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Teachers, parents and students urge Harlem board to preserve early childhood seats and ALP; warn of transport and equity harms
Summary
More than 20 speakers during public comment described how Scenario 7’s grade-banding, school closures and program reductions — including cutting early childhood from about 360 seats to about 80 and phasing out the Advanced Learners Program — would disrupt vulnerable students, create transportation burdens and erode neighborhood schools.
During public comment at the Harlem UD 122 meeting, teachers, support staff, parents and students delivered sustained testimony opposing Scenario 7 and its specific program changes, with several speakers offering concrete examples and numbers.
Early childhood staff and parents said the proposal would shrink EC capacity dramatically. "The current proposal cuts their early childhood program by 80%... We would be going from 360 seats to just 80," EC teacher Katie Fowler said. Multiple speakers warned that the remaining seats would likely be filled by students with IEPs, leaving other at‑risk children without preschool access.
Support staff and teachers raised seniority concerns. Nicole Ellis, who identified herself as a parent and district educator, asked: "Why do my years of support service prior to teaching not count towards my seniority? I feel like my dedication should be accredited for something." Commenters said the change could result in experienced paraprofessionals and other long-term staff losing jobs and destabilizing programs that rely on familiar adult relationships.
Advanced Learners Program (ALP) teachers said Scenario 7 would eliminate districtwide ALP for grades 3–5 and replace it with limited honors offerings in fifth grade. Sarah Redner, an ALP teacher at Olsen Park, said the program “encompasses grades third through fifth across the district who are performing in the top 5%” and warned that waiting until fifth grade for daily services would not meet students’ needs.
Other recurring concerns included transportation burdens (Janine Messner cited a 4.6‑mile distance between Ralston and Loves Park as an example), logistics for families with multiple children who could end up at different schools, and the loss of neighborhood-school community ties that many parents and alumni framed as central to Harlem’s identity.
Students spoke as well: Piper Campbell, a sophomore at Harlem High School, described emotional ties to Maple Elementary and asked the board to consider the student perspective before approving large-scale moves.
The public testimony helped prompt the board’s decision to pause and seek more detailed community feedback before a formal vote. The board set a Dec. 15 staff update and indicated Jan. 5 as the tentative date for a vote on a revised plan.
The transcript shows no technical, staff-provided cost modeling or HR-policy clarifications during the hearing; many speakers asked for fiscal transparency and requested written details about how seat counts, anticipated savings, and program transitions would be implemented.
The board did not resolve those technical questions at the meeting; staff follow-up and documented fiscal and HR clarifications were requested during public comment and in board direction.
