Final school rezoning plan still drawing criticism

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[media-credit name=”Downtown Express photo by Aline Reynolds ” align=”aligncenter” width=”600″][/media-credit]

BY ALINE REYNOLDS | Neighborhood parents charged with evaluating school zoning might very well approve the city’s third and final rezoning proposal introduced earlier this month. But, while many Tribeca families are satisfied with the third school rezoning proposal, residents in various parts of the Financial District are still demanding alternatives. The final plan, which the D.O.E. introduced to the District Two Community Education Council earlier this month, assigns children who live east of Nassau Street, between Liberty and Fulton Streets, to the Peck Slip School. It also zones youths living in Southbridge Towers, a residential complex near the South Street Seaport, to the Peck Slip elementary school, which is slated to incubate at the Tweed Courthouse starting next year until it moves to its permanent location at One Peck Slip in 2015. Several frustrated families from Southbridge and John Street appeared at C.E.C. District Two’s rezoning committee meeting last Wednesday, Dec. 7 to voice their concerns. Parent Danielle Bello and other Southbridge residents are requesting a dual zone for Southbridge. “In essence, we would like to be given a choice as to whether our child would attend Spruce or Peck,” said Bello. “This seemed to work fairly well for families that were given the option a few years ago to attend either P.S. 89 or P.S. 276.” John Street residents such as Steve McCool are against a three-year-long incubation at Tweed — since the building, which houses D.O.E.’s headquarters, lacks basic school facilities such as a gym and cafeteria — and inquired about unused space at Spruce Street. “It’s a band-aid approach to incubate that long at Tweed,” said McCool. “It’s not an environment that’s conducive to educating a child. So we’re asking for other options.” The Spruce Street School is just a five-minute walk from the area of John Street that would be reassigned to the Peck Slip School under the new proposal, according to Financial District parent Erika Pitters. “We are part of the community surrounding the Spruce Street School. We watched it being built, and we’d like our children to go there. “We’re hoping that you’d consider what it’s like for these kids to walk an extra 15 minutes past the Spruce Street School to go to an incubator that’s not equipped to serve them well.” While a spokesperson for the D.O.E. said the Department was not considering incorporating a dual option into the Downtown rezoning plan, other neighborhood parents vetoed these alternative proposals. Creating a dual option for Southbridge residents would lead to overcrowding at the Spruce Street School, according to future Spruce Street parent Jennifer Cho, who is content with the new proposal. “We don’t believe [dual zoning] is warranted, given the viable alternative of incubating at Tweed,” said Cho. “The reality is, people wouldn’t be fighting that hard unless they [all] wanted to go to Spruce.” “I understand the issue of overcrowding, but I think the ‘choice’ proposal addresses that,” countered Southbridge resident Rachel Nash. “Not everyone would choose to go to Spruce, especially [families with younger children] who are facing the incubation period shorter.” C.E.C. District Two President Shino Tanikawa cautioned against the request of some residents to have future Peck Slip students incubate at the Spruce Street school or another location in addition to Tweed. “I don’t think we’re done thinking about creative solutions,” said Tanikawa, “but moving students twice in three years is highly disruptive as well.” “We need to absolutely make sure that the Peck incubator will fit in Tweed for all three years,” echoed Eric Greenleaf, a business professor at New York University whose student enrollment projections indicate severe overcrowding in Downtown schools in the years to come. “It’s a lot easier for the D.O.E. to find a temporary place to meet than it is to find a temporary space for kids to go to school.” However, at a Town Hall held just prior to the C.E.C. District Two rezoning committee meeting, NYC Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott stressed the importance of retaining the D.O.E.’s administrative functions at its Tweed headquarters. In doing so, Walcott essentially rejected Senator Daniel Squadron’s recommendation in a Nov. 21 letter to relocate some of the Department’s offices to World Trade Center 4 or elsewhere Downtown. “From the Senator’s perspective, I realize this is a gorgeous building Downtown… but from a reality perspective, it just does not work,” said Walcott. “Moving the Department into Tweed, literally behind City Hall, has really allowed us to have better efficiency in our operation.” Tanikawa nevertheless urged Downtown parents to rally around additional classroom space at Tweed for the duration of the Peck Slip School’s incubation period. “I think parents should… demand [that] the D.O.E. to open three sections of kindergarten in Tweed,” said Tanikawa. “I know we can find room.” Additional concerns about overcrowding At the Dec. 7 Town Hall meeting hosted by Walcott, Downtown residents once again railed against the D.O.E. for insufficiently accommodating the neighborhood’s rapidly expanding residential growth. “I completely reject rezoning as a planning tool to make sure we have an even level of overcrowding everywhere,” said Michael Markowitz, co-chair of C.E.C. District Two’s zoning committee. “I appreciate the efforts that are being made, but we’re not keeping up adequately [with school capacity].” Markowitz and others also stressed the need for additional parent participation in the Department’s decisions. “If we could have roundtable discussions [about school capacity and overcrowding], I think we’d get a lot further than where we are now,” said P.S. 234 parent Demetri Ganiaris, a member of C.E.C. District Two’s zoning committee. “When a [new school] site has been identified, we want a seat at the table when it’s being discussed,” chimed in C.E.C. District two Vice President Elizabeth Weiss. “We want to have a voice that’s not just tagged on at the end.” While the Chancellor said he welcomes parental feedback on D.O.E. decisions, “at the end of the day, the decision rests with me, as Chancellor,” he said. “I take responsibility for both the good and the bad.” Though Walcott boasted about the 10 new schools District Two has seen since 2003, the Chancellor acknowledged that there are “pockets” of overcrowding, and pledged that the D.O.E. is gradually shifting its focus concerning student population growth from a district-wide level to a neighborhood-specific level — contradicting recent claims made by School Construction Authority President Lorraine Grillo. “This particular district just has so many different, unique needs… so it’s really important for the C.E.C. and us to work closely around neighborhood targeting,” said Walcott. The D.O.E. is also continuing discussions with the city’s Department of City Planning to establish new protocols for residential developers with respect to new construction — at the urging of parents from Downtown and elsewhere in District Two. “Through our Educational Construction Fund, we want to take a look at those creative options as far as partnering [with other city agencies],” said Walcott.