Parents described the Brooklyn public school attended by Nikole Hannah-Jones’s daughter as so troubled and unsafe that it earned the grim nickname “Little Rikers Island.”
A 2023 Change.org petition portrayed PS 307 as struggling with serious academic shortcomings, along with persistent concerns about bullying, student safety and alleged assaults on teachers.
“The school’s safety has deteriorated to a point where PS307 is known as ‘Little Rikers Island,’” the petition stated. It called for the resignation of the principal and assistant principal, comparing the school’s reputation to that of the notoriously dangerous New York City jail complex, which officials have announced plans to close.
The petition alleged that bullying had increased and that students had attacked teachers during recess without facing consequences. It also claimed some children were afraid to attend school because of potential violence, while accusing the principal of failing to hire enough staff to protect students. The campaign collected 111 of its requested 200 signatures.
“We, the concerned parents and community members of District 13, write this petition to urgently address the dire situation at Daniel Hale Williams P. S. 307 School,” the organizers wrote.
Hannah-Jones, 50, the journalist behind the 1619 Project, has now described in a new essay why she enrolled her only child, Najya, at PS 307 and later at a struggling Brooklyn middle school beginning in 2015. She said the decision was intended to challenge what she viewed as systemic racism, even though she acknowledged concerns about the schools’ academic performance and had the financial means to choose other options.
In the essay, Hannah-Jones presented the choice as an effort to support predominantly Black, lower-income public schools rather than simply selecting a more affluent alternative for her daughter.
Hannah-Jones had attended the University of Notre Dame and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She nevertheless wrote that she was prepared to accept what she characterized as a personal “sacrifice” in hopes of advancing a broader cause.
“We thought by sending Najya to a mostly low-income and Black school, we could help improve it for all the children there,” Hannah-Jones wrote.
“We believed strongly that if families like ours went into schools like this one, it would challenge other families with similar values to do the same,” she added.
Hannah-Jones also acknowledged that her daughter later felt the decision had left her academically unprepared when she reached high school.
According to the essay, Najya eventually confronted her mother, asking: “So you had money to send me to one of the best schools, and you chose not to?”
“Because other kids are disadvantaged, you didn’t want to put me in a great school?” the daughter reportedly asked.
