ORIGINALLY POSTED OCT. 15, 2014 | BY DUSICA SUE MALESEVIC |Peck Slip School parents, fed up with six-foot partitions for divided classrooms at the Tweed Courthouse, called again for the use of the Dept. of Education’s conference rooms at Tuesday night’s Community Board 1 Youth and Education Committee meeting.
Parents brought their children, many with their face painted, to the crowded meeting that had people congregating in the doorway.
“In an evening in September, it was back to school night. You can’t imagine what coursed through each parent of a first and second grader when we [went] into our kids’ classrooms only to confront the absolute most pathetic excuse for a learning environment,” said P.S. 343 (Peck Slip School) parent Eden Lopez, who emphasized the parents’ support for principal Maggie Siena.
Lopez said four classes have been crammed into two classrooms that also include offices for instructors.
“Most egregious, the state-of-the-art noise-reducing dividers, they’re flimsy six-foot high dividers, which, of course, offer no buffer at all in a room with 15-foot ceilings,” said Lopez, whose son is in the second grade. “It was and it is an outrage. At our temporary quarters, we don’t have a gym, we don’t have an art room, we don’t have a proper cafeteria and we don’t have a playground for our kids.”
There was not enough time for construction or the necessary filing to make changes due to the courthouse’s landmark status, said Thomas Taratko, the D.O.E.’s executive director for the Office of Space Planning.
“We did not do this intentionally to fall short,” said Taratko, who has visited the classrooms four times. “We tried our best to do what we could.”
Taratko said that the dividers could be extended to around 10 feet. The higher, stronger partitions should help reduce noise. There is also a plan to get rid of the offices. The classrooms are on the first floor of the courthouse and are housed in a space that is 2,400 sq. ft. They range from 750 to 900 sq. ft.
“We’re four weeks into the school year and we’re still talking about let me see what I can do,” said committee chairperson Tricia Joyce.
Downtown Express first reported about the problem last month.
Downtown school advocates have been trying for years to get the building’s conference rooms converted to classrooms, but Taratko said it’s not even being considered.
“It was not on the table to give up those other two rooms,” he said. “That has not changed.”
The school’s P.T.A., which had sent two letters to Schools Chancellor Carmen Farina about the conference rooms, met with her team, said Lopez. Parents were told by Farina’s deputy that they “have not a whit’s chance in securing additional space on the floor” because there is a new school on the horizon. Peck Slip School is slated to be open by the fall of 2015.
In an email response to questions about using the conference rooms, Harry Hartfield, D.O.E. spokesperson, wrote: “Students thrive when they are able to learn in a safe and supportive learning environment, and the D.O.E. works tirelessly to ensure this for all our students.
“Next September, students at Peck Slip will move into a new, state-of-the art building in Lower Manhattan,” he added. “In the meantime the school will continue in D.O.E. space and our Office of Space Planning is already working to make sure the classrooms provide appropriate space for these children.”
Maria Ho–Burge, whose daughter is in the first grade, said that the administration had suggested the use of headphones and also that rugs would help mitigate the noise in the classrooms.
“I asked my daughter Lola, did the rugs help,” she said. “Yes, they helped the tables look really pretty” but did not make the classrooms less noisy.
“I’m so tired of hearing about happy kids who are adapting,” said Joy Martini, whose son is in the first grade. “Our children are well-loved, of course, they’re happy. Happy isn’t the measure of a great educational environment.”
Teachers have had to coordinate and adjust their lesson plans, said Martini. “Our teachers are not teaching as they would under normal reasonable circumstances,” she said.
The parents have started a petition, she said, asking Farina for the conference rooms.
“These rooms were divided in thirds, not in halves,” said Paul Hovitz, the C.B. 1 committee’s co-chairperson. “Yes, there’s learning going on and that’s to the credit to the principal and the staff, but it’s in spite of the situation.”
“I am in a tough spot, I feel a tremendous amount of gratitude and loyalty towards our families,” said Siena, the principal. “I also feel some loyalty towards our chancellor, who I think has exceeded our expectations for what she’s doing in New York City for New York City students.”
Siena has been talking about the potential problems of dividing the Tweed rooms for almost three years. In 2012, she said “You could have two classes in a room, but it would be very noisy.” And a year later she said, “I am very reluctant to put 50 children in one of those rooms that can’t be divided with an auditory division.”
This is not the first time that the Tweed Courthouse has been used as temporary “incubator” space for students while their school is being built. It was also used for Spruce Street School and P.S. 276. C.B.1 had passed a resolution asking for soundproof dividers that go to the ceiling.
“The feedback was so overwhelming the first time around that this had to happen if these rooms were divided again,” said Joyce. “Somewhere along the line and probably because we had to move so quickly as usual with our overcrowding situation that we’re converting things over the summer.”
The committee has done two resolutions and C.B.1 will write a letter asking for the two conference rooms. Borough President Gale Brewer, in an Oct. 10 letter to Farina, also requested the rooms.
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver offered the D.O.E. the use of a conference room across the street at 250 Broadway in an Oct. 14 letter addressed to Farina. No word from the D.O.E. whether it will accept Silver’s offer.
