Williamsburg parents protest city’s plan to co-locate third school inside kids’ building
Some call plan ‘racist’
Parents, teachers and community members in a Hispanic section of Williamsburg say they are shocked and dismayed that the Department of Education (DOE) plans to “shoehorn” another middle school into their kids’ school building which already houses an elementary school and a middle school.
Hundreds at P.S. 196 and M.S. 582, at 207 Bushwick Ave., rallied in protest before a hearing Monday evening, calling the city’s plan outrageous and even racist. Roughly 80 percent of the students at the schools are Hispanic, while the rest are mostly black.
DOE claims the school building is “underutilized,” projected to serve about 650 students next year but with room for a thousand. But parents say that the city is not taking into account that a whopping 20-plus percent of students there require Special Education and occupational or physical therapy, and that squeezing in another 350 students would mean the elimination of science labs, gym time and other enrichment programs that help all their kids succeed.