36 THE QUEENS COURIER • KIDS & EDUCATION • MARCH 30, 2017 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM kids & education ‘Clerical error’ left private school kids out of Maspeth HS BY ANTHONY GIUDICE [email protected] @A_GiudiceReport The city’s Department of Education (DOE) has reversed what’s been called a “clerical error” that excluded scores of private school students from the Maspeth High School (MHS) admissions process, which had sparked anger from the ineligible students’ parents. Th e error failed to designate a number of students from parochial schools that met the criteria for priority status for admission to MHS’ incoming freshman class this September. A DOE representative told the Ridgewood Times that it had marked an additional 207 of these students with priority, and 66 of them received admission off ers from MHS. “Every student who should have received an off er at Maspeth High School according to its admissions priorities has received an off er,” the DOE said in a statement. Parents who were still concerned about the MHS enrollment process got the chance to make their voices heard during the Community Education Council (CEC) 24 meeting on Tuesday, March 28, at P.S. 88. The snafu became public during the March 16 Juniper Park Civic Association (JPCA) meeting in Middle Village, where MHS Principal Khurshid Abdul- Mutakabbir admitted to outraged parents that there was an issue with the school’s enrollment. However, he downplayed any speculation that it was a targeted eff ort by the school to omit applicants from private schools. “Th ere was an error. Th ere was a problem,” Abdul-Mutakabbir said. “So there is no vast conspiracy against any of the parochial schools. Some of our best students come from parochial schools.” Maspeth High School is designated as a “limited unscreened” school in which students from District 24 are given the fi rst priority. Students are selected through a random lottery in which eighth-grade students who ranked MHS as their fi rst choice on the citywide high school application, and attended an open house/information session at MHS, were given priority in the drawing. Nearly 4,000 prospective students applied for approximately 250 seats in the MHS class of 2021. Photo by Anthony Giudice/QNS Maspeth High School principal Khurshid Abdul-Mutakabbir took questions from parents at this month’s Juniper Park Civic Association meeting.
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