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St. Mel's in Flushing Sues T-Mobile

The families of St. Mel’s Church, which is located at 154-24 26th Ave.,have been asking  T-Mobile to remove its six cell phone antennas from the roof of the K-8 school.    The contract is not expected to expire for several years, and the towers were placed on the roof top of the school from late 2005 - 2006 without parents being notified.  The parents were unaware of how many towers actually were placed on the roof top until mid school year of 2006, there are 23 towers to date.

There have been many protests, petitions and complaints since last year with families actually removing their children from the school and the parents have received little to no response from the cell phone companies as to when the towers would be removed, if they would be at all.   

"St. Mel’s gets $56,000 a year in rent for the antennas, with 80 percent of the income going to the local church and the rest going to the diocese. The parish council had originally approved the installation because of the added income it generated, but failed to tell the parents."  Source: Zwire

There has been blatant disregard for the parents and for the school's well being from the cell phone companies.  They are unconcerned that this could be detrimental to the St. Mel's Parish.  If parents remove their kids from the school, there will not be means to operate.  T-Mobile is wrong for not removing the towers and finding a new spot to house the antennas.  The parents have made it known, loud and clear that the towers are not welcomed at the school.   

Rate My Teacher - Great site gains some recognition!

Are you smarter than a fifth grader?  I hate to admit it, but there were a few questions that  had me rethinking my original answer.   Watching the game show with my boys (13,7) made me realize that they ARE way smarter than I was at their age.  The things that my youngest son has learned are things that I think we were touching on in the fifth or sixth grade:  nouns, pronouns, adjectives and conjunctions are normal in his daily school regime.  I mention what my youngest is learning because those are subjects that I still have a grasp on.  As for my oldest, well - he left me in the dust somewhere around the 5th grade. 

This morning I was playing around and I stumbled upon a site that I quickly grew fond of, Rate My Teacher.  The rating system overall was good and the information provided was given by actual students, teachers or parents that attend the schools.  Its in real time.  I clicked on the Hall of Fame link and I was pleasantly surprised that Chaminade High School and Townsend Harris High School were within the top 10.  Bravo!

There were other schools that did indeed have alot of feedback, such as;

PS 41.

Nathaniel Hawthorne Middle School 74

PS 120 - Magnet School

PS 159.

Bayside High School

Francis Lewis High School

Holy Cross High School

St. Francis Prep.

This website will prove to become a great tool for parents and the more information that we can provide, the more knowledge we can gain.  I urge and stress that parents sign up and rate, rate, rate.  Signing up is quick and easy!  Let me know what you think!

Related articles:

Public Vs. Private with so many choices.. How do you pick the school?

Public Vs. Private with so many choices.. How do you pick the school?

                                                                    Elementary Schools in District #26

Elementary Schools in District #25

High Schools in District #26

High Schools in District #25

Catholic Schools in the 11357, 11358, 11364 and surrounding areas.

With my eldest son's pending 8th grade graduation, I was asked to write a letter about why I chose the school that I did.  While I will not repost the entire letter here, I will just give reasons why I chose a Catholic Private School as opposed to the Public Schools. 

I can remember when my oldest was going to be starting school.  My thoughts of him becoming a scholar were not any different than most of my friends hopes and dreams were for their children.  When they all chose to send their children to Public Schools, I chose the Catholic Private.  I knew that the financial end of things I would have to sacrifice somethings to allow him to go to the particular school that I wanted him to go to. 

When I went on my "interviews" , I knew the second I walked into St. Mel's that this would become his second home. It almost had nothing to do with the education that I was promised, but is was because of the comfort level that I got.  It was also about the foundation that he would gain.  I have to sadly admit that I am not a devout Catholic and I know less than my children do about Religion.  But, I wanted them to KNOW and understand more than I do. 

I am a strict mother.  I do not let things fly by me easy and most of the times I can claim I have "been there, DONE that".  I am harder on my kids than my husband is.  I wanted to know that when my children go to school they are expected to respect, listen and to do what is asked of them in and out of school.  I wanted my children to know that going to the Catholic Private was a privilege and something that I could take away should they not act in the way that they are expected to. 

It is not that I have anything against the Public Schools, in fact, the public schools in District 25 and 26 are fantastic.  Because I have never had my kids in any public schools ever, I can only go by what I have heard and what I have seen from the outside in.  I know that the public elementary schools are probably rated one of the highest in the districts.  But the Middle and High Schools are less than desirable.  NOW, let me again say that I don't know this for a fact, but this is what my peers tell me. 

So, with my sons pending graduation, he had a choice.  He could go to any school he wants to.  He has every door knocking with opportunity and he is in fact holding the key to his future.  After taking his High School entrance tests and scoring very high, combined with his 7th and 8th grade transcripts he had his pick to every school that he applied to.  He could even have his freedom and break free of the Catholic Private setting, should he want to do that.  When it came down for him to actually pick he chose a Private Catholic School.   

Great Schools.Net