Students and parents of public school children are fuming over the placement of migrant families in their gymnasium, marking a new area of strain as the city struggles to house newcomers.
One such gym at a school building in Williamsburg, which houses P.S. 17 and M.S. 577, has been converted into a makeshift shelter for migrants — and parents took to the streets in protest on Tuesday.
The concerned adults, along with their young scholars clad in their school uniforms and backpacks, rallied around the campus on May 16, hours after being informed that migrants would be seeking emergency shelter in their standalone gym building.
The protesters held up signs saying ‘No asylum on school grounds’ and ‘We need recess’ while chanting “We support asylum seekers, but not in our schools.”
Lucia Gutierrez, president of the PTA for P.S. 17 and treasurer for M.S. 577, alleged the worried moms and dads were given notice migrants would be kept in the gym a day before they were due to arrive.
“We’re out here because we were literally given a slap in the face. We were not informed. We were not even asked if we wanted this in our community. I get it, things are hard and there’s no room but this is not the place for these people,” Gutierrez said. “It’s not fair.”
At the time of the rally, the gym had been converted in a shelter, though migrants had not yet occupied the location.
The situation is boiling over as migrants continue to pour into the country through the southern border, and every level of government struggles to keep pace.
Another Williamsburg mom, Jolene Mazzatenda, says the decision raises concerns of the children’s safety. She does not take issue with having migrants in the city, she said, but rather having them housed on school grounds.
“I’m out here because I fear for my son’s safety in the school. I support asylum seekers but not on school grounds. I mean you never know what they could be…
Read the full article here
Leave a Reply