The Community Action School is located at 154 West 93rd Street (Google Maps)
Free Upper West Side News, Delivered To Your Inbox
New York City has scrapped its plan to phase out the Community Action School, a predominantly Black and Latino Upper West Side middle school located at 154 West 93rd Street, in the wake of the controversy surrounding Allyson Friedman, the parent who was thrust into the national spotlight after making racist remarks during a public meeting last month while a CAS student was testifying.
Advertisement
Chalkbeat first reported that Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels informed families in a letter Monday night that the city would not move forward with closing CAS as originally planned for next school year.In the letter, Samuels cited two reasons for the reversal: the school community is still processing the harm caused by the racist comments, and families expressed a strong desire for stability. He wrote that what CAS needs right now is “meaningful and comprehensive support — and that would be difficult to provide authentically in the context of a phase-out proposal.”
Samuels, who recently visited the school and met with students, helped launch the closure plan in his previous role as superintendent of District 3.
A Department of Education spokesperson confirmed the decision in a statement to ILTUWS: “After thoughtful reflection and a conversation with Community Action School students Monday morning, Chancellor Samuels has decided not to post the proposal to phase out the Community Action School beginning in the 2026-2027 school year. As the community continues to process the harm caused by recent racist comments at a Community Education Council meeting, our focus must be on healing, stability, and ensuring students feel safe and supported.”
The DOE said it will provide a range of supports to the community, including restorative circles and social-emotional programming for CAS students, family sessions in District 3 focused on addressing prejudice, and expanded use of the Black Studies and Hidden Voices curricula across the district. Additional supports are in development.
The reversal does not appear to affect two other middle school closure proposals under consideration in District 3. As Chalkbeat reported, one of those schools — the Manhattan School for Children — shares a building with CAS. The other proposal would close the middle school program at P.S./I.S. 191, which is also majority Black and Latino. The Center School, where Allyson Friedman’s child attends, would move into the P.S./I.S. 191 building under that plan. Families at both campuses have raised concerns.
Advertisement
As ILTUWS has reported, Friedman — a Hunter College professor and Center School parent — was caught on a hot mic during a February CEC District 3 Zoom meeting making racist comments while a Black student from CAS was testifying. In the recording, Friedman can be heard saying: “They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school. It’s like, if you train a Black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back door — you don’t have to tell them anymore.”Chalkbeat’s reporting added new context to the remarks, noting that the District 3 interim acting superintendent had quoted from Carter G. Woodson’s 1933 book “The Mis-Education of the Negro” earlier in the meeting during remarks on Black History Month. Friedman appeared to be misattributing and misquoting that passage.
Friedman issued a public apology on X, calling the incident an “inadvertent unmute” and saying she was trying to explain the concept of systemic racism by referencing a historical example. Hunter College subsequently placed Friedman on leave, with President Nancy Cantor calling the remarks “abhorrent” and announcing an investigation under the university’s conduct and nondiscrimination policies.
City officials had previously argued that CAS was too small to sustain, with just over 170 students enrolled this year and standardized test scores below the city average. Families and educators pushed back, pointing out that enrollment had grown by about 40 students this year and highlighting the school’s supportive environment and strong social-emotional programming.
Have a news tip? Send it to us here!
