Fundraising hell!
Beacon principal hits up big-bucks parents
Her white privilege is showing. Beacon HS Principal Ruth Lacey gives students her blessing to stage sit-ins and walkouts against inherent advantages at the Hell’s Kitchen school, where nearly half the kids are white. But she squeezes their wellheeled parents for donations.
“It will take $400,000 — and together our community can do it,” Lacey wrote to parents last fall.
Lacey endorses the PTA’s nonstop fundraisers. Pitching in are celebs such as “Sex and the City” star Cynthia Nixon (inset below, right), who has a child in the school; HBO comedian Judy Gold, whose son attended for three years; and show-biz pals Matthew Broderick (inset below, left), Christine Lahti and Chris Noth (inset below, center).
In a required disclosure to the Department of Education, the Beacon PTA reported a stash of $685,767 in 2018, putting it alongside the city’s most prosperous parent groups in neighborhoods like the Upper East Side, Upper West Side and Park Slope — a handful raising $1 million or more.
Parents in poor areas raise a pittance, some less than $100. More than 20 schools in Bedford-Stuyvesant reported a combined total of $10,278.
“I find it hypocritical that Principal Lacey supports social-justice activism against ‘white privilege’ but gladly accepts our green dollars,” one parent griped.
Lacey, 75, has also accepted luxury gifts from generous parents, sources told The Post. Among the tokens of appreciation: a cashmere sweater, designer handbag, leather gloves and a pashmina wrap (like the one at right) — all in her favorite color, hot pink.
Under DOE rules, employees may receive only “gifts that are principally sentimental in nature and of small financial value.” The DOE said it was “unaware” of the gifts, and Lacey did not respond to questions about them.
In October, Lacey told parents the school needed to raise the $400,000 for extracurriculars and college-admission counseling.
“Beacon has planned for 59 clubs and will field more than 20 teams throughout the year,” she wrote. “We must again lean on our community to make these programs possible.”
Parent funds also pay for science supplies, college office services such as “essay tutoring,” sports tournament fees and referees, “and so much more,” she wrote.
The PTA says parent donations “ENTIRELY” subsidize the after-school clubs.
Last fall, the PTA granted a teacher’s request for $500 to start a Dungeons & Dragons club, records show. In December, it approved $700 to buy supplies for the fashion club.
Sports also rely on parent pocketbooks, the PTA said. It warned that a shortfall “will mean shorter playing seasons . . . less playing time ... reduced travel for competitions . . . equipment repaired less frequently.” Another newsletter declared, “To be clear, an excellent sports program such as we have at Beacon costs money — and it’s not the DOE that funds it. It’s all of us.” The DOE disputed the claims Saturday, saying the PTA “does not fund” staff in the college office, athletic department or for after-school clubs, but refused to elaborate. Officials said Beacon is budgeted for $14 million this year.
Beacon students boycotted and held a mass sit-in Dec. 16 to protest alleged racism by white administrators. In the cafeteria days before, science teacher Demetrius Green, who is black, encouraged the rebellion. And Lacey, in a letter to the school community, said she was “moved by the passion” and sanctioned the actions.
While Beacon students bemoan the plight of peers in poorer schools, their folks hold galas in their homes and hot spots. At the Winter Wine Tasting in December, parents forked over $45 each to get into a townhouse and bought cases of wine with the school getting a 10 percent cut. It raised $6,000 last year.
At the Auction Gala last April in Murray Hill’s Cutting Room, a theater and bar co-owned by Noth, parents bid on a plethora of donated prizes such as dinner for two, show tickets and backstage passes, a photo shoot or a week at someone’s “second home.”