Title: Special Education Teacher and Site Coordinator
Favorite BPC Spot: Rockefeller Park / “The Real World” Sculptures
Liz Goldstein has served Battery Park City for five years through her work as a special education teacher at P226M. Located in Stuyvesant High School, P226M is part of the Department of Education’s District 75, comprised of 57 schools across the five boroughs providing functional and instructional support for students with disabilities.
While P226M serves students from Pre-K through age 21, Liz specifically works with students aged 18 to 21 in the school’s Office of Transition Services. There, students earn a Skills and Achievement Certificate in lieu of a high school diploma while continuing to receive an extended education and work-readiness training.
It was on walks with her students through the parks and public spaces of Battery Park City that Liz first struck up conversations with BPC Parks staff; this in turn led to a formalized program with BPCA through its Director of Community Partnerships and Engagement, Abby Ehrlich. As a result, P226M students soon began working with BPCA’s horticulture team, and have continued to branch out into different parks functions ever since.
Now in its fifth semester, Liz’s students work closely with all level of Parks staff to learn the fundamentals of horticulture and maintenance work – and for that Liz attributes the dedicated care and attention lent by Parks Operations Director Bruno Pomponio, Horticulture Director Anne O’Neill, and their staffs. Program trainees receive hands-on, step-by-step mentoring in their daily tasks along with a detailed lesson plan about future workdays. Each trainee receives work boots, work gloves, and increased levels of responsibility as they progress through the program. And earlier this year, the program marked an important milestone as Saladin Jones (pictured) became the first trainee to be hired BPCA.
In providing her students the chance to gain real-world work experience and helping bridge them into adult employment, this partnership is extremely meaningful one for Liz. And like any good partnership, the appreciation runs both ways – BPCA staff mentors appreciate the students’ dedication, determination, friendliness, and professionalism, frequently expressing gratitude to Liz and the young adults whose lives she helps mold.
“It is the highlight of our week when we get to work with our mentors at Battery Park City,” says Liz.
And from all of us here at BPCA: The pleasure is ours.
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