By Patrick Hedlund
DNAinfo News Editor
LOWER EAST SIDE — A group of parents at a popular bilingual school are suing the Department of Education over claims of discriminatory practices related to "secretive and abusive" investigations into the elementary school.
Parents and advocates from the Shuang Wen School/PS 184M — which the DOE is investigating for its paid after-school program and enrollment practices, among other issues — announced a federal lawsuit against the department and Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott at a press conference Monday outside the agency’s Chambers Street headquarters.
They charged the DOE with pursuing secretive and racially motivated probes of the school yet failing to inform parents of the basis of these investigations, leading to a "harrowing two to three years of DOE discrimination and racially motivated attacks that have deprived their children of a peaceful and safe environment and the education that they were promised," a statement read.
The Shuang Wen School is a high-achieving elementary school on Cherry Street that instructs its nearly 700 students in both English and Chinese.
Parents have complained about what they see as the targeting of Shuang Wen by the DOE, including an investigation into the school's practice of charging students for a non-mandatory after-school program in Mandarin instruction.
The head of the nonprofit group that oversees the after-school program quit the post in April, claiming his departure was unrelated to the investigation, and a parent was arrested there in March for allegedly threatening to burn down the school.
The group behind the lawsuit claims that a small faction of parents orchestrated racially charged attacks the school, leading the DOE to unfairly investigate Shuang Wen for enrollment practices at the heavily Asian-American school.
"We believe these investigations are a violation of due process that we are entitled to in this country," said Trinh Eng, a Shuang Wen parent, at the press conference. "It’s an innovative school, it’s a one-of-a-kind school that deserves to be promoted, protected."
Multiple spoke about their positive experiences at the school, with some noting they even moved homes to be closer to Shuang Wen.
"It should be an example of how a school should be run in the United States," said parent Gerard Linton, who said he was discouraged by a DOE staffer from applying to the school because he is African American.
"It’s a lot of racism going on, it’s a lot of prejudice happening," he added.
Others put it more bluntly, directly charging the DOE with discrimination.
"The DOE is anti-Asian," said parent Vincent Wong. "My two children are being robbed of an education."
An attorney for the parents, Robert Parker, said the department’s treatment of the school constitutes unequal protection that is legally actionable.
However, a spokeswoman from the NYC Law Department said the suit appears to lack validity.
"We are awaiting the legal papers and will review them upon receipt," the spokeswoman said. "However based on our understanding of the situation at the school, we don't believe this lawsuit has merit."
A DOE spokesman did not respond to the parents' multiple allegations, which charge the department with having "open contempt" for the school and refusing to answer parents’ inquiries.
The DOE is also investigating Shuang Wen principal Ling Ling Chou, who parents vehemently defended at the press conference for her hard work and hands-on approach to education. That investigation is expected to conclude in the coming weeks, and parents fear she may be removed from the school as a result.
"As the DOE's investigations went on without end and their investigative tactics became increasingly hostile, the PTA had no choice but to hire legal counsel to protect the rights of our students to full access to an education in a safe and peaceful environment," the parents' statement said.
They noted that the investigations led to the canceling of a student trip to China, the "raiding" of PTA files containing personal information about students, and the "interrogat[ion]" of students of specific racial backgrounds regarding school-related cultural events.
"In response, Dennis Walcott froze fundraising activities and removed PTA funds from PTA control without releasing findings from the 'investigations,'" the statement added. "The DOE has repeatedly refused even to disclose the nature of these investigations, which the PTA is entitled to know."
