With the City Department of Education dismantling many of the borough's failing middle schools and parents groups leaping to advocate for educational rights, change may come soon. Some of those efforts were already underway in the borough last week and this week with a series of meetings, some productive, some not so.
The City Council last week hosted the Bronx edition of its roving panel discussions of the Middle School Task Force. Held on April17, the two-hour event featured testimony from experts and community members about the plight of local middle schools.
Problem was, the place was nearly empty. The auditorium at Public School 214 at 1970 West Farms Road was big enough, but few parents showed up.
By 6:40 p.m., a speaker was reading aloud from written accounts, and the 50 people present in the audience were either shifting in their seats or chatting in whispers. On a sign-in sheet, most identified themselves as part of the Coalition for Educational Justice.
Turns out, they, rather than the City Council, also did most of the publicity to try to draw parents to the session.
"I don't think there was as much outreach on the City Council's part as there should've been," said Shirley St. Juste, an organizer for New Settlement Houses, a member group in the coalition.
