New York City Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels scrapped a plan to close an embattled Upper West Side middle school at the center of a Hunter College professor’s “racist and unacceptable” hot mic comments during a public meeting.
Community Action School will remain open so students and their families can continue to “process and recover from” the scandal sparked by Hunter biology professor Allyson Friedman, Samuels wrote in a Monday letter to parents obtained by Chalkbeat.
Friedman, an Upper West Side parent of a public school student, inadvertently interrupted a black eighth-grade student’s concerns about the impending closure of CAS during a Feb. 10 District 3 Community Education Council board meeting.
“They’re too dumb to know they’re in a bad school,” she said while her mic was unmuted and as a black student from Community Action School was speaking.
“If you train a black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back,” Friedman said. “You don’t have to tell them anymore.”
Before Monday’s reversal, education officials pushed a plan to close CAS because it enrolled only about 170 students, and the kids’ standardized test scores on math and English lagged behind the city average.
But students and parents defended the school as vital.
“First, the CAS community is continuing to process and recover from the racist and unacceptable remarks directed toward a CAS student at a [community education council] meeting in February,” Samuels wrote in the letter to parents.
“And second, members of the school community shared a strong desire for stability as they move forward. What the CAS community needs right now is meaningful and comprehensive support — and that would be difficult to provide authentically in the context of a phase-out proposal.”
Hunter College, which is part of CUNY, placed Friedman on leave last week pending the result of the investigation into the tenured teacher’s remarks, which drew widespread condemnation and calls for her ouster.
She seemed to be referring to a comment made by Reginald Higgins, the school district’s interim acting superintendent, who spoke about scholar Carter G. Woodson, the father of black history, earlier in the meeting.
“If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told,” Woodson wrote in his 1933 book “The Mis-Education of the Negro.”
But she misattributed the quote to civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.
“Apparently Martin Luther King said it: If you train a black person well enough, they’ll know to use the back. You don’t have to tell them anymore,” Friedman said.
Two other adults in the virtual meeting quickly called out the professor, while others sat shocked with their hands over their mouths.
The decision to keep CAS open was a startling reversal, given that Samuels supported phasing out the school when he previously served as the District 3 superintendent.
Samuels, who was appointed by Mayor Zohran Mamdani, visited CAS on Monday and talked to students.
“NYC Public Schools is committed to listening to and supporting our students, families, and communities. After thoughtful reflection and a conversation with Community Action School students Monday morning, Chancellor Samuels has decided not to post the proposal to phase out the Community Action School beginning in the 2026-2027 school year,” the city Department of Education said in a statement Tuesday.
“As the community continues to process the harm caused by recent racist comments at a Community Education Council meeting, our focus must be on healing, stability, and ensuring students feel safe and supported. We will continue working closely with District 3 to provide the resources and engagement this community deserves.”
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