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The NYC Department of Education is considering some big changes to zoning and admissions in the following seven District 15 elementary schools: P.S. 38, P.S. 261, P.S. 32, P.S. 15, P.S. 29, P.S. 58 and Red Hook Neighborhood School.
With the construction of a brand-new addition at P.S. 32 finishing by September 2020, there will be 436 additional seats at the school (in addition to other improvements). So the DOE is discussing how to fill those additional seats in ways that will address overcrowding at nearby P.S. 29 and P.S. 58 as well as demographic disparities in the area’s schools. The plan to increase integration through rezoning admissions priorities are similar to changes that have recently taken place in District 15 middle schools.
At the September 24th DOE meeting, they laid out two potential approaches to reach their goals of increasing integration, reducing overcrowding, and filling new seats at P.S. 32 (while maintaining reasonable walking distances to schools). In both approaches, they would create admissions priorities to reserve 25-35% of seats for Students in Temporary Housing (STH), Multilingual Learners (MLL), and students income-eligible for free or reduced price lunch (FRL).
It’s important to note that rezoning would only impact incoming Pre-K and Kindergarten students (or students who are new to NYC schools) the year it is implemented – not current K-5 students or the younger siblings of students already in those schools.
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Approach 1: Maintain Individual Zones
This approach will draw new individual zone lines in order to increase equity between schools and reduce overcrowding at P.S. 29 and P.S. 58. Each school would maintain an individual zone and students would be admitted based on the same zoned admissions priorities. Out-of-zone STH, MLL, and students income-eligible for FRL would have an admissions priority for up to 25-35% of kindergarten offers after all zoned students get seats. And zoned students in any of the priority groups would count towards the overall 25-35% goal.
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Approach 2: Create Shared Zone
This approach would remove current zone lines and create one shared zone for all seven schools in the area. There would no longer be zoned priority to an individual school, and all students would be admitted through a choice admissions process. STH, MLL, and students eligible for FRL would have an admissions priority for 25-35% of kindergarten offers at all seven schools. Any students in the shared zone who do not fall into those categories would get priority for the remaining offers and would be entitled to a seat at one of the seven schools within the shared zone.
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Timeline for Changes
The District 15 Community Education Council (CEC 15) will vote on any rezoning and admissions changes after a proposal has been submitted by the DOE. This vote would need to take place by the end of November 2019 in order to implement the changes for the 2020-2021 school year. At this point it is possible that the vote will be delayed to allow for further discussions, in which case the changes would not take place until the following school year (2021-2022). You can find additional details of the proposed changes and timelines discussed at the recent DOE meeting here.
Do you have thoughts on these proposed school rezoning and admissions changes? Community feedback is important! Parents and community members are encouraged to submit their concerns and feedback to NYCDOE Office of District Planning at BrooklynZoning@schools.nyc.gov, Community Education Council 15 at CEC15@schools.nyc.gov, and/or District 15 Community Superintendent Anita Skop at ASkop@schools.nyc.gov or (718) 935-4317.
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Margel Nusbaumer is a local writer and mom in Brooklyn. Thoughts? Reach out to margel@achildgrows.com.
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