Push for Parent Input On Rezoning Process
If Community Board 8 has its way, Upper East Side parents will have continuing input into the likely contentious school district rezoning process, scheduled to begin this fall.
At the board’s June 15 youth and education committee meeting, members unanimously passed a resolution to present to District 2’s Community Education Council, which covers the Upper East Side and much of lower Manhattan. Read more
Haute Flea
Gone are the days of roaming the flea market on Avenue A and finding vintage T-shirts, old records and the guys from Interpol sulking on a Sunday afternoon. Starting this weekend, though, there’s MARTE on 3rd, a weekend market featuring clothing from designer Jackie Hates You, customized housewares from Lightexture, snacks from Georgia’s Eastside BBQ and eTon and plenty more. (MARTE, by the way, stands for Manhattan Artisan Retail & Trade Emporiums.) Read more
GROUND BROKEN ON NEW SCHOOLS
Schools Chancellor Joel Klein broke ground May 21 on a brand new mixed-use development that will house two public schools. The $500 million development, at 250 E. 57th St., is the largest public-private initiative to build public schools in New York City history. P.S. 59 and the High School of Art and Design will open to students in September 2012.
Waitlist Update
Families who were waitlisted at their zoned kindergarten recently received letters offering an alternate placement for the fall.
The Department of Education said it mailed 980 alternate offers to students six weeks earlier than last year, when waitlists were also a problem. But some parents say they are still frustrated that their children have longer commutes because of the lack of space in their zoned schools. Read more
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
Charter Crusader: Eva Moskowitz
If Eva Moskowitz were an action figure, her signature accessory might be a coffee cup. She’s often seen clutching one, with a cell phone or BlackBerry in the other hand.
But it must take an inordinate amount of caffeine—along with determination, vision and smarts—to power this former East Side Council member through her day managing four Success Charter Network schools in Harlem, with three more schools slated to open this fall. 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
Diane Ravitch Wants Bad School Policies Left Behind
A frequent critic of Schools Chancellor Joel Klein, education historian Diane Ravitch has created a stir in policy circles with her new book, The Death and Life of the Great American School System: How Testing and Choice Are Undermining Education (Basic Books, March 2010).
A one-time supporter of testing and No Child Left Behind, Ravitch argues that “accountability” has been used to punish teachers and schools, and that testing has become an ends in itself, rather than a way to measure and improve student knowledge. 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
P.S. 158 Pushback
On Dec. 10, East Side parents heard competing plans for rezoning crowded neighborhood schools at a meeting held at Hunter College. While the Department of Education and a parent group both acknowledged the necessity of rezoning, the parties differed over the use of two soon-to-be vacant groups of seats. One group of 400 seats will be available in several years in the old Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat Hospital, or MEETH, building on East 63rd Street. That’s when P.S 59, currently occupying the space, will move into its own building. Meanwhile, 15 classrooms and administrative space will open next year in P.S. 158’s building on York Avenue, between 77th and 78th streets, when East Side Middle School moves into a new building. Read more
