Latest news with #StuyvesantHighSchool
Yahoo
03-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Hundreds of NYC students walk out of school to protest Trump after ICE arrests 20-year-old Venezuelan classmate
About 500 Big Apple students staged a walkout Tuesday after federal immigration agents detained a 20-year-old Venezuelan migrant who had been attending a Bronx high school. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested an Ellis Prep Academy student identified only as Dylan on May 21 when he showed up for a mandatory immigration court hearing, reported. 'It seems like a dirty game on their part,' Raiza, Dylan's mother, told Chalkbeat. 'When someone appears in front of a judge, it's because they don't have any criminal record, they want to do the right thing,' she told the outlet. 'The only thing he wants is to study.' Dylan had graduated high school in Venezuela but was looking to improve his English and prepare for college at the academy, which is a school for English language learners and older students, the outlet said. He had been living with his mother and two younger siblings, who also fled Venezuela, the report said. More than 500 students skipped school at around noon Thursday to attend an anti-Trump protest in Union Square park, blasting the president for his hard-line immigration and border policies. 'A lot of my friends from my school are not citizens or even permanent citizens of the United States and I want to protect them, said Shera Zhou, 18, a senior at Stuyvesant High School. 'I want their voices to be heard even though they can't be here. 'I really think everyone should have the right to stay in the United States because we are a country built on immigrants.' Nava Litt, a Bronx High School of Science senior, said the Trump administration was taking actions that were 'undemocratic,' threatening free speech rights and education. 'We can't just sit by and let that happen,' Litt, 18, said. 'Something that we think is a big concern right now is that students are being detained by ICE for exercising their free speech rights.' Dylan had turned himself in at the US border in April 2024, applying for asylum through the temporary protected status program initiated by the Biden Administration. The Trump administration has since scrapped that program after President Trump campaigned on cracking down on illegal immigration. The courts have blocked or ruled against some deportations that are enforced without adequate notice or due process but the repeal of temporary protected status remains in effect. Chancellor Aviles-Ramos has also called out the detention. 'New York City Public Schools stands firmly with our students, including our immigrant students, and our schools will always be safe spaces for them,' the chancellor said in a statement. 'Our hearts go out to the student who was detained by ICE, and we are deeply saddened for their family. While this incident did not occur on school grounds, we want to reassure our families: we will continue to speak out and advocate for the safety, dignity, and rights of all of our students.' Aviles-Ramos said the city public school system will support 'every child and family — regardless of immigration status' and 'we encourage families to continue to send their children to school.' Mayor Eric Adams sidestepped the controversy during an unrelated news conference Tuesday, declining to question or criticize the student's detention. 'I want to be extremely clear. That did not happen in a school,' Adams said. 'We do not coordinate with ICE on civil detainers. I think that is a question for federal authorities.' ICE had no immediate comment.
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
NYC high schoolers protest Trump administration's policies on education, immigration
NEW YORK — Several hundred New York City high school students walked out of class Tuesday to protest the Trump administration's threats to immigrant students and higher education. Around noon, students from at least 25 schools, including the Bronx High School of Science, Stuyvesant High School and Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, descended on Union Square Park with a shared message to protect democracy and oppose recent actions by the federal government. The teens took turns passing along a megaphone behind signs that read: 'We the Students' and 'Protect Our Schools.' They shared their fears — as well as their hopes — for the future. Some sported red, white and blue 'war paint' under their eyes; at least one student wrapped himself in an American flag. 'This isn't something happening to someone else,' Nava Litt, a senior at Bronx Science, told a lively crowd of her peers. 'This is our future to protect — or our future to lose.' In a break from standard practice, a public schools spokeswoman would not provide an initial estimate of how many of their students walked out of class. Some organizers believe it could have been more if not for a chilling effect from federal action. 'I have friends who really support what we're doing here today and helped us make posters, or really wanted to be involved, but they couldn't come today because they're not citizens, and they rightfully don't feel safe standing up and protesting — and that is unacceptable in the United States of America,' Litt told the Daily News after her speech. The walkout, which had been in the works for the last couple of months, happened to take place less than 24 hours after news broke of the first known New York City high school student detained by federal immigration authorities in the second Trump administration. The story of ELLIS Prep student Dylan, 20, alarmed students who learned of his arrest the next day. 'I don't understand how any high school student could sit around and let that happen — it's a stain on all of our moral conscience,' said Naomi Beinart, a junior at St. Ann's. She worried it could happen to any immigrant family with shaky legal status, noting, 'These things are not executed with logic. They are random and destructive.' Beinart added that she was motivated to join the protest because of federal cuts to higher education: 'Defunding universities is not protecting Jews,' she said. 'If anything, it's putting us more at risk and more unsafe. That's one of the reasons that drove me out here.' Nomi Solmsen, a sophomore at School of the Future, raised the fact that she and her friends will be eligible to vote in the next presidential election. 'To actually educate yourself is really, really important, especially to me,' Solmsen said. 'I don't want to treat it like a trend. I want to be aware about the (threat of the) removal of habeas corpus, about the increased demonizing of illegal immigrants.' In a statement, Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said students should remain in school, though expressed her respect more generally for students voicing their opinions. 'We are committed to supporting every child and family — regardless of immigration status,' she said, 'and we respect the voice of students as they speak out on the difficult issues of our time and advocate for their peers.' Any student who left school before their dismissal time will be marked absent from class, according to the statement, which did not threaten any disciplinary action against the protesters. Lior, a tenth-grader at High School of American Studies at Lehman College who did not give her last name, was most concerned that while she cannot yet vote, she is still significantly impacted by the actions of the Trump administration — while most people, she said, are just 'sitting back and watching.' 'We need to let it be known that, if the adults aren't going to do something about it, then we will,' Lior said, 'because it's still our country.' ______
Yahoo
27-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
NYC high schoolers protest Trump admin policies on education, immigration
Several hundred New York City high school students walked out of class Tuesday to protest the Trump administration's threats to immigrant students and higher education. Around noon, students from at least 25 schools, including the Bronx High School of Science, Stuyvesant High School and Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, descended on Union Square Park with a shared message to protect democracy and oppose recent actions by the federal government. The teens took turns passing along a megaphone behind signs that read: 'We the Students' and 'Protect Our Schools.' They shared their fears — as well as their hopes — for the future. Some sported red, white and blue 'war paint' under their eyes; at least one student wrapped himself in an American flag. 'This isn't something happening to someone else,' Nava Litt, a senior at Bronx Science, told a lively crowd of her peers. 'This is our future to protect — or our future to lose.' In a break from standard practice, a public schools spokeswoman would not provide an initial estimate of how many of their students walked out of class. Some organizers believe it could have been more if not for a chilling effect from federal action. 'I have friends who really support what we're doing here today and helped us make posters, or really wanted to be involved, but they couldn't come today because they're not citizens, and they rightfully don't feel safe standing up and protesting — and that is unacceptable in the United States of America,' Litt told the Daily News after her speech. The walkout, which had been in the works for the last couple of months, happened to take place less than 24 hours after news broke of the first known New York City high school student detained by federal immigration authorities in the second Trump administration. The story of ELLIS Prep student Dylan, 20, alarmed students who learned of his arrest the next day. 'I don't understand how any high school student could sit around and let that happen — it's a stain on all of our moral conscience,' said Naomi Beinart, a junior at St. Ann's. She worried it could happen to any immigrant family with shaky legal status, noting, 'These things are not executed with logic. They are random and destructive.' Beinart added that she was motivated to join the protest because of federal cuts to higher education: 'Defunding universities is not protecting Jews,' she said. 'If anything, it's putting us more at risk and more unsafe. That's one of the reasons that drove me out here.' Nomi Solmsen, a sophomore at School of the Future, raised the fact that she and her friends will be eligible to vote in the next presidential election. 'To actually educate yourself is really, really important, especially to me,' Solmsen said. 'I don't want to treat it like a trend. I want to be aware about the [threat of the] removal of habeas corpus, about the increased demonizing of illegal immigrants.' In a statement, Schools Chancellor Melissa Aviles-Ramos said students should remain in school, though expressed her respect more generally for students voicing their opinions. 'We are committed to supporting every child and family — regardless of immigration status,' she said, 'and we respect the voice of students as they speak out on the difficult issues of our time and advocate for their peers.' Any student who left school before their dismissal time will be marked absent from class, according to the statement, which did not threaten any disciplinary action against the protesters. Lior, a tenth-grader at High School of American Studies at Lehman College who did not give her last name, was most concerned that while she cannot yet vote, she is still significantly impacted by the actions of the Trump administration — while most people, she said, are just 'sitting back and watching.' 'We need to let it be known that, if the adults aren't going to do something about it, then we will,' Lior said, 'because it's still our country.'
Yahoo
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Elite Stuyvesant HS restricts boys' restroom use in ‘cover-up' of anti-Jew graffiti
Elite Stuyvesant High School was accused of a 'cover up' this week after hateful graffiti referencing the Holocaust was discovered in a restroom — by failing to immediately tell parents about the 'blatant antisemitism' scrawled on toilet stalls, sources told The Post. The top-ranked school put students and families on notice that starting Tuesday, it will restrict and guard the boys' bathrooms. 'Due to ongoing vandalism and graffiti, we will be locking the boy's bathrooms and assigning a staff member to the 2nd and 7th floor – the only bathrooms that will be accessible to students,' said the email sent by Dina Ingram, business manager and director of family engagement at the downtown Manhattan school. 'Until further notice, students will be required to sign in prior to using the facilities.' Ingram also warned, 'Vandalism and intentional destruction of school property will not be tolerated at Stuyvesant High School. Disciplinary action will be taken against any individual who engages in this type of behavior.' The missive failed to address the graffiti's chilling content. In one toilet stall, the crude drawing in black marker depicted a person behind a counter with a text bubble above their head reading, '6 mil pizzas? We can only do 271K,' and a bespectacled, bearded man in a black hat saying: 'Oy vey, stop noticing!' Another stall was marked with the letters H.H., an apparent reference to 'heil Hitler.' The drawings included a bear in military uniform and buildings seeming to represent a concentration camp with ghosts flying out. Karen Feldman, a city middle-school teacher and Holocaust educator, said '6 mil' clearly refers to the six million Jews killed by Nazi Germany and its allies, and '271K' is a number used by Holocaust deniers to minimize the murders. 'Using the 271,000 figure to deny the Holocaust dangerously distorts history and fuels antisemitism. Seeing this referenced in graffiti at Stuyvesant is shocking—and a clear sign that our education system is failing,' Feldman told The Post. 'It's deeply disturbing to see Stuyvesant — one of the top public schools in the country—— failing to address antisemitism.' A Jewish student at the elite school who asked to remain anonymous blasted the school's initial response. 'I am disappointed that the school administration decries the destruction of school property but fails to address the blatant antisemitism depicted,' he said. 'They have more sympathy for the bathroom wall than for their Jewish student population.' Only after outraged parents complained did Principal Seung Yu send an email to students. 'I was informed of images in the bathroom that were not previously seen at the time of our initial response,' Yu said in the email sent 10:16 p.m Friday. Yu's email acknowledged, 'Unfortunately, these new images include anti-Semitic content.' 'I am deeply disappointed and angry that a young person in our school would choose to express such hateful sentiments – especially at a time when our world continues to observe the tragic consequences of hate and violence,' he wrote. 'Hate is the highest form of cowardice and indignity.' It's not the first time antisemitism has reared its head at Stuyvesant. Last year, students told The Post that hatred has plagued the school's Jewish families for years. The downtown Manhattan school is one of the city's largest, with 3,254 students, including 72% Asian-American, 17% white, 4% Hispanic, and 2% black. A breakdown by religion is not available. Feldman, who contributed to a damning report on the handling of antisemitic incidents in NYC public schools, said officials 'are not following DOE protocols on discrimination when it comes to Jewish students.' 'Administrators should promptly investigate and thoroughly document all reports of discrimination or harassment,' Feldman said. The school should also notify the DOE's coordinator of compliance with New York State's 'Dignity for All Students Act,' support affected students, and report possible criminal offenses to law enforcement as well as discipline student offenders. A Jewish parent was not satisfied with Yu's response. 'The principal seemingly tried to sweep this under the rug, but when it became apparent the parents and children knew and were upset, he sent the letter after 10 pm,' she said. The Department of Education said it has a 'zero tolerance policy against antisemitism, racism, and every other form of hate. 'We will both work with the NYPD and complete our own investigation to take quick and decisive action, including discipline, community engagement, and appropriate educational intervention to address this incident.' The DOE is investigating why Stuyvesant leaders did not immediately report the antisemitic incident as required, a spokesperson said.
New York Post
24-05-2025
- New York Post
Elite Stuyvesant HS restricts boys' restroom use in ‘cover-up' of anti-Jew graffiti
Elite Stuyvesant High School perpetrated a 'cover up' this week after hateful graffiti referencing the Holocaust was discovered in a restroom — by not telling parents about the 'blatant antisemitism' scrawled on a toilet stall, sources told The Post. The top-ranked school put students and families on notice that starting Tuesday, it will guard the boys' bathrooms and take other steps to secure the spaces. 'Due to ongoing vandalism and graffiti, we will be locking the boy's bathrooms and assigning a staff member to the 2nd and 7th floor – the only bathrooms that will be accessible to students wishing to use the boy's bathroom,' says the email sent Friday by Dina Ingram, business manager and director of family engagement at the downtown Manhattan school. Advertisement 3 Stuyvesant HS emailed students and families about 'graffiti, vandalism, and destruction of property' in restrooms, but failed to mention the antisemitic drawings on a toilet stall. Helayne Seidman 'Until further notice, students will be required to sign in prior to using the facilities.' Ingram also warned, 'Vandalism and intentional destruction of school property will not be tolerated at Stuyvesant High School. Disciplinary action will be taken against any individual who engages in this type of behavior.' Advertisement The missive failed to address the graffiti's chilling content. The crude drawing in black marker depicts a person behind a counter with a text bubble above their head reading, '6 mil pizzas? We can only do 271K,' and a bespectacled, bearded man in a black hat saying: 'Oy vey, stop noticing!' Karen Feldman, a city middle-school teacher and Holocaust educator, said '6 mil' clearly refers to the six million Jews killed by Nazi Germany and its allies, and '271K' is a number used by Holocaust deniers to minimize the murders. 3 Crude drawings on a boys' restroom stall at Stuyvesant HS mock the '6 mil' Jews murdered in World War II with reference to '271K', the number used by Holocaust deniers. Obtained by NY Post Advertisement 'Using the 271,000 figure to deny the Holocaust dangerously distorts history and fuels antisemitism. Seeing this referenced in graffiti at Stuyvesant is shocking—and a clear sign that our education system is failing,' Feldman told The Post. 'It's deeply disturbing to see Stuyvesant — one of the top public schools in the country—— failing to address antisemitism.' A Jewish senior at the elite school who asked to remain anonymous blasted the school's response. Advertisement 'I am disappointed that the school administration decries the destruction of school property but fails to address the blatant antisemitism depicted,' he said. 'They have more sympathy for the bathroom wall than for their Jewish student population.' It's not the first time antisemitism has reared its head at Stuyvesant. Last year, students told The Post that hatred has plagued the school's Jewish families for years. The downtown Manhattan school is one of the city's largest, with 3,254 students, including 72% Asian-American, 17% white, 4% Hispanic, and 2% black. A breakdown by religion is not available. Feldman, who contributed to a damning report on the handling of antisemitic incidents in NYC public schools, said officials 'are not following DOE protocols on discrimination when it comes to Jewish students.' 'Administrators should promptly investigate and thoroughly document all reports of discrimination or harassment,' Feldman said. The school should also notify the DOE's coordinator of compliance with New York State's 'Dignity for All Students Act,' support affected students, and report possible criminal offenses to law enforcement as well as discipline student offenders. 'Incidents motivated by Jew-hatred cannot simply be dismissed as 'vandalism,'' said Michelle Ahdoot, a director of the Jewish civil rights group End Jew Hatred. 3 Stuyvesant HS in downtown Manhattan is among several top city schools plagued by antisemitism, students say. Helayne Seidman Advertisement 'Covering up and ignoring the warning signs of systemic Jew-hatred can no doubt lead to more attacks like the horrific act of antisemitic terror in DC,' she added in reference to the murders this week of Israeli embassy employees Yaron Lischinsky and Sara Milgrim. A Stuyvesant parent also faulted school officials for restricting restroom use instead of addressing antisemitism on campus, telling The Post: 'This would have been the perfect opportunity for the school to speak out against the rise in Jew hatred at the school and in NYC.' Advertisement Stuyvesant Principal Seung Yu did not immediately return a request for comment. The DOE could not explain why the email to parents did not mention the antisemitic graffiti. 'We are investigating this matter and, should there be any evidence of antisemitism or other hateful rhetoric, we will take appropriate action,' a spokeswoman said. 'Hate has no home in New York City Public Schools.'
