THE BRONX

EDUCATION SECRETARY SPELLINGS MAKES FIRST NEW YORK VISIT

The secretary of education, Margaret Spellings, is visiting New York City today for the first time since she was appointed.

She will meet students, parents, teachers, and school officials at KIPP Academy New York at the Bronx this afternoon, marking the first day of National Charter Schools Week. She will be joined by Mayor Bloomberg and Joel Klein, the city schools chancellor.

Ms. Spellings has known about KIPP, which was a pioneer in the charter school movement, for years. She led President Bush on a tour of a KIPP school at Washington, D.C., and wanted to visit a KIPP school at New York City, according to her spokeswoman, Susan Aspey.

At KIPP, Ms. Spellings will discuss the role charter schools can have in the plan to close the achievement gap under the federal No Child Left Behind Act.

There are two KIPP schools in New York City and 38 throughout the country.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

STATEN ISLAND

BOY SCOUT PRESUMED DROWNED AS SEARCH IS SUSPENDED

Rough seas forced rescue teams to suspend their search yesterday for the body of a Staten Island boy scout who fell off a whale-watching boat off Cape May Point this weekend and is presumed drowned, New Jersey state police said.

Nicholas Johs, 14, of Boy Scout Troop 26 of Staten Island, fell off the Whale Watcher II at about 2 p.m. Saturday. Johs was one of about 30 passengers on the 90-foot boat when the accident occurred.

Police and Coast Guard boats equipped with sonar had resumed their search yesterday in an area about 200 yards off Cape May Point called “the rips,” where the Delaware Bay meets the Atlantic Ocean, said State Police spokesman Steven Jones. However, the rough conditions forced them to suspend the search around midday, and they plan to return there today.

Investigators were also checking the underside of the boat yesterday for evidence, and had noticed a a black T-shirt attached to the propeller that may have belonged to Johs, according to Mr. Jones. Witnesses told police that Johs and several other troop members were jumping up and down in the front of the boat in time with the waves, trying to see how high they could get.

– Associated Press

MANHATTAN

COUNCIL LAND USE PANEL TO VOTE ON BROOKLYN WATERFRONT REZONING

The City Council’s Land Use Committee is scheduled to vote today on a plan to rezone more than 184 blocks of the Brooklyn waterfront. The new zoning, which has been the source of debate between the Bloomberg administration and community groups at Williamsburg and Greenpoint, will map out exactly how much development can take place in the area and how much affordable housing will be included. Allotment of parkland preservation of existing industrial areas will also be determined.

Community groups have been fighting the plan aggressively for about two years, saying that the mayor’s proposal does not include enough affordable housing or park space, and that tall luxury apartments will destroy the character of their neighborhood and force out many residents who now live there.

Several Bloomberg administration officials and council members were locked in a closed-door negotiating session last night hammering out the final details of a plan that many are hoping will address some of those issues. The committee is expected to vote on the final plan this morning during a hearing at City Hall, where a large turnout is expected.

– Staff Reporter of the Sun

ALBANY

APPELLATE DECISIONS COULD REOPEN SCHOOL FUNDING IN STATE BUDGET

An appeals court is scheduled to make two rulings tomorrow that could force the state to come up with billions of dollars more in school aid for September and blow apart New York’s first on-time budget in 20 years.

The state Appellate Division decisions concern two motions in the Campaign for Fiscal Equity lawsuit already won against the state, but which is being appealed by the Pataki administration. CFE seeks to eliminate the temporary stay – or delay – of the court order to pay billions of dollars more in state school aid to New York City schools until the appeal is decided. The parent and teachers’ union group also seeks to force the appeal to be decided quicker, by the end of June instead of a year or more from now as would normally be the case.

– Associated Press

STATE

CLINTON DEFENDS COLLEGE FUNDING

PAUL SMITHS, N.Y. – Senator Clinton told the Paul Smith’s College class of 2005 that spending taxpayer money on higher education ensures our country will continue to thrive in changing times.

“Change is inevitable,” said Mrs. Clinton. “Change will either be our friend or our master. One of the ways of ensuring it will be our friend is our system of higher education.”

Mrs. Clinton spoke to about 200 graduating students and their families and friends beneath a white tent yesterday afternoon on the shore of Lower St. Regis Lake, 125 miles north of Albany. She used the speech at the small Adirondack college to defend public funding for the country’s colleges and universities.

“The genius of the American system has been that we have contributed as a nation to the education of individuals we will never meet nor ever know,” Mrs. Clinton said. “Now, however, there’s a great debate going on in Washington as to whether we will continue to support higher education.”

Mrs. Clinton said higher education is a worthwhile investment of tax dollars because it is “the primary driver of American economic advancement.”

– Associated Press