Parents Protest School's Expansion In Building That Houses Three Others
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Parents of students who attend the Talented and Gifted school in Harlem protested on the steps of the Department of Education Tuesday over a proposed expansion of one of the three other schools that shares the same building. NY1’s Lindsey Christ filed the following report.Sharing isn’t easy—just ask the 701 city schools that share their buildings with at least one other school.
One building in East Harlem houses four schools. Now, the middle school, Esperanza Preparatory Academy, wants to expand to include a high school.
The parents at one of the other schools are fighting back. Early Tuesday morning, they protested on the steps of the Department of Education.
“I am really concerned about the overcrowding, the lack of facilities,” said Flora Huang, a parent of a student at the Talented and Gifted school.
That school, otherwise known as TAG, is one of three in Manhattan that accepts students from across the city who score in the top three percent on the gifted and talented test. But while TAG serves mostly black and Hispanic students, the other two gifted schools serve mostly white and Asian students.
The DOE is supporting Esperanza's bid to expand, and TAG parents say their school is getting a bad deal again.
“It's only TAG that is frequently required to function with less and do with less than the other city-wides, and we’re the only school that has the most diversity,” said Melissa Minchala, a TAG parent.
But compared to the middle school it shares space with, TAG students are relatively privileged.
While 63 percent of TAG students live below the poverty line, 92 percent of the students at Esperanza are classified as poor. Twenty-three percent of Esperanza students are learning English and 40 percent have special education needs. There are no English Language Learners at TAG, and only one percent of students require special ed.
The principal at Esperanza told NY1 she wants to expand to include a high school so that students can have more time to complete the schools' Dual Language program, where they learn in both English and Spanish.
The TAG parents say there is just no room.
“Our kindergarten students each lunch at 10 a.m., so if they expand, I don’t know what time they’re going to eat,” said Huang.
“We're always getting slighted,” said Minchala.
There is a hearing Wednesday night on the proposal, and the Panel for Educational Policy will vote on whether to approve it next week.