Queens black parent group vows to fight DOE in courts and elections
A black parents’ group from Queens plans to ramp up pressure on the Department of Education through the courts and political action.
The newly formed Students Improvement Association — which has ripped the low school performance in southeast Queens despite high DOE spending — pledged to dig in against the agency.
“The stakes couldn’t be higher,” the group said in a release this week.
Leaders Michael Duncan and Raymond Dugue have highlighted that the DOE spends upwards of $28,000 per student at many schools in poorly performing District 29.
Despite spending $27,000 per student at PS 134 in Hollis, only 6 percent of fifth-graders passed their state math exams in 2019, SIA noted.
At a rally outside DOE headquarters in Manhattan on Friday, attorney Courtney Smith, who is representing the group, said SIA is preparing legal challenges to the DOE’s stewardship of District 29.
“Based on the data at hand, it is my legal opinion that the DOE is in violation of Brown v. Board of Education,” Smith said.
SIA argued that the DOE has repeatedly installed administrators with mediocre histories as District 29 superintendents.
That approach, the organization contends, suggests a tolerance for low achievement numbers in the largely black district.
District 29 parent Lorraine Gittens-Bridges became emotional when speaking outside DOE offices Friday.
“Any parent that has lived in the district knows we are suffering academically,” she said. “We cannot wait any longer to act. Our children are depending on us.”
Dugue said SIA hopes to rapidly enlist disaffected black parents who have been forced to spend money on private school or pin their hopes on charter school lotteries.
Both he and Duncan have emphasized that southeast Queens is home to a large number of middle-class black homeowners who have fled DOE schools.
“Come election time, we will see who is with us and who is against us,” he said. “If you stand with our children, we will use our resources to support your candidacy. If you do not stand with our children, we will vote you out of office. It’s that simple.”
Overall, 37 percent of black District 29 students in grades 3-8 passed their 2019 English state exams while 28 percent were proficient in math.
The DOE has pledged more engagement with concerned District 29 parents and said additional investments in the area’s schools are forthcoming.
