Yesterday at PS 199 -- one of the whitest and wealthiest public schools in the city that was embroiled in a bitter racially charged rezoning fight two years ago -- parents once again yelled at the DOE for a diversity proposal seeking to make local middle schools more equitable.
The proposal isn't perfect -- and some parents had very fair questions and suggestions -- but it devolved, with arguments like "many of us spent thousands of dollars in tutoring to boost our kids test scores, and they should get into good schools!"
There were racial undertones to the entire conversation - in a packed room with fewer than five black parents present. City officials said the proposal is an attempt to allow more black and Hispanic students in the district to get into their first choice middle schools as well.
At the end of the meeting I tried to interview all of the parents who had spoken and not a single one would give me their name or talk. Several told me they didn't want their comments to be "misconstrued" as racist.
The principal of a local middle school finally stood up and had harsh words for the parents, Principal Zymeck of the Computer School, said he found many of their comments "tremendously offensive." The room got very quiet.
Here's a brief two minutes on what went on for nearly two hours: ny1.com/nyc/all-boroug…
I asked Mayor about all this. He said he doesn't know details on new desegregation plan but praised previous (contentious) rezoning on UWS "one of the better things that's been done in the last few years in this city to address the diversification of our schools."
Mayor: "The notion that there's initial hesitation or opposition is pretty standard. I think the more we have a community conversation, I think a lot of people actually buy into the notion that they want diverse schools. They also want really good schools."
