Longfellow parents said they felt victimized because theirs seems to be the only school that will be sacrificed for the system.

“The Longfellow School is the only school that is being closed for another school to come in,” said Longfellow parent Gillian McMullen. “We lose our whole school culture.”

Longfellow parents also said they felt School Committee members will not support them adequately, since none of them have children at the Longfellow.

“We just don’t have anyone fighting for us on the School Committee,” said McMullen.

Parents also said they thought the King Open School, which will remain intact, may have been given an advantage in the plan because two committee members—Alan C. Price and Nancy Walser—have children at the King Open School.

“How objective can they be?” McMullen asked.

“The only people who benefit are two school committee members,” said parent Paul Zellweger. “It’s a political food fight.”

Some families questioned D’Alessandro’s statistics on falling enrollment at the Longfellow School.

“The statistics were all wrong,” said McMullen. “The building is really full.”

Parents said they were especially concerned that the ISP would be moved to the Kennedy School—a school labeled as under-performing—in what they speculate may be an underhanded move to raise the Kennedy School’s test scores.

While D’Alessandro said the merger will raise test scores, she said it would improve both programs.

“It’s a way to take a program that’s very successful to a community that needs success,” she said.

Zellweger has chosen to battle the proposed merger by calling the Department of Education (DOE). He said he hopes the DOE would send a notice to the city’s schools opposing the merger plan.

“What you have is a corruption of the process,” Zellweger said. “I believe that the DOE respects the rights of kids.”

Parents have planned to continue their protests at the upcoming forums and hearings on the merger plan.

“We’re going to fight it tooth and nail,” McMullen said.

—Staff writer Claire A. Pasternack can be reached at cpastern@fas.harvard.edu.