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Schools

More Questions Than Answers for PS 107 Parents

At Thursday night's Department of Education meeting, there was little good news.

At Thursday night’s crowded and sometimes contentious meeting between the Department of Education and parents from District 15, there was some good news, a little more bad news and a lot of frustrated parents.

The meeting stretched on for nearly two hours in the auditorium of the John Jay Campus, with at least 100 parents waiting patiently in two long lines for their turn at the mic.  Some DOE officials took turns tirelessly fielded their questions, while others like Marc Sternberg — an Education Department Deputy Chancellor and aspiring PS 107 parent — made their way around the room, taking e-mail addresses and phone numbers, offering sympathy and promising to follow up on individual parents’ concerns.  

One tiny bright spot was the announcement that PS 107 will extend offers to four more wait listed Kindergarten students on Friday.  That will bring down the total number of children remaining on down to 14. 

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But any good news was quickly overshadowed by the ever-mounting concerns about overcrowding in District 15.

The DOE said they remain hopeful that many more wait listed children will eventually be accepted at their zoned schools, as admitted children accept offers in gifted programs or at other specialized schools.  They expect this process to be ongoing for several more weeks.

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Other efforts by the DOE to manage District 15’s overcrowding include pushing schools use all available classroom space and increase class sizes to legal limits — 25 students for kindergarten and 32 students for first grade — a revelation that clearly shocked many parents and even elicited a chorus of boo’s. 

According to one parent, it’s these kinds of solutions that have them most worried. “What makes [PS 107] unique is the intimacy of it,” Julie Rosenberg said.  “It’s being ripped out from under us.”

Other parents expressed similar concerns, one describing the school’s expanding population like a huge crowd rushing at a small tunnel: eventually, there will be no place for all the students to go.

The DOE’s central response seemed to be their assurance that schools can accommodate more students in upper grades. They are also hoping the population bubble experienced in District 15 this year — a 36 percent increase over last year — does not repeat.  Neither seemed much comfort to the worried parents in attendance.  Nor did the DOE’s repeated reference to the construction of a new school in District 15.  It will not be complete until 2013.  

But solutions such as expanding into the Armory across the street from PS 107 or putting up trailers to accommodate more students, are likely infeasible according to the agency.

In the meantime, many wait-listed parents complained that they are being turned away from even submitting applications at other neighborhood schools, though the DOE assured them that they have instructed all elementary schools in District 15 to continue accepting applications. The agency encouraged parents to put in as many applications as possible.  

Other parents complained that each elementary school running its waiting list independently was inherently problematic. Parents whose children have been denied a spot at their zoned school expressed concern that there may be children taken off waiting lists and given spots at neighboring schools when those children have the option of attending their zoned school.  To combat this problem, the DOE has instructed schools not to admit any more un-zoned children until they can assess how many children have no kindergarten seat at all.

The unsettled status of PS 39’s waiting list was another hot-button issue.  Several parents on the waiting list there reported that they haven’t even been told where they sit on that school’s waiting list, which includes 21 students.

One exasperated parent, Martina Konrad-Murphy, described being told by officials at PS 39 that she was at the top of the list one day — with her application physically being moved to the top of a banded pile — only to return the next day to see her application fished out from the bottom of that same pile.  It was a situation, which came as a surprise to the DOE officials present and they assured parents would be remedied immediately.  

When asked whether PS 39 was considering eliminating either or both of its pre-k classes to make way for more kindergartners as has been done at PS 107, Sternberg noted only that the schools were considering all options, but that such a decision is made by the school itself.

As for parents who decide to give up on this year and wait for their children to be able to return to their zoned schools for first grade – well, the DOE said it can’t necessarily guarantee them a spot in their zoned school for then, either.

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