Déjà vu all over again for Khalil Gibran school
Less than a year after struggling to land a location, Khalil Gibran International Academy could become a vagabond again.
The DOE is hoping to move it to PS 287 in Fort Greene for the fall, even though last summer DOE officials said the Dean Street building where it's currently housed would be able to handle a second year of growth. But parents at PS 287 say they don't want Khalil Gibran in the building. The PTA president told the press that the elementary school parents don't want older kids sharing the space.
What they — and the reporters who have covered this so far — haven't mentioned is that for the last four years there has been a high school in the PS 287 building. The Urban Assembly School for Law and Justice is moving to a new building in downtown Brooklyn this fall, but since its inception has been located at PS 287. It's possible that the space-sharing has caused problems. If that's the case, we should know. And if it's not the case, parents at PS 287, which according to the DOE is operating at only 42 percent capacity, should come up with a better line for why they don't want to share their space with a school that clearly needs all the help it can get.
2 comments:
What the DOE and other reporters have failed to mention is that the DOE had plans on making a decision without taking the time to talk to the parents or the community. We have always stated that we didnt want the school of Law and Justice to stay in our school. They were only supposed to stay for one year and its been four. Every year they would say they are leaving this year and it never happened. Sharing space with high schoolers is an issue. They monopolize the auditorium and the gym for example. They start school at 8:40 and the WHOLE elementary school has to eat lunch at 10:45am so the high school can eat lunch later. It is not fair. We made that very clear at School Leadership meetings that were held earlier this month. We had a PTA meeting on Feb. 27th and made that clear to Mr. Garth Harries from the Office of Policy and Development. Our issues were about space, safety and education. Even the children spoke out and told him that the high school children go into the little childrens bathroom where they are NOT allowed. They asked him for more PROGRAMS to be given to them. Enrollment went down for us even more when the high school came in. Now they grew 400 strong off of our children's backs. We want our children to be successful too. DOE seems focus on making Khalil a success why not put the same energy towards our school. Our chidren matter too.
I have taught at P.S. 287 for a very long time, sharing the space with a high shcool has been no picnic. In the past 4 years, we had to explain to 5 year olds, about the funny smell coming from the hallways(smoking pot), why are those two girls kissing, is that boy hurting that girl?. While having lunch early in the morining ,which is not educationally sound, our little ones absorb more info early in the morning, is annoying, we have to deal with foul language,
alternative lifestlyes, extreme noise while walking our halls, and plain rude teenagers, all while trying to teach 5-12 year olds that most of this behavior is wrong. That is what P.S. 287 objects to when talking about age difference.
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