New York City education officials have dropped a plan to close an Upper West Side middle school after a parent's racist comments, caught on a live meeting, sparked widespread anger and national attention.
The Community Action School (CAS), a small middle school on West 93rd Street, will now remain open next school year, reversing a proposal to close the program because of low enrollment and test scores.
Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels told families in a letter that the city would not move forward with the phase-out, saying the school community needs stability and support following the racist incident. CAS currently serves just over 170 students, most of whom are Black and Latino and come from low-income families, according to Gothamist.
The controversy began at a Feb. 10 Community Education Council District 3 meeting, where officials were discussing plans to close or relocate three middle school programs, including CAS. During the hybrid meeting, a Black CAS student spoke in person against the closure, while a parent participating on Zoom was overheard making offensive remarks on a live microphone.
In one viral clip, the parent said of CAS students, "They're too dumb to know they're in a bad school," a comment widely condemned as racist and demeaning. In another widely reported remark from the meeting, an adult was heard saying, "If you train a Black person well enough, they'll know to use the back," shocking those in the room and online.
The parent was later identified in news reports as Allyson Friedman, a Hunter College associate professor and parent at The Center School, a nearby, more affluent, and majority‑white program that is part of a separate relocation plan. Hunter College placed Friedman on leave after the video circulated, and The Center School's parent association publicly distanced itself from her remarks.
Samuels said he visited CAS with the local superintendent to meet students and school leaders before deciding to cancel the closure plan. In his letter, he wrote that the community is still processing the "racist and unacceptable" comments and emphasized that CAS needs "meaningful and comprehensive support," which he argued would be hard to provide during a phase‑out.
He also announced steps to address anti‑Black racism system‑wide, including expanding access to the city's Black Studies curriculum and launching training for families on combating prejudice, Chalkbeat reported.
The decision marks a sharp reversal for Samuels, who previously supported the closure when he was the superintendent of District 3, which covers the Upper West Side and part of Harlem.
The episode has become an early test of Mayor Zohran Mamdani's pledge to listen closely to school communities on major decisions, such as closures and rezonings.
While CAS has been spared, the fate of two other middle school programs in District 3, including the middle grades at P.S./I.S. 191, a majority Black and Latino school that shares a building with The Center School's proposed new home, remains undecided.
Parents at both campuses have raised concerns, fearing that race and class are shaping decisions about which schools are protected and which are left vulnerable, as per West Side Rag.
