Community rallies to prevent H.S.

More than 300 students, parents and teachers joined elected officials at a rally outside Stephen A. Halsey Junior High School 157 in Rego Park to protest plans for a new 510-seat high school at the existing facility.
City Councilmember Melinda Katz and Randi Weingarten, President of the United Federation of Teachers, led the rally to protest a Department of Education (DOE) plan that they say would not help the community and alleviate recent academic progress made at the school.
“The Department of Education should provide resources and assistance to the existing school rather than making decisions to undermine this trust and reliance,” Katz said. “It is counter productive to destroy the confidence in our junior high school now that it is succeeding.”
Meanwhile, parents and teachers at the school have expressed concerns about mixing the middle school students as young as 11 and 12 with the older high school students, who may be as old as 18.
“You are going to have street-smart 17 and 18-year-olds with 11-year-olds,” said Mimi Weitz, who has been a teacher at Stephen A. Halsey for 13 years. “I don’t think I want that.”
In addition, many community members and parents are worried about overcrowding as well as frustrated with not getting straight answers from the DOE about their plans.
“We have barraged the Chancellor’s [School Chancellor Joseph Klein] office with e-mails, and we have gotten little or no response,” said Emily Ades, a mother of three and member of the Community Education Council. “The work that we are trying to do goes unnoticed.
However, the DOE maintains that their plan for adding the high school is sound and will be successful.
“We are excited to offer students and families another great school in Queens,” the DOE said in a statement. “Additional construction in the Q157 building will create enough classrooms for both schools. We are confident that both Halsey Junior High School and The Civic Leadership Academy can succeed in the shared space.”