A Brave New World at P.S. 247
by Tom Kertes

‘Technology evens the playing field’ is the simple, but important tenet Brooklyn’s District 20 Superintendent,Vincent Grippo, does business by.

“We grow by 600 students each year,” he said in his introductory comments at New York’s “Best Practices in Education” conference held in Brooklyn. “Our population speaks 64 languages, the most in any New York district. Forty-to-50 percent of them speak English as a second language. Half of our students qualify for free lunch,” he continued. “So our task is not easy. But, I figure, if technology and great teachers are good enough for the rich, we’ll impose them on the poor.”

Nearly a dozen conference participants, including Grippo and Ninfa Segarra, then Board member, now President of the Board, visited Bensonhurst’s PS 247, the District’s prize school, to see how far technology goes to help education.

“There is no question that our teachers—always unbelievably enthusiastic and committed—are our main asset,” Principal Kathy LeDonni said. “But technology really helps us to reach our goals which are extremely high.”

Indeed, PS 247, a K-5 school of nearly 700 students, is an exceptional place of learning. “At the end of the day, most of our boys and girls don’t want to go home,” said LeDonni, who knows every student by name.

The school was recently given the New York State Title I Distinguished School award, bestowed upon schools that meet certain strict standards of achievement. As visitors walked the halls, they looked into richly decorated and classrooms with busy students. The fourth grade was equipped with 40 laptop computers on mobile carts, with wireless internet access.

“This year alone, our kids employed technology to research immigration, New York City, endangered species, the Olympic games, and their favorite authors,” LeDonni said.

“This is all quite amazing,” commented Segarra. “It’s exciting to see the students this involved and advanced. This school is quite an example of what is the very best in public education.”

Still, the highlight of the visit was the school’s electronic music lab, replete with four computers and 16 Casio keyboards. They are connected to Maria Sanzone’s teacher center, a keyboard, a controller and a computer, from which she conducts every “performance.” No matter how rudimentary their knowledge, kids get tremendous “instant gratification” with every note, with the computers making them sound like a full orchestra. This, in turn, makes them want to learn even more music.

“We are very fortunate to have all this technology at our disposal,” Sanzone said. “It opens an entire new world to the children. And it’s a wonderful world.”

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