Small Schools Show Concern Over Proposal to Swap Land
Small Schools Show Concern Over Proposal to Swap Land
The city is considering a plan to hand the Julia Richman building over to Hunter College in exchange for a larger parcel of land that the college owns more than 40 blocks south. Since word of the proposal slipped out in recent weeks, principals, teachers and parents at the small schools have mobilized against it, saying it would destroy a delicate educational ecosystem and a potent, phoenixlike symbol of possibility.
"It's very disturbing to me that Hunter College would dislocate young children in order to accommodate a program for themselves," said Jacqueline Ancess, co-director of the National Center for Restructuring Education, Schools and Teaching at Columbia University's Teachers College. Dr. Ancess, who has studied the Julia Richman complex, said the small schools would suffer if moved, no matter how posh their new quarters. "You feel very deeply connected to your home, you have a sense of safety, you know the place, you make an investment in it, you decorate it," Dr. Ancess said. "They've designed that building, they put their blood, sweat and tears into it, and they're just supposed to walk away like they didn't?"
This article, written by Elissa Gootman, appeared in the June 28th, 2006 publication of The New York Times.
Published Wednesday, Jun. 28, 2006