Smith Street will be, he said that rents will tell the story. Opening a restaurant is a particularly risky proposition, so reasonable rent is a very important consideration. This would seem to rule out Montague Street, though one audience member pointed out that what she believed would be a first class Spanish restaurant will be opening on Montague between Clinton and Henry.

Asked what he liked least about being a restaurant critic, he said it was the assigning of stars as ratings. “It’s my St. Ann’s background; what are these grades?” Asked why he had given up the position, he said that becoming National Editor at the beginning of an election year was just too exciting a prospect to turn down.

At the meeting’s opening, BHA President Jane McGroarty began by reviewing the past year, noting such accomplishments as the addition of a middle school to P.S. 8, the designation of the Borough Hall Skyscraper Historic District, getting improved pedestrian access at the Atlantic Avenue entrance to Brooklyn Bridge Park, and winning the court cases that preserved the Tobacco Warehouse as parkland. She noted that the effort to get residential parking permits was likely to be a long one. Channel 13 personality and Remsen Street resident Tom Stewart gave community service awards to SUNY Downstate at LICH and to Deputy Inspector Mark DiPaolo, Commander of the 84th Precinct. He also presented awards for restoration excellence to Amy Klein and Jeremy Lechtzin, owners of 58 Hicks Street, and to 177 Columbia Corp., owner of 177-179 Columbia Heights. He also amused the audience with questions about Downton Abbey.

At the discussion at the end of the meeting, there were many questions about traffic issues, including cars running the stop signs at the foot of Montague Street, bicyclists riding on sidewalks and otherwise violating traffic rules, and the possible imposition of a 20 mile per hour speed limit in the Heights. D.I. DiPaolo said that getting cameras to record violations is subject to state approval, but that he would alert his officers to look for violations at the places noted. He said police were being pro-active in trying to educate cyclists about traffic rules, as well as merchants who use bycyclists for deliveries. Ms. McGroarty said that there may be ways to calm traffic at the foot of Montague other than the installation of a camera. Asked about the derelict building at the corner of Clark Street and Monroe Place, she said it has been sold to someone who intends to build a five story building on the site.

We previously reported that the City’s Department of Education was seriously considering expanding P.S. 8 to include a middle school that would be sited at Tillary Street and Tech Place in downtown Brooklyn. This morning, State Senator Daniel Squadron announced that the DOE has decided to go ahead with this plan:

Last night, DOE answered the calls of the community and formally proposed the expansion of P.S. 8 to include a middle school.

For months, I’ve worked with parents, P.S. 8 faculty, DOE, Assemblymember Millman and Councilmember Levin to make this proposal a reality.

Providing our community with a high quality middle school is critical to continuing the success of P.S. 8. I urge quick approval of this proposal to get the middle school up and running by next school year and ensure that our kids get the the quality education they deserve.

This in from the office of Senator Squadron:

Today, State Senator Daniel Squadron released his third annual Parent Resource Guide, a comprehensive listing of educational and government resources, civic and community services, health care resources, cultural and recreational programs, and preschool, day care, and summer camp programs.

You can download the Guide here, or get a hard copy mailed to you by calling the Senator’s office at 212-298-5565.

The Columbia Graduate School of Journalism’s Brooklyn Ink takes at look at P.S. 8 today:

Brooklyn Ink: The staff has nearly doubled in size to match demand, growing from 24 to 40 full time teachers. Due to the lack of space, teachers work without a lounge. They’ve taken to eating lunch in the library. Teachers have developed several methods for coping with the squeeze. A tight schedule is in place to shuttle students to different classes, to lunch, and to recess.

Some fixes, however, are not perfect. The art teacher pushes a cart of supplies from room to room. The dance teacher moves the desks against a wall to turn a classroom into a dance floor. The drama teacher teaches class in the auditorium. None of them have ever had rooms of their own. Everyone on the faculty is affected. For the past year, the principal shared his office with his assistant principal. He also held every staff meeting there, in a room that looks like it could hold ten people at most.

“It’s a scheduling nightmare,” says the school’s librarian, Amanda Green. Teachers are unhappy having to jump over so many hurdles she says, but can see the finish line up ahead. Green looks forward to moving into a brand new library once the annex is finished.

The Progress Reports issued by the City Department of Education for the past three years have given P.S. 8 very different ratings over that period. For the 2007-08 year, the school received an “F”, to the consternation of many local parents. However, the report for the 2008-09 year, released a year ago, gave it an “A”. This year’s report splits the difference, with a grade of “C”. As this Brooklyn Daily Eagle article points out, the DOE changed its grading system this year, and there was a higher cutoff on student tests the results of which weigh heavily on schools’ ratings, as a result of which most schools’ grades went down. According to the Eagle:

P.S. 8 students showed little or no improvement in the “student progress” category compared with a “peer group” of roughly 40 schools. (Compared to the average city school as opposed to the peer group, P.S. 8 showed more progress in math but less in English.) Student progress counts for 60 percent of the grade.

Among other local schools, P.S. 29 received an “A” while P.S. 261 received a “B”.

Junk Science “Miraculous Machines (Linda Gold) (feat. Gene Stovall)” from MODERN SHARK! on Vimeo.

Last May we posted about hip-hop duo Junk Science, consisting of Packer grads Baje1 (Michael Tumbarello) and DJ Snafu (James Christensen), noting that their third album, A Miraculous Kind of Machine, was to be released later that month. The clip above is of a track from that album that is dedicated to the memory of Packer teacher Linda Gold, who taught English to Baje and Snafu, as well as to Lizzy Sullivan, who produced the video. Baje said of Ms. Gold: “She was one of those rare people… one of the last true magicians. She pushed me to write, to take it seriously, but never too seriously. If I ever write anything good, she should get the credit.”

It’s that time of year again– New York children everywhere will soon be back to school. But did you know that there are 15,000 homeless boys and girls in New York who don’t have the school supplies they need to succeed? The Coalition for the Homeless started a project three years ago to help those kids in need– “Project: Back to School.”

From August 23rd through September 17th, you can donate school supplies to the organization in designated spots all over the city, including right here in Brooklyn Heights. The two nearby drop-off locations are:

Office of the Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz, 209 Joralemon Street

Brooklyn Public Library, 280 Cadman Plaza West

The Back to School Wishlist includes items like backpacks, pencils, binders, and composition books. Can’t make it to a drop-off location but still want to help? Visit the donation site to make a cash donation starting at just $5 that goes towards supplies.

“The goal is to get an many school supplies as we can,” Coalition for the Homeless Policy Analyst Giselle Routhier said. “There are 15,000 New York City kids in shelters every night. They face a lot of obstacles that make school more difficult– they may have to travel or miss school more often. We’re doing what we can to try to make it a little easier.”

To learn about how you can get involved, call 212-776-2112 or email backtoschool@cfthomeless.org.

Today’s New York Times features the story of vastly different leaders of St. Ann’s School—outspoken founder Stanley Bosworth, and the reliable yet low-key Larry Weiss. Bosworth is lauded for his vision; Weiss for his stability. Now with Weiss moving on, there’s a new leader in town.

The school ended up choosing Vincent Tompkins, a deputy provost at Brown. His mission is to steer St. Ann’s somewhere between the seat-of-the-pants style of its founder and the more measured tack of his successor.
“This is a place that is very deeply understood by all the members of its community,” Mr. Tompkins, 48, said. “The challenge is, when a school is built around a powerful set of ideals, how do you sustain the ideals and not lose sight of innovation?”
Dr. Weiss has been appointed head of the Brooklyn Friends School. It will be a bit of a homecoming for him: he worked as a teacher there in the 1970s, when Mr. Bosworth was creating St. Ann’s.
Mr. Tompkins knows he has an easier job than his predecessor. When being vetted by the board, he met with students and told them, “It’s easier to be Thomas Jefferson than John Adams.”

What do you think the future holds for St. Ann’s with the new headmaster?

The search for the third person to be head of St. Ann’s School is over.

New York Times: Saint Ann’s School, the prestigious and progressive Brooklyn Heights school, has selected Vincent Tompkins, the deputy provost of Brown University, to be its new headmaster.

Mr. Tompkins, 48, who takes over on July 1, said he was drawn to the school by the students’ “remarkable sense of confidence and joy about learning.”

The founder of St. Ann’s, Stanley Bosworth, served as headmaster from the School’s opening in 1965 until 2004. He was succeeded by Lawrence Weiss, previously head of the Horace Mann Upper School in the Bronx, who, according to the Times article, “signed on for five years but stayed an extra year at the board’s request.” Tompkins holds a PhD. in history from Harvard, and taught history there before becoming an administrator. He later was made Deputy Provost at his undergraduate alma mater, Brown.

There’s a happy ending, as the two six-year-olds were found after school personnel noticed their absence Tuesday afternoon. According to this NBC New York article, the boy and girl were found “about a block and a half away from the school…standing in the pouring rain…some 25 minutes later.” However, the article quotes a school spokesperson as saying “the students were not even a block away from the campus when they were located.”

Today, according to the article, Principal Seth Phillips “met with the [students'] parents, offering an apology and promising to investigate.” He also promised this sort of thing wouldn’t happen again.

This in from the PS8 PTA:

Eat, Drink, Bid! PS8 will host its annual action, sponsored this year by the Brooklyn Heights Association, tomorrow night starting at 6 pm at Plymouth Church. Buy a weekend in Montauk, a week’s retreat at a Vermont Country house, or even dinner created by none other than Principal Seth Philips! Read all about it at www.ps8pta.org.

Plymouth Church is on Orange Street, between Henry and Hicks.

City Council Member and City Comptroller candidate David Yassky has sent a letter to Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott and Schools Chancellor Joel Klein urging them to become involved in the site selection process for a new middle school in this area. Based on his review of documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Law request, Yassky charges that the School Construction Authority, which has recommended placing the school in the controversial proposed Dock Street high rise in DUMBO, has failed to exercise due diligence in examining possible alternative sites. The full text of Yassky’s press release follows the break.

Absent Due Diligence by School Construction Authority, Yassky Asks Top Leadership to Take Over Process

In a letter to Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott and Chancellor Joel Klein, Council Member David Yassky today urged the City’s top two education officials to insert themselves into the site selection process for a middle school in Downtown Brooklyn. Over several months, the School Construction Authority (SCA) – the City agency charged with building the most cost-effective schools for students and City taxpayers – have offered contradictory statements and proven unwilling to conduct a truly diligent site search.

For years, Council Member Yassky has urged the Administration to provide a middle school for Downtown Brooklyn, and remains committed to that important cause. However, at this point, the SCA seems committed to spending $43 million for a school at a seriously problematic site in DUMBO with no evidence of the Authority having undertaken a thorough analysis of the cost-effectiveness of other sites.

“With our economy in crisis, families across New York are doing more with less. They are making difficult budget decisions every day and trying to squeeze greater results out of fewer resources. New Yorkers are rightfully demanding the same from City government,” Council Member Yassky writes in the letter. “Therefore, I ask for your help in ensuring that the SCA act in good faith and conduct a truly diligent site search for a middle school in Downtown Brooklyn.”

Documents obtained by Yassky’s office through a Freedom of Information Law (“FOIL”) request indicate that the SCA has neither been straightforward with the public in regard to this matter, nor have they seriously considered other sites that both members of the community and his office have put forth as alternatives to the controversial Dock Street project.

This fall, there will be a new preschool and Kindergarten in Brooklyn Heights — Congregation B’nai Avraham is expanding its popular Kiddie Korner program with new space at the corner of Montague and Clinton streets for infant and toddler daycare, and a Kindergarten class in the Remsen Street synagogue.

The 3,500-square foot space is in the former City Market Café and is the ground floor of the new condo building at 166 Montague St., and is scheduled to finish construction by August and open on Sept. 1. For PDF renderings, click here [pdf], and a flyer is here [pdf].

Preschool director Shternie Raskin said the school is open for anyone, not just Jewish families, and the curriculum includes lessons about Jewish holidays and the Hebrew language incorporated into its general studies. The preschool is for children ages 0-2, and features three classrooms for nearly 60 kids, divided by age. For more information about registration and pricing, visit www.kiddiekorner.org. To schedule a tour, call Raskin at (718) 596-4840 x25.

Kiddie Korner offered daycare about 10 years ago, but phased it out when the synagogue needed the space. The program is also expanding its toddler program at the synagogue at 117 Remsen St., to include a Kindergarten class.

On Thursday, April 2, the PS 8 PTA will host its third annual auction to raise money for the school’s enrichment programs.

Parents and the public are invited to the event, which is at Hillis Hall at Plymouth Church (75 Hicks St., at Orange Street) and starts at 6:30 pm. Tickets are $50 in advance and $75 at the door, and are available through the PTA’s website.

The catalogue is available here [pdf], and features items like vacation homes, handbags, jewelry, yoga lessons, and kids’ cooking lessons from local restaurants and bakeries.

The auction proceeds help support programs that bring in artists and musicians to complement the curriculum. Last month, violinist Mark Peskanov from Barge Music visited and taught the kids about how to make and play the violin.

For more information, visit the PTA’s website at www.ps8pta.org.

The 2007-2008 NYC DOE’s Progress “Report Card” for P.S. 8 can be found here. Notice the chasm of difference between PS 8′s performance relative to City-wide schools and Peer-wide schools, particularly in the School Performance section. Whereas it is an “F” school compared to it’s “peers”, it looks like around a B or a B+ school compared to the city as a whole.

I should also note that the list of schools considered “peers” to PS 8 has changed from last year, with some added and some placed in other “peer” groups. If the peer groups change from year to year, and one doesn’t find out until the report is published, this seems to be like a moving target for a school. What if the next year they consider your “peer” to be the elementary school equivalent of Harvard?

Another difference between the 2008 report and the 2007 report is that in 2007 Student Performance counted for 30% of the grade and Student Progress counted for 55% — in 2008, Student Performance counted for 25% and Student Progress counted for 60%. So, the importance placed on performance from year to year has gained even more undue influence on the grade.

We received from a “Blkn Tipster” what looks like a letter from Saint Ann’s officials sent out to the parents of the school, where it seems they are okay with the Probation Office move:

We believe that as long as the school and its neighbors are doing everything they can to ensure student safety, there is a limit to the extent to which the school can or should appropriately try to influence, block or change the environment and facilities in which Saint Ann’s has always chosen to locate itself.

Can anyone involved with Saint Ann’s (officials or parents) confirm this? Full letter posted below: