PARK SLOPE — A Park Slope high school has started the academic year in chaos, with families unsure about whether the school is merging with another and students given incorrect schedules, parents charged at a protest Wednesday.
Families and students from the Secondary School of Journalism rallied outside its Seventh Avenue building and accused the Department of Education of neglecting the school, which lags behind citywide averages for graduation rates and test scores.
PTA President Annette Renaud said families were told just a few days before school started that the school would be merging with another in its building, and that parent leaders were kept in the dark about the selection of a new principal.
She also accused the school of refusing to tell parents how its federal Title I money is spent, and said some students were barred from taking Regents exams last year.
"The overarching issue is, why is this PTA not being informed of decisions being made?," said Tony Herbert of Advocates Without Borders, who helped organize the protest. "How can we have issues like this in a very progressive and liberal neighborhood that the mayor comes from?"
Senior Divine Williams said the sudden news that his school was merging with another in the building has "thrown a monkey wrench" into his senior year. Williams said he was given an incorrect schedule on his first day of school that put him in a math class he took years ago.
Williams, who said he's maintained a 95 average all four years of high school, said school officials asked him to serve as a teaching assistant because the school doesn't offer higher level mathematics classes.
"I feel lost," Williams said.
Renaud, whose son is a senior, has been a passionate advocate for the Secondary School for Journalism in recent years.
She drew national attention to the school's lack of a Spanish teacher in 2014 — it now has one, parents said Wednesday. Renaud accused the school earlier this year of failing to educate her son, who didn't pass his Regents exams despite an A average.
Renaud on Wednesday slammed the city's push to engage parents by turning schools into community centers that offer social services such as dental clinics.
"Don't tell me I need social services," Renaud said. "Don't tell me I need an orthodontist. Help my son become an orthodontist."
A DOE spokesman said Thursday that Renaud's allegations against the school are under investigation, and added that other similar recent claims against the school's administrators and teachers had not been substantiated.
The Secondary School for Journalism's new principal was selected after consulting with the school community, the DOE spokesman added. The new leader, Felicia Otto, was a teacher for seven years at the Secondary School for Law, one of three other high schools in the building. Otto was assistant principal at Law from 2012-15, the DOE spokesman said.
The spokesman added that the Secondary School for Journalism and the Secondary School for Law will not merge this year, but they will conduct some classes together as a way to pool resources. It's not unusual for schools in the same building to collaborate, the DOE spokesman said.
