Push for Lower Lab Expansion to Avert Middle School Crowding

By Dan Rivoli

While many Upper East Side families with kids on kindergarten waitlists are focused on where their children will land this fall, some East Siders are looking even farther ahead, several years in the future. That’s when the current glut of kindergartners will hit middle school, potentially creating another crowding crisis. Read more

Waitlist Drama

What do you get when you mix waitlists, gifted programs and one of the most sought-after kindergartens in the city?

Our guess is one group of ticked off parents, who seem to be spoiling for a fight with the Department of Education officials attending tonight’s meeting at Wagner Middle School. Read more

BP Says Enrollment Timeline Is Flawed

The Department of Education may be opening a new primary school to alleviate District 2 crowding, but Borough President Scott Stringer is not happy with the enrollment timeline.

Families who have been waitlisted at their zoned schools will receive offers for alternative schools if they cannot be moved off of the waitlist. But the second-round offers, planned for the week of May 17, will come before most families finalize plans for private schools or gifted programs, which in turn frees up space at zoned schools. Read more

It’s Official: New Primary School Approved

P.S. 267, a new primary school that will be initially housed in the P.S. 158 building, was officially approved by the Panel for Education Policy March 23.
The plan calls for a kindergarten of 60 to 75 students in the new school, which will eventually move to the Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital (MEETH) building, on East 63rd Street. Read more

A Plan for P.S. 267

Despite the launch of a new school and other efforts to alleviate crowding in Upper East Side kindergartens, the Department of Education conceded that there may still be some families who don’t have a seat in their neighborhood school this fall.

Elizabeth Rose, a representative from the department’s office of portfolio development, said that another class would open in P.S. 158’s building, on York Avenue between East 77th and 78th streets, should a small number of students not be placed in a neighborhood school this September. Read more

‘Incubator School’ Approved for P.S. 158 Building

In a victory for local parent groups, District 2’s Community Education Council unanimously approved a new plan to relieve Upper East Side school crowding at a Jan. 13 meeting. The resolution they adopted called for a new incubator school in the P.S. 158 building, on York Avenue between East 77th and 78th streets. This new school, which will give priority to students zoned for overcrowded neighborhood schools like P.S. 59, P.S. 183 and P.S. 290, is expected to open in fall 2010. Parent council members are also working to come up with new zoning lines for the neighborhood, which would probably be implemented during the 2011-2012 school year. Read more