New school under construction at West End/61st
Parents on the Upper West Side are concerned that rezoning of elementary schools could increase commutes for their children and negatively impact the quality of their education.
The looming changes would affect some or all schools in District 3, encompassing the area from 59th to 116th Streets.
View: District 3 Map with Diversity & Enrollment Statistics
Parent forums during the summer and ongoing through the fall have been well attended. However, in mid-October, the process appears to be still in its preliminary stages, with no definitive proposal ready to go for approval. This has caused great consternation among parents, some of who suggested they might relocate, depending on the outcome.
“The decision is not getting made until late November/early December, at which point it almost is too late to move and guarantee a spot in a desired school district,” parent Joe Nelson said.
Parents believe that the rezoning process is opaque and that the timing will leave them unable to plan ahead, as any proposal would seemingly be voted on and then immediately go into effect, rather than give parents a few months’ notice.
“I don’t think we’re there yet,” school board zoning committee chair and parent Kim Watkins said of the lack of resolution. “We’re still very much in the thick of analysis both at the quantitative and qualitative level to understand what’s best long term for the district and how we can get the department to a proposal that will get the votes that we need and also answer all the questions that we have.”
The rezoning project has been triggered in part by problems of overcrowding. These have been especially present in several of the popular schools in the southern part of the district, including the highly regarded PS 199 and PS 452.
The popular PS 199 – West End/70th
Not only have parents opted to move to these school zones in part because of the educational opportunities they offer, but also recent high-rise construction – including the Trump Place complex – has increased enrollment. This has resulted in oversubscription and created waiting lists.
In contrast, the struggling PS 191- adjacent to the Amsterdam housing project and just nine blocks to the south of PS 199 – is operating at less than full capacity.
A distinct feature that has added to the complication of the rezoning process is that the Upper West Side school district, particularly at its southern end, is considered to be “segregated” and lacking in diversity.
One only has to look at the differences in enrollment between PS 199 and PS 191. At PS 199, 66 percent of the students are white, 14 percent are Latino, and 1 percent are black, with 8 percent of its students considered to be “economically disadvantaged.” At PS 191, 9 percent of the students are white, 48 percent are Latino, and 36 percent are black, with 82 percent of its students considered to be economically disadvantaged.
Due for renovation: PS 191 – West End /61st
With the goal of addressing all of this, the Department of Education has three proposals on the table. The rezoning in Scenario A only affects students at the southern end of the district. For the first time in 20 years, a new school is under construction there, and it would have a capacity of 700 seats. The staff and student body of PS 191 would relocate to this building upon its completion in 2017. The old PS 191 campus would then undergo renovation. Under Scenario A’s rezoning, three zones would be created, whereas there are now two. Some students currently attending PS 199 would be reallocated to the new PS 191 building, some would move into the renovated and yet-to-be-named former site of PS 191, and some would remain at PS 191.
The parents who have been most vocal regarding Scenario A are some of those in the Lincoln Towers, a 20-acre complex of six high-rise buildings, who face the prospect of their children being relocated from PS 199 to PS 191. They have expressed concern that the Lincoln Towers community might split into more than one district, and that the quality of their children’s education might decline.
View: Office of District Planning Potential ES Zones Scenario A
Meanwhile, Scenario B involves redrawing zoning lines throughout the whole district and controversially would see the re-siting of PS 452 from its current location at W. 77th St. to the renovated former PS 191 building at W. 61st St. It would have a similar impact on the families angered by the Scenario A proposal, but has received an even more vocal response than that of Scenario A, in the form of complaints from parents of PS 452 students. The DOE is interested in this proposal as it would simply relocate the existing staff and administration of PS 452 and remove the need to hire an entirely new group. It would also ease the logistical challenges associated with the current site of PS 452, which is a shared space that also includes two middle schools and a school for gifted children.
View: Office of District Planning Potential ES Zones Scenario B
PS 452, part of the shared O’Shea campus – Columbus/77th
“Some friends of ours in the controversial 452 zone could possibly be forced to travel to a new school farther away if the decision is delayed, thus they just want a decision to be made now,” Nelson’s wife, Jennifer Saionz, said. “They already were very upset that the DOE/CEC (Community Education Council) failed to reach an agreement last year, putting them through the process again this year, and another year of failure and uncertainty would have driven them to the suburbs.”
She added, “The families in the Lincoln Towers have been quite outspoken, but their area is ripe for rezoning due to all the local possibilities for increasing diversity (which isn’t much of a possibility without busing in our zone). None of the rezoning changes seem to make much geographic sense to us and many of our friends.”
At a meeting on September 28th, a third rezoning option was presented that would appease the PS 452 families by allowing the school to remain in its current location. However, it does not acquiesce to Lincoln Towers residents, and under this proposal zoning lines would still split Lincoln Towers along West End Avenue. Scenario C differs from Scenario A in that it includes schools in the northern portion of the district, west of Morningside Park, so it is in effect a compromise option that combines Scenarios A and B.
Some parents called for a more radical restructuring called “controlled choice” whereby zoning would be lifted and students would be allocated based on an algorithm, but this seems highly unlikely to be implemented.
Watkins is optimistic that an agreement can be reached. “When schools become so overcrowded…we have to change the zone lines,” she said. “And the only way is by going through this type of exercise and hopefully, as the middle class continues to thrive in the city, and we continue to put more of our efforts into the betterment of our schools on all levels, that zoning transitional period will be brief and people will end up surprised by the new option they get.”
This week, the DOE announced that it will present one final zoning scenario at a meeting on Wednesday, October 19. Two public hearings will follow.
Manhattan Dreaming 