A New York City high school that canceled classes on Wednesday to shelter illegal immigrants on school property announced that it would be postponing its winter dance as the gym-turned-shelter is cleaned up.
James Madison High School in Brooklyn announced on Instagram that its semi-formal “Winter Wonderland Dance,” originally scheduled for Wednesday night, would be “postponed until further notice.”
On Tuesday, almost 2,000 migrants were relocated from a nearby tent shelter to the school’s gym ahead of a large winter storm. The school canceled in-person classes and did not host live remote instruction, instead making teachers available on a by-appointment basis. The migrants were returned to the temporary shelter at Floyd Bennett Field early Wednesday morning.
A New York City schools spokesman told the Washington Free Beacon that the dance was not canceled due to the migrants, saying the school had been cleaned and returned to normal by Wednesday morning. However, the school said in a Wednesday afternoon statement that its custodians were still working to clean up the gymnasium used to shelter the migrants.
Republican city council minority whip Inna Vernikov denounced the impact on learning, arguing that schools were not intended to serve as “shelters or facilities for emergency housing.”
“This is both unacceptable and was entirely foreseeable, as Floyd Bennett Field is vulnerable to all forms of inclement weather conditions and is not a sustainable housing facility,” Vernikov said in a video statement. “As an elected official representing this community, I demand a full stop to using our public schools as a shelter ever again.”
James Madison High School students are being punished and forced to bear the brunt of the migrant crisis perpetrated by @JoeBiden. They were dismissed early today and are full remote tomorrow because migrants from Floyd Bennett are at the school tonight to weather the storm.… pic.twitter.com/5nSB8vAQ3n
— Councilwoman Inna Vernikov (@InnaVernikov) January 9, 2024
The removal of students from James Madison prompted an official visit by Mayor Eric Adams, where he commended New York City’s emergency services and health-care systems for “doing a great job keeping asylum seekers safe and dry before they depart tomorrow morning.”
In a joint statement, the Legal Aid Society and the Coalition for the Homeless asked city officials to stop placing families with children at the Floyd Bennett Field facility, given the winter season’s harsh weather.
“This last-minute evacuation further proves that Floyd Bennett Field — a facility mired in a flood zone, miles from schools and other services — has never and will never serve as an appropriate and safe place to shelter families with children,” both organizations said Tuesday. “Needless to say, today will be very traumatic and disruptive for these families. We fear, especially with more inclement weather expected this winter, that this is only a foreshadow of more problems to come, and we again urge the City to cease placing families with children at this facility.”
The high school is set to resume physical classes Thursday. “As of early this morning, all families who were temporarily sheltering overnight in the school building have returned to Floyd Bennett Field,” administrators wrote on social-media. “Regular in-person instruction will resume on Thursday, January 11, 2024.”