With people in the community feuding over their children’s education, schooling seems to have become a competition as opposed to a privilege. A space in a school building called the Jackie Robinson Complex is up for grabs which has caused a division between parents and the schools. One side feels they deserve the spot while the other appears to be the school that will be allowed to occupy it.
The East Harlem Scholars Academy and Central Park East I and II are the schools involved. Central Park East I is located in the building but they were hoping to occupy the space available to expand its program and they believe they should have gotten it since they’ve been asking for a spot for about 4 years. On the other hand the East Harlem Scholars Academy is investing $40 million in private money and with a March 11th meeting with Community Board 11’s Youth and Education Committee; it would appear that they will likely be granted the opportunity so they can expand their program. Is education becoming a “bidding” war or granted to who invests the most money? Or it might be that charter schools are filling the void where some people might say some public schools have failed. Are more public schools going to phase out and be replaced with Charters? Parents from both sides might not see eye to eye and after the hearing on March 11th it will be interesting to see how both sides react even though there might not be any real winners.
Aaron Ferrer
Aaron this is a great idea. Let’s talk about how best to execute it.