April 30,2020

Dear Dr. Feijoo and Members of the Board,

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As a result of the recent pandemic, all students have been forced to adapt to quarantine,

online learning, and being separated from their friends and teachers. Sadly, for the students at

Campus school another change is imminent, a change that will prevent them from ever

returning to the normalcy they knew before. This change is likely to blind side both the parents

and students as it has yet to be publicly announced.

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Recently the staff at the Campus School was notified that we would be relocating to the

building next to Bethesda Baptist church. This came as a surprise to the entire staff. It is

disconcerting that neither the staff nor parents of students have been given any more details

regarding this move. I, as well as I am sure others , have several questions about not only the

appropriateness of the building chosen, but the legality as well. Campus students, my students,

have historically been marginalized, ignored, and have not had the benefit of equity when

compared to others in the district. Because of the clandestine manner of the move, students and

parents of the Campus School have not been given the opportunity to have their voices heard. I

cannot in good conscience participate in this move without speaking out and speaking up for

those who have not been given the opportunity to voice their concerns.

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Before discussing my specific concerns, It might be helpful to understand the history of

the school. The PROP program, as it was previously called in 1991, originally occupied four

classrooms on the second floor of Barnard School. We had five teachers, a social worker, a

psychologist and 25 students. The following year the program doubled to 50 students, and

moved to the then vacant St.Gabriel’s Catholic school in order to accommodate our growth.

Once there, we became officially known as the New Rochelle Alternative High School.

The first months of the move were very chaotic. The building was not ready for us. We

started school with no phones, no garbage cans, limited supplies, and most importantly, no

administrator. We occupied three class rooms downstairs and two classrooms upstairs. In the p

28 years that followed, the district invested hundreds of thousands of dollars helping our

program to grow, and improving the building . This included the addition of an art room with a

sink and ample storage for supplies, a weight room with universal nautilus machines and free

weights, as well as a computer lab with 20 computers and printers accessible to students. The

building is equipped with Wi-Fi, and Chromebook carts in each classroom. In addition, we have

a gym that is used by students not only during gym class, but at lunch and after school to play

basketball games. We also have a music room with several keyboards, a drum set, guitars, and

Apple computers on which students can compose music. This year, we finally added a resource

room and testing center that provides services to our classified students.

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Since moving from Barnard, we have added 20 staff members including teachers,

teaching assistants, and security staff, as well as a guidance counselor. We have large class

rooms with plenty of storage space and the latest technology including Promethean Boards.

What will happen to all of these resources after the move?

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The new location at Bethesda Baptist would pose many problems. First, the new location

on Lincoln Avenue, across the street from the site of Lincoln School, will drudge up the ugly

history of segregation in New Rochelle. Nearly 60 years ago, in 1961, the New Rochelle School

District was the target of a landmark school segregation case known as the Lincoln School

Case. In that case, Federal Appellate Judge Irwin Kaufman ruled that New Rochelle was

practicing “de facto” segregation by creating a school zone that warehoused a student

population that was 94 percent black into a school building that was “clearly substandard” both

in relation to state regulations and other schools in New Rochelle. Kaufman ordered the district

to remedy that racism within the year. Moving the Campus School to Bethesda Baptist directly

reverses Judge Kaufman’s remedy, and replicates the injustice that incited the case. If the

Alternative Campus were to make this move, a student body with an even greater minority

population would be forced into a building that’s far less equipped than the 1961 Lincoln School.

If we are moved to Bethesda Baptist we will lose our art room, music room, and

computer lab. There will be no offices for the nurse, guidance counselor, or psychologist; which

are people whom the students rely on daily. Moreover, there will be no science lab or gym. New

York State law mandates that Schools must not only have a science lab, but an outdoor and

indoor gym space. The Boys Club has been mentioned as an alternative, however it is being

torn down within the year. Also, there is no time in the schedule for students to walk the quarter

mile to the Boys Club, participate in Gym class for the required 48 minutes, and then walk back

to their next class. Alternatively, it has been suggested that Lincoln Park could serve as our

outdoor gym space. There have been two shootings in Lincoln Park in the past five years, one

resulting in a fatality. What parent would be comfortable with their child participating in gym

classes there?

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I have taught at the Campus school for 29 years and care deeply for these students.

Many of my current students are the children of my former students, and I have come to know

generations of families. Every student at Campus is someone’s child. If it were your child that

attended our campus, would you agree that this move was in their best interest? Would you

want your child attending school in a converted catering hall with no gym, no room for the arts,

and no outdoor space? Our students are made to do without so much already.

In an article written on November 1, 2019 in the Journal News, school board president

Amy Moselhi stated that she had a “steadfast commitment to the students and their right to an

excellent, equitable education founded on the principles of access for all." Sadly, our students

are not getting an equitable education, nor equal treatment. Our students do not have access to

advanced art classes, and several of our students had to leave the PAVE program to attend

Campus. The only foreign language available to our students is Spanish. There are no AP

classes offered at Campus. We are offering an abysmal amount of services to our Campus

students in comparison to those that students at the larger highschool have access to. Moving

to Bethesda Baptist would decimate the sparse educational opportunities our students are

currently afforded.

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The phrase “done deal” has been used in reference to this move. I am humbly asking

that the decision to move the Campus Program to Bethesda Baptist be carefully reconsidered

as it is not in our students’ best interest. I am confident that, if empathy is applied, as well as

the idea of equity that is so important to this board and it’s decision making, it will become clear

that perhaps this done deal should be undone.

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Respectfully,

Karen Tucker

Special Education Teacher