Race Card At Play In Overcrowding Discussion
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by Jennifer Freeman, a member of the Community Education Council in District 3
Last Wednesday’s Community Education Council meeting on school overcrowding in District 3, attended by hundreds of people, morphed into an impromptu rally about diversity.
CEC3’s process for addressing overcrowding in District 3 is drawing to a close. Next Wednesday, the Community Education Council members will submit final votes on a resolution that involves both school relocations and redrawing zone lines.
Last week, some parents and educators who do not want the Center School to move tried re-framing the overcrowding issue in racial terms. This led to an odd tableau of Upper West Side democracy, in which white audience members exercised their right to free speech by heckling a CEC member of color whose entire career has been devoted to increasing educational opportunities for minority students.
The confrontation sidestepped the fact that the CEC’s resolution takes on a different issue, overcrowding, and is founded in values that benefit the entire community, including keeping siblings together at one school where possible, maximizing opportunities for the youngest students to attend school close to home, and maintaining District 3’s kindergarten lottery, which gives kids the chance to go to any school in the district, as long as seats are available. The kindergarten lottery has been used to increase diversity, for instance by recruiting native Spanish speakers to dual language programs.
CEC3 members have long sought ways to preserve and increase diversity. Last year, they attended hearings and expressed concerns about diversity when the Department Of Education changed the Gifted & Talented admissions process. A recent report in the New York Times showed that these concerns were prescient: the new, centrally administered admissions system seems to have reduced the population of children of color in G&T classes this year. The City Council’s education committee under Robert Jackson is looking at why this might have happened.
This coming Wednesday, people planning to attend the District 3 CEC meeting on overcrowding may have to pass through a demonstration about race, as Center School parents continue to try to divert attention away from the overcrowding issue and make a last minute argument that moving their school several blocks north, to a larger space in a building that will gain diversity from its presence, is somehow bad for the district.
I uphold the right to free speech by all parents and community members, and support the vibrant participation that this process has stimulated in District 3, but the resolution addressed a crisis of overcrowding, and has potential to improve the education of hundreds of children in the district for years to come. Let’s keep our eyes on that prize.
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I have a question for you, Jennifer. How many of the CECD3 members are directly affected by the current rezoning proposal? Will the members that voted for the current re-zoning plan for PS199 find themselves re-zoned?
What about you? Where do you live? Will you find yourself zoned out of PS199 under the current proposal? Or does the rezoning of 199 not affect you at all?
There should be a whole lot more transparency around the CECD3 council members that have put this proposal together. I went to look at the information about these people on the DOE website. Not a SINGLE ONE of the links work.
Before the CECD3 members start playing God with the education of other people’s children, there should be FULL DISCLOSURE of what their vested interests are, and whether they will be directly affected by the changes they propose.
Comment by Jennifer — November 17, 2008 @ 6:29 pm
Jennifer,
Thank you for your thoughtful piece on this issue. The members of CEC3 have clearly given this issue much thought and the work you have done on behalf of the community is much appreciated.
Comment by 199 parent — November 17, 2008 @ 9:52 pm
Jennifer,
Thank you for this article; it’s extremely upsetting to many of us at ps199 to be the brunt of charges of racism and segregationism and I’m glad you see beyond it. Believe me, many of us are concerned about diversity and see a huge value in taking steps to increase diversity at 199 and at other district schools. But the crisis at hand is about overcrowding, as you point out, and that one has to be dealt with first.
I can’t imagine the hours you and the rest of the CEC put in. We really appreciate the hard work.
Comment by another ps199 parent — November 17, 2008 @ 11:11 pm
Thank you Jennifer and the rest of the council for understanding that this issue is about space…not race.
Comment by UWS parent — November 18, 2008 @ 12:05 am
Jennifer,
Thank you for such a well written and accurate portrayal of what happened at last week’s meeting. Thank you for your grace and sense of fairness.
I am dreading Wednesday night but wouldn’t be anywhere else.
Comment by 199er — November 18, 2008 @ 12:12 am
Jennifer,
Deep thanks to you and your fellow CEC3 members for your tireless advocacy for our children. We are grateful for all you have done and proud to have you as our community representatives.
It’s sad that Center School, a successful school that prides itself for its diversity and racial tolerance, would resort to such cruel and divisive tactics. Race baiting is truly the last thing our community (or any community) needs. Not ever.
Comment by District 3 Parent — November 18, 2008 @ 12:30 am
It was terribly disappointing to see the Center School administration resorting to race baiting and intimidation at the last CEC meeting. What is equally disappointing is the seemingly irrational opposition to a very reasonable and fair solution that the CEC has worked very hard on. Center School itself is overcrowded. It has a classroom with desks and chairs set up in the southwest stairwell (which is a fire exit), computer classes are given in a hallway, and even closets are being used for teaching. The administration may be fine with this, but Center School parents should demand better. A move would benefit the children at both schools by giving them more space and expanded programs. No plan is perfect however. P.S. 199 will ultimately get bigger, have more demands placed on its scant resources, and lose its small school character. At the same time Center School will face the inconvenience of getting used to a new space. Nobody is happy about any of this, but arriving at a solution involves compromise.
Comment by P.S. 199 Parent — November 18, 2008 @ 11:19 am
Thank you for all of the hard work that you and all CEC members have put into our current space crisis on the UWS. I agree that the issue is about space and not race. I hope we can stay focussed on the issue at hand. Thank you again-
Comment by Another District 3 parent — November 18, 2008 @ 12:28 pm
Jennifer, Thank you. You and the CEC have done an amazing job, spending time away from your families to deal with this complex issue.
It is impossible to find a solution that will make everybody happy. I am convinced that a year from now, Center School will do very well, as will Anderson in their new locations. PS199 will have some much needed additional space, and so wil PS9. All children in the district will do well.
I am sorry that you (and we) had to and have to go through some of the behavior we have all witnessed.
Thank you so much for your hard work.
Comment by One more parent — November 18, 2008 @ 2:13 pm
199’s classes sizes (according to what I’ve read from 199 parents) are well below the cap on NYC schools. And a lot of schools in the city run over that cap. But let’s pretend that they are overcrowded and growing the way they say. Then, this is a temporary fix that will only be good for a year or two. Either way, Center School will have moved for no reason. Are you shocked that The Center School doesn’t trust the DOE. They may tell them that they are getting a great space, but they know they are in a space that works now.
You want smaller classes, push for zoning changes and go to 191 which is currently underused. Put half the energy that has been used to demonize CS to boost 191.
Comment by yeah, right — November 18, 2008 @ 7:33 pm
I am so saddened by this article. I love how the bottom line is being over looked. I’m sure the CEC did put in countless hours trying to figure out how to please the parents of PS 199. I do realize there is over crowding in the district. However it does not sit well with me how the CEC did NOT come up with a fair and equitable solution for everyone. I just want this to end so PS 199 can deal with it’s 800 plus students who will start eating lunch at 9 am being led by one of the worst administrators an elementary schools has seen in decades.
Good luck-God Speed
Comment by District 3 Parent — November 18, 2008 @ 7:37 pm
I could not have put it better than your last paragraph Comment by Jennifer November 17, 2008 @ 6:29 pm
I totally agree.
Comment by District 3 Parent — November 18, 2008 @ 7:51 pm
Thank you Jennifer ! You’re leadership, dedication and hard work are very much appreciated by the entire community. The behavior of Center School is absolutely appalling.
Comment by John Howard — November 18, 2008 @ 8:47 pm
Jennifer: I find your comments biased to say the least. A year ago, everyone agreed, including the DOE that “moving schools” was a last resort. Let’s not call it racism. That’s misleading. But a school that raised more than $400,000 last year (199) and The wealthy Anderson? They are the only 2 schools that get what they want! Money and influence down at the DOE. That’s what this is about. Everyone knows it. Watch as Anderson pushes out IS44 and Computer in 2 yrs. It’s appalling. 199 should be ashamed of itself, resorting to tabloid tactics attacking the Center School children. Horrific.
Comment by District 3 parent — November 18, 2008 @ 8:52 pm
Perhaps the person who left comment #14 was not at the last CEC meeting. This was in fact a last resort. The CEC went over this whole issue again and again and could find only one compromise that worked and allowed young children to go to school in their own community. I am sure all the Center School parents had the luxury of sending their young children to lower schools in their own communities and near their homes. How can they deny the same for children living near P.S. 199? How would you have liked it if someone had told you years ago that your kindergarten children could not attend their own catchment school, and then topped it off by calling you a racist??
Comment by P.S. 199 Parent — November 18, 2008 @ 10:25 pm
Jennifer Freeman’s comments ignore the fact that it is simply true that if Center School is moved out of that building it will become a de facto segregated building. If the vast majority of the families in the 199 catchment are white and upper middle class, then a decision in favor of a purely ‘neighborhood catchment school’ does by definition mean that what will be created is a vastly white and upper middle class population in that building.
Jennifer’s language implying that bringing up this issue was a tactic of white parents is disengenuous at best. There were many parents of color from many schools who spoke out on the issue. There were concerns about how the rezoning aspect of the resolution affects diversity at other affected schools. And yes, there were a good number of parents and educators, from Center School and elsewhere, who spoke out to remind the CEC that an all white upper middle class population in the 199 building is something we should be trying to avoid. Having some families new to the system walk a few extra blocks to a different school– something UWS side families have been doing for good choice schools for decades– seems a reasonable trade-off to foster racial and socio-economic diversity in our schools.
This resolution helps only one school and one small neighborhood: PS 199 and Riverside South, the wealthiest school and neighborhood in the district. It’s clear why the Mayor and the Chancellor support this position, but the CEC should not. If this resolution passes, the rest of the district will continue to suffer its severe overcrowding problem, and one fine school that embraces diversity will get shoved aside and disenfranchised. There are better solutions to the overcrowding problem. The CEC knew that when they voted this resolution down three months ago. They should vote it down again.
Comment by Very concerned D3 parent — November 19, 2008 @ 12:49 am
I find all of this quite interesting to say the least. It’s a shame what it has all come to. I do question the qualifications of the members of the CECD3. But then again , that’s politics for you.
Yes there is a space concern - but that should have been addressed when former principal of PS199,Carol Stock, was in charge. She saw it coming with the demolition at the site that is now 200WEA. She would continuously squash attempts to negotiate space in that building for PS199. Her powers were challenged. She left in time. She saw this space issue coming. She, as well as several others in PS199 always showed disdain for the Center School, wanting them out. This was coming for a while now. So now current principal, Katy Rosen has been left to ride the fence issue by issue until now.
The “diversity” that currently makes up the 199 & Center School community is mostly comprised of a delicate composition of race and socio-economic status. Forgive me for not mentioning the many other ways to define diversity,it just seems that these are the main 2 of choice to focus upon. The UpperWestSide is steadily becoming a lily-white-inner-city-suburban area. It’s unfortunate for the children of these families to not know and grow with children of different backgrounds from their’s in a city that is one of the most culturally, racially, socio-economically mixed in the world. These children are growing up thinking it’s okay to bully people out of there homes, just because your family’s getting bigger and you “need” more space - so “let me kick the neighbor out”.
Why is 191 not considered more heavily as an option? Is it such a horrible crime to walk past the “projects” to take your kids to school? Do they even know that such a community exists in your own backyard? Afraid of social mixing? Whay not take some of this energy and help that community make the changes necessary?
The rezoning proposal is a joke! Cutting out 66th to 64th, WEA to the highway? There’s nothing there! There’s 1 residential building, ABC studios and construction. So what is that maybe 10 kids.
It is my understanding that space originally allocated for the physically handicapped and special education children at 199 has also been reduced. It might just be a matter of time before they are out of the building as well. Does anyone really know the racial and ethnic breakdown at 199? Most of the Black or Latino children at that school are in the Special Ed program. Most of the Asian kids are adopted by the Caucasian population.
To retort on the comments about the way Center School has “behaved” - There are a few parents who have acted quite horribly at PS199 as well - never having taken the chance to understand what Center School is all about. So please don’t blame the Center School parents for fighting for what they believe in- for what has made it the wonderful treasure that it has been for so many years. I have seen how the 199 kids are at the fence during lunchtime watching the Center School kids release their energy on the closed off street, wishing they could be at Center School. Almost half the 199 4th grade applies to Center School when the applications are handed out.
Jennifer, I don’t know if you have childern or not -but what I can bet on is that once you had the chance to visit the Center School, spend time in the bulding to get glimse at understanding, you’d most likely want your child to attend Center School. Don’t you remember what being that age was like?
I’m not discrediting the fact of this supposedly starting out as a space issue and is appearing to be a race issue. I just feel it’s important to recognize that one is not more important than the other.
This has been a horribly disgusting fight - a civil war.
Comment by a concerned UWS community member — November 19, 2008 @ 1:18 am
Jennifer, how dissapointing. It is clear that you have been bought.
Comment by a PS199 parent — November 19, 2008 @ 1:24 am
Ms. Freeman, do you know the origin and history of your last name? How is that playing out in this process and your decision?
Comment by Anonymous — November 19, 2008 @ 1:35 am
Thank you Jennifer. I am sad to see that people who disagree with the decision take it into personal attacks (your last name????) and such and make this into something it is not. It is not a class issue, it is not a race issue, it is not a money issue. It’s a space issue. Simple. Maybe not so simple.
You don’t like the socio-economic composition of the 199 zone? work with the city to have more affordable housing in the neighborhood. But the school serves the neighborhood, regardless of who lives there.
As for Anderson, please walk through the classrooms before making assumptions.
Comment by sad — November 19, 2008 @ 7:09 am
MOVE ANDERSON OUT OF THE DISTRICT! FREE UP 500 + seats! THEY WANT TO MOVE! The Trump/Extel little darlings might just get some exercise walking a few more blocks north.
Comment by District 3 parent — November 19, 2008 @ 9:31 am
Jennifer,
I have to question the qualifications of the CEC when they think moving center school out is the best solution. It seems moving Anderson out of the district to get 300 seats, using the space at IS 44 another 300 seats and using 191 what another 100 seats would be better. We upper west side parents have been taking buses and subways with our young children to schools for decades.
CEC should know this as should parents at Extel. Of course with money and votes they win, all the children other than Extel children lose. I was at the meeting last Wednesday. There were at least 4 or five schools there talking about diversity, not as you imply, just the center school. Also the demonstration tonight is NOT A CENTER SCHOOL organized event. Read the literature. It’s a Computer School organized event. If you can’t get your facts straight on something as simple as this how can we trust that you can do the right thing on the CEC.
Comment by district 3 parent — November 19, 2008 @ 10:52 am
There are three types of people: Doers, Thinkers and Criticizers. It’s so predictable that the Criticizers are now personally (and viciously) attacking the qualifications of the Doers — the CEC volunteers who spent countless hours away from their families to digest all the FACTS and help solve a district-wide SPACE problem. There were two open CEC positions last year and certainly more will open in the future. So here’s a call to all Criticizers: You can be a Doer too!!!
By the way, in FACT, the Center School website stated that CS parents were urged to join and “hopefully lead” the rally. It looks like this notice was taken down.
Comment by UWS Coalition Against Unfounded Criticism — November 19, 2008 @ 12:51 pm
Is there a LESS racially diverse middle school in District 3 than the Center School? Someone please enlighten me.
Regardless, as previous posters have commented, this is about space, not race. Thank you Jennifer and the CEC for your advocacy on behalf of our children - your proposal benefits the majority of children.
To the prior poster who says there is 1 residential building being rezoned to PS191, I believe it is actually 4 large buildings.
Comment by confused — November 19, 2008 @ 1:28 pm
Who is advocating for middle schools? both of my kids are at 199 - and one is close to moving on to middle school. What is the precedent that is being set here - that middle schools, which are mostly housed within elementary schools, and are generally small - stand no chance when it comes to fighting for their right to not be disrupted? Overcrowding is happening all over the city & all over our district. Are all middle schools in jeopardy of being shuffled? I expect that the CEC and DOE would treat all grades pre-K to 12th equally; yet middle schools are somehow secondary…they are looked at as tenants that don’t have a true space. Maybe that’s something that should change. The buildings should not be “the 199 building” with Center School in it - Middle schools have as much right to have a permanent home as do elementary schools.
Comment by ps 199 parent — November 19, 2008 @ 2:49 pm
Well, well…The 2 schools getting what they want, just happen to be the 2 wealthiest, whitest and downtown (DOE) embedded crowd in District 3. Follow the money everyone. 199, besides their horrible smear tactics of attacking our children and our principal, hired strategists, lobbyists and did just about everything they could to kick out Center School, when they were feeling cramped. Good luck 199! You’ll be a throbbing 1,000 student population very soon. And, don’t bother giving your kids breakfast. They’ll be eating lunch at 10AM. And Anderson is known as the most ruthless crowd of parents in the district, they’re salivating over the entire bldg. in IS44. My heart goes out to IS44 and Computer. They’ll be experiencing the Center School dilemma in no time. Shame on the CEC and the DOE for letting this happen. Change should be in the air for the entire Dept. of Education. Useless bureaucrats.
Comment by District 3 parent — November 20, 2008 @ 12:39 am
I wasn’t at the meeting, & my child graduated from PS199 several years ago, but I felt compelled to comment. The Center School should have moved out of the building years ago, especially if the well-being of their students were truly their top concern: their classes would constitute a fire hazard in most public buildings, even the way they were back then when the building was less populated. I also discovered the administration of the Center School to be amazingly self-serving & dishonest, and I see this in some of the disingenuous comments posted above (see #10 for most extreme example). The Center School has a terrific reputation, for whatever that’s worth, but I & other parents were shocked to witness aspects of how it’s operated when time came to select middle schools. PS199 is not, & has never been, any more problem-free than any other school anywhere, but I can attest that, at least as far as a few years ago, it was accomplishing excellent things for students, accentuated diversity, & had a very involved parent component — all in spite of class sizes that were definitely at the maximum allowed. As to the new Riverside Blvd. Bldgs., everyone knew before the first one was even started that they would cause excessive overcrowding at that school, an argument that no one in power (or at Trump) seemed to care about, so it’s no surprise that as it continues to expand southward those buildings would have to have a different school building accommodate them; no self-righteous protests of entitlement can change the laws of physics. As to the “racist” aspect of the re-zoning, that is so cynical that anyone who believes they are fighting for broad social justice here is either just willing to start trouble for their own personal benefit without exploring the situation or just too simpleminded to think things through. The CEC solutions are good, especially so in this time of severe economic problems.
Comment by Former PS199 parent — November 20, 2008 @ 2:51 pm
As a parent of a child that attended PS 199, all I can say it that it is way past due that the Center School is being relocated. The Center School obtained space in PS 199 twenty years ago when the school was underutilized, that does not constitute an inalienable right to stay forever as the school age population in the district boomed and PS 199 found itself squeezed for space to the point where the Pre-K program had to be discontinued and the music program lost its space as well. It is incredibly selfish of the Center school administration and parents to hold the position that they should not subjected to the inconvenience of relocation, when nothing will change about who is eligible to attend the school, and that instead they propose that a portion of students that live near PS 199 be redistricted to a severely underperforming school. As to their charges of racism towards anyone who objects, this is just a disingenuous smokescreen diversion tactic since the issue is academic performance not race as PS 199 is diverse but high performing. Moreover, the Center School does not publish objective admission standards, and parents in the neighborhood have found it highly suspicious that the granddaughter of the Principal was of course accepted, along with every one of her friends, while more academically qualified students were not. So they screen who their kids go to school with while accusing others of doing the same. This is as self-serving as many of the school’s actions. To the Center School I say grow up, your sense of entitlement is disgusting, relocating will be a minimal disruption at worst, and in return you get to hold classes in classrooms instead of hallways and stairwells.
Comment by UWS Mom — November 20, 2008 @ 3:26 pm
First may I applaud Jennifer on a well written article that gets to the heart of the situation and the CEC for their coutless hours working on a situation that they were left to deal with when the DOE failed to plan for the growth in the district. Yes, the issue is overcrowding not diversity. Some have said CS is not the only school upset by this proposal but all need to realize that it is the school relocations that is lessening the extend of the rezoning plans among the whole district. Without the school relocations (as with the original plan A put forth by the DOE), their school catchments would be even more drastically altered. As for the matter of the diversity - I guess there is a new definition in Websters. As I learned it diversity meant different races or cultures in a group or organization and encompassed a lot more than two. PS 199 is diverse with MANY cultures, races and socio-economic familes. In addition, the Center School does not contribute to PS 199 diversity by simply being in the building. For a school that prides itself on diversity and deems the neighborhood they currently exist in as undiverse, you’d think they’d be glad to move to a more diverse neighborhood.
They would also benefit from being in a building with more space-not only for their current enrollment- but also for as one CS speaker put it at the meeting the other night for the future middle-school crisis that is upon us. “But CS school does not want to grow.” It’s time they stopped acting over-privledged and unadaptable. With more children than ever in NY’s public school system it’s time they learned to bend in the wind.
Comment by District 3 Parent — November 21, 2008 @ 6:53 pm
PS 199 continues to play bully. Was it necessary to send YET ANOTHER mass email this week telling parents that Center School does not attend to leave (not true) and that we need to write to elected officials to make sure we pass the resolution so Extel Buildings that paid to get a guarantee into the catchment do in fact get in and that the owners in their buildings don’t loose any money on their investment. Funny how the Mitchel-Lama buildling got zoned out. And the new buildings going up on 72nd/Bdwy & Amsterdam 68th are in - and enrolling next year when the school will be wide open to everyone, including private school drop outs (the economy stupid). So our school will be 8-10 kindergartens large, your 4th & 5th graders who will be taking state tests will be in classes that push the limits of max enrollment BUT the kindergarten parents who are shoving their way in will be guaranteed small class sizes as long as they continue to pay out 40% of the school’s donations. 4% afro-americans in kindergarten, so goody - that’s less than 1 afro-american child in each kindergarten class. Thank you PAC Committe for being kind and showing us the way. Yes we can.
Comment by ps199 parent harassed by ps 199 — November 22, 2008 @ 9:28 am
I find it fascinating that CEC is so concerned about the diversity in g/t programs. Isn’t that using the race card? Please. I’m turned off by what I’ve seen in Brooklyn. I see a certain CEC member saying he is outraged and other parents are too by the lack of diversity in g/t programs. This made me wonder if his kid didn’t get into the program, and hence the “outrage.” Who is he speaking for? The white parents whose kids didn’t get in the program? Since there aren’t a slew of kids who did make the cut, of course, there’s going to be more parents outraged.
I wish I could go to that council meeting, which is absurd. Interesting it should be at the same time they’ll be discussing budget cuts.
If I had the hours, I would volunteer for the CEC. But I don’t. I’ve also been to two of my district’s CEC meetings, and about 10 people showed up. Maybe when there’s a “cause” like-minded people show up, but other than that, hardly any parents know about it. I don’t know whose fault that is, but I don’t like the fact that CEC members have potential to exploit the system.
Comment by anonymous — November 27, 2008 @ 9:16 am
I truly cannot believe all the garbage I have just read, beginning with the statement that the Center School brings diversity to the PS 199 building. This distict is roughly 22% white, approximately 37% African American, 37% Hispanic, and about 4 or 5% Asian, last time I saw any figures. Since when do the Center School ethnicity records show similar percentages? Last I heard, Center school is close to 50% white. You can only get that large a percentage of white students by discrimating in some shape or form. So please, don’t hold Center School up as a model for a diversified population, because they are far from it, and in good company with Delta, Anderson and MSC. However, Center School can’t claim that they don’t have enough applicants of color, as Anderson and Delta can try, due to G & T tests that may (or do) favor one race over another. With Center School, it really has to be deliberate. Lastly, I don’t know how any parent can justify a longer commute for elementary school children, and compare it to that of middle school students. It just doesn’t wash. You can’t compare apples to oranges; they are different.
As far as utilizing PS 191, I’m sure that will come, and PS 191 and PS 199 children will all be the better for it. No one benefits from dumping (ie transferring)excessively large numbers of students to another school building. A gradual increase is much more sustainable.
I find these attacks on the CEC members totally abhorrent. These positions were advertised widely, and all parents were encouraged to volunteer. Yet so many people here want to criticize these people for volunteering their time. I’ve read comments from detractors saying that they would have run, but didn’t have the time. No one has the time to do these types of jobs, but some parents find the time, because they believe it’s important. Obviously many parents in District 3 didn’t think it was important enough earlier, to get involved, and are now blaming those who did. What hypocrites!
I’m truly disgusted with all of the self-serving parents griping because their money and influence can’t buy them out of this in order to get their way.
Comment by Anonymous — December 1, 2008 @ 8:04 pm
i believe the overcrwding and the push in of charter schools is a direct result of power and money shift in many
Comment by Anonymous — November 22, 2009 @ 1:54 am
communities. We cant allow our children to be bought by chater schools and the mayor and sold by public schools and the chancllor. The mayor is stealing public schools right infront of everyone. The chater schools will become private and the buildings will be free public schools.
Comment by Anonymous — November 22, 2009 @ 1:58 am