Squadron: ‘DOE has pitted neighbor against neighbor’ in rezoning battle
At the Sept. 30 Community Education Council for District 13 (CEC 13) meeting, held at P.S. 307, Department of Education (DOE) planners presented their proposal to change the zones of P.S. 8, located in Brooklyn Heights, and P.S. 307, located in Vinegar Hill adjacent to the Farragut Houses, a public housing project. The proposed realignment of the two schools’ zones has not changed since it was discussed at previous meetings, and would greatly reduce the size of P.S. 8’s zone by placing all of DUMBO and Vinegar Hill in P.S. 307’s zone. The planners added a new detail to the proposal: moving the Satellite West Middle School, which now shares P.S. 307’s building, to the recently completed high rise building at Dock Street in DUMBO.
The planners showed a series of charts that they argued justifies their proposal. Projections of growth in both zones show that without rezoning, overcrowding at P.S. 8 will become worse. Meanwhile, P.S. 307’s facilities, they said, will remain under-utilized. They showed how they arrived at these projections, based on anticipated new residential construction as well as other factors. Moving the middle school out of P.S. 307’s building will open more classrooms for use by the larger number of students attending the elementary school after rezoning, they said.
The planners listed benefits that they said would accrue to P.S. 307, its students and District 13 as a whole after rezoning. These include: “a stable and reliable enrollment”; adding 300 new elementary school seats to the district as a result of moving the middle school; greater funding and more programming for P.S. 307 because of its larger student body; giving more students access to P.S. 307’s “unique programs,” which include Mandarin, chess, violin, ASD Horizon and pre-K; and more faculty and administrative staff.