A bit more on Bronx Aerospace
(Bronx Aerospace is #1 on the Do Not Apply list). Last month the Daily News wrote:
The Bronx Aerospace Academy – which had one of the city’s highest graduation rates in 2006 and is a crown jewel of the small high school movement – was told by the Air Force last month that it had been placed on probation.
“If compliance with all requirements are not met, the program will be closed at the end of the 2008-2009 school year,” an Air Force letter warned. The probation comes as students, teachers and parents increasingly complain about harsh policies at the school…
“They’re under a lot of pressure,” said Dehala Morales, whose son, Jonathan, a school sophomore, hanged himself on April 10 after being suspended for his role in a violent fight and being stripped of his rank in the school’s Air Force ROTC program…
School Principal Barbara Kirkweg founded Aerospace in 2002 as an alternative to traditional public schools where every student would join ROTC and wear sharp military uniforms. She blames criticism on those not up to her high standards…
Other complaints – including 29 filed by parents with the city and scores of grievances from the teachers union – include issues like student cadets being given power to promote and demote their peers; one allegedly promoted his girlfriend. Other concerns include frequent sudden changes to class schedules and harsh discipline like the recent removal of dozens of students from the ROTC program. Those kids have been excluded from ROTC classes and are attending a separate “PM school” from noon to 6 p.m….
Here’s the Daily News link to the full story.
I am the wife of Sgt. Joseph R Picone who is truly the reaon that the ROTC program was instituted at the original Evander Child High School. When the program first started at the school, my husband had already run a program in Hawaii for several years.
Barbara Kirkweg knew nothing about the program or how to do the work to get it started. Until the point when it became the Bronx Aerospace school my husband and Mrs.Kirkwig had a great working relationship.
Joseph had the most incredible relationship with the students. He got there early every day to make sure if they needed extra tutoring or just someone to talk to he was there. I am sure if you speak to any of his students you would hear only love and praises.
In the last years that Joseph worked there he became aware of wrongdoings that Capt.Kirkweg was doing. He reported these and it was investigated, but swept under the rug, due to the great reputation Barbara Krikwig was falsely portraying. Within the next year my husband was fired after 12 years of total dedication. Mrs. Kirkwig falsified dsocuments that he resigned. (she signed his name).
We were told the union was looking into it, but nothing ever happened. Joseph has had to take a job at much less money and lost those years in the system and his self dignity. I think it is horrible that this women is allowed to work with any child. I also think it is very sad that in a time when good dedicated teachers are needed, my husband, who has dedicated so much of his life to kids, has been treated so badly.