The proposal to rezone two Brooklyn elementary schools comes up for a vote Tuesday, after the city took the unusual step earlier this fall to delay a vote and spend more time talking to people in affected neighborhoods.
The Jan. 5 vote by the District 13 Community Education Council, made up of parent leaders, will be the latest-ever vote on a school rezoning proposal to take effect in September. More pressing, the decision to rezone affects the current kindergarten application process, already underway.
The city has proposed to redraw the school zones for P.S. 8 Robert Fulton in Brooklyn Heights and P.S. 307 Daniel Hale Williams in Vinegar Hill. The zone for P.S. 8 is sprawling, stretching from Brooklyn Heights to the Navy Yard. The school is now overcrowded, operating at about 140 percent capacity.
The current zone for P.S. 307, which is less than three-quarters of a mile from P.S. 8, is tiny by comparison, capturing only five of the 10 buildings that make up Farragut Houses. Nearly 70 percent of students enrolled at P.S. 307 come from outside the school's zone.
The city now wants to zone families living in Dumbo and Vinegar Hill, neighborhoods that are mostly white and well-off, to P.S. 307, which currently enrolls mostly low-income students of color. The proposal would also shift families living in three Farragut buildings from P.S. 8 to P.S. 307.
The plan has contributed to the passionate debate over gentrification in Brooklyn, raising issues of race and class divisions and opposing ideas of what defines a 'good' school.
The proposal has also raised recurring frustrations with the city's process of school planning and how it both measures and addresses overcrowding.
The rezoning would barely, if at all, alleviate overcrowding at P.S. 8, according to the city's own enrollment projections. But the proposal would allow the school to accommodate all children in the zone and eliminate the kindergarten waitlist, at least in the short term. And the plan would restore cluster space -- classrooms for art, music and other electives.
Ansley Samson, co-chair of the P.S. 8 PTA's community affairs committee, conceded the city's plan was far from perfect. But she said it was a first step in dealing with the school's overcrowding.
"The waitlist is really bad, and it's really divisive," she said. "And even one cluster room — you know, a classroom makes a world of difference."
The proposal needs at least six votes to pass. The Community Education Council will vote at a public meeting Tuesday evening at P.S. 56 Lewis H. Latimer.
If the plan passes, it would affect only new students, such as rising kindergarten students or children who are new to the school system. The proposal allows siblings of existing students to be entitled to priority in enrollment.