About a hundred kids from PS 120 were not allowed to join the school's end-of-year festival because their parents were not able to pay the $10 fee.
Most of them were from poor Chinese immigrant families who, as school staff described, were "struggling to keep their heads above water."
While other kids from their school enjoyed the Queens schoolyard affair, the poor students were guided into a dark auditorium where an old Disney movie played. There they stayed to wait it out, under the supervision of aides.
Meanwhile, they could hear the festivities outside.
"Are we being punished?" a student asked one of the aides when the movie stopped playing, the New York Post reported.
A 7-year-old girl cried "hysterically" because "she was the only one from her class who couldn't go, so she was very upset," a teacher said, according to the New York Post.
"It is breaking my heart that there are kids outside," the teacher added.
School principal Joan Monroe laid down the regulation to exclude kids who were not able to pay.
"She was saying it's not fair to the parents who paid," said Frank Chow, president of the parents' association who sponsored the carnival. "You can't argue much, I guess. The school is under her," he added, according to the Daily Mail.
A number of New Yorkers were moved by the story about the kids who were banned from joining the carnival just because their parents failed to pay the fee, so they offered to do something special for them.
"If the school is going to be so rigid, I'm sure the necessary funds can be raised through donations," said David Schwartz, a resident from the Upper East Side, according to a follow up story from the New York Post.
He said he would sponsor an outing for the kids who got left behind.
Carlos Medina, a building superintendent, said he would pay the fee for those who can't afford it the next time the school has a similar activity.
"Next time they have a carnival, any kids that can't pay the price, please send me the bill for each and all that were less fortunate," he told the New York Post.
"I'm a great believer in giving back," comments Daren Hornig from Hornig Capital Partners in Great Neck. She offered to bring the kids to an amusement park together with her daughters.
"We're trying to get to the bottom of it," said Jason Fink, spokesman for the Department of Education. The agency is now investigating the matter and they will make sure "there's not a repeat."
