NEW YORK – Two parents of special needs students at an East Harlem elementary school are calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio to intervene in a long running dispute with the principal, who recently banned them from the building.

Central Park East 1 Elementary School parents Jennifer Roesch and Kaliris Salas-Ramirez told DNAinfo they received “letters of limited access” from principal Monika Garg last week for allegedly putting the school at risk, but the parents believe it’s in retaliation for criticisms about school leadership.

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Ramirez said she recently brought a student from Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism to tour the Madison Avenue school last Wednesday and was confronted by Garg, who insisted media is not allowed on campus without her permission.

“I’m (parent association) co-chair and so I bring in guests all the time,” Ramirez said. “I’ve never been told that I needed to consult with the principal before allowing guests in.”

Garg followed up with the “letter of limited access” that alleged “bringing press on site without authorization put children and teachers at risk” and wrote that surveillance cameras showed the student journalist taking pictures and notes, and looking in on classrooms.

“(Roesh) says she was banned for taking pictures of bulletin boards in the hallways showing that mandated material about anti-bullying was not displayed,” Fox 5 reports.

The city’s Department of Education issued a statement to the news site confirming both woman must now “register at the front security desk and be escorted into the building by a staff member when visiting.”

Roesh contends she was blocked from a meeting since the letters went out, and both women said they’ve repeatedly called the Department of Education about the matter with no reply.

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Ramirez contends the ban will negatively impact her 5-year-old son, a special education student at the school.

“You can’t break his routines,” she said. “I’m a single parent … I don’t have the ability, time or resources to have other people pick him up from school.”

A DOE spokesman told DNAinfo the parents can pick their kids up and drop them off, they just can’t enter the building without a chaperone.

“Following recent incidents, the school has temporarily asked two parents to register at the front security desk and be escorted into the building by a staff member when visiting, and drop their children at the front security desk,” the spokesman said.

The “limited access letters” follow a parent sit-in at the school in April to demand Garg’s removal for “actively harming … children with wanton neglect and disregard for their needs,” parent Anika Tam told The New York Times.

The parents were upset Garg fired teachers they liked, and vowed to occupy the school’s auditorium until the principal was removed. The parents stayed overnight, but left hungry and tired around 9 a.m. the next day.

Garg shot back at the complaining parents by criticizing their tactics and refusing to step down. She alleged those working to remove her represent a minority of parents who are relying on hyperbole to get their way.

“How can we possibly expect to teach our children to be kind while ourselves modeling such immature and reprehensible behavior?” she questioned at a school leadership meeting, according to the Times.

“Just to be very, very clear,” she said, “I am not going anywhere.”

The disgruntled parents have since started a Change.org petition calling on Mayor Bill de Blasio and city education officials to step in and remove the limited access ban for Roesch and Ramirez.

“Neither parent poses a security threat nor has either mom had previous incidents or warnings. The limited access letters are pure retaliation. There is no right of appeal or due process for parents who receive such letters,” the petition reads. “There is no end date to the bans; they are indefinite. By targeting two of the most visible critics of the principal, in a way that causes harm to their vulnerable children, these bans have a chilling effect on the majority of families who oppose Garg’s leadership.”

A total of 1,075 supporters had signed the petition as of Thursday afternoon.