New DOE plan met with opposition

Applying to high school can be a highly stressful time for eighth graders. Now, District 27 parents are worried that this stressful process will soon apply to fifth graders too.
Under a plan proposed by the Department of Education (DOE), students entering sixth grade would go through a process similar to that of high school applicants. Fifth graders would fill out a form ranking the middle schools they want to attend rather than continuing at their zoned school.
“It’s going to be stressful for the students and the parents,” said Mary Gallagher, parent of three, including fifth and eighth graders in P.S. 207. “It will be a bureaucratic nightmare.”
Children at P.S. 207, a K through 8, may have to reapply to stay in the school after fifth grade.
“You’ve finished fifth grade – now here’s an application,” Gallagher said. “Children will get displaced.”
Parents are worried about their children potentially having to take buses to school in the largest geographical school district in the city.
“The plan is ludicrous transportation wise,” said Theresa Fonal, president of the PTA at P.S. 146. “If I put my son on a bus to a friend’s house I’d be a bad parent, but I may have to bus them to school.”
“They’re not old enough to be taking public transportation to school,” said Gallagher. “We’re talking about 11-year-olds here.”
Parents have circulated a petition that has approximately 500 signatures. A petition signing rally was held in late August, and parents have gone door-to-door to get signatures.
A vote by the District 27 Community Education Council originally planned for September was postponed until 2012 to allow time for officials to provide information to the public and consider the public’s concerns.
“We’re happy the DOE is working with us and sees we have concerns,” Fonal said.
Fonal said that a meeting tentatively scheduled for October 18 with the DOE will allow parents to voice their opinion and ask questions.
“Our schools are not broken,” said Fonal. “If other schools are broken fix them, don’t break our school to fix another school.”