Fewer students are expected for opening of public schools since a four-day weekend follows

Staten Island Advance/Irving SilversteinFewer students are expected for the opening of public schools since it is followed by a four-day weekend

Below are the dates for the 2010-2011 Catholic school year: Sept. 8: School begins for all students Oct. 11: Schools closed for Columbus Day Nov. 1: Some schools closed for All Saints Day Nov. 11: Schools closed for Veterans Day Nov. 25-26: Schools closed for Thanksgiving Dec. 8: Some schools closed for Feast of the Immaculate Conception Dec. 24 --...

Below are the dates for the 2010-2011 public school year: Sept., 8 -- First day of school Sept. 9-10: Schools closed for Rosh Hashanah Oct. 11: Schools closed for Columbus Day Nov. 2: Election Day, chancellor's conference day for teachers, no classes for students Nov. 11: Schools closed for Veterans Day Nov. 25-26: Schools closed for Thanksgiving Dec. 24: Schools...

Appeals court rules that pupils are on their own until lawsuit is decided

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Students in the seventh and eighth grades have been bounced from the school bus again.

The state Supreme Court's Appellate Division took the wheels out from under them when it ruled yesterday that the city Department of Education need not provide transportation for thousands of students during the run-up to a court decision on the longer-term issue. That trial is scheduled to open Sept. 13.

"It makes me sick that some people in city government right now are celebrating the fact that children have been put in harm's way by the Appellate Division," said City Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore). "All we were asking the court to do was keep the status quo until we had our day in court."

Staten Island Advance/Irving SilversteinStudents like these, at Tottenville Intermediate School, will have to find other means of getting back and forth.

The decision is the latest in a series of disappointments in a battle that began in May, when the Advance first reported the Department of Education planned to end yellow bus service for about 4,600 students citywide. Though the department normally provides bus service to students only through sixth grade, 42 years ago it granted a variance to seventh- and eighth-graders at 70 schools where the options in respect of public transportation are limited. Nearly 3,000 of those students attend 47 intermediate schools on Staten Island.

Ignizio, the Island's Council delegation and a half-dozen parents filed a lawsuit in July, claiming the city's "capricious and arbitrary" decision would jeopardize children's well-being, even their lives.

Earlier this month, Staten Island state Supreme Court Justice John Fusco issued a temporary restraining order to prevent the city from cutting the service while the lawsuit goes to trial. Last week, the city appealed to have the restraining order lifted.

School starts Sept. 8, so students will have to ride the city bus, walk or rely on their parents to find another way to get them to school.

Ignizio emphasized that the cost to the city is relatively modest: The DOE indicated it costs $500 a day to provide the yellow bus transportation to Staten Island students.

"Quite frankly, I'm amazed that the Appellate Division would not see to it that the children who have received this variance for 40 years would maintain that -- just for two additional days [schools are closed on Sept. 9 and 10] at a cost of about $1,000 to the city," Ignizio said. "But the battle continues on Sept. 13."

New schools, new superintendents, new classroom facilities and new standards will greet students as they take their seats on the first day back at school Wednesday, despite one of the most severe budget cutbacks in recent history,

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- New schools, new superintendents, new classroom facilities and new standards will greet students as they take their seats on the first day back at school Wednesday.

Despite one of the most severe budget cutbacks in recent history, local schools have been making the most of scant resources to offer an awe-inspiring return to class.

Staten Island Technical High School, for instance, will be opening a state-of-the-art television studio.

View full sizeStaten Island Advance photo/Irving SilversteinStaten Island Technical High School students Tyler Romeo, left, Robert Walsh work in the control room of the new studio.

Parents, pols had hoped to get service until trial on issue begins Monday

Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-HammelStudents board buses after being dismissed from Paulo Intermediate School in Huguenot in May.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The buses still are not rolling.

A last ditch effort to force the city to provide yellow buses for nearly 3,000 Staten Island seventh and eighth graders fell short when a Staten Island judge declined to issue another temporary restraining order today.

State Supreme Court Justice John Fusco said he did not have the authority to overturn a decision by the state Appellate Court to throw out a temporary restraining he ordered on Aug. 16.

The plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the city -- led by City Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R- South Shore) and including a half dozen parents -- were hoping to exploit a loophole in the language of the Appellate Court ruling. They also wanted to speed up the start of the trial, which is scheduled for Monday.

The plaintiffs lost both arguments, but they did gain some traction in the bigger legal battle when Fusco ordered the city to turn over any correspondence between Department of Education (DOE) officials and Dennis Walcott, the deputy mayor for education and community development, regarding cuts to the yellow bus service. Attorneys for the city had refused, claiming those are "privileged" documents.

Fusco, who at times appeared annoyed during the two-hour hearing at the Homeport in Stapleton this morning, called the city's resistance "suspicious."

Queens City Councilman Eric A. Ulrich also petitioned the court today add his name to the lawsuit - and some other Council members may join him when the trial starts Monday. Fusco intends to decide tomorrow whether they have standing on the matter.

The battle over bus service began in May, when the Advance first reported the DOE planned to end yellow bus service for about 4,600 students citywide. Though the department normally provides bus service to students only through sixth grade, 42 years ago it granted a variance to seventh- and eighth-graders at 70 schools where the options in respect to public transportation are limited.

Parents, teachers and City Council members opposing the bus cuts are planning to stage a rally at 6 tonight outside Paulo Intermediate School in Huguenot.

With classrooms set to open, parents, elected officials rally to get 3,000 seventh-and eighth-graders back on the bus

Staten Island Advance/Hilton FloresAt Paulo Intermediate School, parents and children helt up signs yesterday to protest the cut backs of school buses for seventh-and eighth-graders.

It's back to school time on Staten Island.

Students are only back in session for one day, with Rosh Hashanah beginning at sundown today.

Some will find their normal buses to pick them up this morning. But some won't.

Nearly 3,000 Staten Island seventh-and eighth-graders won't have yellow school bus service after the city eliminated the rides to cut costs. A legal challenge awaits next week, though for now, students must walk, get rides or find other means of transportation to school.

Read Peter N. Spencer and Maura Yates' story about the issue in today's Advance.

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Severely cut budgets have also caused principals to cut some parent coordinator positions.

Also, read about changes to classrooms across the borough in Amy Padnani's story yesterday.

After one day in session, public schools will be out tomorrow and Friday

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A flurry of backpacks, pig tails and lumbering yellow buses today could only symbolize one thing: school is back in session.

Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-HammelStudents make their way to Totten Intermediate School this morning.

Hand in hand, parents and children walked the few blocks to their neighborhood houses of learning. Some bounded there, some shuffled their feet the whole way and some -- even the parents -- shed a few tears.

"She's my first child. I'm so nervous. I don't know how she's going to react and it's so hard to let her go," said a misty-eyed Christine Porcu, as she waved goodbye to 4-year-old Anneliese, who marched off to kindergarten at PS 11, Dongan Hills. "My daughter was more excited than me. She wasn't nervous at all."
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After today, children will be off from school on tomorrow and Friday for the Jewish holiday, and won't return to class until Monday, Sept. 13. While some parents thought it was a nice break between the first and second day, others felt it would be difficult.

"I think it's a hindrance," said Bibi Saqe, whose 5-year-old kindergartener, Safiyah clung to her, crying and wailing when it was time for parents to leave. "She was excited all summer, but I guess the reality of being here freaked her out. Now on Monday, we're going to replay this whole scene again.

Nearly 3,000 Staten Island seventh-and eighth-graders won't have yellow school bus service after the city eliminated the rides to cut costs. A legal challenge awaits next week, though for now, students must walk, get rides or find other means of transportation to school.

Read Peter N. Spencer and Maura Yates' story about the issue in today's Advance.

Severely cut budgets have also caused principals to cut some parent coordinator positions.

Also, read about changes to classrooms across the borough in Amy Padnani's story yesterday.

Trial on cuts set to begin Monday

Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-HammelStudents cross Amboy Road and Yetman Avenue near Totten Intermediate School, Tottenville.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Orange cones, slow-slinking traffic and frantic school staff trying to do whatever possible to ease the chaos: Today's first-day-of-school jitters were only intensified for seventh- and eighth-graders, who had to negotiate drop off before setting foot in their classrooms.

After yellow bus service for city seventh- and eight-graders was eliminated as a result of city budget cuts-- a decision slated to be challenged in court Monday -- parents and their young teenagers arrived by the hundreds at Staten Island intermediate schools in private cars, causing traffic to back up on city streets and anxious students to worry about missing the first bell.

"We got there an hour before classes started because we knew it was going to be a nightmare," said Joy Nicolosi, who drove her eighth-grade daughter, Jenna, from their Pleasant Plains home to Totten Intermediate School, Tottenville. "We were trying to beat out the traffic because we knew all the parents would be driving their kids."

She said she was glad they had thought to get an early start: By the time she left, the line of cars waiting to drop off students was backed up farther than she could see, she said.

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ADDITIONAL COVERAGE:

* Smiles, pig tails and some tears on 1st day of school

* Got photos of the first day of school? Share them with SILive.com.

* Changes come to Staten Island classrooms.

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The city Department of Education normally provides bus service to students only through sixth grade, but 42 years ago it granted a variance to seventh- and eighth-graders at 70 schools where the options in respect of public transportation are limited. Nearly 3,000 of those students attend 47 intermediate schools on Staten Island. Public opposition to the move has been fierce, as parents say they have few other options.

Although MTA bus service was added at some intermediate schools to ease the crunch -- with one extra bus allocated for Totten -- the move did little to help the situation, said Mrs. Nicolosi.

"My daughter can't walk from our house to Hylan to get the bus. It's too far; she's only 13," she said. "Now I'm worried about pick up. She knows she's going to have a hard time finding me afterward."

Opening of parochial schools marked by high hopes, 2 new principals

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- They arrived with shoes shined, hair combed, shirts tucked in place, and for most of them, smiles on their faces, as Staten Island Catholic school students began another year of classes.

Staten Island Advance/Anthony DePrimoDominique Carillo, 8, smiles for her mom Tammy as she embarks on her first day of school at St. Ann's in Dongan Hills. (Staten Island Advance/Anthony DePrimo)

While the school year that ended in June saw concern over rising tuition costs and enrollment, yesterday's start of the academic year was marked by optimism and a fresh start.

Two schools, Holy Rosary in South Beach and Our Lady Help of Christians in Tottenville, begin the year with new leadership.

At Holy Rosary School, Richard Kuberski, a retired police lieutenant, started his first day as principal by greeting students, faculty and parents by name and proudly showing off improvements made to the school building over the summer that include a new chapel, an after-school room for the extended-day program, a music room and art room, a waiting room for parents picking up students, and a new front entrance plaza.

"What do you like about the first day of school?" Kuberski asked third-grader Iris Procacio. "All of it!" the 8-year-old replied.

Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-HammelParents say goodbye to their children at Our Lady Help of Christians school Wednesday morning.

Parents John and Randi Latona of South Beach arrived to pick up 5-year-old John, who started kindergarten at Holy Rosary. Kindergarten students had orientation and early dismissal. "What's your teacher's name?" Mrs. Latona asked John. "Remember, it rhymes with music," she offered helpfully.

Kindergarten teacher Florence Fusic, who was listening to the exchange, offered a smile. "We read the 'Night Before Kindergarten' and we played with Play-Doh and I told them if it changes color, it means it will be a good year for them," she said.

A similar scene unfolded at Our Lady Help of Christians, where Principal Michael Saldarelli, a retired public school administrator, spent his first day greeting students and parents.

He said the school is waiting for an update on yellow-bus service for seventh- and eighth-graders, who usually ride the bus but either walked or arrived by car for the first day.

Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-HammelSiblings Vincent and Genna and mom, Giovanna Celentano, walk to Our Lady Help of Christians.

St. Joseph-St. Thomas School in Pleasant Plains; St. Clare's School, Great Kills, and Our Lady Star of the Sea School, Huguenot, also are affected by the city's decision to eliminate yellow-bus service for 11- and 12-year-olds.

"Our parents are very upset," said Irma Cummings, principal of Our Lady Star of the Sea. She said more than 130 seventh- and eighth-graders from her school who usually would be riding yellow buses had to walk or be dropped off.

"Many of our kids have to walk along Arthur Kill Road, where there are no sidewalks. One of my students told me how he had to walk across the deserted West Shore Expressway overpass just to get to a bus stop, where he finally caught an MTA bus that was packed with older high school kids," she said.

Official correspondence may show how decision was made to eliminate yellow bus service

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Even Mayor Michael Bloomberg may not escape legal scrutiny over school bus cuts.

During another contentious day in state Supreme Court at the former home port in Stapleton yesterday, lawyers sparred over a court order to turn over e-mail correspondence between top city officials - including the mayor - to show how a decision was made to eliminate yellow bus service to nearly 3,000 seventh- and eighth-graders on Staten Island.

Sunnyside attorney Ronald Castorina, who filed a lawsuit against the city on behalf of the Island's three City Council members and a half-dozen parents, believes the e-mails will help prove the city's decision was "capricious and arbitrary" and made without considering the students' welfare.

Advance file photo/Irving SilversteinStudents like these, at Tottenville Intermediate School, don't currently have yellow school bus service.

The city's Corporation Counsel, represented by three attorneys, said Bloomberg had yet to give them permission to search his personal e-mails, and it could take a month to cull through the city's complex server system to retrieve others.

Justice John Fusco, who often raised his voice and stood up in anger during the hour-long hearing, said he was "insulted" by those claims. "We have a pro-bono attorney facing the Corporation Counsel of the City of New York. You have the resources - put them to work. I want it done now," Fusco told them.

The judge gave them until 5 p.m. tomorrow to turn over the e-mails; otherwise he would preclude any new evidence the city brings to the trial, which starts Monday.

Fusco also asked the city to consent to another temporary restraining order to keep the buses running while the case makes its way through the court system. At the city's request, the state Appellate Court overturned a restraining order Fusco issued on Aug. 16, which means the buses won't run unless the lawsuit prevails.

"Let those children have buses to go to school and I'll give you a month," the judge told the city's attorneys, referring to the time they need to gather e-mails.

Castorina plans to subpoena Dennis Walcott, the deputy mayor for education and community development, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, and Kathleen Grimm, the Department of Education (DOE) Deputy Chancellor for finance and administration, to testify at the trial. If Bloomberg refuses to turn over his own e-mails, there's also a remote possibility that he will receive a subpoena - which the city attorneys said they would "move to quash immediately."

Over the city's objections, Fusco also allowed Queens Councilman Eric Ulrich, whose district is also affected by the cuts, to join in the lawsuit. Though the DOE normally provides bus service to students only through the sixth grade, it had granted 29 variances to seventh- and eighth-graders at 70 schools across the city.

The move helped them save $3.4 million out of a $21 billion budget.

School take different tacks

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Try talking about death, destruction and terrorism to a 10-year-old. It isn't easy.

Shannon Rinelli knows. The fifth-grade teacher at PS 11, Dongan Hills, raises the subjects with her classes year after year when she talks about the events of Sept. 11, 2001.

"I feel it's important for them to know the history of their city," she said.

Educators are on their own when it comes to addressing 9/11, however. A spokeswoman for the city Department of Education says there is no citywide curriculum. Instead, the DOE allows schools to determine the best approach for treating such topics with their students.

Many tread lightly, focusing on positive lessons while maintaining the meaning of the day.

Staten Island Advance/Anthony DePrimoNicholas Rizzo of PS 11, Dongan Hills, works on his leaf for Tree of Hope.

On Wednesday morning, for instance, with no politics -- and sparing them the gruesome details -- Ms. Rinelli explained the facts, with extra focus on the aftermath, during which she herself volunteered to hand out food to first responders.

"An attack on the Twin Towers caused them to collapse. But afterwards, a lot of people needed help," she explained to her class. "So, on Sept. 11, we remember all the people who were hurt and killed. It's also a day to celebrate how we can help other people."

Her students proceeded to decorate leaves, explaining how they can be good leaders for the rest of the student body. On Monday, they will construct a Tree of Hope on school grounds.

The staff at PS 30, Westerleigh, take a similar approach. Clare Mitchell, a reading teacher, spoke of a book she has in her classroom titled "September 12" that discusses how the country healed.

"We have a lot of children of firefighters, police officers and Marines," she said.

So, to mark the anniversary of the attacks, the principal selects three of those students each year to read a message over the loudspeaker thanking their heroes for keeping them safe.

A large mural that takes up the entire hallway wall outside the third-floor library also helps teachers describe what happened. Painted in 2007 by the wife of New York City Fire Chief James Leonard, it is dedicated to Firefighter Thomas Hannafin, a former PS 30 student who died on 9/11. An addition was painted by Firefighter Gerry Bonner later that year.

"Many times, we underestimate the ability of the little ones to learn and comprehend, because they really do understand a lot," Ms. Mitchell said. "I find that if you don't discuss it, then it's like a mystery. The lessons help them understand they really are connected."

The staff at Barnes Intermediate, Great Kills, have a slightly more somber affair each year. Ever since they erected their own 9/11 memorial in their school yard in 2002, they have gathered each year to say a few words about their loved ones who were lost. The ceremony has grown more touching over the years, with people from the neighborhood joining in.

This year it was held on Wednesday, and drew nearly 60 people.

"Everybody says something and we reflect and tell our stories and share our sorrows," said Eileen Barra, a mathematics teacher whose husband, a firefighter, survived the collapse. "It's a gorgeous, gorgeous moment that helps us heal."

Teaching the moment has become more difficult in recent years, however. Closer to 2001, students joined teachers at the ceremony. Her current students were babies when the attacks occurred, and have only heard about what happened.

So instead the staff focuses on being good role models, teaching students to respect those who have fought for them. They are also working to get students involved in planning the 10th anniversary, by having them design T-shirts they'll wear next year.

"The kids aren't as close to it," she said. "It's just like us with World War II. My parents were very close to it, but we'll never know that feeling because we weren't around."

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- From: Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott. To: Schools Chancellor Joel Klein Subject: Eliminating the Staten Island school bus variance. Message: "Hello Joel ... Take care" An attorney suing the city after it cut yellow bus service for nearly 3,000 seventh- and eighth-graders on Staten Island finally got hold of dozens of e-mails yesterday that may have...

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- From: Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott.

To: Schools Chancellor Joel Klein

Subject: Eliminating the Staten Island school bus variance.

Message: "Hello Joel ... Take care"

An attorney suing the city after it cut yellow bus service for nearly 3,000 seventh- and eighth-graders on Staten Island finally got hold of dozens of e-mails yesterday that may have revealed how top city officials came to that decision -- only to find that most of the substance in them was blocked out.

And despite an order by Staten Island State Supreme Court Justice John Fusco, the city Corporation Counsel also failed to meet yesterday's 5 p.m. deadline to turn over e-mails between Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his top aides regarding the bus cuts.

Staten Island Advance/Hilton Flores"Whole lot of nothing" is how attorney Ronald Castorina, seen addressing rally this week, describes redacted electronic correspondence that city produced on court order.

"What I got now is a whole lot of nothing. I got pages and pages of redacted e-mails. It's a joke," said Sunnyside attorney Ronald Castorina, who filed the lawsuit on behalf of the Island's three City Council members and a half-dozen parents.

The city's attorneys claimed that much of the content in those e-mails is privileged because it was part of the officials' "deliberative" process.

But that's exactly what Castorina wanted. He believes the content of the e-mails will help prove the city's decision was "capricious and arbitrary" and made without considering the students' welfare.

The city's latest legal maneuver means more delays in what is becoming an increasingly antagonistic court battle. Instead of beginning a hearing on the merits of the lawsuit at the former home port in Stapleton on Monday, the two sides will have to appear before a special "referee," who will decide exactly what e-mails -- and how much of them -- Castorina will be able to see.

Castorina had hoped to keep the yellow bus service running while the case made its way through the courts, but it increasingly appears that won't happen unless the plaintiffs prevail. At the city's behest, the state Appellate Court in Brooklyn overturned a temporary restraining order Fusco issued on Aug. 16 that would have stopped the bus cuts. Fusco then asked the city Wednesday to consent to another restraining order in exchange for more time for plaintiffs to prepare their case.

Castorina even made the unusual offer yesterday of posting a bond with his own money to pay for the temporary buses. That offer also was rejected by the city.

Castorina said that proves the bus cuts are not simply about saving $1.6 million, as the city claims.

"This is not an issue of money," he said. "I was willing to put my own money on the line because I wanted to call them out on it."

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Nine students from Staten Island high schools are among 16,000 announced today as semifinalists in a prestigious national scholarship program. The students, all seniors, who have advanced this far in the 56th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, have the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,400 scholarships, worth more than $36 million, that...

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Nine students from Staten Island high schools are among 16,000 announced today as semifinalists in a prestigious national scholarship program.

The students, all seniors, who have advanced this far in the 56th annual National Merit Scholarship Program, have the opportunity to continue in the competition for some 8,400 scholarships, worth more than $36 million, that will be available next spring. Approximately 1.5 million juniors entered the program.

Candidates are initially screened through their PSAT scores. Semifinalists are then judged based on their SAT scores, academic record, a recommendation from the principal and a detailed application which includes an essay and leadership qualities.

The Island students selected as semifinalists are:

Mark J. Long, from St. Joseph by-the-Sea High School; David Bessel, Eugene Dobry, Bishoy Ghobryal, Daniel S. Roberts, Joseph G. Shikhman, Leighton Suen and Helen Yao, all of Staten Island Technical High School; and Jae-Eun Lee of Susan Wagner High School.

The number of semifinalists in a state is proportional to the state's percentage of the national total of graduating seniors.

The not-for-profit National Merit Scholarship Program was established in 1955 to encourage the pursuit of academic excellence. It operates without government assistance.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- A workshop sponsored by the city Department of Education, on students with disabilities and non-native English language speakers, will be held Oct. 27 at the Michael J. Petrides Educational Complex, Sunnyside. At the event, which will run from 5 to 8 p.m., officials will screen the documentary "Including Samuel." The film, produced by photojournalist Dan Habib,...

Education officials tells court city shouldn't have to pay for service for 7th and 8th graders, no matter the cost

Staten Island Advance/Irving SilversteinTotten Intermediate School students board yellow buses in this June 16 file photo.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The city should not be paying for school buses for Staten Island seventh and eighth graders -- even if it costs a dollar.

That's what Matthew Berlin, executive director of the city Department of Education's office of pupil transportation, said during testimony this morning in the first day of a bench trial at the former homeport in Stapleton. The Island's council members, headed by Vincent Ignizio, are suing the city to restore the service to nearly 3,000 students at 47 schools on the Island.

"I believe it is not a fair use of public funds to bus seventh and eighth graders on Staten Island," Berlin said during his testimony in front of state Supreme Court Justice John Fusco.

Using the correspondence between top officials in the city DOE, and other documents he obtained from the city, plaintiff attorney Ronald Castorina is hoping to prove that the DOE was arbitrary and capricious in its decision.

In trying to explain how the DOE came to its decision, Berlin told Castorina that he could not find a reason why the city granted a variance to Staten Island schools, when most seventh and eighth grade students across the city have to use public transportation.

Responding to a request to analyze a possible cut to the variance, from his boss, Eric Goldstein, the CEO of School Support Services, Berlin said in a May 13 e-mail that he would ask around the office to try to find out the reason for the variance and when it started.

The justification for the variance, he wrote, was "stated as a lack of public transit, but has always been acknowledged as a made up reason to cover giving a benefit to a powerful part of the city."

Castorina proved that MTA bus maps that Berlin and his colleagues used to calculate the distance that students had to travel to and from schools and bus stops was inaccurate.

He also used e-mails that appeared to show DOE officials were unsure exactly how much money they would save by cutting the variances.

In a November 19 e-mail to some of his bosses, Berlin estimated that by cutting 55 buses, the DOE would save $6.2 million. In another e-mail that same day, he estimated the savings at $6.875 million. In an April e-mail, that figure was down to $3.5 million.

And in documents submitted to the court, the city estimated it would save $1.6 million.

The trial is set to resume this afternoon.

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Politics is the reason seventh- and eighth-graders ever received yellow bus service on Staten Island -- not because they lacked other transportation options. That's the consensus among city Department of Education (DOE) officials, according to an e-mail sent by the man in charge of student transportation and unveiled during the first day of a trial...

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Politics is the reason seventh- and eighth-graders ever received yellow bus service on Staten Island -- not because they lacked other transportation options.

That's the consensus among city Department of Education (DOE) officials, according to an e-mail sent by the man in charge of student transportation and unveiled during the first day of a trial over the bus cuts in state Supreme Court in the former home port in Stapleton.

"I'll ask the old-timers about when they were started, and if they have anything more to add to [the explanation for the variance], which was stated as a lack of public transit, but has always been acknowledged as a made up reason to cover giving a benefit to a powerful part of the city," wrote Matthew Berlin, executive director of the DOE's office of pupil transportation, in a May 13 e-mail to his boss, CEO of School Support Services Eric Goldstein.

The e-mail was a response to a request from Goldstein to "analyze" the pros and cons of rescinding a variance that granted bus service to nearly 3,000 students at 47 schools on the Island. Normally, the DOE provides yellow buses to students only up to the sixth grade.

Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-HammelBoys who say they live six miles from Totten Intermediate School trek to the city bus stop.

The part of the city Berlin was referring to is the South Shore, which had most of those yellow bus routes. That district's city councilman, Vincent Ignizio, is leading a group of elected officials and parents in suing the city to restore the service.

Sunnyside attorney Ronald Castorina, trying the case on behalf of the plaintiffs pro bono, contends the DOE's decision was arbitrary and capricious, and made without consideration of the children's welfare.

Berlin's testimony before state Supreme Court Justice John Fusco yesterday did not do much to disprove that contention.

His speculation notwithstanding, Berlin said no one in his office could find the exact date, or document the reasons the Staten Island bus variance was granted in the first place. And despite his title, Berlin claimed he had no part in making the decision to rescind the variance. He said he didn't even know when that decision was made -- even though he sent a letter to school principals informing them of the cuts to the service shortly after that May 13 e-mail, and the Advance broke the story May 20.

Berlin's apparent lack of authority, however, didn't stop him from having a strong opinion about the bus cuts.

"I believe it is not a fair use of public funds to bus seventh- and eighth-graders on Staten Island. Even if it cost a dollar," Berlin told Castorina.

Berlin's office provided maps as apparent proof that it estimated the distance students would have to travel to and from MTA bus stops and schools. But Castorina proved the distances they calculated were 33 percent shorter than the actual distances -- and he did it by having the Yale-educated Berlin, dressed in tweed and bow tie, stand up in front of the court and measure each scale on each map with a ruler.

Berlin claimed he didn't know if the maps were even used.

Castorina also read back e-mails from Berlin that seemed to reveal he was not even sure how much money the DOE would save by cutting the variances. In a Nov. 19 e-mail to some of his bosses, Berlin estimated that by cutting 55 buses, the DOE would save $6.2 million. In another e-mail that same day, he estimated the savings at $6.875 million. In an April e-mail, that figure was down to $3.5 million. In documents submitted to the court, the city estimated it would save $1.6 million.

At several points during the hearing, Fusco expressed frustration at Berlin's ambivalent responses, and the city's lack of documentation.

"How can you say that you have no record of what criteria was used to make the variance in effect in the first place?" Fusco asked.

The trial is set to resume today.

Trial continues in state Supreme Court today

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- So who made the ultimate decision to eliminate a variance to provide yellow bus service to about 3,000 seventh and eighth-graders -- and why?

An attorney suing the city on behalf of Staten Island's three City Council members and some parents will continue to try to get some answers during a trial in state Supreme Court at the former Stapleton homeport today.

Matthew Berlin, executive director of the office of pupil transportation for the Department of Education (DOE) did not shed much light on the situation during the first day of trial yesterday -- though he did reveal what DOE officials may feel about the Island's "special treatment." Berlin is scheduled to continue his testimony today, followed by his boss, CEO of School Support Services Eric Goldstein.

Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-HammelStudents walk to a city bus stop to catch a ride to Totten Intermediate School.

Attorneys for the city's Corporation Counsel suggested DOE Deputy Chancellor for Finance and Administration Kathleen Grimm ultimately made the decision -- though she is not scheduled to testify until tomorrow.

The bench trial is taking place in front of State Supreme Court Justice John Fusco, despite the objections of the city attorneys.

They tried to remove the case to federal court, claiming the issue is about equal protection under the law, because the city normally provides bus service only up to the sixth grade.

They also had the Appellate Court overturn a restraining order by Fusco that would have kept the buses running while the case made its way through the courts. And in another last ditch effort to deep six the case, the Corporation Counsel went to the Appellate division again Friday afternoon to try and have the trial stayed -- even though they had asked Fusco to hold off trial that day because they were observing the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur.

Sunnyside attorney Ronald Castorina, who is trying the case on behalf of the plaintiffs pro bono, contends the DOE's decision was arbitrary and capricious, and made without consideration of the children's welfare.

E-mail says city no longer provides bus service to 7th and 8th graders because 'times are tough'

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The Department of Education's top budget woman has a message to students who now have to get up extra early, walk for miles over-hazardous roadways and pack into crowded city buses to get to school: Times are tough.

That was the response Kathleen Grimm, Deputy Chancellor for Finance and Administration, gave to a DOE government liaison when asked about why the agency was eliminating a variance to provide yellow bus service for about 3,000 seventh and eighth-graders on Staten Island.

Staten Island Advance/Jan Somma-HammelJenna Nicolosi, an eighth-grader at Totten Intermediate School who used to take the bus in the morning, gets a ride from her parents.

City Councilman Vincent Ignizio (R-South Shore) had asked Maura Keaney, DOE's executive director of external affairs, whether eliminating the variance was in violation of a chancellor regulation.

Ms. Grimm responded to Ms. Keaney in a May 12 e-mail: "Reg says 'in a small number of cases where public transit facilities are inadequate or unavailable, exceptions may be granted by the Office of Pupil Transportation to allow the use of existing contract bus service provided for children in elementary grades by pupils in grades 7 and 8.'"

"We are not granting these exceptions any more. We are not obligated to provide. Times are tough."

The e-mail - unveiled during the trial over a lawsuit to restore the buses in state Supreme Court in the former home port in Stapleton yesterday - was another in a series of potentially embarrassing internal correspondences among top DOE exposed in the courtroom. Other e-mails revealed DOE officials consider the yellow buses a political favor to the Island, were unclear whether eliminating them would save any money and that they were not sure they would be able to provide all those students with MetroCards to use public transportation.

Ms. Grimm's e-mail directly contradicts the message in a letter the DOE sent to school principals the very next day, which stated that although it was eliminating a blanket variance for Island seventh and eighth graders, parents could apply for individual variances due to hazardous conditions or lack of public transportation. Normally, the DOE only buses students up to sixth grade.

That inconsistency didn't escape Ms. Grimm's chief of staff, Jeff Shear. In a May 25 e-mail to CEO of School Support Services Eric Goldstein, Shear expressed concern the letter would elicit "troves of requests" for individual variances, which, if granted, would essentially negate the savings of eliminating the blanket variance.

"I don't care what we say in this particular letter," Goldstein responded. "We do not bus seventh and eighth-graders."

DOE has apparently stuck to that policy. According to another internal memo, as of Aug. 6, the agency had reviewed 406 variances for seventh and eighth grade students to receive yellow bus service. Only one was granted.

Other DOE correspondence, read aloud in court, revealed how the DOE planned to explain the bus cuts in a briefing with Mayor Michael Bloomberg and his aides. In an e-mail to Ms. Grimm titled "internal talking points," Ms. Keaney suggested she "shy away from exact numbers," and stress that the "whole decision process is fluid without calculating the cost of MetroCards."

Ms. Keaney was referring to an analysis completed by another of Ms. Grimm's aides that suggested providing MetroCards to 3,000 students would cost more than keeping the bus service - especially since the MTA had threatened to revoke free MetroCards at the time.

During his testimony yesterday, Goldstein admitted the chancellor's regulation on bus transportation was "vague," providing them with a loophole large enough to drive a yellow bus through.

"There is no hard definition of inadequate or unavailable transportation," Goldstein said, referring to the exception to the busing rules Ms. Grimm cited in her e-mail.

After three days of trial, state Supreme Court Justice John Fusco appeared to be losing his patience with what he called evasive answers from DOE officials.

"I am getting an awful lot of verbiage, but nothing based on hard evidence, photos, inspections or studies," the animated judge said. "Just words, words, words, day after day after day, from the agency that is supposed to be in charge of getting children to school safely."

Trial testimony reveals money wasn't a factor in city's rejecting variance

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- The money was there - they just didn't want to spend it on busing Staten Island students.

A week before the City Council approved this year's budget in June, the Department of Education (DOE) suddenly had an influx of money in its budget, thanks to an 11th-hour deal that saved the agency from having to foot the bill for 300,000 free or half-fare student MetroCards. That deal freed up millions to restore money to budget items slated to be cut - like the variance that provided yellow buses for 3,000 seventh- and eighth-grade students on the Island.

Alan Gartner, chief of staff to Dennis Walcott, Deputy Mayor for Education and Community Development, conveyed that message to his boss in a June 22 e-mail. The e-mail was read aloud yesterday during Gartner's testimony in a trial to restore the bus cuts in state Supreme Court in the former home port in Stapleton.

Advance file photoThe trial regarding school bus service continues Monday.

"Just had a call from [Larian Angelo, Deputy Director of the Mayor's Office of Management and Budget]. Given the latest developments, they have funds so that all of the contingent cuts don't have to be made," he wrote.

Gartner then asked whether Walcott had a "preference" as to which cuts he wanted to restore, listing the Island bus variance, a school lunch program or "Learning to Work," a GED and career training program.Walcott's response was not included in the testimony.

It appeared the DOE had already decided by then that the bus variance was not going to be restored. That was clear in the response to a June 8 e-mail from DOE press officer Anne Forte to Kathleen Grimm, Deputy Chancellor for Finance and Administration, and her chief of staff, Jeff Shear.

"We're getting a lot of queries about this - will we restore bus funding if we get more money from the state?" Ms. Forte asked.

"We can't say we will restore the busing cuts," Shear responded. "We are facing a lot of cuts and there could be more. Allowing seventh- and eighth-graders to ride on buses with younger siblings triggers demands for more buses at various places on Staten Island."

The e-mails add more evidence that top officials in the DOE were determined to remove the bus variance because it constituted "special treatment" to Staten Island -- and that it was not really about saving money, as both Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Chancellor Joel Klein have asserted.

At the time of Gartner's June e-mail, the state, city and MTA had just resolved a dispute over paying for free student MetroCards. The MTA had threatened to end an agreement in which the city paid a flat fee of $45 million for an unlimited number of cards; without the agreement, the city would have had to pay for each student's card separately. Providing MetroCards for thousands of students under those conditions would have cost more than the yellow bus service, an analysis by one of Ms. Grimm's aides found.

However, the cost of those cards apparently was not a determining factor -- the DOE sent letters to principals informing them they were eliminating yellow buses to seventh- and eighth-graders a month before the MetroCard dispute was settled.

Other e-mails and testimony from DOE officials suggested the agency was unclear how much money eliminating the variance would save. Estimates ranged from $1.4 to $6.87 million.

But there was one point of agreement for officials who testified during the first four days of the trial. When asked why the DOE gave a variance to bus seventh- and eighth-graders on the Island, when it normally only buses students up to sixth grade, Gartner repeated an answer given by each of his colleagues. "I believe it was part of a political deal," he said.

The trial is scheduled to resume Monday.