“How dare someone say that I don’t care about kids?” an enraged Jodie Cohen, principal of James Madison High School, asked as she addressed a group of parents who accused her of selling their children out on Zoom.
“I don’t understand how people who never come on a Zoom like this could take an opportunity like this evening to throw mud. This (emergency) is for one night, one night,” she added in a broken voice.
Cohen’s rant was in response to a series of events that stemmed from her decision to make students attend classes remotely on Wednesday. 2,000 migrants were displaced from their accommodation in Floyd Bennett Field due to a torrential rain storm and sought shelter in the Brooklyn high school. Cohen said her decision was based on the fact that she had yet to learn when the classrooms would be ready again.
However, even though Mayor Eric Adams approved the decision, the kids’ parents did not have it. Outraged, they organized protests outside the school to register their displeasure.
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“My child texted me around 1:00 pm that tomorrow the school is out. They’re going to have remote learning because the migrants are going to be sleeping over in the auditorium and at the gym,” Alina, one of the disgruntled parents, said.
“It was mad. We’re not against migrants, but this is illegal. This illegal crossing the border and everything and affecting all of us. And the worst thing is it’s affecting our kids,” she added. Alina also said that remote learning wasn’t the best thing for the kids and that the youngsters were affected because “the education is already at the lowest levels.”
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Councilwoman Jamie Williams, who also has a kid in the school, said the school’s action is unprecedented. “We need answers from the federal government, and all the powers be. This is not a one-person thing. Everyone who is an elected official has a responsibility to act,” she said. “I can tell you as a parent. My daughter attends James Madison. She is home. She logged on, and they have to submit work that was missing.”
If the decision to keep the school kids at home angered the parents, Mayor Eric Adams’s actions further infuriated them. The Mayor had visited the site to survey the gym hall that would shelter the asylum seekers and shared the photos on X.
ALSO READ: NYC Students Learn Remotely As Migrants Move Out of School Gym
More than just the parents, many New Yorkers were disappointed with Adams’ handling of the matter. According to them, his insensitivity was evidence of his loyalty to migrants at the expense of taxpayers and their families.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said it happened outside her district when asked to comment on how comfortable she was about the situation. Later, she said, “I think it’s very clear here that what’s most important is that we identify a facility that’s appropriate for these folks. I don’t anticipate this being a long-term solution, it shouldn’t be a long-term solution.”
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