District 9 parents demand community schools
By: News 12 Staff May 10, 2014, 6:10am Updated on: May 10, 2014
Parents of District 9 students say their schools are failing and they are banding together to ask for a new approach on education.
The Parents Action Committee says their students need community schools, which provide additional resources to allow extended days for children and counseling.
They hope Mayor Bill de Blasio makes good on his campaign promise for 100 community schools across the city and are demanding that their failing school district be included in that plan.
The committee released their own report on their neighborhood schools, showing that in 2013, only 11 percent of kids in third through eighth grades passed the English language exam and only 13 percent were proficient in math.
Advocates for the community schools in District 9 say they wouldn't even need any extra space, just more staffing in pre-existing schools.