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| CORRUPT SCHOOL BOARD VICE PRESIDENT LEN SARVER |
Last Wednesday at 4 P.M. Mount
Vernon Exposed had a pre-arranged appointment to tour A.B. Davis Middle
School. On Wednesday morning Mount
Vernon Exposed received a complaint that sections of A.B. Davis Middle School
were without no heat for over one week.
Mount Vernon Exposed was met at the Middle School by Robert Silkes, the
buildings and grounds representative for Aramark, the company hired by the
Mount Vernon School District to oversee the Mount Vernon City School District
buildings and grounds employees and facilities.
At the urging of Mount
Vernon School Superintendent Judith Johnson and School Board Vice President Len
Sarver, school board members just recently voted to extend Aramark’s contract
to the end of April 2014.
Taxpayers have long criticized
the Mount Vernon School District outsourcing the management of the buildings
and grounds to Aramark. Aramark has
received millions of dollars in contracts from the Mount Vernon City School
District. Just recently an employee of Aramark was recently indicted for
stealing $35K from the district lunch program, a program designed to help poor
and underprivileged students in Mount Vernon.
Aramark also recently came
under fire for not remediating asbestos at Cecil H. Parker Middle School.
Judith Johnson did not implement a corrective plan of action at Cecil H. Parker
until Mount Vernon Exposed broke news of the conditions at the school. Aramark has failed to adequately maintain
Mount Vernon Public School facilities.
School Board Trustee Len Sarver doesn’t help things either. Sarver is
too busy doling out multi-million contracts to his buddies and blocking any and
all attempts to reform educational policy in the City of Mount Vernon. Why does Sarver continue to vote for
Architectural firm D’Angelo and Fuller to receive 10% off of every construction
job in the district? Why does Sarver continue to vote for D’Angelo and Fuller
when he publicly disclosed that he has a personal relationship with one of the
principles at D’Angelo and Fuller? Why is Sarver blocking his fellow Board
members from selecting a Superintendent of Buildings and Grounds?
When Mount Vernon Exposed
first arrived at A.B. Davis Middle School, Mr. Silkes was informed of the
complaint received by Mount Vernon Exposed regarding lack of heat in Davis
Middle School. Mr. Silkes appeared with
a dumbfounded look on his face and denied that any such condition existed at
the Middle School. Mr. Silkes then
accompanied Mr. Rivers, Investigative Reporter for Mount Vernon Exposed, throughout
the building and took him around to areas of the building that did in fact have
heat. The head custodian of A.B. Davis
Middle School also was present during the tour of the building. Mr. Silkes told Mr. Rivers that he takes
heat complaints very seriously and would never allow such a condition to
exist.
Mount Vernon Exposed was
also armed with information that the balcony in the auditorium of A.B. Davis
Middle School has not been in use due to leaks from the roof. According to sources that work at David Middle
School the auditorium has not been able to be used since 2009. Mr. Silkes informed Mount Vernon Exposed that
the reason the auditorium was closed was due to damaged sustained during
Hurricane Sandy. Hurricane Sandy
occurred in 2012.
After the tour Mount
Vernon Exposed still felt that school district officials were not forthcoming
with information and was not being truthful regarding the auditorium. An investigation conducted by Mount Vernon
Exposed found that school officials began repairing the auditorium just last
week because they did not want Mount Vernon Exposed to see the deplorable
condition the auditorium was in.
Mount Vernon Exposed then
reached out and reported its findings to media outlets and subsequently, the
story was picked up by CBS 2 (Channel 2) news. The same day CBS 2 news aired the story
regarding lack of heat at A.B. Davis Middle School; the principal utilized the
school district’s K-12 alert system to notify parents about the heat issue at
Davis Middle School. Why didn’t school
officials notify parents prior to the CBS Channel 2 picking up the story? What
were school officials hiding that they didn’t want the public to know?
The troubles for A.B.
Davis Middle School don’t end there. Mount
Vernon Exposed has learned that the principal for A.B. Davis Middle School was
handpicked by Judith Johnson and was purposely picked to do her bidding. Again, school board trustees have failed the
taxpayers of Mount Vernon by failing to do a proper background check of an
employee of the school district entrusted by parents with the care of their
children.
The principle of A.B.
Davis Middle School is Joshua Witham and he hails from M.S. 203 in the Bronx. Witham was Assistant Principal for
instruction while he was at M.S. 203. Due
to failing test scores and poor academic performance, M.S. 203 is scheduled to
be phased out or closed by the NYC Department of Education. Sources told Mount Vernon Exposed that Judith
Johnson skipped over dozens of applicants that were more qualified than Witham and
withheld pertinent information from Board members.
According to reports, A.B.
Davis is listed as a “priority” school.
A priority school is a school that is on its last limb and is on the
verge on closure due to poor academic performance. Why would Judith Johnson bring in a principal
from a “priority” school in the Bronx that is on the verge on closing to a
“priority” school in Mount Vernon that is on the verge of closing? Witham should have been sent packing to the unemployment
line because of his inability to do his job properly while he was employed at
M.S. 203.
According to the report
card published by the New York City Department of Education, “Based on an extensive review of qualitative
and quantitative data and community feedback, the DOE has determined that M.S.
203 does not have the capacity to quickly improve and is proposing that the
school be phased out. Proposing to phase out a school is the most difficult
decision we make. We are proposing to phase out M.S. 203 because it is the right
action for current and future students in this community. If the proposal to
phase out M.S. 203 is approved, the school would phase out gradually over the
next several years. The school would close in June 2015 after its phase-out is
complete. “
The overwhelming majority
of M.S. 203 students remain below grade level in English Language Arts and
Math. Only 7% of students were performing on grade level in English—putting the
school in the bottom percentile of middle schools Citywide. Only 10% of
students were performing on grade level in math—putting the school in the
bottom 1% of middle schools Citywide. In both ELA and Math proficiency, M.S.
203 ranks at the bottom of District 7 middle schools.
M.S. 203 was identified by
the New York State Education Department (NYSED) as a Priority school, defined
by NYSED as one of the bottom 5% of schools in the state. M.S. 203 was rated “Developing”
on its most recent Quality Review in 2010-2011, indicating deficiencies in the
way that the school is organized to support student learning.
The school’s attendance
rate remains below most other middle schools. The 2011-2012-attendance rate was
88% compared to the citywide middle school average of 93%, putting M.S. 203 in
the bottom 5% of New York City middle schools.
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