NEW YORK (PIX11) — A total of five new schools — three in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, another in Coney Island, Brooklyn, and one in Staten Island — are being used as shelters for migrants, PIX11 News has confirmed.
The migrants will be housed in gymnasiums that are detached from the main school building.
Some parents are concerned about safety, while other City Council members want to know how long this will last but say they haven’t gotten an answer from the Adams administration.
In a statement, the city said, “As we’ve been saying for months, we are in the midst of a humanitarian crisis, having opened more than 140 emergency sites and eight large-scale humanitarian relief centers to serve over 65,000 asylum seekers. We received more than 4,200 asylum seekers this last week alone and continue to receive hundreds of asylum seekers every day. We are opening emergency shelters and respite centers daily, but we are out of space. We will continue to communicate with local elected officials as we open more emergency sites.”
Some parents are not pleased with the lack of communication and said they were promised this would not affect students’ everyday lives. However, an email from the principal of P.S. 132 in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, said students’ physical education will now move to an art space, and recess will be held outside on the street using an Open Streets permit.
“There has to be other places they can go, but for some reason, it has to be in a school. I don’t get it,” one parent told PIX11 News.
