The auditorium at MS 137 filled with parents, teachers and administrators, clamoring to ask Department of Education (DOE) Chancellor Dennis Walcott questions about the future of their children’s education on Tuesday, May 15.
Inquiries for the evening included childhood obesity, progress reports and Turnaround. One of the most heated topics discussed at the event was special education and the newly implemented reform, mixing special-needs students into classes with general-education students. Several parents feared this would steal seats away from general education students, struggling to find room in already overcrowded schools. Walcott believes it is a program that will help all children “flourish.”
Walcott also informed the public that he hopes to open 15 new middle schools in the next 19 months.
