By Mary Frost
Brooklyn Daily Eagle

BROOKLYN -- Parents and community leaders from two Brooklyn schools – P.S. 287 and the Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA) – came together on the steps of City Hall Wednesday afternoon to express their mutual outrage over the Department of Education’s plan to move KGIA into the building already occupied by P.S. 287.

Parents from both schools claim the DOE “disrespected� their communities by “unilaterally� deciding to move KGIA into P.S. 287 without consulting parents or community representatives first.

“The Department of Education told us, ‘We are the landlords,’� said Councilwoman Letitia James. “I guess what that means is we are the tenants.�

James said that both school communities were “fed up by the DOE’s lack of transparency when moving schools into the same building. I discovered KGIA was moving to P.S. 287 after the fact. Parents found out about it through the newspaper.�

P.S. 287, located at 50 Navy St., currently shares space with a high school, the Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice. In September, however, Law and Justice will be moving into the renovated Family Court Building on Adams Street.

KGIA, an Arabic-themed school that will eventually run from grades 6-12, now shares space with two other upper schools in Boerum Hill.

Safety Called a Concern

Parents at P.S. 287 say that the safety of their young children is a major concern. PTA President Edgardo Rivera said parents at P.S. 287 have always been unhappy sharing space with a high school, but put up with it because the DOE told them that the high school would be housed there for just one year. Instead, the high school has been there for four years.

“High school children and elementary children do not mix,� he said. “When you see a small child caught up in a herd of high school kids -- high school students will be high school students. This is the age where they do what they’re not supposed to be doing.�

A Done Deal?

But other speakers emphasized that they were even more upset that the DOE did not give their communities any say in the decision. Rev. Mark Taylor, from Fort Greene’s Church of the Open Door, told the crowd, “This process is deeply flawed to the point of failure. The Church of the Open Door has 700 members. We were never consulted. Was there a day when the Department of Education reached out?�

He called on Mayor Bloomberg to reverse the DOE’s decision. “Nothing is a done deal – everything human can be reversed.�

Other speakers included Ed Brown of the Ingersoll Tenants Association, Debra Stuart of the Farragut Housing Tenants Association, Mona Eldahry from Communities in Support of KGIA, David Bloomfield of the Citywide Council of High Schools and Councilmember Charles Barron.

KGIA: ‘Significant’ Cutbacks and Neglect

KGIA parents expressed concern about the distance their students will have to travel, and about what they perceive as a general lack of support from the DOE.

Pomposa Peña, PTA president at KGIA, spoke in Spanish. A translation provided after her speech said that KGIA parents “were not involved in the decision to move the school and believe it will contribute to more instability in the school community.� She also said that parents were concerned about other issues as well, including KGIA’s limited access to parents, a lack of resources for special needs students, and a significant cutback in Arabic language and cultural studies.

“I and many other parents are planning to transfer our kids to other schools at the end of this school year if the Department of Education continues to neglect KGIA, but we do not want to leave the school,� she said.

DOE Says It Can Work

DOE spokesperson Melody Meyer has disputed P.S. 287’s space concerns. “There is enough space in the school, and the space is outfitted to serve middle and high school students,� she recently told the Brooklyn Eagle.

On Wednesday, Meyers said that there are many successful elementary/high school collaborations across the city, pointing out P.S. 40, George W. Carver School on Ralph Avenue as one example. P.S. 40 shares space with a new high school, the Gotham Professional Arts Academy, which opened its doors this past September. A call to the school was not returned by press time.

pict
Pomposa Peña, PTA president at Khalil Gibran International Academy and P.S. 287 PTA President Edgardo Rivera spoke at a City Hall rally Wednesday to express their mutual outrage over the NYC Department of Education’s plan to move KGIA into the building already occupied by P.S. 287. Behind Mr. Rivera is Rev. Mark Taylor, from Fort Greene’s Church of the Open Door.
Eagle photo by Mary Frost

© Brooklyn Daily Eagle 2008 All materials posted on BrooklynEagle.com are protected by United States copyright law. Just a reminder, though -- It’s not considered polite to paste the entire story on your blog. Most blogs post a summary or the first paragraph,( 40 words) then post a link to the rest of the story. That helps increase click-throughs for everyone, and minimizes copyright issues. So please keep posting, but not the entire article. arturc at att.net