Thread: Migrants to be housed in 6 more NYC school gyms — outraged parents say plan is ‘just

Migrants to be housed in 6 more NYC school gyms — outraged parents say plan is ‘just insane’

By Bernadette Hogan, Desheania Andrews, Jack Morphet and Emily Crane
May 15, 2023

At least six more Big Apple schools are set to start temporarily housing migrants in their gyms, prompting all hell to break loose Monday among parents frantic over safety and potential learning disruptions.

“To bus people to our school and expect the community to absorb them is just insane,” fumed Virginia Vu, a PTA member and parent at Brooklyn’s MS 577 in Williamsburg — adding some parents have already threatened to at least temporarily pull their kids out of the sixth-through-eighth grade school.

“We care about asylum-seekers, and we’re proud our city is a ‘sanctuary city’ — but housing asylum seekers on school grounds is absolutely unacceptable,” she said.

MS 577 shares a gym with PS 17 — one of five Brooklyn elementary schools to soon have asylum-seekers living out of their gymnasiums, too, as New York City struggles to cope with the surging migrant crisis, sources told The Post.

The other targeted elementary schools are PS 18 and PS 132, both in Williamsburg, PS 172 in Sunset Park and PS 189 near Prospect-Lefferts Gardens. PS 17, 18, 132 and 172 all house kindergarten through fifth-grade, while PS 189 goes from kindergarten through eighth grade.

PS 17 and MS 577 were preparing to host busloads of migrants — potentially single male adults — starting as early as Tuesday, parents said.



Furious parents Gabriela Vizhnay, Sheldon Austin and Samantha Clark gather outside PS 172 in Brooklyn’s Sunset Park on Monday after learning migrants will be housed in the school’s gym. Gregory P. Mango

As of Monday, cots had already been set up inside the MS 577 and PS 17 gym as city officials put finishing touches on the new migrant site.

The developments come just days after adult migrants started moving into the gym at PS 188 on Coney Island in Brooklyn. The gym is now set up as an emergency intake site for asylum-seekers bused to the school, which houses pre-K to fifth-grade students.

Another 300 migrants also are expected to be housed at the former Richard H. Hungerford School on Tompkins Avenue in Staten Island.

The arrival of migrants at the MS 577 and PS 17 campus essentially means kids will now be “trapped inside” for the foreseeable future because the gym backs onto the outdoor playground, according to some parents.

“The school will be under lockdown all day,” Vu said, adding that outdoor after-school activities would also be axed.



PS 188, where migrants were moved to in Coney Island last week. Paul Martinka

“The students will be trapped inside and will not be able to go outside for recess or physical education, which will be a huge detriment to their wellbeing,” she said. “These kids just came through COVID, and now they’re being locked inside the classroom.”

Damaris Fernandez, who has children at both MS 577 and PS 17, said the addition of migrants “is a security issue as well.

“Schools are kept secure for a reason. Parents have to sign in and provide ID when they go into school — now there’s migrants in the playground,” Fernandez said.

“My phone has been going crazy with angry parents. Nobody agrees with what’s happened.”

In a letter to parents Sunday, MS 577 Principal Maria Masullo insisted that the impact of housing of migrants on school property would be minimal.



The Sandra Feldman Gymnasium behind PS 188, where migrants were moved to. Gregory P. Mango

“This should not impact school operations, nor will families have access to any other part of the school where students and staff are,” Masullo wrote.

Some parents at PS 172 said they don’t believe anyone who tells them their kids won’t be affected by migrants moving into their building or that there aren’t legitimate safety concerns — adding they are considering removing their children from their school, too.

“No f–king way — I’m not bringing [my kids] back until I’m sure there won’t be grown men in their gym,” said a mom who only gave her first name, Lillian, and has kids in kindergarten and second grade at PS 172.

“That makes no sense. Why would I bring my child to a school where there is grown adult men in their gym? You won’t let a stranger come into the school with no ID, but you’ll let them live in your school gym?” she asked.



Cots were seen set up inside PS 172’s gym Monday ahead of the migrant arrivals. Other PS 172 parents ripped Mayor Eric Adams for having city schools accept asylum-seekers in the first place — pointing out that one of the Big Apple’s dozens of migrant shelters had already been set up in a hotel right across the street from the school.

“Mayor Adams is scrambling to solve a problem that is not solved by risking the safety of not only the students but also migrant families,” said mom and PTA co-President Samantha Clark.

“What kind of solution is the mayor really offering?” she said, adding the school gym only has one adult toilet and no showers.

Gabriela Vizhnay, a parent of a second-grader at the school, said, “I almost cried” when learning of the situation.

“These elementary kids are being sacrificed over something that can be done somewhere else,” she said.

“You’re sacrificing kids. The future of this county.”

PS 132 mom Jennifer Jacobs, who has a 4-year-old girl in pre-K, called the situation “a disaster.



At least six Brooklyn schools will start housing asylum-seekers after PS 188 in Coney Island (above Monday) was set up as an emergency intake site for migrants, too. Gregory P. Mango

“The city’s handling of the migrant situation has been a complete disaster,’’ she said.

A neon-green notice from the school principal was placed on cars outside PS 132 on Monday saying recess would now be held on the street behind the school and that the vehicles would have to vacate the stretch beginning Tuesday because it will be closed “Monday thru Friday from 9:00 A.M. to 2:00 P.M.”

Multiple parents at both PS 172 and MS 577 said they are arranging to protest outside their respective schools come Tuesday morning.

One mom with an 11-year-old boy in sixth grade at MS 577 was sticking fliers on a school fence promoting the rally there.

“KEEP OUR KIDS SAFE!” the note screamed.

The parents called for the city to house the migrants at more appropriate locations.

“This is desperate times,” Vu said. “Maybe they should be using [the] Javits Center or the stadiums or any open space in the city that is not school grounds.”

Teamsters Local 237 President Gregory Floyd has filed a complaint with the city’s Office of Labor Relations asking the Adams administration to “cease and desist” with the housing of migrants in city schools. The complaint says school safety agents aren’t equipped to handle this population and that the move violates collective bargaining agreements.

City Hall said in a statement Monday, “As we’ve been saying for months, we are in the midst of a humanitarian crisis, having opened approximately 150 emergency sites, including eight large-scale humanitarian relief centers, to serve more than 65,000 asylum seekers.

“We received more than 4,200 asylum seekers last week alone and continue to receive hundreds of asylum seekers every day. We are opening emergency shelters and respite centers daily, but we are out of space.

“As the mayor has said, nothing is off the table as we work to fill our moral mandate, but we should all expect this crisis to affect every city service. We will continue to communicate with local elected officials as we open more emergency sites.”

https://nypost.com/2023/05/15/parents-outraged-as-6-more-nyc-schools-to-house-migrants-in-gyms/

Kick them out and lock the doors!