NY Parents In Uproar As City Houses Migrants In School Gyms

Drowning in a tidal wave of international diversity, New York City keeps turning to increasingly desperate — and now dangerous — measures to house migrants. 

In a move that’s outraging parents, New York City has started housing migrants in the gymnasiums of schools across the city. Many of the affected schools are elementary schools. 

“We care about asylum-seekers, and we’re proud our city is a ‘sanctuary city’ — but housing asylum seekers on school grounds is absolutely unacceptable,” Virginia Vu, a PTA member at a Brooklyn school, told The New York Post.”

For parents who oppose the move, safety is a major concern. “Schools are kept secure for a reason. Parents have to sign in and provide ID when they go into school — now there’s migrants in the playground,” parent Damaris Fernandez told the New York Post.

“This should not impact school operations, nor will families have access to any other part of the school where students and staff are,” the principal of one affected school, MS 577, wrote to parents in a letter.

Of course, it’s one thing to declare the hallways, classrooms and lavatories off-limits to migrants, and another to set up a fail-proof means of keeping them out…and various photos have captured migrants milling around outside the schools. A union of school safety agents has objected to the plan, saying their role is to protect school kids, not monitor migrants. 

Many parent aren’t buying the official reassurances. “No f**king way — I’m not bringing [my kids] back until I’m sure there won’t be grown men in their gym,” said one parent with kids in kindergarten and second grade at PS 172.

The flip side of confining migrants inside gyms is that it takes those gyms away from the children. “The students will be trapped inside and will not be able to go outside for recess or physical education, which will be a huge detriment to their wellbeing,” said Vu. “These kids just came through COVID, and now they’re being locked inside the classroom.”

It’s not just the concept that’s upsetting parents, but also how it’s been communicated. “They really didn’t tell the parents anything until the kids came home and said something,” a parent told New York’s News 4.

In a statement, the office of New York City Mayor Eric Adams said, “We are opening emergency shelters and respite centers daily, but we are out of space. As the mayor has said, nothing is off the table as we work to fill our moral mandate, but we should all expect this crisis to affect every city service.”

The school news controversy comes on the heels of our Sunday report about wedding parties and homeless military veterans having their stays at suburban New York City hotels cancelled so the properties can be used to house migrants instead.  

NBC New York found an unnamed resident — but apparently not a student’s parent — who backed the school-gym scheme: “I’m Ukrainian myself. I support refugees,” she said. 

This picture was made yesterday by my constituents near PS 188. Today I spoke to NYC Office of Emergency Management about the school gym turning into a migrant shelter. Commissioner Iscol told me this gym would be used as a “overflow processing facility”. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/Csg2UAzHTb

— Council Member Ari Kagan (@CMAriKagan47) May 15, 2023