NYguy
January 11th, 2004, 01:19 PM
DAILY NEWS...
Boros run through it
Franklin Lane HS in B'klyn - & Queens
By NICOLE BODE
Sitting on line between boroughs means police from Brooklyn precinct patrol inside of Franklin K. Lane High School at 999 Jamaica Ave., while Queens precinct officers are responsible for outside.
More than 70 years after Franklin K. Lane High School was constructed on Jamaica Ave., finding the massive building is no problem. But determining which borough it belongs to is another story.
The problem is, Lane is right on the border between Woodhaven, Queens, and Cypress Hills, Brooklyn - leaving generations of administrators and city officials at a loss for how to classify it.
"It's probably one of the few schools like that. It's a really unique situation," said Paul Pedota, who was principal from 1998 to 2003. The line dividing the boroughs ran right through his old office.
Until the massive school restructuring plan tossed out the old classifications last fall, Lane belonged to the now-defunct Confederation of Queens High Schools. In fact, it still appears on the Queens high school map on the Department of Education Web site. It is currently part of Division 5, which includes schools in Brooklyn and Queens.
But the school's zip code - 11218 - belongs to Brooklyn, which is why Lane was classified as a Brooklyn school when it landed on the list of the city's 12 most dangerous high schools last week.
"Historically, it has always been associated with Queens. The only reason it's classified as a Brooklyn school on our Web site is because of the zip code," said Paul Rose, a spokesman for the Department of Education. "It's the same school - same everything."
Even some of the confusion has remained the same, administrators say.
For one thing, there's the division in police responsibility that stems from being on both sides of the border.
The inside of the building is the responsibility of NYPD's 75th Precinct in East New York, but the outside of the building is overseen by Queens' 104th Precinct in Ridgewood, according to Pedota and current administrators.
"It's very hard to divide jurisdictional oversight," said a current administrator, who asked not to be named. "That also added to a lot of confusion at the school."
In addition, the dividing line makes for a mixed pool of students. In years past, the majority of students came to Lane from the higher-achieving Queens feeder schools. But over time, the school has been fielding greater numbers of Brooklyn students - who often arrive with lower reading levels, according to one veteran administrator, who asked not to be named.
The official breakdown of the more than 3,000 current students was not immediately available from the Department of Education, but school personnel estimated that approximately 80% of the students come from Brooklyn and the rest from Queens and other boroughs.
But principal Frank Barone, who took the reins this year, said as far as he's concerned, the borders underneath the school shouldn't affect what happens inside it.
"As far as funding and staff and everything else, it makes no difference at all," he said.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/674-boros450.JPG
Sitting on line between boroughs means police from Brooklyn precinct patrol inside of Franklin K. Lane High School at 999 Jamaica Ave., while Queens precinct officers are responsible for outside.
Boros run through it
Franklin Lane HS in B'klyn - & Queens
By NICOLE BODE
Sitting on line between boroughs means police from Brooklyn precinct patrol inside of Franklin K. Lane High School at 999 Jamaica Ave., while Queens precinct officers are responsible for outside.
More than 70 years after Franklin K. Lane High School was constructed on Jamaica Ave., finding the massive building is no problem. But determining which borough it belongs to is another story.
The problem is, Lane is right on the border between Woodhaven, Queens, and Cypress Hills, Brooklyn - leaving generations of administrators and city officials at a loss for how to classify it.
"It's probably one of the few schools like that. It's a really unique situation," said Paul Pedota, who was principal from 1998 to 2003. The line dividing the boroughs ran right through his old office.
Until the massive school restructuring plan tossed out the old classifications last fall, Lane belonged to the now-defunct Confederation of Queens High Schools. In fact, it still appears on the Queens high school map on the Department of Education Web site. It is currently part of Division 5, which includes schools in Brooklyn and Queens.
But the school's zip code - 11218 - belongs to Brooklyn, which is why Lane was classified as a Brooklyn school when it landed on the list of the city's 12 most dangerous high schools last week.
"Historically, it has always been associated with Queens. The only reason it's classified as a Brooklyn school on our Web site is because of the zip code," said Paul Rose, a spokesman for the Department of Education. "It's the same school - same everything."
Even some of the confusion has remained the same, administrators say.
For one thing, there's the division in police responsibility that stems from being on both sides of the border.
The inside of the building is the responsibility of NYPD's 75th Precinct in East New York, but the outside of the building is overseen by Queens' 104th Precinct in Ridgewood, according to Pedota and current administrators.
"It's very hard to divide jurisdictional oversight," said a current administrator, who asked not to be named. "That also added to a lot of confusion at the school."
In addition, the dividing line makes for a mixed pool of students. In years past, the majority of students came to Lane from the higher-achieving Queens feeder schools. But over time, the school has been fielding greater numbers of Brooklyn students - who often arrive with lower reading levels, according to one veteran administrator, who asked not to be named.
The official breakdown of the more than 3,000 current students was not immediately available from the Department of Education, but school personnel estimated that approximately 80% of the students come from Brooklyn and the rest from Queens and other boroughs.
But principal Frank Barone, who took the reins this year, said as far as he's concerned, the borders underneath the school shouldn't affect what happens inside it.
"As far as funding and staff and everything else, it makes no difference at all," he said.
http://www.nydailynews.com/ips_rich_content/674-boros450.JPG
Sitting on line between boroughs means police from Brooklyn precinct patrol inside of Franklin K. Lane High School at 999 Jamaica Ave., while Queens precinct officers are responsible for outside.