SOS from LIC

Ken Achiron, the chapter leader at Long Island City HS in Queens, helps launch the “Take Your Cellphone to Lunch” day on Feb. 2, the first in a series of rolling actions at the school, one of the 33 “persistently lowest achieving” schools that the mayor threatened in January to close and remove half the staff. More than 60 educators and parents brought their phones to the teachers’ cafeteria and called 311 to tell the mayor to “support Long Island City HS, which has been making excellent progress under the ‘transformation’ plan,” Achiron said. The newly formed political action committee also began a “Love LIC Day” every Wednesday, in which the school community turns out in their LIC varsity team gear and T-shirts to show solidarity with their school. “If we all do a little, we will win” is their motto.