Coalition School Community Expresses Concern Over Move To East Harlem
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Parents, students, and faculty gathered Thursday night to express dismay with the Department of Education's decision to move one school from Midtown to East Harlem. NY1's Rebecca Spitz filed the following report. When the academic year ends, students in one Manhattan high school will not just be saying goodbye to each other, but to the building where they've learned for years. In September, The Coalition High School is relocating from West 58th Midtown to 120th Street and First Avenue in East Harlem.
"I don't think it's fair," said one student. "We're going to move to a place that we don't want to."
Coalition High School and Landmark High School have shared the building on 58th Street for 15 years, but the lease is up – forcing the Department of Education to find new spots.
Landmark is moving to a school on West 18th Street, while Coalition will share a school building in East Harlem. The DOE describes it as the best and only option, saying:
"We have conducted an extensive search for space, and M45 is currently the only school building in Manhattan with the capacity to accommodate a 450-seat high school."
However, the news is not sitting well with the Coalition community, particularly parents who say they only heard about the new location last week.
Parents, students, and teachers gathered in the school cafeteria Thursday evening and voiced their concerns to the DOE representatives who were in attendance.
"This is outrageous," said one parent. "It's really a disgrace. This term 'No Child Left Behind ' is bogus, because you're leaving 450 kids behind."
As for safety concerns in the new neighborhood, police statistics actually show that there were fewer crimes reported last year in that precinct compared with the current one.
Many students who live in Washington Heights and Inwood said they were worried about the commute to school.
"It's going to be a long ride to get down there, especially if we have to take trains and buses," said a student. "It's very far away."
"I can't do that long commute every morning," said another. "I can't do that."
The Department of Education is sticking with the plan. But officials are promising to talk with parents interested in learning more about their kids' options.
The DOE says that meeting will happen in the next few weeks.