[PS 132\Williamsburg\Brooklyn]
PS 132 Parents for Change: “In an attempt to silence criticism, administrators sent out a school-wide email announcing the shutdown of PTA social media accounts and orchestrated a counter-petition.”
Photo: Flyer
Parents from PS132 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn are pushing for change in their schools.
The national uprising for racial justice is continuing into a wave of grassroots organizing that is touching every area of American life.
At PS 132, a public elementary school in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, parents have drawn the line after school administrators directed the PTA to replace a black square message posted in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement with a “neutral” message affirming that all lives matter.
A multiracial group of parents, many of whom have long advocated for diversity and equity initiatives at the school, banded together to call for dramatic change: an end to institutionalized racism at their school, the implementation of anti-racist curriculum, the removal of the parent coordinator and the immediate integration of all classrooms.
Their Change.org petition, which states their demands in detail, has gone viral, receiving over 3,500 signatures. In an attempt to silence criticism, administrators sent out a school-wide email announcing the shutdown of PTA social media accounts and orchestrated a counter-petition. The administration has not responded directly to the group.
The parents already stated their case to District 14 Superintendent Alicja Winnicki and were met with vague promises of support for the desegregation of citywide Gifted and Talented Programs, seeming to ignore the very real segregation across the rest of the school.
PS 132 Parents for Change will continue to press their cause to district leadership and Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza. PS 132 parents can find out more information by joining the PS 132 Parents for Change Facebook group.
