Proposed Bronx charter school to offer chess and fencing

Here's a story from this week's Riverdale Review.

By MIAWLING LAM

CHILDREN as young as five will learn fencing, chess, attend school on Saturdays and be given a rigorous, back-to-basics education at a new elementary charter school proposed for The Bronx.

Yes the Bronx chairman and Riverdale Senior Services board member Alec Diacou unveiled plans to open the Rosalyn Yalow Academy Charter School at last week’s Community Board 8 education committee meeting.

The school, which has yet to be sited, will open with at least 224 K-2 students in fall 2013 and grow by a grade each year before eventually expanding to a K-6 school serving at least 448 kids.

Officials said they ultimately plan to seek approval to add grades seven and eight, thereby making it an elementary and middle school serving District 10 students.

Diacou, a former Community Board 8 budget chairman, said the school would institute a gifted model and focus on the traditional and classical subjects of English, math, the arts, foreign language, history and geography.

The school will also partner with the Kasparov Chess Foundation to institute a chess program, with Bronx Arts Ensemble to roll out a music curriculum and with former Olympian fencing champions to train students in the combat sport.

“The whole purpose of the school is to provide excellence in education, to raise the kids’ standards so that kids are prepared to go onto specialized high schools and four-year colleges,” Diacou said.

“And the key to doing that for any children from here, or anywhere else, is a good early childhood education and that’s what we are trying to do.”

This week's Riverdale Review and Bronx Press

As always, here are the stories in this week's (Feb. 9 - Feb. 15) issues of the Riverdale Review and Bronx Press.

* Progress on long-stalled apartment tower > Tulfan Terrace is finally set for completion in January 2013, according to its mortgage owner
* Oregano, eagerly anticipated Johnson Ave. eatery, welcomes new chef > Claude Alain Solliard replaces Ricardo Cardona as Oregano Bar & Bistro's executive chef
* Board okays controversial skate rink > CB8 votes 20-4, with six abstentions, to support a plan to install a skating rink in Van Cortlandt Park
* Residents may be charged for parking inconvenience > Residents along Waldo Ave. may have to pay to park in Manhattan College's garage while the school builds its new student center
* Community leader offers vision for rigorous new charter school > Yes the Bronx chairman Alex Diacou unveils plans to open the Rosalyn Yalow Academy Charter School
* Renewed pleas for neighborhood slow zone on Independence Ave. > A plan to introduce a neighborhood slow zone outside two of Riverdale's public schools is expected to gather momentum after a 54-year-old female pedestrian was struck while crossing the street
* Plans to posthumously honor educator and community leader Debbie Bowden > CB8 members propose renaming the P.S. 24 library in memory of Bowden
* Local home invasion robbery foiled > Authorities arrest two men during an attempted drug-related home invasion in Kingsbridge last week
* Bronx politician calls for transferable Muni-Meter time > Councilman James Vacca introduces legislation to allow drivers to use unexpired Muni-Meter time to park anywhere in the city without fear of being ticketed.

Also in the Bronx Press:
* The Bronx wins battle for FreshDirect > Online grocer FreshDirect announces it will build its new headquarters at the Harlem River Yards, thanks to a $130 million sweetener from state and city officials
* City Island school is awarded landmark status > P.S. 102, which was later renamed P.S. 17, added to the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission's register of historic places
* Growers weeded out in Van Nest pot bust > Police remove nearly 800 marijuana plants after raiding a five-story apartment building in Van Nest

This week in the Riverdale Review and Bronx Press

So, this is my (Brendan) last week at the Bronx Press and Riverdale Review. It's been a wonderful 18 months, and most wonderful were the last few when I was blogging as well. I thank all of you for your comments, tips and suggestions (and most of all, your page views!). We had almost 7,000 page views in the month of January, up from less than 1,000 in the first month I started.

Every Bronx Press and Riverdale Review my
byline has appeared in since Sept. 1, 2010.

I leave you in the capable hands of Miawling Lam, our associate editor here at the paper (Her recent post on the Lehman HS protest holds the record for the most page views, so I'd say you'll be fine!)

So, as always, and for my last time, here are the stories appearing in this week's editions (Feb. 2-8) of the Riverdale Review and Bronx Press:

Adjoining board rejects 'dinky rink' plan
Taxpayers to foot $8 million bill for new Henry Hudson Parkway signage
Further setbacks for Memorial Grove restoration
Redistricting plan puts Riverdale in one state Senate district
Charter school expansion given green light despite community opposition
Community mourns loss of Debbie Bowden
Bronx Arts Ensemble premiers work by local Riverdalian composer
Bx7 buses to run more frequently
Local elected officials lobby city to repair pothole-ridden streets
'Rooftop Revolution' could surge solar power in Bronx schools by Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer
New honor bestowed on local landmark

Also, in the Bronx Press:
Desperate effort to save Lehman HS from city ax
Redistricting plans proposed by legislature
MTA changes 12 Bronx bus routes
Boyfriend charged in Wakefield child's death