Students, teachers and parents in Queens are celebrating the cancellation of the slated closure of PS/MS 42 Robert Vernam School. The Department of Education was going to close the school because of low performance.
The Panel for Educational Policy rejected the closure proposal earlier this month, after seven hours of testimony at a hearing in which parents and elected officials fought to save the struggling school. Many argued that as part of the city’s $582 million school-turnaround program, PS/MS 42 was actually showing signs of improvement but needed more time in the program.
When news broke that the DOE wanted to close the school, students, teachers and parents rallied at the Tweed Courthouse in protest in February. Students reportedly called the closures racially motivated.
At a news conference last Friday, State Sen. James Sanders Jr. said that those who don’t know specific workings of schools should not decide whether to open or close them. He congratulated everyone on working to keep PS/MS 42 open.
“There have been so many heroes and sheroes in this battle, but the community is the biggest hero here,” he said. “They have said we want our school. We are going to keep our school.”