Two-and-a-half months after the city schools chancellor appointed an independent administrator to salvage ailing public school 64 in Morrisania, reform efforts are still hampered by a long-standing political battle.
On Feb. 1, Chancellor Ramon Cortines brought in Felix Polanco, an assistant principal in Manhattan, giving him five months to address issues that have plagued the school.
While his mission is to improve test scores, at least half of Polanco's job has been like that of a therapist presiding over a family in a particularly nasty divorce. The main conflict lies between the president of the school board and a leader of a community group solicited to increase parental involvement in the school.
In the interest of harmony, Polanco recently asked the community leader, the Rev. Patrick Hennessy of Christ the King Roman Catholic Church in Morrisania, not to attend a meeting on the school. But the group, South Bronx Churches, has refused to meet without him.
As the adults squabble, third- through sixth-graders continue to attend the school.
For the last five years, P.S. 64 has ranked among the most academically dismal schools in the state. Last year, only 16 percent of its 870 pupils read at grade level; only 29 percent scored at grade level in math.
On one side of the feud is the South Bronx Churches, a powerful group of 35 congregations that has worked for changes in the South Bronx. The group, which opened an alternative high school in 1993, has pushed for more parental involvement at P.S. 64 as well other schools in the district.
On the other side is School Board President Carmelo Saez Jr., a 17-year veteran of the board who was removed in 1992 in a corruption scandal but was re-elected the following year. He opposes the churches' involvement, saying they have no legitimate concern.
"How are you going to beat the church?" Saez said. "In a community like this they'll say you're anti-God. I'm not anti-God. I'm anti-Father Hennessy. He's a fool."
Hennessy responded: "I'm not interested in throwing mud at anybody. I'm just interested in trying to help the parents negotiate with the school and demand what really, by rights, is theirs."
Members of South Bronx Churches refuse to attend meetings without Hennessy.
"The reality is Father Hennessy is a part of our team, and will continue to be part of our team," said Marvin Calloway, an associate organizer with the group.
In frustration, Raymond Domanico -- head of the Public Education Association, which monitors public schools, and the man who solicited the church group on behalf of Cortines -- wrote to Cortines two weeks ago, asking for clarification on how South Bronx Churches can participate.
"I did not think it would be subject to his clearing who could and could not come to meetings," Domanico said of Polanco. "He's made what I think is a poor decision."
Polanco would not speak without prior approval from the central school board, which hadn't been granted when The Bronx Beat went to press.