PETITION AGAINST ‘DE-ZONING’ OUR SCHOOLS
The New York City Department of Education (DOE) is considering a change that would prevent our children from attending middle schools in our area, and instead have them travel miles to other schools. This is not a remote possibility nor a ‘theory’ as the DOE has already implemented such a plan in other districts.

The District 28 (D28) Diversity plan is a community engagement and planning process to increase middle school diversity and academic outcomes in District 28. 

District 28 is a vastly large district that encompasses Jamaica, Briarwood, South Ozone Park, Richmond Hill, Kew Gardens, Forest Hills, and Rego Park.

One of the areas of focus is to change the admission policies in all schools that are part of this district. A very real outcome of the D28 Diversity Plan is the elimination of “zoned” admissions in exchange for a lottery-based admission system. What does this mean? Your child might NOT be able to attend a school in a zone or area in which they and their families live - your neighborhood. 

We strongly oppose with DEZONING. This would have the effect of having students extend their days through commuting; Break family and community dynamic, an essential part in the education and development of our children by removing “zoned” school and imposing an arbitrary lottery-based admission system. It will affect families and put an undue burden on families that can't afford or want their children traveling outside of their neighborhood. It would put our children ‘in-flight’ and away from neighborhood schools to schools far away. 

There are other ways to achieve these heightened goals, without ignoring New York City’s failure as a partner to our children as a whole and the disparity provided to our children, the following are just a few of the many ideas that can be implemented:

-Expand Schools to accept MORE kids from other cities after zone kids have a spot.
-Transform some low performing schools as “New schools” that can be setup as Magnet, Dual Language or Expeditionary Learning Schools that are lottery-based only for parents that have the flexibility to let their children travel outside of their neighborhood. Leaving one Lottery based school in each area, leaving zone schools for families that need their child(ren) near their home. 
-Allow the current zoning process to remain as is. 

Let’s build our schools equally and provide the right resources where needed. Let’s help one another understand and decide what we can to do to improve ALL schools in our district.
 
Because of these reasons, and none other, we oppose the ‘de-zoning’ that would take away the option for families to send their child to their neighborhood school. Let's join together as a community and sign this petition to demand that the DOE improve all schools in our district WITHOUT de-zoning!