A Key Victory for East Side FamiliesDear Friends,
The NYC Department of Education announced yesterday that the Yorkville Community School will have a permanent home of its own for the 2011-12 school year. This is tremendously exciting news. It wasn't too long ago that I was sitting with parents in the basement of a community center, working to make PS 151 a reality. Now it will be right where it should be - in the former PS 66 building on East 88th Street, which was always meant to be an elementary school.
Moving the Yorkville Community School to a new home is a major piece in the school rezoning puzzle. Now that we know how many students PS 151 will ultimately be able to accommodate, I hope that the District 2 Community Education Council completes the Upper East Side rezoning so that every parent will finally have the security of knowing where their children will be going to school.
This move shouldn't happen in a vacuum. The parents and kids at the Yorkville Community School came to love their temporary home at Our Lady of Good Counsel, and while they may be moving on, it would be a shame to have wasted so much time and money for only a short-term gain. I have called upon the DOE to work with the Archdiocese to retain the space--they could use it as the new home for an expanded PS 77 Lower Lab, which could include grades K-8, helping to alleviate the middle school crunch that is surely coming to our neighborhood. If the DOE does this right, it will be a double victory for East Side families.
For more information on school rezoning and other East Side education matters, please feel free to contact my office at (212) 860-4906, or email me at KellnerM@assembly.state.ny.us.
Very truly yours,
Micah Z. Kellner
Assembly Member