Upset Over Community Roots Charter School’s Expansion - NYTimes.com: ...In the case of Community Roots, the local fight took on a racial element, with parents and teachers from the two other schools in the building, P.S. 67 and P369K, accusing the department of unfair treatment and suggesting it was a matter of discrimination.
The P.S. 67 student body is almost entirely black and Hispanic, and a vast majority of the children qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. At P369K, two-thirds qualify. Fewer than half of the Community Roots students qualify, and the enrollment is 38 percent black, 31 percent white, 12 percent multiracial and 6 percent Hispanic.
At one meeting on the expansion plan, Khem Irby of the District 13 Community Education Council put the grievances of P.S. 67 and P369K bluntly.
“Why can’t we have the same resources as charter schools? Because we’re black,” Ms. Irby said. “If you look at charter schools in New York City, they have a tradition of segregation.”
