A Win for Meyer Levin School for the Performing Arts, Community and Pan -
East Flatbush Community Pushback stops City land-grab and immoral intentions...
Brooklyn, New York - Recently it was announced in the New York Daily News that the city of New York under the auspices of the DOE (Department of Education) has withdrawn its own proposal to place students from an Uncommon Kings Collegiate Charter elementary school into the prestigious I.S. 285 Meyer Levin School for the Performing Arts’ building in East Flatbush after a major pushback from the community.
The DOE suffered a resounding defeat and embarrassment in the exposure of its ill-conceived and duplicitous plans for the charter ‘co-location’ at Meyer Levin.
Meyer Levin Steel Orchestra performs and entertains in the gymnasium before the April 11, 2016 meeting got underway
When Steel Talks reported in the article Siege on Meyer Levin School of the Performing Arts Continues, about the outrage and mobilization of the East Flatbush community residents against The City of New York’s plans that would have ultimately resulted in the destruction of the Meyer Levin Performing Arts programs, the school and by extension devalue the community, while diabolically pitting long-time community residents with similar backgrounds and goals against each other. Included in the program casualty list would have been the institution’s well-known steelband initiative which birthed both the Meyer Levin Steel Orchestra and the Higher Levin Steel Orchestra.
In reality when one removes ‘the mask’ or removes ‘the hood,’ this was about a spineless mayor, an opportunistic Brooklyn Borough President and unscrupulous developers. And at the end of the day this was nothing more than an old-fashioned 18th century land-grab with the goal of further disenfranchising black people and low income people from their homes/community and ultimately removing them from the city. The only thing missing was an all-out charge from the Calvary.
One cannot separate what is going in New York as it relates to unwanted gentrification of the neighborhoods of the city - particularly in Brooklyn.
Protests at one of the meetings when the DOE was attempting to push through the co-location at the Meyer Levin school
The New York Daily News article went on further to say that “Education Department spokeswoman Toya Holness said Friday the city is withdrawing the proposal to put the charter in Meyer Levin, and instead the school will move into a vacant school building in Brownsville.”
Really? Are we missing something here? Why didn’t the city simply employ this course of action from the start? Why would the city force co-location on a thriving school, with end designs of killing the existing school programs and community growth - over the sincere, valid and substantiated objections of the students, alumni, teachers, parents and community leaders?
The Meyer Levin community was successful in thwarting the DOE plans this time because of the tremendous resistance they applied against the ill-conceived plan put forth by the city.
Though there are reportedly a few communities which welcome them with open arms, forced co-location of charter schools is at best immoral, and at worst - diabolical.
There is absolutely no doubt that this scenario will be repeated many times over by the city in the near future. It has occurred already in recent years, sometimes with awful consequences such as what transpired at Tilden High School.
Indeed, the right to celebrate and practice established cultural traditions, maintaining treasured institutions like those at Meyer Levin, within communities that need them - will be challenged by entities that believe their existence does not matter.
Related articles:
Beyond ‘Pan In Danger’ - Death lurking for Meyer Levin and Steelband Program
Check out: a Washington Post article on the situation - What can happen when a neighborhood school is forced to share its space with a charter
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