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Parents vote down school ‘Choice’ in District 27

A unanimous vote overwhelmingly turned down one city proposal that would switch up the middle school enrollment process within District 27.

Following a 7-0 vote, board members of the district’s Community Education Council (CEC) defeated the city Department of Education’s (DOE) “Middle School Choice” plan, which would have allowed students to apply to attend almost any middle school in the district.

“From the very beginning, ‘Middle School Choice’ was a severely misguided attempt to address the issue of middle school enrollment in District 27, which would have resulted in a very confusing process that parents clearly did not understand or want,” said Councilmember Eric Ulrich, a staunch advocate throughout the proposal’s community input phase.

DOE and District 27 CEC officials had discussed the possibility of implementing “Middle School Choice” for the district, which includes Howard Beach, Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Woodhaven, Broad Channel, Belle Harbor, Rockaway Park, Far Rockaway and parts of Jamaica, back in October 2011.

Under the plan, students would be eligible to attend better schools outside of their zoned residential areas, and DOE officials said the program would provide students and parents with more educational options.

While the ‘Choice’ proposal stated that zoned students would still have first priority for admission to their zoned middle schools, it had garnered much opposition throughout the affected southern Queens communities — especially from parents who were worried their children would lose seats in their zoned schools.

“I want to thank the CEC members for casting their votes according to the will of the parents they represent. They showed tremendous courage in standing up to the DOE bureaucrats who sought to impose this mandate on our district,” Ulrich said.