Harlem School For Special Needs Students Fights Success Academy Expansion
HARLEM — Since her 6-year-old autistic son enrolled in classes at P.S. 811 in Harlem, Genell Davis, 35, has noticed nothing but steady improvement.
"He's flourished. He reads now and he's trying to speak Spanish. He does addition and subtraction and he's on a level higher than his class," said Davis, who serves as the parent teacher association president at the co-located District 75 school that serves students with special needs.
But Davis is worried that her son Demetris' rapid progression will be stunted now that the Department of Education has announced plans for the school to lose three classrooms used for things such as speech therapy and occupational therapy in the 2014 school year to the expanding Success Academy Harlem 1 school at the building on 118th