David Yassky

33rd Council District, Brooklyn

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Our Letter to Joel Klein

November 26, 2007

 

Chancellor Joel Klein

New York City Department of Education

52 Chambers Street

New York, NY 10007

  

Dear Chancellor Klein:

We are writing to enlist your help in continuing the success of our local elementary school PS 8 (The Robert Fulton School) in District 13, serving Brooklyn Heights, Concord Village, Dumbo, Farragut Houses, Fulton Ferry Landing, Vinegar Hill – communities that lie adjacent to a rapidly growing Downtown Brooklyn.

As you certainly know, just five short years ago PS 8 was on the verge of being closed. Student enrollment had declined to a low of 150, zoned and out-of-zone parents were not choosing to send their children to the school, and the staff was demoralized.

In 2003, thanks to Mayor Bloomberg and yourself, Carmen Farina brought new leadership to PS8. Principal Seth Phillips and curriculum development specialist Olivia Ellis rolled up their sleeves and turned the school around. Enrollment and parent satisfaction soared. A magnet grant brought in many more families. In only four years, PS 8’s enrollment has almost tripled.

PS 8 became a role model for the City --- the place to pilot new programs and showcase the new direction from Tweed. In a true partnership with the community, PS 8 provided an example of what any elementary school in the City could do. So much so that the school is now the ‘victim of its own success’.

Today, the second and third grades are overcrowded with 30 children to a class. The Science Room has been dismantled to add an additional fifth grade. Next year, our two pre-K classes will be eliminated to accommodate increased enrollment in the upper grades.  If we had the space, we could fill no fewer than four pre-K classrooms with zoned children.  Expected 2008 enrollment for grades K-5 exceeds our current building’s capacity.  Last year there were 26 graduating fifth graders. In 2010 there will be 92.

We should be applauding, and we are.  But that’s not all. 

PS8 fifth graders face inadequate and limited choices as they search for middle schools in District 13.  Even though we are told of underutilized schools in the District, most of these schools are deemed unacceptable for both academic and safety reasons. In short, while our elementary school success has us bursting out of our 37 Hicks Street building, with inadequate space to handle demand for elementary grades, it is all happening before any of the new buildings in the PS 8 zone are built. Like it or not, there simply are not enough good middle schools of choice to serve current and prospective families in Brooklyn’s District 13.

Although we are aware that the Board of Education has predicted declining enrollments for District 13 middle schools, we respectfully question these assumptions on two grounds.

First, the Downtown Brooklyn Partnership reports that 14,000 residential units (housing approximately 35,000 people) are slated to be built in downtown Brooklyn over the next five years. This does not include housing at 360 Furman Street (aka 1 Brooklyn Bridge Park), which will open at the end of this year, nor the other residential buildings due to be built on the edge of Brooklyn Bridge Park. It also does not include the newly converted condos in the former telephone company building on Willoughby Street zoned for PS 8.  Most of this new development is occurring in District 13 and in an area that doesn’t currently contain any middle schools. (See enclosed map.) Outdated census data of the area shows a population in the mere hundreds.

Second, successful schools attract students and will always increase overall enrollment. There is no question that parents vote with their feet. Witness this at PS8 where parents who might have moved out of the City resolved to stay and help to build a diverse and awesomely energetic PTA.

Chancellor Klein, you of all people know that PS 8 became the poster school for Mayor Bloomberg’s improvements at the Department of Education. Thanks to excellent leadership, the larger community around PS 8 has embraced the school.  However,  for PS 8 to remain successful, the Department of Education must address current overcrowding in the elementary grades. We appeal to you not only to allow Pre-K to remain, but also to provide good middle school options for graduating fifth graders. If not, PS 8 and District 13 will be losing hard working, tax paying families to the suburbs. 

We are currently searching for a facility to solve both these problems. We have identified a site that is only steps away from PS 8 at 72 Poplar Street. Formerly, the city-owned Police Department’s Internal Affairs Building, which comes with a two-story garage, 72 Poplar was sold at auction to a developer who has informed us that he cannot develop it profitably as a residential building. It is available for long term leasing by a community facility. The owner has informed the Brooklyn Heights Association that his preference would be a net lease with the Department of Education, and that the property has been certified as asbestos free. The Brooklyn Heights Association’s President who is an architect has drafted a floor plan indicating that the space can work for additional lower grades as well as an upper school. 

We are asking for your support in these efforts by taking two steps: Specifically, 1) We would like the School Construction Authority to evaluate 72 Poplar Street for it’s potential to meet PS 8’s capacity needs as we have outlined them in this letter.  2) We would like to show our draft plans to someone at the SCA as soon as possible before someone else signs a lease for these empty buildings. If, after an on-site inspection, the SCA finds the property to be unsuitable, we ask you to support us in identifying another site.

Please take notice of the signatories to this letter. They represent the trust and collaboration between school staff, families, neighborhood associations, community-based organizations, politicians and your administration. We hope you will build on this success at PS 8 by allowing our school to grow.  

To contact us, please call Councilmember David Yassky at 718-875-5200 Ext. 0, or 212-788-7348 and/or the Brooklyn Heights Association at 718-858-9193 and speak to Judy Stanton, Executive Director for information regarding 72 Poplar Street.


Respectfully,

 

Lisa Edstrom and Joanne Singleton                          Rabbi Serge Lippe

Co-Presidents, PS 8 PTA                                           Brooklyn Heights Interfaith Clergy Assoc.

 

Tom van den Bout, President                                      State Assemblymember Joan Millman

Brooklyn Heights Association

 

Claudia Corwin, President                                           Councilmember David Yassky

Concord Village Owners Inc

 

Karen Baty, President                                                   Councilmember Letitia James

DUMBO Neighborhood Association

 

Aldona Vaiciunas, President                                             Mary Andrews, President

Vinegar Hill Association                                                   Farragut Tenants Association

 

Joan Zimmerman, President

Fulton Ferry Landing Association