Parents Fuming Over Lack Of Communication From Officials About Collapsed Wall At I.S. 201

Parents are not buying claims that I.S. 201 Dyker Heights Intermediate School (8010 12th Avenue) is safe to resume classes after a partial wall collapse nearly crushed a classroom of students on Monday.

An inspection has determined that the building is structurally sound, according to the latest Department of Buildings information, but parents say they are deeply troubled by the lack of communication from school officials and are not ready to send their kids back into the building.

“Is it just me or is it insane that a wall collapsed in the IS 201 today and all classes were cancelled and yet the school notified none of the parents!” wrote Frank Mignano on a Bensonhurst parents group. “My daughter had to tell me once I got home from work and that they are being relocated to different schools!!!”

Some parents managed to catch wind of what happened from their kids who texted them.

“What I’m most upset about is that they didn’t call the parents,” a parent who asked not to be named told Bensonhurst Bean yesterday. “Our kids had to call us, and of course we have no official word, just lots of rumors and freaked out kids, who apparently weren’t even told why they were being evacuated from their classrooms until well after the fact.”

Others described hearing the news unofficially from teachers — sort of — and only after school was already over.

“The first communication came as a text from my child’s English teacher (not a school official obviously) at 5:17pm saying she would ‘update us’ — but giving no info on what she would update us about — and that the school would send a phone message, which I never received,” said Jennifer Sullivan, whose daughter is in 8th Grade.

When we reached out to the middle school yesterday, a man who said he was Principal Robert Ciulla said, “I can’t talk now.”

Information about grades being relocated to other schools was finally posted to I.S. 201’s website at 7:15pm, but the only explanation offered was a “problem with construction.”

Students at I.S. 201, who were allegedly ushered into the auditorium for the rest of the day to watch movies, commented on Bensonhurst Bean that they were also not informed as to why they were being evacuated from their classrooms.

“Srsly, We weren’t told what had happened, i asked people, and they were all saying don’t worry about it. Like you said, all that was going around was rumors, I was on the fifth floor at the time, and suddenly, they told us to get out and go the one area,” wrote Kyle Han.

Han added that students were prevented from taking photos, and when they tried, teachers forced them to delete the pictures.

Sullivan penned an open letter to fellow I.S. 201 parents on a Facebook group, Bay Ridge Parents, questioning the timing of the school’s reopening, and urging parents to reach out to local elected officials:

IS 201 Parents: Less than 24 hours after they were SO completely unaware of the status of the building that there was a partial wall collapse in a classroom full of children, officials are now saying they will be letting children back in on Wednesday. Less than 24 hours after they evacuated a classroom below the affected one because “the walls were shaking and black stuff was coming out”, then had them RE ENTER that classroom, they are saying “thumbs up” send your kids back into our care. We will put their safety above all else. (Above the state tests that start tomorrow? Above controlling information about safety lapses?) Less than 24 hours after they did NOT report any incident to any parent other than the kids in the affected classroom, that no information of anything specific came from anyone at that school, they want us to put our children into their care. Less than 24 hours after they KEPT OUR KIDS INSIDE a building who’s status they were not 100% sure of, they want us to return our kids as if nothing happened. What about asbestos and lead abatement? What is now floating around in the air in those rooms? What is the “black stuff coming out of the walls”?

In my mind, trust has been irrevocably breached. Please, call your representatives and tell them you will NOT send your child into that building.

Justin Brannan, spokesperson for Councilman Vincent Gentile, said the councilman’s office has been flooded with phone calls from parents worried about sending their kids back into the building.

“Their concerns must be addressed, ” said Brannan. “We remain in constant touch with the Mayor’s Office, the Department of Education, and the School Construction Authority among other pertinent agencies like the Dept. of Buildings, FDNY, NYPD and OEM. Ultimately, we would like to see some sort of informational meeting or some sort of thorough notification for parents before the school is reopened. Parents and teachers alike all need to be reassured of the building’s safety and structural integrity. Councilman Gentile was very alarmed by what happened yesterday and has called on the Department of Buildings to audit all the major structural repairs currently being done on our city’s 1,700 public schools.”

The Department of Education did not return a request for comment about the lack of transparency from school administrators in time for this article.

Update [6:45pm]: Students will not return to the I.S. 201 tomorrow.

Gentile spokesman Justin Brannan posted this update on social media:

All students will be relocated as of Wednesday, April 22, 2015 to the following sites:

Grade 6 and Grade 7:
Fort Hamilton High School – Enter on Shore Road
8301 Shore Road
Brooklyn, New York 11209

Grade 8:
New Utrecht High Fort Hamilton High School alumniStudents enter on 80th Street Entrance
1601 – 80th Street
Brooklyn, New York 11214

All students are to report at 8:00 a.m. to the above listed sites, where they will meet their teachers and grade Assistant Principals. Yellow Bus service will be provided as usual.

Students will NOT be tested on Day 1 of the New York State Math Exam. We will keep you posted for Day 2 and Day 3 of testing. Day 1 will be administered during the make up period.

More information to follow. DOE will be sending out robocalls this evening.

For more updates see the school’s website.