Volume 22, Number 37 | The Newspaper of Lower Manhattan | January 22 – 28, 2010
Editorial
Looking for the least bad school option
There are three reasons this Lower Manhattan school zoning decision is hard. One is there is not enough room to give parents their first choice in the four zoned elementary schools. The second is the process started so late that maps have been floated and changed so quickly that we are left with choosing between two options that are more unappealing than they have to be. The third is the city has made little attempt to get the most relevant information needed to make the best decision.
No one has an estimate of where Lower Manhattan’ 2010 and 2011 kindergarten class lives. The school population dots on the city Dept. of Education maps indicate enrollments the last two years, but that can fluctuate widely year-to-year and does not take into account new buildings that are coming online now.
The D.O.E. has looked at Lower Manhattan’s longer-term population growth areas but has not yet made that public. We were pleased to hear the city say so clearly this week that Downtown’s population changes will require new zoning within the next few years and we reiterate our call to begin that planning process as soon as this decision is made. It would have been helpful to have more information about future population now because there will be less disruption down the road if the short- and long-term zoning lines are similar.
It is impossible to predict what the exact enrollments would be under zoning options, but that should not be an excuse not to try and make reasonable estimates.
To be fair, the Dept. of Education, which naturally proposed making zoning changes with two new schools, and the District 2 Community Education Council, made up primarily of parents, have been responsive to parent concerns since the maps were unveiled two months ago.
And as we said last month, what gets lost in all of this jockeying is that Lower Manhattan is lucky to have four excellent zoned elementary schools. Downtowners are also given preference for a great, unzoned option school in Tribeca, P.S. 150. Next week’s decision will undoubtedly make some feel like they have “lost,” but everyone will get to go to a good school not that far from home.
Because some will be denied their top choice under any option, no “good” plan was possible. Option 2 would let Tribecans living closest to the most desired school, P.S. 234, go there, but it would also mean Gateway Plaza residents would not be zoned for one of the new schools, P.S. 276, and that southeastern Financial District residents would not be guaranteed a spot in the other, Spruce Street School. Option 3R would send some parents and children living across the street from P.S. 234 across the West Side Highway to P.S. 89.
That is why it is regrettable that the D.O.E. immediately rejected an idea floated by C.E.C. member Michael Markowitz last month. That plan combined the best elements of both options: It zoned Gateway for P.S. 276, more of the Financial District for Spruce and allowed all children very close to P.S. 234 to attend.
Northwest Tribeca parents opposed this idea, but their current 10-block commute to P.S. 234, give or take, would have only had an extra block added to it by going to P.S. 89. With the kindergarten process beginning in two weeks, it is now too late to go with Markowitz’s original idea since northwest Tribecans have already been assured they will get to go to P.S. 234.
Option 2 proponents have emphasized the safety concerns of crossing West St. at one of its most perilous points, Warren-Chambers Sts. We share these concerns, but we think 2 is not as bad as 3R for different reasons.
Over 140 school seats were added to P.S. 234 in 2007 as part of the deal to construct sites that used to be called 5B, the Whole Foods Building, and 5C, which also houses the P.S. 234 annex. The whole thrust of the deal was that more development required more school space, and the 234 expansion would never have been possible without the construction of the Whole Foods building, across the street from the school.
The building, which is excluded from P.S. 234 under 3R, includes luxury condo owners and renters, some of whom pay less than market rates. Regardless of their incomes, many moved there in part because they were across the street from one of the most desired schools in the city.
There are others who favor Option 2 including other buildings within a few blocks of the school and southeast Tribeca buildings that favor Spruce over P.S. 89.
It may be the case that more parents in Lower Manhattan favor Option 3R over 2, but that should not be the be-all. Democracy is not only about the majority ruling. True democracies respect the rights of the minority. Any option will leave some parents out of schools they want, but this group should not include parents who made financial sacrifices and life decisions based on a more than reasonable assumption — something approaching almost a tacit guarantee — that they would be allowed to attend a school across the street from them. A school that was only able to expand with the construction of their homes.
It pains us that regardless of the decision, some people in Lower Manhattan will be hurt. We could have played it safe by taking our potshots at the process without taking a position, but we feel one option is a little more unfair. Neither option will be a tragedy and both will require immediate attention to safety issues and some leniency to allow sufficient school bus service.
If Option 2 is picked, it will be easier to accommodate more of the people who feel left out. If the department recognizes the unique situation in Lower Manhattan and shows more flexibility, many more parents probably will be able to get their first choice without lengthening the application process.
The D.O.E. was willing two years in a row to expand the number of kindergarten classes at Spruce from two to three, so it should be much less difficult to expand a larger school, P.S. 276, by a little one year to accommodate Gateway. There may well be some room in Spruce for FiDi parents cut out of the zone. Unlike others, we are not worried about P.S. 89 being under-enrolled. It’s a good school that has been too crowded in recent years.
Regardless of the decision, it is our greatest hope that the heated division that began with this debate will end after next week.
