Education advocates from  United Parents of Highbridge (UPOH) addressed Community Board 4’s Youth and Education Committee on April 11 to argue for  a middle school to be built in Highbridge.

UPOH  organizers Chauncy Young and Earlene Wilkerson, both parents of Highbridge school children, brought their case to the round- table with intense passion and organization.

Young, while tenderly holding his daughter, distributed maps disclosing five possible locations for the school. The proposed sites are: 172nd Street and Shakespeare Avenue; Corporate Fisher Park , on 170th Street between Nelson and Shakespeare Avenues; 1110 Dr Martin Luther King Blvd;  167th Street between Sedgwick and University Avenue; and 1340 Nelson Avenue.

“Land has been set aside in the past for the school and never used,” Young pleaded. “This is our last chance to build a school in Highbridge.  There might not be any land left. We have houses being built here in Highbridge and that’s great, but in a short period of time there will be no space left for a school.”

According to 2005 and 2006 statistics from the NYC Department of Education, excluding the Rafael Hernandez Dual Language Magnet School, 4th and 5th grade students in Highbridge scored significantly lower than the citywide averages on both the ELA and Math tests. Students must receive an Level 3 or Level 4 in order to pass the ELA and Math tests, and only 43 percent of Highbridge 4th grade students met this requirement on the ELA exam; for mathematics, 50 percent of students met the requirement.

Citywide, by contrast, an average of 69 percent of 4th graders met the ELA requirement, while 71 percent met the math requirement.

5th graders in Highbridge also received low marks on the tests, scoring more than 20 percentage points under the mark required to pass—56.7 percent—on both the ELA and math tests.  

Wilkerson said she firmly believed that local children are constantly struggling academically because of overcrowded schools.  For instance, she argued, because no space has been set aside in Highbridge for a middle school, junior-high and elementary school students are often forced to share a building. “By having three schools in one building, they are cramming our children on top of each other,"Wilkerson said.  “We are here today because we want to break the cycle, so that our children can benefit from going to a middle school in their community. We are frustrated. Everyone needs to jump on board and understand our fight."

Ms. Wilkerson also stated that UPOH will be unfailing in continuously arguing the issue to other community- based organizations and winning the sustained support of local elected officials, so that the issue of a need for a middle school is widely discussed.

Gloria Benfield, the chairperson of the Youth and Education Committee, invited UPOH back to address the entire board, an invitation Wilkerson indicated her organization would accept.

 In recent weeks, there has been somewhat of a controversy in reference to the name of a potential new middle school.  Last month, local residents held a rally to call for a school named after the Soumare and Magassa families, who lost ten family members in the March 7 fire on Woodycrest Avenue.

However, some community members who did not wish to be named said recently that they felt there were other people in the neighborhood who had contributed more to Highbridge and should be first in line to have a school named after them. Other residents continue to feel that it is appropriate for either a school or youth center to be named after the families.

 “ The most important thing right now is that we are going to have to fight to try to get this school,” Benfield said.  “The name of the school is not really the issue right now. We have to stay focused on the needs of the school. As community activists we all have a say in the naming of the school.  We have enough divisions.”

UPOH soon plans to distribute surveys in local schools, in order to evaluate community sentiment regarding the name of the school, and to give residents a say in the decision-making process.

Board 4 District Manager David Mojica suggested the issue of a middle school in Highbridge was certainly worthy of further exploration. "We should partner with various agencies to take a survey and look at the needs of the community,” Mojica said, “to make sure they have the appropriate services."

UPOH met April 16 with the School Construction Authority, and as of this writing was awaiting word of whether one of the five proposed sites—or the funding for the school—will be approved.