Stop the school shell game in Bed-Stuy

New Yorkers can usually figure out when someone’s not being up-front with us, whether it’s a guy on the corner selling a fake handbag or a politician who’s promising something he can’t deliver. It’s happening now in Bedford-Stuyvesant, where the city Department of Education is playing a shell game designed to trick parents into thinking we’re getting a new benefit for our community. They’re trying to convince us things will improve at our neighborhood high school, Boys and Girls, but in reality the students are being tossed to the side.

A few weeks ago, the Department of Education postponed the relocation of Medgar Evers College Preparatory into the Boys and Girls High School building. Parents at both schools should be very skeptical of what's to come because they have been lied to time and time again. When the move was originally announced a few months ago, Boys and Girls parents were told it would be a school merger. This was exciting news because their school would be able to access resources from a high-performing school like Medgar Evers. There were even promises that Boys and Girls students could take AP classes at Medgar Evers.

It now appears as though the “merger” was never real in the first place. Parents have since learned that Medgar Evers’ move into the building would actually be a co-location. Medgar Evers admits students through a competitive application process and is open to students citywide. Although it would be re-located from District 17 to District 16, the school would continue to admit students on a citywide basis, and there will be no additional seats created for kids in District 16. This means that nothing would change for the kids currently enrolled in Boys and Girls, and there won’t be any additional options for Bed-Stuy families.

That’s not stopping the Department of Education spin machine. Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña came to our neighborhood for a town hall last month, but it was clear she was not there to answer tough questions. When one parent asked Fariña why the district was trying to limit the expansion of charter schools when parents clearly want them, her response was, "What do you want me to do, chew gum and walk on water?" Her responses to other tough questions were equally dismissive. Fariña flatly stated that she disagreed with the idea that most of the schools in District 16 are failing, and even though she did talk about low enrollment numbers at traditional public schools in the district, she never made the connection between low enrollment and parents' dissatisfaction with the quality of education.

As a lifelong resident of Bed-Stuy whose family has been connected to Boys and Girls since the 1950s, I’ve seen the school steadily decline from when my two sons attended the school. Boys and Girls has the capacity to serve 3,320 students, but under Bill de Blasio’s watch, the school has dwindled to just 358 and dropping.

Mayor de Blasio promised to “focus like a laser” on schools like ours, but Bed-Stuy families have had it with the injustice and dishonesty, and we don’t need any more broken promises. While we wait for the Department of Education to present yet another plan for the Boys and Girls building, we urge them to develop a strategy that provides new seats in a high-performing high school, with quality teachers who can properly equip our kids for college. Parents want teachers who can prepare students to take Advanced Placement courses. Parents at Boys and Girls and in Bed-Stuy need assurances that changes will be made so their kids will get a quality education.

So – Mr. Mayor, Bed-Stuy families are waiting to hear from you. What benefit are we actually getting from the Medgar Evers move? How specifically are you going to improve Boys and Girls High School? How can we be assured that the plan isn’t to drain our school until it no longer exists? What are you going to do to add new quality seats in Bed-Stuy?

We want the mayor and the Department of Education to stop playing shell games and give us real answers.

Darlene Boston is lifelong Bed-Stuy resident, former public school parent and senior organizer for StudentsFirstNY.