Deal With Schools on Playing Field Use Is Challenged
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
Opponents of a plan to give exclusive use of some Randall’s Island playing fields to a group of private schools are suing to stop the deal, saying it illegally bypassed the public review process.
Under the deal, 20 schools would pay $2.6 million a year to renovate and expand the island’s fields. In return, they would get exclusive access to two-thirds of the fields during after-school hours for 20 years.
The plan was approved by the city’s Franchise and Concession Review Committee in February, but plaintiffs in the lawsuit filed yesterday argue that it should be subject to public review.
“These are our kids who are being disenfranchised,” the president of parents group Citywide Council on High Schools, David Bloomfield, said.
