Protestors Fight To Keep Washington Heights School Small
To view our videos, you need to
enable JavaScript. Learn how.
install Adobe Flash 9 or above. Install now.
Then come back here and refresh the page.
Community leaders and parents protested Friday in Washington Heights to keep P.S. 173 operating only as an elementary school.
The Department of Education is considering putting a high school-level program in the school, which currently only houses kindergarten through fifth grade.
But protestors said they would rather see a pre-kindergarten program added.
Some say mayoral control of the schools is to blame.
"This is not about cost-saving, this is not about reducing class size. This is about a system where parents are not involved," said Manhattan Councilman Miguel Martinez. "Parents are not consulted, communities are ignored and the Board of Education makes their decision and they tell our community, 'This is what were going to do.' And that's wrong."
The Department of Education said the school is under-used, since enrollment numbers dropped. They also say other schools around the city house elementary and high schools in the same building with no problems.