School Rezone Plan Has Left Out Red Hook, Gowanus: Advocates

RED HOOK, BROOKLYN — A group of parents and officials from some of the district's less affluent schools are asking the city to hold off on rezoning District 15 elementary school lines until they are better included in planning for the shift, Chalkbeat has reported.

The city's Office of District Planning have been looking into how to change up the zones around seven elementary schools for a few months, both to address overcrowding and increase diversity in the district. Most recently, the office proposed two options that would either redraw certain lines or eliminate the zones altogether and let parents choose their child's school.

But a group from Red Hook and Gowanus, many from P.S. 676, the Red Hook Neighborhood School, asked for the city and the Community Education Council to wait at least six months before choosing any option.

The delay, which the group asked for in a letter, did not take a stance on either of the proposed ideas, advocates told Chalkbeat, but more so argued that schools like P.S. 676, one of the least performing, have been largely left out of the discussion about the rezoning.

“What about this school?” Latiayia Williams, a parent from P.S. 676 asked at a recent meeting at the school with community council members. “Talk about what you can do to make this school better.”

Parents and school leaders said they worried the rezone could prioritize some schools over others and ignore immediate improvements that are needed at P.S. 676, which officials at the meeting said has dealt with principal turnover, struggling state test scores and budget problems. The school has also found it difficult to keep its seats filled as students leave for other schools in the district.

The rezoning itself was in part prompted by 436 new elementary seats that are being added to P.S 32 in Carroll Gardens.

Some of those who sent the letter said they wish the same attention given to filling seats in P.S. 32 would be given to the shrinking population at P.S. 676.

Chalkbeat said that some Community Education Council members at the meeting at P.S. 676 seemed open to holding off on the decision to get more feedback on the plans.

The current proposals will specifically deal with seven school zones around P.S. 32 in Red Hook, Cobble Hill, Boerum Hill and Carroll Gardens.

One of the options includes redrawing the zones around the seven schools so that the populations in each are more even. The other proposes letting parents apply to any school they'd like, regardless of the zone.

Either way, the change won't be put in place until the 2020-21 school year. District 15 Community Education Council will need to vote on which of the two options it would like to implement within 45 days of the Office of District Planning presenting its final proposal.

To read the full Chalkbeat story about the Gowanus and Red Hook concerns click here.