Special needs students at a New York City middle school could be forced off of its campus due to an influx of migrant children as a result of the ongoing border crisis, a looming decision that sparked protests against the relocation.
Justin Holland, a student at West Prep Academy, which is housed in the same school building as PS 145 in the Upper West Side, said he feels like he’s being “pushed out” of a safe space.
“This is a change for me and I don’t like change. I just don’t like how we’re being pushed into a new environment that’s not safe for me,” the seventh grader told the New York Post.
Some of Holland’s peers reiterated the same sentiment. India Ringold said the school’s current location makes her feel “safe,” while sixth grader Logan Padron added that the new campus’ cafeteria “looks like a prison.”
West Prep has a 43% population of children with special needs. As a replacement, they have been given an old schoolhouse with no outdoor space or adequate accommodations for its disabled students, the Post reported. One parent, Bianca Louch, was concerned.
“There’s smoke shops everywhere, and there’s also people outside that are bums, so why keep our kids in the street playing when there’s literally a park right there where they can play basketball and all the sports that they have,” Louch told the Post.
