The list of Central Brooklyn Lawmakers pushing back against the city’s proposal to close a school made up almost entirely of black students in gentrified Crown Heights and reverse bus them to impoverished Brownsville is growing.
The political storm pits a virtual who’s who of Brooklyn black elected officials against the de Blasio Administration on the issue, and comes as the Department of Education’s Panel on Educational Policy (PEP) is scheduled to take a final vote to shutter W.E.B DuBois High School, 402 Eastern Parkway, and bus the 134 at-risk students of color to Brownsville Academy High School, 1150 East New York Avenue, starting in the next school year.
DuBois High School, which has no gym, is located directly across the street from the coming Bedford Union Armory redevelopment that includes a state-of-the art gym on one side, and a coming high-end hotel on the other side. Brownsville, although a tight-knit neighborhood, has struggled for years with a high poverty rate.
Last week, City Council member Laurie Cumbo (D-Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights), Assemblyman Walter T. Mosley (D-Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Crown Heights), State Senator Jesse Hamilton (D-Central Brooklyn) and Public Advocate Letitia James alongside Brooklyn Borough President Eric L. Adams, City Council Member Alicka-Ampry Samuel (D-East New York, Brownsville) Assembly members Diana Richardson (D-Crown Heights, Lefferts Gardens) and Latrice Walker (D-Brownsville) fired off a letter Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina asking for the vote to be postponed.
“W.E.B. Du Bois High School must remain intact and in Crown Heights. It is here, in this community, where we can identify and create experiences that will teach students the importance of peer-to-peer relationships, promote student achievement and cultural diversity,” the lawmakers wrote.
“We stand in solidarity with this school community to urge your reconsideration and the postponement of the PEP vote to ensure that we can collectively work together to equip our youth with the necessary skills and tools for success,” the letter goes on to state.
In the letter, the coalition states, “We cannot in good conscience support any attempt to dismantle or derail the upward trajectory of our hard-working scholars who continue to defy the odds and exceed all expectations. The school must remain in its current location.”
DOE spokesperson Will Mantell responded that officials have and are continuing to work alongside the Crown Heights community as the proposal moves through the bureaucratic system.
“We’re reviewing this letter, and have worked to engage this community and listen to its feedback and concerns throughout the process,” said Mantell.
In a meeting with parents and local community members last month, the DOE explained that the school, which also houses a middle school for at-risk older students and another school for suspended students, was being closed for low-enrollment and consolidated with the Brownsville school, where it will get additional programming opportunities.
As of now, the Jan. 24 vote remains scheduled to take place.
