For a long time, Public School 8 in Brooklyn Heights was so troubled, it served as a sort of benchmark for local parents: If your child was old enough to attend, it was probably time to move out of the neighborhood.
Then, starting in 2003, a new principal and a new team of teachers, along with parents and community groups, pursued a spirited revival by investing their energy and, in the case of many parents, their children. The school's resurgence is credited with both bringing families to the neighborhood and keeping them there. The enterprise has yielded a happy crop of local residents, bound by the shared experience.
But even success stories can bring complications.
''We've now reached the point where the students that sort of gambled a little bit on going to P.S. 8 are aging out of that school and would like to stay in a district middle school, but there isn't one in the area,'' said Robert Perris, district manager of the local community board.
The school district includes middle and junior high schools in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Park Slope, Vinegar Hill, Prospect Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant. According to Margie Feinberg, a spokeswoman for the city's Department of Education, the district's middle schools have more seats than students.
But many Brooklyn Heights residents find these options insufficient. They think the best way to capitalize on the success of P.S. 8 is to keep its graduates together in a new school of their own, preferably in their neighborhood.
''We think that the need for a middle school in the area has already been demonstrated, just based on the enrollment numbers that we currently enjoy at P.S. 8,'' said Judy Stanton, executive director of the Brooklyn Heights Association. In June, the school graduated one class of fifth graders; in September it will have two fifth-grade classes.
To address the issue, Two Trees Management, a Dumbo development firm, submitted a proposal for a middle school serving about 300 students. The school would share a building on Dock Street -- not yet built -- with stores and housing. Jed Walentas, an owner of Two Trees, said his company insists on including a school component in the building. The Department of Education is examining that proposal.
The desire to have a middle school as good as its elementary school is not unique to Brooklyn Heights. But whatever solution is offered may face tough scrutiny from the same parents who took a chance on P.S. 8. The pioneer spirit that drove Melissa Milgrom to enroll her daughter, Sabine, in P.S. 8 four years ago is less strong now that Sabine, who will enter fourth grade this fall, is approaching middle school.
''The stakes are higher,'' Ms. Milgrom said. ''We're not just dealing with education but socialization.'' Though she took a chance with P.S. 8, when it comes to middle school, she said, she would prefer to base a decision on something stronger than idealism.
''I'm not ready to move to Montclair yet,'' Ms. Milgrom said somewhat woefully. But, she added, if no better prospects arise for her daughter's middle school education, she may decide she has no choice but to leave the Heights.
