Elementary School Parents Feel Squeezed and Ignored by dual-language program

[Harold F. Schiffman]

>>From the NYTimes, November 4, 2005

Elementary School Parents Feel Squeezed and Ignored
By SUSAN SAULNY

Marisol Rosas and Luz Castillo were elated this fall when they saw desks
and chairs and other classroom accessories being moved into Public School
137 on the Lower East Side, where their children are enrolled. They had
been agitating for years for more supplies and attention, and it appeared
that someone had answered the call. The celebration did not last long,
however. Word spread among the elementary-school parents that the new
things were not for them, but for a few classes from the nearby Shuang Wen
Academy, a top-performing small school that needed more space for its
dual-language classes in English and Mandarin Chinese.

Over the next days, things got worse. P.S. 137 parents were shocked to
learn that they would have to leave their building on Cherry Street by the
beginning of the next school year. The Department of Education had decided
to assign not only a few rooms, but the entire building facility to Shuang
Wen. According to the plan, P.S. 137 would move in with P.S. 134, an
elementary school a few blocks away.

Many P.S. 137 parents, who are mostly blacks and Latinos from the nearby
public housing developments, said they knew nothing about the decision
until after it was made. At that point, they reacted furiously, and now
their anger has erupted into a full-fledged campaign to "save 137" from
what they consider a hostile takeover. They have found understanding in an
unlikely place: Shuang Wen itself.  Despite their school's critical need
for space, some Shuang Wen parents think that the students of P.S. 137
deserved better than being kicked out of their own school with little
notice.

"I'm on their side," said Tina Hsu, the vice president of the Shuang Wen
parent-teacher association. "I think the Department of Education didn't
communicate with them well." Another Shuang Wen parent, Bridgitte Fouch,
said of the P.S. 137 parents' anger: "I don't blame them. I'd be upset,
too." Department of Education officials dispute the P.S. 137 parents'
contention that they were denied information and a chance to comment,
citing public meetings in June, July and August where a proposed plan for
moving Shuang Wen was discussed. The plan was presented as a decision at a
community education meeting in September, the officials said.

"I certainly feel their pain and their concern," said Mariano Guzman, the
deputy regional superintendent for the area, adding that he and other
officials continue to seek parents' views by visiting the schools and
holding meetings. City Councilman Alan J. Gerson, who represents the Lower
East Side, said the Department of Education did bring the matter up at
public meetings but did not do enough to reach P.S. 137 families, since
many were away for the summer and the school does not have a functioning
parent-teacher association or a parent coordinator.

About two weeks ago, Mr. Gerson called for a 30-day "cooling-off period"
because relations between the parents and school's district officials had
become so heated. Since then, parents from P.S. 137 have worked to
organize themselves into a force, holding rallies, a protest and a
petition drive. The fallout from the decision to move Shuang Wen has
highlighted once again the difficulties that arise when schools are made
to share space or are moved without involving the people who feel
ownership over them - the parents and the neighborhood. The problem is not
likely to disappear in a city suffering a shortage of space for schools,
particularly small school start-ups, one of the Bloomberg administration's
most popular tools for re-engineering the system.

"This was presented as a fait accompli," said Lisa Donlan, a member of the
District 1 Community Education Council, a board of elected parent
volunteers. "I started thinking, 'What about the families? What about the
students?' I thought, 'This doesn't make sense.' "We should figure out how
to do this so that some parents don't feel disenfranchised, angry and
upset. It says a lot about the state of where we are in the city, the role
of parents and the reality of small school and combining schools."

Since its founding in 1998, Shuang Wen, a model small school that has
developed a reputation for excellence, has yet to find the perfect fit. It
was initially welcomed at P.S. 134 on the eastern edge of Chinatown, but
after two years of sharing space, teachers and students began to complain
about Shuang Wen's largely Asian population keeping to itself too much.
Since then, many problems have been worked out, but a new one has arisen:
Shuang Wen's growth beyond what P.S. 134 could accommodate. By September,
the Department of Education had split the school between P.S. 134 and P.S.
137 to give it more space. Shuang Wen thought that the move was temporary
and that eventually it would get new or converted space.

Instead, the school got word that next year it would be taking over P.S.
137's entire building, a facility the parents said it did not particularly
want. The decision left some parents crestfallen because they had already
spent hours meeting with experts to plan the perfect space for Shuang Wen.
"They've been mistreated far worse," said a Shuang Wen parent, Richard
Shulberg, referring to P.S. 137, "but we've been slighted, too." Some
Shuang Wen parents feel that they have been put into the undesirable
position of being the public face of the department's decision. In that
role, they and their children bear the brunt of the animosity coming from
P.S. 137 as the move date approaches.

Ms. Fouch said: "We understand that it's going to be a difficult process
for us because the parents at 137 are angry. And you can't blame them.
It's another slap in the face." "We don't mind sharing," said Ms. Rosas,
whose two children attend P.S.  137. "We don't like being evicted and told
we have no rights but to do it.  All these changes happened in secret, and
I feel violated and disrespected." Ms. Donlan, the parent representative,
said: "We should have been able to come around a table and say, 'How can
we make this a win-win situation for everybody?' But there was no table."

Mr. Guzman, the education official, said it made sense to use P.S. 137's
building for Shuang Wen because it was close and 43 percent unused. He
said that both buildings - P.S. 134 and 137 - would receive millions of
dollars in improvements because of the changes, and that the moves are
"the responsible thing to do" for the students who will benefit from
better facilities. Shuang Wen's principal, Ling Ling Chou, is optimistic:
"I hope time will solve the problem; I don't know. It's a really tough
situation, but we're trying our best." Ms. Ling Ling said the PTA at
Shuang Wen was skilled at writing grant applications, and "in the future,
anything we get we will try to share with 137."

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/04/nyregion/04school.html
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