My GED Hotline GED Practice Test

There was definitely hostility against the immigrants (mention of Salvadoran gangs). More than one person spoke about the gangs and community activists that they say prevent the police from profiling the immigrants (a certain reverend was mentioned twice). That message was strong, loud and clear. There were many suggestions, including getting the children into the Boy Scouts, getting residents involved in patrolling their blocks, demanding accountability from the police as they beef up more police resources in the next thirty days and after things calm down, and bringing the police into schools. People were talking about drug deals, graffiti done by gangs, scaring business people on Fifth Avenue, and the conditions around Timberline Park where people were shot and killed nearby.

From an educational point of view, I privately told people that we have to get the drug sales out of the schools (this is happening everywhere). I told the audience about Hasidic-Latino principal Shimon Waronker, who I met in Chancellor Klein's meeting last year, was given one of the most dangerous assignments in the City of New York. As Mr. Waronker was entering the school for the first time, police arrested a student. These are critical things about the skills he possessed to turn the school around. The New York Times wrote, "For many students and parents, the real surprise was that like them, Mr. Waronker speaks Spanish; he grew up in South America, the son of a Chilean mother and an American father, and when he moved to Maryland at age 11, he spoke no English.
“I was like, ‘You speak Spanish?’ ” recalled Nathalie Reyes, 12, dropping her jaw at the memory.
He also has a background in the military. Mr. Waronker joined R.O.T.C. during college and served on active duty for two years, including six months studying tactical intelligence. After becoming an increasingly observant Jew, he began studying at a yeshiva, thinking he was leaving his military training behind."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKnRumG-GME Shimon Waronker turns JHS 22 around.

Other items that I was able to bring to the attention of people include: Central Falls, Rhode Island has had a curfew. This is the town that has been in the news for closing the school and firing the entire staff. In Albany, officials are finding jobs for gang members to wean them away from gang activities. I told people that we have to mobilize the youth toward the GED, practice testing hundreds at a time and then finding the resources to get them to the nearest test center that may be many miles away. We have to look outside the district to see how other communities are doing to reduce gang activities and violence.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzs-JIhphSQ Alphonso Bonilla of Rikers' Correctional Facility (Christian Ministry).
I was shocked to hear that children are getting beaten up in or near the school and are going to the nurse for help. People mentioned the high teen pregnancy in Brentwood, which may be higher than I thought. I was upset to hear parents protest the fact that speaking Spanish was required to order food in fast food restaurants (this did not belong in the discussion). Elements of the community have to be calmed down as progress is made at improving conditions. I was not shocked to learn about the fear in the schools, fear exists in a high percentage of schools. Some pointed out that Brentwood is being mentioned with Wyandanch, Amityville, and other neighborhoods.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OO-RPeHynk Sean Bell's father.
Brentwood school performance from my articles shows the following data "Out of 60 high schools in Suffolk County, there are 4 high schools with a lower than 70% graduation rate and those schools are Brentwood, Central Islip, William Floyd, and Wyandanch. In Nassau, Freeport, Hempstead, Roosevelt, Regents diplomas under 70 % include the following high schools: Brentwood. In Nassau, Roosevelt, Westbury, Hempstead. Enrollment in college under 40% Brentwood, Central Islip, Copaigue, William Floyd, and Wyandanch.. Cold Spring Harbor has a 91% rate. In Nassau, Westbury 37%, Roosevelt 30%, Freeport 33%, Hempstead 39%. East Williston has a 96% enrollment rate."

I provided this information to hundreds of community organizations and people in Suffolk County. Now the truth is out and hopefully things will only get better. My work has been ignored by the schools mentioned, but change is in the wind and I thank 600 people who cared enough to come out to make a difference. One last thing, when you take into the account the low performance in the schools and the almost definite shortage of GED diplomas by dropouts and new community residents, the picture becomes much worse.

MARTIN N. DANENBERG
7 BLAZER DRIVE
ISLANDIA, NEW YORK 11749
631-348-1341
GEDHOTLINE@AOL.COM
New:
www.mygedhotline.com