This is a transcription of an article from The Evening News, page 3A, Wednesday March 26, 1980. A scan of the article was posted in connection with this blog post at the Newburgh Restoration blog.
550 parents protest Liberty Street school closing
By Robert Richards
Newburgh -- Parents from the Liberty Street School area protested all plans Tuesday to close down the school and 550 of them signed a petition against its closing.
The protest came at Tuesday's Board of Education meeting.
The school, which is 60 percent Hispanic, 22 percent black, and 18 percent white may be shut down to complete the Newburgh School District's racial integration program ordered by the state Department of Education.
The inner city parents presented some of the same arguments that white suburban parents gave when their children were to be bused form outside the city into inner city schools. However, suburban parents were offered the alternative of magnet schools.
Supernintendent Donald Saltmarsh said Liberty Street School parents can also file applications to entroll their children in a magnet school.
Charles Frier, assistant superintendent for instructional services, presented a proposal for reassigning students from Liberty Street School which called for the transfer of about 47 children from the Bay View area to the New Windsor elementary school; the transfer of 140 children from the South Lander Street area to Temple Hill School and the remainder to be transferred to Meadow Hill School.
Liberty Street School has approximately 360 pupils in Grades K-4.
Saltmarsh said Gordon Arnbach, state education commisssioner, has approved the reassignment plan which also calls for the elimination of Grades 5 and 6 at South Junior High School in 1980 and 1981.
Although the school board has not yet voted on closing down Liberty Street School the parents of the school's pupils feel that it's already been decided.
Peter Gonzales, of Liberty Street School's bilingual education advisory committee, said "We fell highly offended that the board has made a decision without consulting us."
Gonzales said suburban parents in addition to having the choice of sending their children to magnet schools also had the alternative of keeping them in neighborhood schools.
He said "We will not have the same choice. At Liberty Street School parents will have to decide whether to send their children to a magnet school, if the magnet school accepts them, or having them bused out of the nighborhood."
Gonzales said Washington Street School children were not welcomed in New Windsor Elementary School last year. He added "We don't want to subject our students to this type of rampant racism."
Gonzales and other parents also felt that the bilingual program would be hurt if Liberty Street School is closed.
Arthur Powell, another parents [sic], asked: "Do other schools want our kids? Will they get fair treatment?"
Trustee Stephan Donachie said "We are under extreme presure form the state commissioner of education to close Liberty Street School. Our superintendent recommends that the school be closed. It's up to the school board to decide on the closing and no decision has been mad."
In response to requests by the school's parents, Board President Arthur Weintraub said there would be another public discussion on closing the school sometime next month and it would be held at South Junior High School. He said the school board will try and [sic] obtain a representative of the state Department of Eudcation [sic] to address the parents.
Harry Paz a spokesman in the Hispanic community and among Washington Heights residents said, "You can tell the commissioner to go hang himself since you have the collective backing of the community. The $57,000 you'll spend on extra busing can be used to repair Liberty Street School."