Opposition to Dept. of Education Rezoning Proposal
December 14, 2009
The Upper East Side has faced a steadily worsening overcrowding crisis for the past several years. Schools have been forced to convert art rooms, libraries, and even closets into instructional space to keep pace with rising enrollments. A number of new school projects on the Upper East Side are already or will soon be coming to fruition. These new seats should help ease the space crunch. The District 2 Community Education Council (CEC) and New York City Department of Education (DOE) rightfully understand that rezoning will be needed in order to make effective use of the new school capacity that is becoming available.
However, I do not believe that the DOE’s proposal for the space at PS 158 that will become available after East Side Middle School relocates is appropriate.
The bottom line is that the proposals put forth by the DOE create a school that is simply too big. On the East Side, we are fortunate enough to have supportive, nurturing schools of reasonable sizes. Creating a mega-school in the PS 158 building would be detrimental both to the existing PS 158 community and to the students who would be rezoned to attend the school.
Research from both the Brookings Institute and the Center for the Study of Teaching and Policy found that student learning tends to diminish in schools that enroll over 800 students. In addition, it becomes significantly more difficult to build the sense of community that is the hallmark of successful schools in a school of more than 1,000 students.
I, along with Council Member Jessica Lappin and Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer, wrote to the CEC to urge it to reject the rezoning proposal and instead adopt a plan to incubate a new elementary school, with its own zone, at the PS 158 site. You can download a copy of that letter from the Publications section of this website.
Interviewed on PBS
July 10, 2009
Recently, I was featured in a lengthy interview with Dara Welles on WLIW 21’s “New York Insiders.”
We had a great conversation about what’s next for New York City’s schools, as well as Second Avenue Subway construction issues - and we also discussed broader topics like marriage equality, disability rights, the upheaval in the State Senate, and my own plans for the future.
PBS is linking things strangely, so when you click to see the video of my interview the title will read Suffolk County Legislator Steve Levy - but don’t worry, it’s me.
More on School Overcrowding
October 24, 2008
Here is an audio file you can listen to of a recent interview I did about the problem of school overcrowding with CNPI reporter, Florence Wapimewah, in late September. The interview was recently aired on WBAI 99.5FM.
Click here to listen to this interview: Interview with Assembly Member Micah Z. Kellner on School Overcrowding
The ABCs of A Better Capital Plan for Our Schools
September 23, 2008
Councilmember Jessica Lappin and I spoke to PS 158 PTA President Erinn Deri this morning before class started to distribute postcards as part of a campaign to encourage Mayor Bloomberg and Education Chancellor Klein to give schools more capital support.
For the next few weeks I will be visiting schools throughout our communities asking parents, teachers, and concerned residents to sign postcards to Mayor Bloomberg and Chancellor Klein asking them to give students the small classes they need to learn and grow.
It clear that school overcrowding is a growing problem throughout New York City and especially on the Upper East Side—and it is a problem that will not go away until the Department of Education and the Mayor take action to make a proactive change. I am a member of Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s Task Force on School Overcrowding. Since January, we have been working to create a comprehensive plan to submit to the City which we believe would help solve the overcrowding dilemma. This November, it is critical that the City’s new five-year capital plan for school construction take into account the projected growth in population and residential construction, especially on the Upper East Side.
To that end I am working with the Borough President to promote “The ABCs of A Better Capital Plan”. The ABCs would:
Address overcrowding and implement the city’s state-mandated class-size reduction plan: 20 students per class in K-3 and 23 in all other grades.
Be proactive and plan ahead to add school seats as neighborhoods grow.
Correct the way school capacity is calculated so the loss of art rooms and other critical spaces to overcrowding is acknowledged.
If you are interested in signing a postcard please stop by my office. Together we can ensure that the next generation of New York leaders receives the education that they deserve in schools that we can be proud of.
Kellner, Lappin Help UES Kindergarteners with School Placement after DOE Drops the Ball
August 14, 2008
Jennifer Sapienza (left) and Pankaj Jha (not pictured), two parents of UES schoolchildren, attended a press conference (the press release is available here) with Council Member Jessica Lappin and myself to draw attention to an ongoing problem with kindergarten school placements for UES families living in the PS 151 zone.
The new school year is fast approaching, and while some parents rush around for new lunchboxes, others are still waiting to find out where their children will be heading to class in September. With 19 days left to go before the big first day, a number of UES parents (the DOE says approximately 10 families) who live in the District 2 Zone 151 area were left hanging when a “computer error” by the NYC Department of Education resulted in a stressful summer.
The PS 151 school, which was closed almost 10 years ago, has never been replaced so when parents living in this zone apply for kindergarten they are entering a lottery. This year, an error resulted in a number of parents receiving letters stating that their young children had spots at PS 158, the Bayard Taylor School - but they were later told that this was an error, and no spots existed for their kids.
These parents contacted my office and Council Member Jessica Lappin’s office for help but after 2 months of phone calls with the Department of Education there was still no resolution. After we held a press conference today at least one of our parents received an email from the DOE saying that her child now had a placement secured.
But why did it have to come to this? Looking at the bigger picture, it is clear that a long-term sustainable plan must be made by the DOE to deal with the increasing and disgraceful overcrowding problem at Upper East Side schools. Obviously, an immediate plan is also necessary to help the parents in the PS 151 zone so that next year is not a repeat of this one. We need more spots for Upper East Side residents, including making better use of existing resources, planning for growth, and new school seats. I blogged awhile ago (”Kellner to DOE: PS 66 is the Solution to School Overcrowding on the UES“) about how we need a rezoning. These sorts of incidents underscore this desperate reality.
Starting Kindergarten is a particularly stressful time for the families of young children that takes a lot of adjusting to. In order to ensure a smooth transition, it is important that families have enough time to prepare for that big day. What happened to the Sapienza and Jha families was unacceptable and I will be keeping tabs on how the DOE works to ensure these sorts of problems do not cause hardships for next year’s new kindergarteners.
Kellner to DOE: PS 66 is the Solution to School Overcrowding on the UES
August 1, 2008
One of the problems I hear about almost more than almost any other is overcrowding in our public schools.
On the Upper East Side, 5 out of 6 elementary schools were over capacity during the previous school year. This problem is further reflected by the fact that 3 of the most overcrowded schools are located near the former PS 151, which was closed in 2000 without an appropriate plan to relocate its students.
Students in the PS 151 zone still do not have a zoned school, making the surrounding schools, which are already bursting at the seams, even more overcrowded. The families of these students are also placed in the unfair and stressful position of not knowing where their children would be placed until late May.
Community School District 2, which includes the Upper East Side, must be rezoned (see the June 4th NY Sun article on the subject: “Klein Eyes the Rezoning of City School Districts,” ) so that the New York City Department of Education (DOE) can get a clearer picture of the needs of Upper East Side students and families.
Rezoning District 2 will enable the DOE to redraw the map—thereby creating school zones which reflect the growth in student populations. Students in the PS 151 zone will no longer be left hanging at the end of the school year while they wait to find out where in New York City they were placed. Students in zones that already have schools will be redistributed more evenly so that existing schools can better handle class sizes. Rezoning would also force the DOE to take a hard look at District 2 and see where new schools are best utilized. However, rezoning by itself will not be effective without creating more elementary and middle schools to respond to capacity needs. As more and more people move to New York City, the needs of their children and the children who already reside here are being overlooked. A plan must be formulated that relieves existing school overcrowding while simultaneously planning for the future.
One specific way to solve the problems facing District 2 is to reclaim PS 66, presently housing Richard Green High School. The high school could be moved to another location. When this is completed, PS 66 could then be rezoned to accommodate the students who formerly attended PS 151, while relieving overcrowding from our other neighborhood elementary schools. This solution has the potential to be implemented quickly and with little interruption to Richard Green’s students and those being relocated to PS 66 if done in a transparent and coordinated manner. I have repeatedly called on the DOE to look into this scenario as a possibility, most recently at a meeting with Chancellor Joel Klein in August, and I believe he recognizes this as a serious possibility for a long-term solution.
We should also be looking for creative opportunities to build new schools. For instance, when the City negotiates with developers who are seeking zoning variances for a more lucrative development, these developers should be asked to provide classroom space in their buildings. For example, in recent dealings with New York Presbyterian Hospital, I have urged the City to negotiate to win two floors dedicated to a new public elementary school in the their proposed development on East 69th Street.
In July and August, I, along with other East Side elected officials, met with the DOE to stress the importance of reducing overcrowding in District 2 on both an immediate and long-term basis. I will continue to press the DOE for a rezoning and a plan to add additional classroom seats to our district.
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My community office is here to help you.
315 East 65 Street
New York, NY 10065
Tel 212-860-4906
Fax 917-432-2983
Email KellnerM@assembly.state.ny.us
