Stringer Reveals Effects of Haphazard School Space Planning in Manhattan
Demands Halt of Further Co-locations Until DOE Adopts Best Practices
Yesterday, Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer, together with Congressman Jerrold Nadler and a coalition of elected officials, parents, students, teachers and education advocates, denounced the Department of Education's (DOE) haphazard school space planning and the disastrous consequences it is having on Manhattan's public school children.
A catalogue of firsthand experiences reported to the Office of the Manhattan Borough President (MBPO) found that more than four out of ten (43 percent) of Manhattan elementary and middle schools suffer the negative consequences of the DOE's inadequate planning for public school space needs. The majority of reported problems involve widespread and now-familiar concerns about too few school seats for the number of children to be educated in a given school (41 Manhattan schools), and also the loss of "cluster rooms" for activities such as art, music and science (28 Manhattan schools).
Additionally, this project finds that this crisis does not discriminate; public schools in every residential neighborhood and encompassing every ethnic, cultural and income demographic are affected. The results can be seen on a map .
"Year after year, we find ourselves battling for school space, and yet each year DOE seems to be caught off guard. Despite constant input from the community and my office, they either cannot or will not get serious about planning for school space," said Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer. "Temporary trailers are not a permanent fix for cramped classroom space. Physical education and music classes cannot be thrown to the wayside as a result of overcrowding or unequal sharing of facilities. DOE must cease and desist with the process of co-locating and re-locating schools until we see a plan that will take the mystery out of the management of school space."
Borough President Stringer today sent to Schools Chancellor Joel Klein a letter calling on the Department of Education to rethink and reform its approach to "creating and administering the school space required by New York City's public school students." In the letter, the Borough President offered a series of substantive recommendations to achieve that goal and provided the Chancellor with the catalogue of space problems confronting individual Manhattan elementary and middle schools.
The Borough President's recommendations include a set of "best practices," designed to improve the timeline for proposed school changes, increase community input in the process of co-location/relocation decisions, and a more clearly defined Educational Impact Statement (EIS) that looks at the full scope of each proposed change, giving communities more meaningful information about the potential ramifications and benefits of DOE proposals.
The MBPO has grouped "problem" schools in three areas. It concluded that 41 schools are overcrowded, 28 have substandard facilities, and 16 are suffering from DOE co-location and relocation policies. Of the 86 schools identified as having a problem, 50 are co-located with another school. "Substandard facilities" refers to degraded building conditions and/or insufficient and overcrowded common space in schools caused by the need to share limited space such as a cafeteria or gym. "Destabilized school communities" refers to groups of students whose educational experience may be directly negatively impacted by DOE's co-location and/or relocation proposals.
The DOE's ongoing failure to address existing overcrowding and space issues and to fully consider the long-term impact of its co-location and relocation policies has contributed to a larger climate of uncertainty and unease. Many school communities are experiencing confusion and anxiety as a result of not knowing where their school will be in the coming year, or how a co-location will impact the quality of education their child receives. Additionally, DOE's current co-location and relocation policies prevent schools from establishing strong roots in their communities, and fuel tension between families who are forced to vie for limited school space and resources. DOE must invest in policies and practices that will refocus energies where they belong - in the classroom.
MBPO recommendations build on three major policy reports on school overcrowding released by the Borough President over the past two years, beginning with " Crowded Out ," a report that concluded the City's school construction plans are not keeping pace with the Manhattan building boom. The Borough President subsequently released two follow-up reports: " Still Crowded Out " and " School Daze: Fuzzy Numbers Mean Overcrowded Schools ."
"Overcrowding of our public schools continues to be a problem that demands the creation of new schools in many parts of the city," said Congressman Jerrold Nadler. "However, before new schools are created and co-located, it is absolutely critical that the City plan for the long-term space needs of each school. Our schoolchildren and their families must be able to depend on new schools to be stable parts of the community. I'm committed to working with parents, community leaders and the Department of Education to insure that our schools can grow and expand to meet students' needs."
"Every public school must be prepared and equipped to educate all children living in the neighborhoods they serve. In order to reduce overcrowding and ensure appropriate allocation of resources, school planning has to catch up with demographics and development," said Public Advocate Bill de Blasio. "I commend Borough President Scott Stringer for bringing attention to the problem of overcrowding in Manhattan. This is an issue that affects many neighborhoods in all five boroughs, and I urge the Department of Education to respond to this crisis by improving its school siting and re-location policies and by involving communities in school construction plans."
"I have been proud to work alongside the Borough President to address the problem of overcrowding in our city's schools," said Assembly Member Jonathan Bing. "On the East Side, where overcrowding has been a persistent issue, we have been able to open new elementary schools in consecutive years to begin to alleviate the problem. However there is more work to be done, and the key to combating overcrowding will be proactive planning, with a greater focus on family growth in neighborhoods within the city."
"As every New York City parent knows, wait lists and overcrowding continue to plague our public schools," said Assembly Member Micah Z. Kellner. "I am proud to have helped secure new classroom seats on the Upper East Side, but much more remains to be done. The Department of Education must work with parents and elected officials to stop the year-to-year chaos and finally commit to building the classroom seats necessary to end overcrowding in our schools once and for all."
"Those of us who live on the West Side knew this day of reckoning would come. Despite numerous warnings, the projections of the Department of Education did not parallel the reality we saw on the streets," said Assembly Member Linda B. Rosenthal. "New residential development is exploding across the City, but there has been no corresponding increase in the building of public schools. Now here we are facing a crisis. Every child is entitled to a seat in a classroom where teachers are not overwhelmed and overworked because of large class sizes. The proposed elementary school in the I.S. 44 building is a sign of positive progress. The DOE is finally taking a practical and realistic look at enrollment numbers for this District. I look forward to continuing to work with them on identifying new space and creating adequate seats for all students in our neighborhood."
"Parents, Department of Education officials, Community Board members, Community Education Council (CEC) members and elected officials have spent thousands of hours configuring how to put more classrooms into already overcrowded schools," said Council Member Gale Brewer. "What we need are new school buildings; when a new residential building goes up, the community, the City Planning Commission and DOE must collaborate to mandate that a school be incorporated into the project. Fortunately, families are making our neighborhoods their permanent home, and schools should be a priority. Borough President Stringer has pointed to the overcrowding problem over and over, and I share his concern and applaud his leadership."
"Another year, another round of kindergarten waitlists," said Council Member Dan Garodnick. "The registration period for new students has become a frustrating tradition filled with anxiety, but it doesn't have to be this way. We need better planning, community engagement and a commitment by the DOE to hitting its own class-size targets."
"Between school overcrowding, and poorly planned school co-location efforts, arts classrooms in city schools are slowly, but surely, disappearing," said Doug Israel, director of policy at The Center for Arts Education. "As a first step, the city should implement a no net loss policy for arts rooms, and other functional space, when co-locations do occur. If not, the vanishing act will continue."
"With 11 new buildings in our zone over the past several years, PS199's population has exploded. Our kindergarten class size has doubled in the last 6 years. We are no longer able to sustain the population growth in our neighborhood and we have been forced to cap kindergarten enrollment," said Michelle Ciulla-Lipkin, co-president of PS 199 PTA. "Currently, there are over 50 families on our waitlist. The great majority of them will not get a seat at their zoned school in September. This doesn't even include the 500 new rental units opening this Spring in our neighborhood. Yet, there's no long term plan to address population growth or money in the capital budget to relieve overcrowding. We need help."
"My children's school shares space with two other schools and is no longer allowed to use the regular gym because a new charter school needs it for a lunchroom. A music room is also missing. We have the most beautiful music teacher. We have violins. We have keyboards. But we can't use them - because there's no space for a music room," said Sonya Hampton, a PS 149 parent.
###