We had a lot of fires set by students in our school.  The joke was that the firefighters should have been given time cards to punch in because they were regular visitors to our school because of all the fires.  You could not put up bulletin boards or decorations because the papers would be burned.  The picture below was a fire that was set in the Teacher's Room.

"Today's evacuation fo the building was well done. It was marred by a number of children throwing snowballs who interfered with the fire department."

"I.S. 218 sat on the corner of Fountain and Blake about twenty blocks from Lloyd's home in the heart of East New York.  It was a hazardous walk for a kid, even one as street-smart as Lloyd.  It was even more hazardous for the ones who weren't as streetwise, for the kids who had to walk past the Cypress Houses, the Pink Houses and Linden Plaza-housing projects once built in an effort to provide shelter for the poor and underprivileged, but now all but forgotten worlds, seen but unseen.  Left to the drug dealers and to their clientele." from Sweet'Pea and Other Playground Legends." A story about basketball player Lloyd Daniels.

East New York - Brooklyn

My 32 years in East New York was quite an ordeal.  I saw and experienced a great deal.

* a man shot to death right in front of my school

* a car being stripped behind the school by two different teams of car strippers

* drugs being dealt at a house across the street from school & undercover police using my room as a surveillance spot

* drive by shootings

* a bullet hole in the window and wall of my library

* prostitutes plying their trade on the school block

* teachers being led out of our school in handcuffs

* packs of wild dogs chasing after cars

"Situated in Brooklyn's Community School District 19, described as one of the toughest and poorest areas in New York City....  The district's crime rate has been described as devastatingly high." Maureen Wickersham

Newspaper Stories I collected about our students and teachers:

"Indict 5 Teenagers in Killing of 3 Elderly Men"

"Nab Suspects in 27 Holdups"

"Youth Slain in IRT Holdup"

"Three Hurt in Battle at Playground"

"School Administrator Attacked by Gang" (Our principal attacked during school hours)

"Schools Are Halls of Fear" (My school led city in attacks on teachers)

"Say teacher molested boys"

"Brooklyn Teen Slain on Street"

"School sex-abuse probe uncovers city's Dirty LIttle Secret" (another of our teachers)

"Shots ring out as Mayor speaks" (across the street from our school)

"Streets of Death"

"Zodiac Suspect Nabbed" (one of our former students)

"Goodbye, Mr. Chips" (Ex-Teacher sentenced in poker operation)

From letter to staff: "I am asking that all faculty members refrain from going to the store located across from the school.  This is a known drug area and the police are in constant surveillance."

"City Repairing a School It Plans to Tear Down"

Death Wish 3.  This movie was partly filmed in East New York in 1985.  We saw them filming the movie.  There are street inaccuracies portrayed in the movie.  They have the right names of the streets but they do not intersect as mentioned in the movie.

Riddick "Big Daddy" Bowe, the Heavyweight Boxing Champion of the World was a student in one of the schools where I taught. He did come back to the school to visit us.

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Highlights of My Career

* My students giving me with a Teacher of the Year trophy

* My library squad awarding me a plaque

* Winning two city championships in track (back to back with 2 different schools)

*Being awarded two coaching plaques

*Being presented with six Teacher of the Year awards in three different schools

I am very proud that many of my former students went on to become successful in the careers they pursued. 

The Career of
Cybrary Man