Upset and frustrated by over a decade of bad reforms, parents from District 9 in the Bronx, students, community advocates and elected officials led a “Walk in Our Children’s Shoes” tour of District 9 schools last Wednesday.

Organized by the New Settlement Apartments Parent Action Committee, a multicultural group of concerned parents, guardians and community members with an emphasis on District 9, the march wanted to emphasize the frustration felt over bad scores dropping even lower during Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s administration. Under the current school evaluations, almost half of District 9’s schools are failing–more than any other district in the city. Only 28 percent of the district’s students read at grade level and the percentage of fourth-graders passing the English and Language Arts exam has gone down since 2003.

New York state Sen. Gustavo Rivera participated in the march and said that lack of communication between City Hall and the schools it oversees is to blame for the mess.

“The reason I’m here today is very simple: The way we start to deal with the problems in our schools is to actually come to the schools, walk with the parents and listen to the issues that parents and students have,” said Rivera, addressing a crowd of over 50 parents with a representative from New York City Council Member Helen Foster’s office.

Parents shared similar sentiments.

“I am here, far from my parents, my family and my roots so that my girls can have a better future, a better education–so that they don’t have to emigrate to another country like I did,” said Araceli Espejel, a parent of a 1-year-old, who calls the Mount Eden section of the borough home.

District 9 parents and leaders made stops at the zoned elementary, middle and high school options for local students, all of which are on the “priority” list of the bottom 5 percent of schools in New York state. During the march, parents and student speakers shared their concerns about community engagement in schools and the lack of a college-ready curriculum for local middle and high school students. One parent was afraid that her child wouldn’t be properly prepared for college.

“He isn’t learning to write or build his vocabulary,” said Juana Gonzalez, whose eighth-grade son is a student at a “priority” school in District 9. “He doesn’t write compositions. He just does multiple choice questions–test prep!”