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The CEC decided to pass the resolution after a local elementary school learned that it would have to vacate some classrooms to make room for a small middle school in September.
The news resulted in parents and students holding several protests demanding that DOE reconsider its plan for P.S. 282, located at 180 Sixth Avenue, to share its building with the Khalil Gibran International Academy, which would be the city’s first Arabic-themed school.
If parents had been informed of the possibility that the Khalil Gibran Academy would be housed at P.S. 282 before the decision was made, there may have been less controversy and uproar from parents, said Mary-Powel Thomas, president of District 15’s CEC.
“There should really be a specific process laid out that they follow for community consultation. Then you would avoid all of these problems where people feel like something’s been dropped on them,” she said.
The council’s resolution notes, “New schools are frequently placed in buildings occupied by existing schools with no public hearing or consultation before the decision is essentially made.”
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