Statement to Stuyvesant Parents by the Executive Board of the Stuyvesant Parents’ Association
Monday September 17, 2001, 11:00 pm
1) On Friday September 14, the Stuyvesant PA President was informed by the Deputy Chancellor, David Klasfeld, that:
(a) Until the Stuyvesant building is available, Stuyvesant will share space with Brooklyn Technical High School (BTHS), starting on September 20th.
(b) Class schedules at BTHS for BTHS students and Stuyvesant students will not overlap.
2) Over the weekend, the PA organized a phone tree to call 3,000 Stuyvesant families and inform them that school will resume, at BTHS, on September 20th.
3) Today, the PA Board learned the following facts, which conflict with what we were informed on Friday:
(a) Each day, BTHS students will attend from 7:15 am to 1:47 pm, and Stuy students will attend from 10:55 am to 6:11 pm.
(b) Each day there will be four “overlap periods,” during which both student bodies are sharing the BTHS building. During each of those four periods, between 50% and 95% of Stuy students will not have classrooms – unless large numbers of BTHS students are to go without classrooms.
(c) Current plans for one of the “overlap periods” are for 2,000 Stuy students to have lunch in the cafeteria simultaneously. During others, up to forty classes will be conducted simultaneously in the large auditorium, possibly using portable chalkboards.
(d) These arrangements might have to continue for up to six weeks, i.e. until about November 1st.
4) The PA Board held an emergency meeting this evening to discuss the situation. The Board was unanimously of the opinion that:
(a) The conditions at BTHS during the “overlap periods” raise serious safety and educational concerns for both the Stuy and the BTHS student bodies.
(b) It is essential, for the sake of both student bodies, that Stuy students return to the Stuyvesant building as soon as possible, and certainly much sooner than November 1st.
5) If parents share these views, they are encouraged to phone the Chancellor of the Board of Education, Harold O. Levy, at (718) 935-2000, or to fax him at (718) 935-3463, or to mail him at 110 Livingston St., Brooklyn, NY 11201. Please don't email him. [Note: This para amended 19 September 12:45 pm]
6) The PA will hold a meeting for all parents on Tuesday September 25th at 7:00 pm. The meeting will be held at Brooklyn Technical High School, 29 Fort Greene Place, Brooklyn, NY 11271. For directions on how to reach BTHS, go to www.Stuy.edu/directions. At this meeting, parents are invited to report on their children’s views of the arrangements, and the PA Board will report on any new developments. The Stuy principal and assistant principals will be in attendance.
7) Further developments will also be reported at the PA web site, www.StuyPA.org.