Parents and community advocates agree that something needs to be done to better Syracuse City Schools, but the exact solution remains up for debate.
The Syracuse chapter of the National Action Network lead the discussion Saturday about the Education Department's recent decision to have outside management take over under performing schools.
"Students with disabilities, mental health issues, students that English isn't their first language are not getting adequate services," said Yusuf Abdul Qadir, community advocate.
The state says Dr. King Elementary School, Danforth Middle School and Westside Academy at Blodgett have not shown enough improvement. The district now has less than two months to bring in new management or choose to close the schools.
Parents say they feel uninformed.
"We don't have the answers yet so understanding this would assist us with impressing upon the school district that there needs to be more dialogue, more community meetings, more transparency about what is actually going on," said Twiggy Billue, President of National Action Network Syracuse.
"What will happen for us, and what are our rights under all of this? And trying to give a better perspective for parents to understand. Parents believe the school is just going to close. So we're not sure what is going to happen because there are myths that need to be combated," she continued.
Most agree in order to fix the mounting problems, restructuring is the way to go.
"So they would be restructured to have all new staff, all new administration and have a different academy and approach to learning in it," said Billue. "Restructuring seems the better way to us after what we have seen at PSLA and Syracuse Latin Academy."
"There are so many things going on in the school, like some of the kids can't read in 2nd grade, some can't tie their shoes. They know their names but that's about it., they need to restructure," said Reverend Steve Walker.
The National Action Network says the next step is to request a town hall meeting with the superintendent.