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We, the undersigned families, staff, alumni, and neighbors of P.S. 250 George H. Lindsay, write regarding Principal Rodney Young.

On July 24, 2026, Principal Young was removed from our school and administratively reassigned as the subject of a pending Probationary Discontinuance of Service. Pending. It has not been finalized. We are asking you not to finalize it.

WHAT THIS SCHOOL HAS DONE UNDER HIS LEADERSHIP

Rodney Young has been principal of P.S. 250 since September 2021 and has served New York City children as an educator for more than twenty five years.

When he arrived, this school was under the State’s Comprehensive Support and Improvement designation. In March 2023, P.S. 250 came off that list. The State made that determination. So did the Department that is now removing him.

New York State ELA proficiency at P.S. 250:

2019: 24.7 percent

2022: 27.7 percent

2023: 28.2 percent

2024: 30.3 percent

2025: 35.6 percent

That is a gain of nearly eleven points, and the single largest year over year jump in the entire dataset, 5.3 points, came in 2025. In that same year our fifth graders reached 50 percent proficiency. Math proficiency has risen roughly ten points since 2018.

Students with disabilities at P.S. 250 went from zero percent proficient in ELA in 2022 to 16.7 percent in 2025.

Midyear results for the 2025 to 2026 school year, taken from the District’s own observation document:

• iReady Reading: plus 14 percentage points of students on grade level, year over year

• iReady Math: plus 19 percentage points on grade level, with 55 percent of students making typical or better growth

• ELA Benchmark: plus 9 percentage points

• Math Benchmark: plus 19 percentage points

• Students with disabilities: plus 15 points in reading and plus 10 points in math, now outperforming general education students at this school on both measures

WHY WE ARE ASKING YOU TO LOOK AT THIS

The priority the District set for Principal Young this school year, in the District’s own written words, was to strengthen instruction for students with disabilities and English language learners.

That is the precise area where this school’s gains are largest.

We are not asking you to take our word for which account is accurate. We are asking you to have someone outside District 14 read the record and decide.

WHAT WE ARE NOT CLAIMING

We will be honest with you, because we want to be taken seriously.

P.S. 250 has not arrived. Our proficiency rates remain below the citywide average. Our attendance is below the citywide average. We know this.

We serve a community where 88 percent of students qualify for free meals, 23 percent are students with disabilities, and 17 percent are English language learners. We are not asking to be judged against schools that do not carry that. We are asking to be judged against where we were, and where we were is measurably worse than where we are.

That is what a turnaround looks like in year five. It looks like this. And it is being ended six weeks before our children come back.

WHAT WE ARE ASKING FOR

1. Do not finalize the discontinuance.

2. Return Principal Young to P.S. 250 while the matter is reviewed.

3. Order an independent review of the full evaluation record by an office outside the District 14 superintendency, including whether the support and coaching required by his October 2025 Leadership Improvement Plan was actually delivered to him, and when.

4. Meet with the P.S. 250 community before any permanent change in leadership at our school.

Our children return in September. They have had the same principal for five years, and in those five years their school came off the State’s failing list and their scores went up every single year. They should not lose him without anyone outside this district ever having looked at why.

Respectfully,

PS 250 School Community