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Sheldon SIlver Applauded at Schools Meeting, Says He Will Be 'Vindicated'

 Sheldon Silver leads his School Overcrowding Task Force meeting, for the first time since his indictment for fraud charges.
Sheldon Silver leads his School Overcrowding Task Force meeting, for the first time since his indictment for fraud charges.
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DNAinfo/Irene Plagianos

LOWER MANHATTAN — Downtown schools advocates welcomed Sheldon Silver with a round of applause Wednesday afternoon, as their embattled assemblyman led a meeting to fight school overcrowding.

Despite a host of corruption charges hanging over him, Sliver has decided to continue to lead the School Overcrowding Task Force meetings. Wednesday’s gathering was the first since he was indicted in February on federal fraud and extortion charges related to claims that he took millions in bribes and kickbacks.

He told reporters after the applause that the crowd at meeting were “his friends” and that he’d “be vindicated” in his legal troubles.

“We’ve been productive and we look forward to continuing to be productive,” said Silver as he opened his meeting for the School Overcrowding Task Force, a group that includes Lower Manhattan principals, parents, community board members, elected officials and Department of Education representatives. “…We’ll get more schools built.”

Parents and school advocates, many who’ve long said they’re happy to continue to work with Silver, were keenly focused on longstanding Downtown school problems at the meeting.

Two schools, P.S. 276 and the Spruce Street School, have waitlists for kindergarten for the upcoming school year. Battery Park City’s P.S. 276 has 41 zoned children on a waitlist, while Spruce Street School has 20.

A DOE official at the meeting said that all the children on waitlists have been offered a seat at one of the Lower Manhattan elementary schools.

Parents were also angry about a lack of a site for a promised new school in Lower Manhattan. While there is still no location for the building, Silver said there are “rumors” that the DOE is narrowing down a spot for the school.

While happy about he new pre-K seats in Lower Manhattan, parents fear that there will be nowhere for these children to go when they wish to start kindergarten.

Advocates say they need at least two new schools Downtown to handle the soaring population of children.