Parents Flock to Education Fair to ‘Shop’ for Schools

Parents waiting for their turn to enter the Harlem Education Fair. Kyla Calvert/COVERING EDUCATION

By Kyla Calvert

Before the doors of the Nat Holman Gym even opened for the Harlem Education Fair on Feb. 28, the line of parents and children had stretched over two city blocks.

At 12:30 p.m., an hour and a half after police officers began allowing people into the building, the line on the City College of New York campus was only slightly shorter, with more people arriving every few minutes.

Inside the gymnasium, arches of yellow balloons spanned the wide room, where 54 schools were vying for students’ attention. Parents swarmed school tables decked out with professionally produced signage. Speakers addressed a small crowd of attendees who sat clustered around the stage and podium constructed especially for the occasion. Another long, orderly line for free lunch formed on the west side of the room

The event underscored how closely elected officials and community organizers were watching the issue of school choice and the fate of the neighborhood

Instead of high-cost signs, some schools, especially the Catholic ones, brought current students to help promote their programs. Five of the 54 schools were zoned public schools, and each advertised themselves with folding cardboard displays made by teachers and staff

City Councilwoman Inez E. Dickens shook hands and talked to attendees for at least an hour. The fair’s organizer Keysha Bennett of Harlem Parents United, a group of parents who fight for more parent influence in choosing schools, said that Dickens was wary of the increasing numbers of charter schools in Harlem. Rep. Charles B. Rangel also made an appearance, talking with attendees and school representatives.

Parents, however, seemed unconcerned with the politics surrounding the event. Here what they had to say about why they decided to show up and the kinds of schools they were hoping to find for their kids here.

— Kyla Calvert