ps8overcrowdingletterpetition.newconstruction.pdf

November 6, 2014 To whom it may concern: We write on behalf of the PTA of PS 8 to request that public officials and others considering approval of new residential construction in the PS 8 school zone recognize the serious overcrowding problem that already exists at PS 8 with current levels of residential housing in our school zone. We respectfully suggest that before additional residen tial housing is approved in our school zone, the need for additional elementary school capacity must be addressed. We emphasize that our lower school is curre ntly overcrowded (at 142% of capacity last ye ar , according to the Blue Book’s target formula) – such that the New York City Department of Education (DOE) is considering limiting our next year's kindergarten grade to 5 classes (with no more than 25 children in a class). If this happens and our kindergarten registration numbers trend the same, some families who planned to attend kindergarten at PS 8 in the fall of 2015 would be offered an alternate placement. These families would likely include: 1. “overage” children (whom educators have determined would be better served by s tarting kindergarten at 5, and not 4, years of age), 2. out-of-zone siblings (often families who have long been part of the PS 8 community), 3. approximately 5-10 in-zone children with birthdays in 2010. This problem exists with the current residential housing in PS 8’s school zone. Here is a snapshot of our school’s 2014-15 population: Grade Approximate Number of Students Kindergarten 140 1 st 135 2 nd 143 3 rd 100 4 th 106 5 th 79 The larger lower grade size does not simply reflect attrition in our upper grades. Rather, the trend toward larger lower grades reflects a combination of our school’s growing popularity and increasing residential d evelopment in our zone. Notably, recent reports indicate that between 550 and 670 more residential units are already planned and approved for DUMBO alone in the next two years. At least one of those new developments – the Dock Street development, with 290 residential units – is slated to open in December 2014. As a result of larger grades, our school building, designed to house 4 classes on a grade, now routinely supports 5-6 classes per grade in our lower grades, with 28+ kids in several of the se classrooms. PS 8 should have additiona l classrooms for weekly classes like drama and dance, but we have had to give these up to make room for additional gra de-level classes. And this year, we lost two pre-kindergarten classes -- in spite of the mayor's push to add 25,000 new pre-K seats citywide – to make room for an increasing number of students in kindergarten through fifth grade. We recognize there may be many ways of addressing our elemen tary school capacity needs. We want to make sure these needs are addressed before additional housing is approved in our school zone, further burdening our local public sch ool. We appreciate your consideration of our concerns. Feel free to contact us at [email protected] if you would like to discuss this further. Sincerely, Kim Glickman and Ansley Samson - Co-Presidents, PTA of PS 8

ps8overcrowdingletterpetition.newconstruction.pdf

Documents