The Clinton School for Writers & Artists Relocation Committee

Meeting with Deborah Taylor, Director of Education and Youth Services 2/17/10E

VALUATION

DOE’

ROPOSAL

For fall 2010, DOE proposes to permanently move PS 138, a D75 school of 100 specialed students, out of PS 33, in order to make room “temporarily” for 300 Clintonstudents. The PS 138 students would be split up among 4 different locations of varyingsuitability, including M047/ASL which was determined to be wholly unsuitable byChristine Quinn, Tom Duane and Scott Stringer in a letter to the DOE.

URPOSE

MOVE

ACKGROUND

DOE continues to send increasing numbers of K classes each year to PS 11, thoughnearby PS 33 remains underutilized. This has created an imbalance between those twoelementary schools as well as PS 11’s lower and upper grades. This year 3 fifth gradeclasses will graduate, but there are 6 K classes. Next year DOE says they’re sendingthem 7 K classes.Simultaneous to PS 11 taking in additional K classes, they are holding onto their smallclass size in order not to lose that funding. This surge of new K students combined withsmall class size has created the need for an unusually large number of classrooms,many with only 16 or 17 children, (see DOE chart), thus causing overcrowdingthroughout the entire building, including for Clinton. With an average of 32 in our classes at Clinton, we’re all for small class size, but not where it creates one schoolcomplaining of overcrowding when its average class size is 20.34. Something is wrongwith this picture.Clinton suggests less radical and punishing, and certainly more cost-effective solutionsfor at least the next year until a new home for Clinton is purchased and a cogent planhas been laid out. As a result of our proposals, not one child from PS 138 would have to be torn from the location where they are thriving.

MMEDIATE

BJECTIVE

Create more elementary school seats and lessen overcrowding and further loss of cluster rooms at PS 11.

OLUTIONS

1. Temporarily relocate either one or two of PS 11’s incoming K G&T classes

to theunderutilized PS 33. Bonus: PS 33 wants more G&T students.2. Send more K gen ed students

next year to PS 33 thus lowering the number of allincoming K students at PS 11. Send any new incoming upper grade students to PS 33.3. Test upper grade students at PS 11 for possible G&T placement, lessening thedisparity in class size between gen ed, CTT and G&T.4. Temporarily apply an admissions threshold. The Chancellor’s Regulations clearlystate: “Zoned students are entitled to attend their zoned elementary and middle schools

subject to available seats

.” If seats aren’t available, send the children to another nearby school. Shifting elementary students to another elementary school should be…elementary! Why make a costly and complex move of two much larger schools