STATEWIDE

TEACHERS UNION WANTS TO OPEN CHARTER SCHOOL

Ninety-five percent of the teachers union delegate assembly voted yesterday evening to submit an official charter-school application to the State University of New York.

The United Federation of Teachers plans to submit its plan to SUNY by the end of the month.

The proposal calls for two new schools. One would be an elementary school, which would open in September. It would be housed in an underutilized public school building in Brooklyn’s East New York. The second would be a school for students in grades six through 12. It would open in September 2006.

Teachers unions normally don’t have many positive things to say about charter schools, which are public schools that operate free of many of the rules and regulations that govern traditional public schools. But if SUNY approves the union-run charter schools, the union won’t just be talking about charter schools, it would be operating its own.

Union officials have said the charter schools will play by the rules of the existing teachers contract, with all of its work rules and other regulations included.

Asked about the proposal yesterday, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein called it a “terrific idea.”

He wouldn’t say, though, whether he thought a charter school beholden to the teachers contract would be as successful as one that was not.

“That’s not for me to decide. That’s really for the charters to decide,” he said. “My view is the whole thing about charters that I’m so supportive of, they get to design it in their way. If they want to design it in a way that’s under contract, that’s fine with me.”

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

CITYWIDE

CATHOLIC CHURCH TO CLOSE 26 SCHOOLS

Twenty-six Catholic elementary schools in Brooklyn and Queens will shut their doors at the end of the school year under a reorganization plan announced yesterday by Diocese of Brooklyn officials.

The vicar for education, Monsignor Michael Hardiman, said in a statement that the decision to close the schools was made “reluctantly.” He blamed dropping enrollment caused by demographic shifts and the rising costs of operating the schools for the closures.

Children from nine of the schools will attend four new regional schools in Brooklyn. Eight other schools will become affiliated with other local schools, and nine will close.

“Our goal is to continue to have a parochial school presence in every part of the diocese, if it is at all possible,” Monsignor Hardiman said. “This is the best reconfiguration of the schools at this time.”

The diocese drafted the plan after reviewing multiple proposals and seeking input from the community over the past two years. Church leaders also analyzed statistical data looking at the demographic trends in the neighborhoods.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MORE STUDENTS SIGN UP FOR FREE LUNCH PROGRAM

More than three-quarters of public school students eligible for free and reduced-price meals signed up this year, already exceeding enrollment rates for all of last year, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein announced yesterday.

The more forms that get turned in, the more Title-I money the city schools receive from the federal government. The city made an extra effort this year to encourage children to sign up. It even partnered with the New York Jets to create a sweepstakes for those who returned their forms.

The chancellor and New York Jets Head Coach Herman Edwards announced yesterday that Gabriel Rosario, a student at Alfred E. Smith Vocational High School in the Bronx, won a free trip for two to the Pro Bowl in Hawaii.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

MANHATTAN

PATAKI APPROVES $10M FOR WORK ON CHELSEA PARK

Governor Pataki has cleared the way for new construction on the Hudson River Park project, approving $10 million in state funds for work in Chelsea.

The new money comes in addition to the $5 million that Mr. Pataki earmarked for the five-mile park in his annual budget proposal last month, and it activates a $15 million matching grant from the city, bringing total new funds for the project to $30 million. The money allows construction on the partially completed project to move forward sometime this year. The park’s Greenwich Village section opened in 2003, and another section, between 54th and 57th streets, is expected to open later this year. Construction on Hudson River Park is expected to cost $400 million, including $200 million that has already been spent.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

POLICE BLOTTER

SUSPECT ARRESTED IN DOUBLE HOMICIDE

Yesterday, police arrested a Brooklyn man suspected of killing two other Brooklyn natives in North Carolina last week, investigators announced.

After George Katsigiannis, a 21-year-old specialist with the 3rd Infantry Special Forces Unit, did not show up to work for two days, a group of concerned coworkers went to his Fayetteville, N.C., home. Inside, they found the bodies of Katsigiannis and 16-year-old Jenna Bolona. Both were shot to death, police said. Investigators believe the bodies might have been in the house as early as last Friday.

According to police, Katsigiannis and Bolona were sharing the house with a childhood friend from their Brooklyn neighborhood, James Stitt, who is 19. Investigators from New York and North Carolina traced a vehicle stolen from Katsigiannis’s home, only to locate Mr. Stitt in the Boro Park section of Brooklyn yesterday afternoon. Mr. Stitt is awaiting extradition back to North Carolina, where he will face at least two counts of first-degree murder, police said.

– Special to the Sun

Please send story tips to crimetips@nysun.com, or call 212-619-2262.