VIDA, Electeds Rally for Education Equality in Bed-Stuy

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Instead of sending out Bedford-Stuyvesant’s best and brightest young minds to schools out of Education District 16 in the neighborhood due to low performing schools, reinvest in the already existing ones in the community.

That was the gist of a rally this week in front of City Hall where Bed-Stuy’s leadership came together to demand Mayor Bill de Blasio getting better funding for schools, address the lack of after-school programming, and how to prevent more students from leaving the district to pursue other educational opportunities.

Among those in attendance were former Assemblywoman and current Democratic District Leader Annette Robinson, current Assemblymember Member Tremaine S. Wright, City Council Member Robert Cornegy Jr. and Shati Robbins-Cubas from State Senator Valmanette Montgomery’s Office.

Also attending were Felicia Alexander, Vice Chair of Community Board 3 Youth and Education Committee, Nequan McLean, President of CEC 16, Lynette Lewis-Rogers of Brownstoners of Bedford Stuyvesant and Virginia Poundstone, the Co-Director of Bed-Stuy Parents Committee

Robinson expressed concern with the resources that are dedicated to the district. She referenced the Supreme Court Case Brown vs the Board of Education, a landmark case which ended segregation in schools, and said the districts are still facing these issues. The 64th anniversary of the decision was May 17.

“We gather here today to express our deep concern regarding the quality of education and the policies that keep the students of District 16 from achieving excellence,” Robinson said.

According to Wright, over 7,000 students left district 16 last school year to other school districts. She thinks that number can be reduced greatly if the schools were better funded.

“Schools in our community must be adequately funded in order to provide adequate education. Our schools, our children, our parents and our educators deserve the same investment of resources as their peers. It is unacceptable to ask our community to do more with less and to continuously just make do.  We demand fair funding and a renewed investment in our community schools. Given the same opportunities is as others, our children and schools thrive. It is time for NYC to provide the students and schools of District 16 a fair chance and equal funding,” Wright said.

Shati Robbins-Cubas read a statement on behalf of the State Senator, who could not attend the rally.

“Our children should not have to travel outside their neighborhoods just to receive a quality education. All Schools deserve equal access to the resources they need to help their students thrive regardless of the communities they serve or the composition of the student population. We cannot refuse to provide our youth with the support they need and punish them when they have trouble succeeding. The schools managed to turn themselves around, they should be uplifted, not closed. When programs that serve our most venerable students are successful, they should be supported and replicated not suffocated. From boys and girls high school to the alternative education at Old Boy’s high campus, our children have proven to us time and time again how they can succeed when they are given the resources that they need,” the statement said.

Cornegy, who was behind bringing a gifted and talented program back to the district after a several year absence, said he hopes he can work with the de Blasio administration to make changes to the education system in his district. He said the council previously had difficulty getting things done under the previous administration.

“As it stands today, we are still the number one segregated city in the country,” he said.

Cornegy Jr. said he was in attendance as both as an elected official, and as a parent with kids in the school district.

He expressed concern with the concept of a middle school merging with Old Boy’s Campus. A building that houses two alternative schools for high school students that are seeking another way to get their education.

The current proposal would move a middle school into the building and force the two alternative schools to share the building.

“We have parents who now are concerned about their children,” he said, “There are two parts of education: there’s the reading, the writing, the arithmetic, and there’s the socialization.”

Also speaking up for the community was City Council Member Mark Treyger (D-Coney Island, Bensonhurst) chair of the council’s Education Committee.