Online Petition Created After Massapequa School Board Reverses 6th Grade Move Plan

A local community group recently started a petition asking the Massapequa Board of Education to stop the plan to reverse the decision to send incoming 6th grade students to Berner Middle School this fall.

Earlier this month, the Board of Education approved two resolutions reversing the plan to move of the grade 6 program to the middle school by a 3-2 vote.

In February, the board voted to approve including sixth grade at Berner Middle School in Massapequa, also by a 3-2 vote, which would have been in effect starting September 2017.

The elementary schools even recently hosted moving-up ceremonies for the 5th grade students.

According to the petition started on Change.org by "Rise Up MSD 23," the change will "only harm students."

The petition listed several consequences to making the change including:

• Students emotionally harmed and lose trust in adults and educators who went back on their word; erodes students' self confidence
• Money preparing for the move wasted; cost of unwinding unknown and could involve possible lawsuits for breach of contract, etc.
• Special education students lose time from class with pull-outs
• More challenging to align with NYS curriculum which is written for grades 6-8
• Less room for expansion of YMCA and disruption of parent schedules
• Community continues to be divided until the move is finalized

In addition to the online petition, a petition was available to sign this week at the available at the Community Center in Massapequa.

So far, the online petition has received a total of 935 signatures.

In a message on the school website, district officials stated that they will "continue to keep residents apprised of revised plans and procedures that will be implemented over the next few weeks in order to ensure a smooth transition for all of our students and staff."