NEW ROCHELLE, NY — The New Rochelle Fire Department inspected a classroom at the Barnard Early Childhood Center earlier today. They were there to investigate a complaint of a space heater being used to heat a classroom. The space heater was determined to be legally compliant because it was plugged directly into the wall but its use raises a larger question although fire officials have urged the District not to use space heaters, especially in older buildings like Barnard.
Several years ago the New Rochelle Board of Education approved a multi-million dollar deal with Honeywell to upgrade the HVAC systems in all New Rochelle public schools. So what happened? With millions borrowed and spent, why would frigid classroom temperatures be an issue?
A parent tells Talk of the Sound the space heater at Barnard is in use in a special needs classroom because the classroom has been without heat since December. The temperature is often between 50 and 58 degrees, and is especially cold in the morning and on days after a weekend or holiday.
The class consists of about 15 students, a teacher and staff. According to one parent, the youngsters spend the day bundled up in coats and other warm clothing.
There have been almost identical complaints about classrooms at Trinity Elementary School but for more of them and for far longer. PTA Members recently converged on a school board meeting at the school to raise their complaints.
At Trinity, the issues have been going on for years but have steadily gotten worse as equipment has broken down and become increasingly inadequate, said one parent. The problem is the “new wing” of the school which was built in 2001. Linda Kelly, the Superintendent at the time, refused to pay the balance for the work done because the work was not done properly but the building was put into use anyway despite the heating system being too small. Today, the vents blow cold air into classrooms and some rooms never have heat. It is a particular problem in the mornings, especially Monday.
The heating issues at Trinity impact the entire third grade and entire fifth grade, 16 classrooms housing about 400 kids.
Since 2001, some rooms have never had heat, some not for the last 5 years, others not for the last 3 years.
Teachers at Trinity have kids wear their coats and hats in the classroom. Sometimes, when it is particularly cold, classes are held in the hallway.
Several weeks ago, Columbus School was shut down and students sent home due to low temperatures at the school.
What many parents may not understand is that these issues are are Acts of Nature.
For many years, the State required Annual Visual Inspections were falsified. Conditions in New Rochelle school buildings have been far worse than reported for many years. Largely based on reporting by Talk of the Sound the true scope of the problem with the physical infrastructure has only recently begun to come to light. One knowledgeable source said the District may have to borrow $40 million dollars to repair the neglected infrastructure in the schools of which the heating system is a small part.
The buck passing on making needed repairs in the schools has been on for decades but has begun to reach critical mass.
John Quinn, the former Assistant Superintendent for Business Affairs, fired by the Board last June due to gross incompetence, advocated strenuously for the Honeywell contract which he claimed would pay for itself over several years. No effort has been made to run any calculations on the payback on the Honeywell deal. What we do know is that Honeywell farmed work out to local contractors who made a bundle of money, that two school district employees hauled in a massive amount of overtime and there are classrooms throughout the District that have little or no heat in the middle of winter.
Those employees were managed by John Gallagher of Aramark who was effectively “fired” by the District when a request was made to replace the entire Aramark management team due to corruption and incompetence. The entire Aramark management team working within the District was replaced.
The two District employees managed by Gallagher were Anthony Raffa and Michael Mattesi.
Raffa was recently suspended by the District after he was once again found not working while on District time. After he was suspended, security was called when Raffa showed up at City Hall and threatened a consultant from Aramark, the services company that manages the Buildings & Grounds department in New Rochelle schools. Raffa was featured in a video tape recorded and published by Talk of the Sound in which he is seen at Dunkin’ Donuts with James Bonanno, also suspended recently, and Phil Rosetti. The trio later claimed that they spent hours drinking coffee during a “strategy meeting” to discuss snow removal.
Mattesi, a mason, has, for years, been working “out of job title”, as a plumber with Raffa, a violation of the union contract with the District. Talk of the Sound has previously reported on Mattesi taking his work van home, a violation of District policy. The GPS tracking device on Mattesi’s work truck was disabled for several months, sources say. One source tells Talk of the Sound that when the GPS was finally fixed the mechanic observed the wire under the dashboard was cut. For years, Mattesi has reportedly parked his work truck at a residential location at 10 Westwood Avenue, his parents his house, then taken his personal vehicle to work on side jobs on District time. The GPS device was recently disabled once again. Mattesi also reportedly fabricates work orders to show there is demand for a full-time mason, even thought he is often working as a plumber.
Raffa and Mattesi are just a small part of the web of corruption in the New Rochelle schools through which millions of dollars has been stolen over the years.
The District has yet to provide answers to emailed questions about the heating issues in the schools; if they do we will update this story with those answers.