Muriel Pagán Escuela Bilingüe Collection

Muriel Pagán is the former director of Bilingual Education for the Division of Special Education within the New York City Board of Education. She was also the Assistant Principal from 1968 to 1979 at PS 25 in the Southeast Bronx, the first totally bilingual school in the United States Northeast region. Throughout the years, Pagán saved many documents pertaining to her professional career as educator and a pioneer of the bilingual programs in New York City, including P.S. 25 – The Bilingual School and the Office of Bilingual Services. These materials cover a wide range of topics and formats including: correspondence, information on education programs, the proceedings of a conference held by the Department of Education of the Commonwealth of Puerto on the education of Puerto Rican children on the mainland, press clippings, flyers, and some publications. Muriel Pagán worked closely with Principal Hernan LaFontaine and Assistant Principal Ms. Carmen Rivera, both fellow leaders in the fight for bilingual education in New York City. P.S. 25 was truly a school built by Puerto Ricans; the school recruited 15 teachers from the island of Puerto Rico, as well as 5 Puerto Rican teachers already teaching in the New York City public schools, to join the faculty. Although there was a lot of local community support for bilingual education, but it was a constant fight with larger city institutions. Federal money mandated for bilingual education, set aside through the Bilingual Education Act of 1968 as well as the ASPIRA Consent Decree of 1972, was being dispensed very slowly or, in some cases, not at all. Despite these setbacks, P.S. 25 generated excitement in the community in both students and parents. Ms. Pagán played an integral role in bringing bilingual education to the South Bronx and New York City as a whole. After working at P.S. 25 for 11 years, she was named principal of P.S. 62 in the South Bronx.

In 1980, Muriel Pagán was honored by the National Association of Bilingual Education (NABE) as one of ten women in the country “who have been instrumental in the establishment of bilingual education from the very beginning.” They highlighted her achievements as someone who has made “significant contributions to the field and who has repeatedly demonstrate a sincere commitment to the education of students of limited English proficiency.” (Box 1, Folder 6)

From 1980-1981, Muriel Pagán served as Special Assistant of Bilingual Services to Jerry C. Gross, the executive director of the Division of Special Education.

Sources:

Biographical information primarily derived from a phone interview with Muriel Pagan, and the collection and from Sonia Song-Ha Lee, Building A Latino Civil Rights Movement Puerto Ricans, African Americans, and the Pursuit of Racial Justice in New York City.