Parents in Queens push back against plans to diversify schools

NEW YORK - Parents passionate about their children’s education packed a community education council meeting on Thursday in Jamaica, Queens for School District 28. 

A majority of attendees worried that the New York City Department of Education’s goal of improving diversity in their school district would negatively impact their children, saying they’re concerned that the DoE might one day bus some children to a different school outside of their current neighborhood.

District 28 includes Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, Rego Park and Jamaica. 

City officials say that some of the best performing schools are in the northern part of Queens, while some of the worst can be found in the southern part of the borough. So improving schools and making them more diverse are both priorities for the Department of Education. 

The Department of Education has hired education consulting firm WXY to help with the process of figuring out how to make schools more diverse, establishing a committee that includes parents and educators and listening to feedback from the public. 

But many parents say that Queens is diverse enough, and that the DoE should focus instead on failing schools rather than diversifying school populations. 

The Department of Education now plans to have more public meetings to get more feedback from parents before they make any recommendations to the Mayor or Schools Chancellor.