Integration Plan At East Village Schools Is Put Off: Report

EAST VILLAGE, NY — A plan to integrate two East Village schools was put off last week after resistance from families who feared the integration plan would effectively shutter their school, according to a report.

Chalkbeat reported the overcrowded, mostly-white East Village Community School was to be integrated with the less-crowded, mostly black and Hispanic P.S. 34.

But families from the latter school said the merger would mean the end of their school name, culture, and possibly the middle school portion of the school. Pushback from parents sparked the decision to shelve the integration plan, according to Chalkbeat.

"Why do you want to come take this?" Shamear Gainey, P.S. 34 parent, told Chalkbeat. "Go somewhere else."

P.S. 34, which has the highest rates of poverty in the district, parents said their school needs more resources, rather than bringing in students from a school that has more services on its own.

The superintendent of District 1, Carry Chan, said the plan needed to be done with the community rather than "to the community," Chalkbeat reported.

Read the full Chalkbeat report here.