The Department of Education has presented its final rezoning proposal for PS 8 and PS 307 during the CEC 13 calendar meeting on September 30th. The DOE stated on Tuesday 10/6 that it would allow for more time of discussion before submitting its official proposal to the CEC that must vote on the plan.
In October, education officials will hold two small-group meetings with parents and other community members by invite only. One will center on parents from Dumbo and Vinegar Hill, who are currently zoned to P.S. 8 but would be shifted to P.S. 307; the other meeting would focus on listening to concerns from P.S. 307 parents, some of whom have worried that they would lose a sense of ownership in their school with the change. There will also be more town hall meetings open to the public – stay tuned for dates and times.
An official rezoning proposal could come in November, a time frame officials said still would allow changes to take effect for the 2016-17 school year with children born in 2011 applying for Kindergarten.
Here are the facts:
- Brooklyn Heights, Old Fulton Street, Concord Village and the new Pierhouse 1 would be zoned for PS 8
- The new zoning line would follow the Brooklyn Bridge and everything east – DUMBO and Vinegar Hill – would be zoned for PS 307
- There are no plans to add back Pre-K at PS 8, however six Pre-K classes are planed for PS 307
- This plan has NO impact on current students at PS 8
- This proposal by the DOE assumes that siblings will be grandfathered into PS 8 but the CEC will have to determine it
- If this rezoning proposal does not get approved for next school year, PS 8 will have an even larger waitlist next year with excess students being assigned to PS 307 for Kindergarten
- The DOE plans – if a separate proposal gets approved – to move Satellite West middle school located above PS 307 to the new middle school under construction at 60 Water Street/”Dock Street building” for the next school year 2016-’17. Satellite West middle school has currently 81 students enrolled, the new middle school at 60 Water Street can accommodate 333 students at capacity.
The DOE also shared new data about the current school year 2015-’16 for enrollment and building capacities of both buildings at this meeting:
- PS 8 has a building capacity of 524 students and currently has 751 students enrolled. It is operating at 143% capacity.
- PS 307/Satellite West middle school has a building capacity of 776 students and currently has 371 students enrolled at PS 307 and 81 students at Satellite West. It is operating at 58% capacity. 360 elementary seats could be added to PS 307 within this plan.
During this meeting, CEC members, elected officials and parents asked for more time to consider this proposal. However, if the rezoning plan gets approved, the DOE plans to create an “implementation task force” with the CEC, the superintendent and members of the PS 307 and 8 communities to define resources needed for this process and to bring the communities together. This would be the first time, such a task force would be created by the DOE.
Photo: PS 8 principal Seth Phillips and PS 307 principal Stephanie Carroll at the CEC 13 calendar meeting 9/30/15.
