Last Thursday in District 3, the Department of Education and parents attempted haltingly to hold a conversation about what schools should replace the closing MS44 and PS241. I say “attempted” because parents mostly wanted to vent —about how small gains at those schools were not recognized, and about the challenges the schools faced, like the 35% population of PS 241 students who were both special needs kids and English Language Learners, mostly recent immigrants from Africa. DOE officials John White and Martine Guerrier wanted parents to limit their comments to what they valued about the old schools and what they hoped to see in a new school.

Regarding MS44, speakers emphasized a desire for diversity: the new school should be general ed, serving students from the entire academic spectrum. In fact, several parents expressed the opinion that education in the district overall might improve if all middle schools in the district took a portion of the lowest performing students.

For most of the meeting DOE officials declined to share their own vision of possible schools to replace PS241 and MS44, but by the end of the night, Office of Family Engagement and Advocacyhead Martine Guerrier promised to bring to the next meeting a couple of examples of the kinds of schools that DOE thinks might fit in the community, as a basis for discussion.

I met the mother of a second grader at PS241 who was wondering how to get her daughter the best possible education in the face of a closing school. Who did she have to know? What tricks or special favors could be wrangled on her behalf?

Her daughter got top grades on her tests, the mom told me. Sounds like she would be an asset to any school, I said. You don’t need to ask for favors--let the schools you want her to attend know that you have a great student and your family wants to be part of their school community. No need to ask for favors—they should be honored to take her in.

The mom’s face lit up like the Christmas star. “No one ever told me such a positive way of looking at my goals,” she said. With an attitude like that and the will to be her child’s advocate, she was already more than halfway there.