Northattan

One by one, 47 third-graders eventually walked off the stage, leaving Evelyn Knapp, 9, beside only two other classmates.

Each student had been given five seconds to answer mathematical problems like 33 minus 14 or 47 minus 38, but still, only three continued to beat the loud “beep beep” sound indicating their time was up.

Then, in the final round, the problems got harder. Eight times 9. Six times 7.

It was Evelyn’s turn. Seven times 8.

“56,” she said calmly.

Principal Jim Manley gives a third-grade student five seconds to correctly answer a math problem during the school math bee at Harlem Success Academy 2 in East Harlem on Dec. 8. Photo by Carlos Mayorga/Northattan

On Tuesday, students from four public charter schools in Harlem competed in the Success Charter Network’s math bee. It is an annual effort to get students psyched about using the skills they learned in class, said Jim Manley, principal at Harlem Success Academy 2 on East 128th Street in East Harlem.

Unlike some other schools, where the popular students are usually the ones who make the most baskets or score the most goals, kids at Harlem Success Academy schools have a different idea of what it means to be cool, Manley said.

“We put a lot of kids’ natural competitive instincts into math and find different ways to challenge them,” he said. “So far, it’s worked.”

Evelyn, the winner of this year’s Math Bee, admitted that math isn’t even her favorite subject – that would be social science. She said that she tried to stay calm in front of an auditorium so full with parents that by the time the event was under way, some had to stand along the back wall.

“I just really just focus on the question and I really concentrate,” Evelyn said. “Sometimes I get nervous, but then I start thinking about the math.”

Eva Moskowitz, founder of the Success Charter Network, congratulates three students for beating 67 others from various charter schools in an annual math bee. Photo by Carlos Mayorga/Northattan

Evelyn, who attends Harlem Success Academy 1, said she wanted to be either a nurse or a lawyer when she grows up. She credits her 17-year-old brother with helping her prepare.

“I was really proud of him for helping me with my homework because it wasn’t easy for me,” Evelyn said. “The last one, it was kind of hard, but I remember the answers from my homework.”

Brandon Bautista, 8, came in third in the competition, but he too got a trophy in the end.

He was confident going into the bee. “He told me, ‘I’m going to take it. I’m going to take it,’” said Brandon’s mother, Amanda Guzman.

During the bee, Brandon, who attends Harlem Success Academy 4, gestured to his mother in the audience. “He gave me the thumbs up,” Guzman, 24, said. “And the next one, he got it. I’m very proud.”

Sean Pena, who attends Harlem Success Academy 3, took second place.

The Success Charter Network began in 2006 with one location. Now, there are five academies in Harlem and two in the Bronx. Four of the schools participated in the math bee.

The network plans to open more public charter schools over the several years.

On Tuesday, The New York Times reported on recent math and reading scores from international student assessments that indicated a poor showing from the United States. The U.S. did better in other subjects, but when it came to math, the findings showed that the average scores of American students were below 30 other countries.

Evelyn Knapp, and Brandon Bautista are congratulated for winning the annual third-grade math bee at Harlem Success Academy 2 in East Harlem.

The schools try to teach students to be critical thinkers and to think of math as fun, Manley said. On some mornings, he is known to stand out in front of the building to greet students.

“Third graders have to answer a math fact in order to come in,” Manley said. “You think it would be a real downer for them, but they actually really get into it. They line up and they shout out the answers over each other and really get fired up.”

Manley said the “scholars,” the label that faculty uses to addresses the students, look forward to the math bee well in advance. Each school holds smaller classwide math bees and three students are chosen from each class to participate in the big event.

Every year, in the days and weeks leading up the large math bee, there is anticipation and excitement among the student body. For this event, the faculty spent time preparing the students to deal with the emotions of winning and losing beforehand.

And on this night, all students who made it into the competitive mate bee were winners. The top three got trophies, but all 50 students were given medals.

“Last year, we had a lot of tears,” Manley said. This time around, “we really wanted to speak to them about how much they have achieved. The fact that they didn’t even know any of these problems four months ago and how proud they should be of that.”

Columbia University’s sheltered fraternity row on West 114th Street between Amsterdam and Broadway was tense Tuesday, after New York City police staged a dawn raid to arrest five undergraduate students on charges that they sold ecstasy, marijuana, cocaine, LSD and Adderall from several fraternity houses and campus dorms.

Columbia frat boys shielded themselves from reporters as they entered the Alpha Epsilon Pi brownstone on West 114th Street. Photo by Carlos Mayorga/Northattan.

Along fraternity row, students rushed down the street, covered their faces with hoods and turned away or even cursed at reporters swarming outside the brownstone fraternity houses. As a Channel 2 news crew filmed outside one house, residents inside lowered all the blinds.

“It doesn’t surprise me,” said undergraduate student Mark Holloway of the drug bust.

“I want to feel bad for the kids. People here are smart,” said Columbia junior Lew Bibler, 20, who lives near the frat houses, reflecting the somber reaction of many students at the news swirled around campus. “I’m sure they’re good kids. College is expensive.”

The arrests marked the climax of “Operation Ivy League,” a five-month undercover narcotics investigation, in which police say they made 31 drug buys totaling $11,000 from Columbia students at Alpha Epsilon Pi, Pi Kappa Alpha and Psi Upsilon fraternities, as well as the Intercultural House and East Campus dorms.

Harrison David, 20, faces the most serious charges of the five students for his sale of cocaine, according to the Special Narcotics Prosecutor's Office. Photo courtesy of Facebook.com.

The arrested students, Harrison David, Adam Klein, Chris Coles and Jose Stephan Perez, all 20; and Michael Wymbs, 22, were arraigned this afternoon in Manhattan Criminal Court. All five pleaded not guilty, and bail was set for each. The Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office said Wymbs was released quickly when his parents arrived with a cashier’s check to post bail. The office said the other students would be sent to Riker’s Island jail Tuesday night if bail was not paid.

The operation also led to arrests of three people who police say supplied the students with drugs to sell on campus: Roberto Lagares, Megan Asper and Miron Sarzynski,. Sarzynski faces additional charges of plotting to kidnap a pair of rival cocaine traffickers.

Police said that in searching the five Columbia students’ rooms this morning, they found a bottle of LSD, 50 MDMA (ecstasy) tablets, 15 Adderall pills, more than half a pound of marijuana and approximately $2,000 cash.

New York City Police Detective Stephen Arienta said that Coles, who is charged with selling marijuana, told arresting officers this morning “I just sell it to pay tuition.” Arienta said David told the officers “Why do you think I have to do this,” that his father  “won’t pay my tuition.”

Adam Klein, 20, is accused of selling Altoids laced with LSD. Photo courtesy of Facebook.com.

Intelligence from other investigations and some community complaints called into Crimestoppers led to the initial investigation, said Kati Cornell of the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office. Cornell said that Operation Ivy League began with an investigation of David. A young undercover officer posed as a would-be distributor who wanted to sell drugs at another school outside of New York City. David referred the undercover officer to the other students, who also supplied the officer with drugs, according to Cornell.

An acquaintance of David, who declined to be identified, described him as a “low-key guy, subdued in a pothead kind of way.”

Another student who asked not to be identified said he knew Mike Wymbs as “a normal, likeble guy. The fact that he is very much a conventional Columbia kid who was probably preparing for finals when this happened underscores just how surreal the bust is.” Wymbs was also the former vice president of the School of Engineering’s student council.

Few students expressed surprise to hear of a campus drug bust. “It was common knowledge,” said Ashley, a resident of East Campus, of the students’ drug dealing on campus. “That’s gonna happen at any school.”

Columbia University reacted to the arrests with an official statement, noting that “the alleged behavior of the students involved in this incident goes against not only state and federal law, but also University policy and the principles we have set – and strive together to maintain – for our community.”

Jose Stephan Perez, a.k.a. Stephan Vincenzo, 20, one of the arrested, was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Photo courtesy of Pi Kappa Alpha.

Police said they arrested Lagares, one of the alleged drug suppliers, on Sunday afternoon in Bedford Stuyvesant. Sarzysnski and Asper were arrested on Oct. 27 in the East Village. Sarzynski had sold cocaine, LSD and DMT to undercover officers on multiple occasions and manufactured drugs in his apartment with the help of Asper, his girlfriend, according to the police charges.

Police said Sarzynski also attempted to hire an undercover policeman to kidnap rival cocaine traffickers whom he believed had stolen money from him. According to the Special Narcotics Prosecutor’s Office, Sarzynski told the undercover officer that he would shock the victims with a stun gun, hit them in the head and rob them. Police said he said, “Then I would have done something nasty like put a few drops of acid in his mouth and then leave him there.” Sarzynski also told the officer to kill the victims if no ransom money was provided.

“An ominous aspect of this investigation was the involvement of college students in the violent drug dealing business,” said Special Narcotics Prosecutor Bridget G. Brennan. “The students arrested today supplied dangerous substances to their friends and other students to turn a quick profit, but subjected themselves to risks, of which they were either ignorant or in denial. These students were playing with fire.”

Police Commissioner Raymond W. Kelly added, “The fact that a supplier to Columbia students was willing to kill his rivals should demolish any argument that drugs on campus is a victimless crime. This is no way to work your way through college.”

A rat lurking in a Manhattan subway track. Photo AP

Is Northattan’s famous Harlem the borough’s “rattiest” neighborhood?

It all depends on which one of three recent, decidedly unscientific, polls you want to believe.

Poll Number 1, unveiled in a press release from the pest control company d-CON, claimed that Harlem has stolen the title of Manhattan’s “rattiest” neighborhood from the Lower East Side.

D-Con based that conclusion on interviews with a mere 200 of Manhattan’s 1.6 million residents, and the company didn’t say how it chose those it interviewed.  Still, an impressive 24 percent of the d-CON respondents fingered Harlem as the Rat Capital, followed by the Lower East Side and Northattan’s Washington Heights.

Poll Number 2 comes from State Senator Bill Perkins of Harlem, who recently published Have You Seen a Rat Today?, another unscientific survey distributed to 15,000 residents through mail, email and in person at subway stations in Manhattan’s 30th senatorial district.  Nearly 90 percent of the 5,000 respondents who reported to Perkins said that they have seen a rat on a daily, or at least, weekly, basis in subway stations in the district.

That was hardly news to Harlem resident Jesus Vasquez.  “There are a lot of rats in the trains, but everybody knows that,” he said.  Vasquez said he’s battled his own rat problem in his apartment on 147th Street and Broadway, claiming victory after poison put the kibosh on the critters.

But do daily sightings of rats make Harlem Manhattan’s rattiest neighborhood?

Not according to Poll Number 3, this one from nyc.gov, which recently issued its annual rodent complaint report showing that the largest number of monthly rat complaints is actually in Manhattan’s Community Board 2 – which encompasses Greenwich Village, SoHo and other neighborhoods.  Harlem came in number two.

The city’s survey also found that many other neighborhoods in Manhattan are besieged by rats.  The City Health Department is combating the problem with new tactics: rather than large exterminating efforts, rodent infestations are pinpointed by canvassing areas with particular problems and  focusing efforts on them.

Some say Harlem’s rat problem can be directly attributed to the neighborhood’s constant construction.

“If you open up an area, the rats have nowhere to go so they’re going to run into other buildings for shelter,” said Rob, a construction worker at a site near the 125th Street number 1 subway line, who declined to give his last name.

When Senator Perkins released Have You Seen a Rat Today? he proposed a ban on eating and drinking on the subway, similar to policies enforced on Washington D.C.  and Chicago transit systems.

“What we know for sure is the rats are not growing the food they are eating, nor are they shopping at Whole Foods or McDonald’s,” Perkins said in an interview with The New York Times.

Perkins mailed the results of the survey to the Metropolitan Transportation Administration, urging the agency to make the rodent problem in city subways a priority.  To date, MTA has had no official response.

Marines talk to children receiving school supplies at the Primary School in Now Zad, Afghanistan. Photo courtesy of Jason Brezler.

Students from the Columbia SIPA Veterans Association (CVSA), at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, are holding the second annual School Supply Drive for children in Afghanistan hoping to crush last year’s bounty that yielded over 600 pounds of paper, notebooks, crayons and other school supplies.

A rotating team has been on guard and taking donations on the 4th floor of SIPA building since Nov. 8, and will be there until Nov. 24.

Jay Ross, an Army captain and SIPA graduate student, is the co-founder of the drive, which sponsors, a small farming village in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. “This town was pretty dilapidated because of the Taliban,” said Ross. Ross and fellow SIPA student, Rudy Rickner, had a Marine Civil Affairs officer as a contact on the ground in Afghanistan, who ensured that the mission was carried out, and the donations were delivered to the school.

Now Zad, once home to 30,000 people, had been deserted for nearly four years after the Taliban seized control of the village in 2005. Last December, 1,000 Marines and Afghan security forces launched an operation to regain control from the Taliban. Operation “Cobra’s Anger” was a success, allowing many of the villagers to return home and rekindle a sense of normalcy.

Those efforts to rid the Taliban have made it possible to open a school in Now Zad, however, with little money or support, the children lacked the proper supplies to equip them for the school year. That’s when SIPA students stepped up and lent a hand, kicking off an annual school supply drive, something they hope to maintain as long as there’s a need for the program.

“Last year we had everything from binders to pencils, books, paper. We ended up donating 600-pounds of supplies,” said Ross, also adding that they took in around $500 in cash donations, which they used to buy more supplies for the children at stores in New York. “This year we’re expecting even more. We’ve already been doing really well and we’ve collected a few hundred dollars in cash, too.” Ross added that several students from the school of General Studies are volunteering at the donation table this year, partly because of all the donations, and to extend the collection times.

Amber Griffiths, Veterans Benefits Counselor at Columbia University, Griffiths is also collecting donations in her office at Columbia’s Student Services.” From what I have seen, the veteran student population has a unique desire to help and make a difference in the world; precisely the reason they are willing to sacrifice so much,” she said. She says she is thrilled to be a part of the drive.

“Education, in my mind, is the single most valuable component to positive change within a community. It makes the difference,” said Griffiths, “I understand we are not solving the world’s problem with a school supplies drive, but I think if we have an opportunity to help a child, an opportunity which requires very little effort on our behalf by the way, how can we not?” she said.

Roughly 40 veterans are enrolled at the School of International and Public Affairs, and over 300 are in various schools across the university – over 50 at the School of General Studies alone. Many are drawn by the increased GI Bill benefits, which pay a generous portion of tuition and living expenses, as well as the Yellow Ribbon Program, where participating universities – including Columbia – match funds provided by the government.

Jay Ross graduates in the spring of 2011, and plans to move to return to Seattle to be with his fiancée. Ross said he hoped that incoming SIPA students will continue to provide supplies to children in Afghanistan, or develop future, need-based programs around the world.

A Good Shepherd School parent drops his son off at the school, which could close at the end of this academic year. Photo by Chiara Sottile/Northattan.

Ever since the Catholic Archdiocese of New York announced on Nov. 9 that Inwood’s Good Shepherd elementary school could be shut due to shrinking enrollment, Good Shepherd parents have been groping for ways to save it.

“I’m on the computer every day, between looking for work and this,” said parent and Good Shepherd alumna Regina Christoforatos, who has been unemployed for three months and has used some of her free time to launch the “Help us Help Good Shepherd School” Facebook page.

Christoforatos was among the huddle of gloomy-faced parents that gathered at the entrance to Good Shepherd one morning this week to wave goodbye to their kids and hand off multicolored backpacks.

“It is the only school in the neighborhood where we feel safe leaving our kids,” said parent Jackie Diaz-Solano. “The public schools around here are failing. What options do we have as parents?” she said, expressing her fear that the church will close the school at the end of this academic year.

The school’s pastor, Rev. Robert Abbatiello wrote in the church newsletter that, “Although many have already concluded that the school is closing, NO FINAL DECISION will be made until January.”

That has helped galvanize the Facebook effort by Christoforatos, which already has 275 supporters. “I have alumni from Alaska calling me asking how they can help,” she said.

“But we should have done more outreach and advertised the school more to the neighborhood. It’s been hinted for the past three years,” said Christoforatos. When enrollment fell to 120 students this year, Good Shepherd was “considered ‘at-risk.’”

When Christoforatos attended Good Shepherd as a child, there were over 1,000 students at the school, and she can’t remember a time when she’s seen its halls and classrooms so empty.

“I grew up in Inwood. My brothers went here,” said Christoforatos. “My sisters went here. The school instilled in us what we are today.” Her daughter, Zoe, is a first-grader at Good Shepherd. “If this place closes down, it’s going to be a hard thing to swallow,” she said.

Parent Dalba Castrillon organized a parent meeting “so people could get a chance to voice their opinion” and said, “we all feel pretty terrible about it.” When asked where she would send her children if Good Shepherd closes, Castrillon just shook her head silently.

Fran Davies, Associate Superintendent for Communications and Marketing for the Department of Education, said that changing demographics, competition with neighboring schools and tuition costs have led to the school’s dwindling enrollment. According to Davies, annual tuition is $3,588 for one child.

Inwood parent Maria Hutchinson has a five-year-old son who attends a public school just a few blocks away. Hutchinson says her son is a frequent victim of bullying at his school, but asks, “Who has money to spare for private school?”

Christoforatos said that in comparison with private schools, the tuition at Good Shepherd is reasonable, and scholarships help almost a quarter of the students cover costs. In return for the money, students study in small classes (10 per class, on average) and often get extra help from teachers.

“Zoe already cried about it,” said Christoforatos, referring to her daughter.  “She comes home and plays school. Her pre-K teacher has been there since I was there.”

“You just can’t find a better school,” said Diaz-Solano. “This neighborhood is really going to change if the school closes.”

Good Shepherd parents have also organized a letter-writing campaign and online petition. Parents and alumni will meet again on Nov. 22 at 7:30 p.m. in the school auditorium to discuss their next move to help the school.

Article updated Nov. 22. to correct Fran Davies’ title and the spelling of Dalba Castrillon’s name.

Columbia University cadets prepare the American flag to be raised on the flag poll at Low Library. Photo by Alex Luchsinger/Northattan

Dozens of military veterans, cadets and onlookers gathered Thursday to honor Veterans Day at the first color guard ceremony held on Columbia University’s campus in 40 years.

It was a small moment, but a significant one for military veterans on a campus that once boiled with anti-Vietnam War fever and has banned the military’s Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) since 1969.

“There are a few students who really worked diligently to bring this back to campus,” said Amber Griffiths, Veterans Benefits Counselor at Columbia University, as the color guard hoisted the American flag at Columbia’s Low library Thursday in honor of Veterans Day.  The color guard – consisting of six ROTC cadets and a non-commissioned officer – raised the flag to signal the start of the official duty of the day, or reveille.  This ceremony is conducted daily on military bases and postings throughout the world.  Several veterans, decked out in their service uniforms draped in medals, popped to attention and saluted the flag.

“It makes me proud to represent, not just that I’m a veteran, but I’m a Columbia veteran,” said Marco Reininger, President of the Columbia US Military Veterans and former Army Sergeant.

Columbia’s website describes a “long and storied history of partnership with the nation’s armed forces.” General Dwight D. Eisenhower, one of the university’s most famous graduates, served as Columbia president after he left the U.S. presidency. And ROTC was a campus fixture dating back to its origins in 1916; a plaque at Butler Library honors the 23,000 Navy midshipmen who trained at Columbia and later fought in World War II.

But the military’s ROTC program was thrown off Columbia and other Ivy League campuses around the country, following protests against the Vietnam War.

A movement to return ROTC to some of those campuses – including Columbia – began in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington. Advocates said the armed forces had long been misrepresented and portrayed in a negative light on campus, in part because of the absence of ROTC.

But several student, faculty and alumni efforts to restore ROTC have failed, largely because of the U.S. military’s continued “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that prohibits gay, lesbian or bisexual service members to disclose their sexual orientation.

After one failed effort in 2005, when the university Senate overwhelmingly rejected ROTC’s return, Columbia President Lee Bollinger said that the school’s nondiscrimination policy would be violated if ROTC training returned to campus but refused to accept openly gay or lesbian students.

“The university has an obligation, deeply rooted in the core values of an academic institution and in First Amendment principles, to protect its students from improper discrimination and humiliation,” Bollinger wrote in a letter to The Wall Street Journal.

The university points out that Columbia students can still participate in ROTC, but to do so they have to attend training at other New York City schools: St. Johns, Manhattan College or Fordham University.

John McClelland commanded the color guard ceremony Thursday.  He is a former Army Ranger and Columbia student, currently enrolled in an off-campus ROTC program through Fordham.  McClelland said he wants to see ROTC restored at Columbia, though.

“I think we need to invest in our military, even in spite of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell,’” he said. Columbia’s stance on “don’t ask, don’t tell” is a principled one, McClelland said, but he said he wished the university would use its influence to try to change the military’s policy. Without that change, “I don’t think [ROTC is] going to come back to Columbia’s campus,” he said.

Washington Heights in Northern Manhattan became a predominantly Greek neighborhood in the 1950s, when the largest Greek parish in the country settled there to attend the St. Spyridon Greek Orthodox Church.

Many of those families are gone now and replaced by Spanish-speaking ones.

But the small St. Spyridon Parochial School next to the church still requires its students to learn one of the world’s oldest languages. For Northattan Radio, Robin Respaut reports.