A joint town hall meeting got heated last week as parents, educators and the District 3 Community Education Council (CEC 3) demanded answers from Chancellor Dennis Walcott and his team regarding a variety of issues facing schools in the district.

Frederick Douglass Academy II Secondary School located at 215 West 114th Street.

The principals of both the Frederick Douglass and Wadleigh schools were present and said their schools have made radical comebacks in recent years. The suspension rate at Wadleigh has dropped by 80 percent and changes have focused on college and career readiness, while Frederick Douglass, which recently faced closure, has seen a turnaround with the support of parents and the CEC.

Walcott said he hoped to continue to emphasize college and career readiness in the district schools and do away with the notion that low income students and those with housing issues present extra difficulties for the schools or “don’t belong” as some believe.

“I do not allow anyone to talk ill of our students,” said Walcott. “They all have the ability to learn at a high level with the proper support.”

In response to the issue of admissions to middle and high schools and the fact that several district 2 schools have district 2 admissions priority while being some of the highest rated and highest applicant rate schools, Walcott said the high school admissions process has improved significantly over the years.

“We have made more options throughout the city with the creation of small schools and new schools,” he said. “There are more schools to choose from, 85 percent of selections are in students’ top five choices.”

Wadleigh Secondary School for the Performing & Visual Arts located at 215 West 114th Street.

“We have been able to encourage choices and give more quality choices,” he added.

Still Walcott maintained it’s difficult to go back on outdated processes of grandfathering which tend to give unfair priority.

Carl Pressley, a district 3 parent, asked the chancellor and his team why some of the same successful practices used in charter schools cannot be used in district schools. Walcott assured community members the same practices are being used in district schools, many of which are performing well and are “very creative.”

Walcott also addressed the recent PCB leaks in schools across the City and plans to remediate all schools.

“Two years ago we set aside 800 million dollars to address the PCB issue throughout the City, we are the only city that has done something along that line,” said Walcott. He added the two year plan is no longer viable, however, particularly with the current court case on the issue pending.

“This has been a priority for several years and we are working with the EPA,” said Walcott.

Other issues discussed included student privacy and concerns over data-mining and publicizing students’ information, school redevelopment and demolition, class size and overcrowding, general space concerns, the common core curriculum, standardized testing and gifted and talented programs.

The chancellor’s partners assured parents potential redevelopment and demolition processes are still in their infancy in the district and community members’ concerns will be addressed and input solicited before any plans move forward and before the issuance of an RFP.

Anthony, a teacher at Whadleigh, expressed his frustration with remodeling in district 3 schools and its impact on the students.

“We’re having to do more with less space,” he said.

CEC member Joe Fiordaliso agreed overcrowding is a serious issue in the district in addition to a general loss of space due to construction.

Fiordaliso said 1,300 parents signed a petition to create new middle schools in the district, to which the chancellor replied he has committed to developing more middle schools throughout the entire city.

“I set a goal to create 50 middle schools; we’re at 61,” said Walcott. “We are open to new middle schools in D3 and we are starting our portfolio process. Beacon will become available in 2015.”

With regard to the implementation of common core curriculum, parents expressed concern their children were being penalized emotionally by not understanding the new curriculum. There was also general agreement less emphasis should be placed on high stakes standardized testing.

“How can standardized testing determine a kid’s entire future?” asked Elizabeth Rivera, a parent and teacher in district 3.

Walcott said, “We have a responsibility as a system to make sure [our students] are getting a higher course of learning so while I understand the anxiety and pressure, it’s a pressure as a result of making sure students are getting a higher style of learning in schools and are being prepared to take tests.”

“We have a responsibility to teach them why we use the core curriculum and lower their anxiety,” he added.

With regard to high stakes standardized testing, Walcott described a balancing act.

“Our students will do better and better and better but we have to put [the new test] in place and we’re doing that this year,” he said.

While parents worried also about gifted and talented programs and inadequate space for qualified students at schools for accelerated education, Walcott responded that schools are best served by a blend of students.

“I always struggled with this,” he said. “Quite frankly with seat matching and gifted and talented, we need to look at the possibility of a separate system.”

A look at the challenges facing schools in Manhattan

As students pack their backpacks and get ready for the school year that will kick off next week, parents and education advocates are gearing up to fight the continuing battle for quality public school education in New York City.

While downtown, which includes Community Education Council District 2 (CEC2), enjoys many top-notch public schools, overcrowding and budget tightening are constantly threatening the balance.

The biggest concern in the district is the lack of school space for future classes.

“The inclusion of new school spaces will certainly help, but it does not eliminate the challenges that we have today,” said Council Member Dan Garodnick on the problems of overcrowding.

CEC2 recently won a long-fought battle in gaining a new elementary school at the Our Lady of Good Counsel building on East 91st Street. Over the summer, DOE Chancellor Dennis Walcott joined U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Assembly Member Dan Quart at the official announcement of the DOE’s deal with the Catholic Archdiocese to lease the space for 15 years. The building had been the temporary home to P.S. 151, the Yorkville Community School, before it moved into its permanent location on East 88th Street, and then P.S. 51, which had relocated from Chelsea while its building was under construction. The DOE’s lease on the building had been set to expire this fall, and parents in the community pushed hard to renew the lease for a longer term. Now the building will be home to P.S. 527, helping alleviate some of the area’s elementary school crowding.

“School overcrowding remains a critical problem on the Upper East Side,” Quart said at the ceremony. “As enrollment rates continue to increase, it is crucial that school construction keep pace with this growth.” Quart had a real-life prop to back up his claim—his 5-year-old son, Sam, who will be attending the school as a kindergartener this fall—standing at the podium with him.

Shino Tanikawa, the president of the District 2 Community Education Council (CEC), said in a letter addressing this year’s upcoming challenges in the district that overcrowding continues to be a major concern.

“District 2 schools continue to be overcrowded even with new schools that have started in the last four years,” Tanikawa said. “This coming year, we will be rezoning the east side of Midtown for a new school located on First Avenue at 35th Street. Plans are under way for a new school in Chelsea and another in the Financial District, and negotiations to acquire 75 Morton St. are ongoing.”

Most new school plans are for elementary schools, which is what the DOE says the district needs. Some parents and elected officials, however, say that the numbers don’t indicate the real picture of what the district needs, since it encompasses many different neighborhoods—the Upper East Side as well as most of Lower Manhattan.

Assembly Member Micah Kellner has been leading the charge to ask the DOE for a new middle school, petitioning local parents to get on board. He said that many parents with middle school-aged kids feel that they face a choice between private school and moving out to the suburbs instead of relying on public middle schools.

“In September the DOE is expected to release Educational Impact Statements from co-location [of charter schools],” said Tanikawa. “While it seems the elementary and middle schools in District 2 are spared of co-location, we still need to voice our concern for having elementary students with high school students in the same building, and for potential overcrowding that could result from co-location.”

One small victory that parents around the city are celebrating is the reinstatement of a program that was recently cut—Wellness in the Schools, which pairs professional chefs with public-school cafeterias to create healthy, scratch-made menus for the kids. Earlier this week, DOE officials said that they would have to cut the program to ensure that all schools would be able to meet more stringent federal school lunch regulations or risk losing federal money. Thanks to an immediate outcry from parents and elected officials, including Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the DOE announced that it would keep the program and work with the schools and chefs on keeping the menus within guidelines.

As kids prepare to go back to school, classroom crowding and the fight for more schools continues

As students back their backpacks and get ready for the school year that will kick off next week, parents and education advocates are gearing up to fight the continuing battle for quality public school education on the Upper East Side.

While the neighborhood, part of Community Education Council District 2, enjoys many top-notch public schools, overcrowding and budget tightening are constantly threatening the balance.

The biggest concern in the district is over the lack of school space for future classes.

“I think the questions of overcrowding continue to predominate on the Upper East Side, and that’s what we’re hearing most from parents,” said Council Member Dan Garodnick. “The inclusion of new school spaces will certainly help, but it does not eliminate the challenges that we have today.”

The district recently won a long-fought battle in gaining a new elementary school at the Our Lady of Good Counsel building on East 91st Street. Over the summer, DOE Chancellor Dennis Walcott joined U.S. Rep. Carolyn Maloney and Assembly Member Dan Quart at the official announcement of the DOE’s deal with the Catholic Archdiocese to lease the space for 15 years. The building had been the temporary home to P.S. 151, the Yorkville Community School, before it moved into its permanent location on East 88th Street, and then P.S. 51, which had relocated from Chelsea while its building was under construction. The DOE’s lease on the building had been set to expire this fall, and parents in the community pushed hard to renew the lease for a longer term. Now the building will be home to P.S. 527, helping alleviate some of the area’s elementary school crowding.

“School overcrowding remains a critical problem on the Upper East Side,” Quart said at the ceremony. “As enrollment rates continue to increase, it is crucial that school construction keep pace with this growth.” Quart had a real-life prop to back up his claim—his 5-year-old son, Sam, who will be attending the school as a kindergartener this fall—standing at the podium with him.

Shino Tanikawa, the president of the District 2 Community Education Council (CEC), said in a letter addressing this year’s upcoming challenges in the district that overcrowding continues to be a major concern.

“District 2 schools continue to be overcrowded even with new schools that have started in the last four years,” Tanikawa said. “This coming year, we will be rezoning the east side of Midtown for a new school located on First Avenue at 35th Street. Plans are under way for a new school in Chelsea and another in the Financial District and negotiations to acquire 75 Morton St. are ongoing.”

Most new school plans are for elementary schools, which is what the DOE says the district needs. Some parents and elected officials, however, say that the numbers don’t indicate the real picture of what the district needs, since it encompasses many different neighborhoods—the Upper East Side as well as most of Lower Manhattan.

Assembly Member Micah Kellner has been leading the charge to ask the DOE for a new middle school, petitioning local parents to get on board. He said that many parents with middle school-aged kids feel that they face a choice between private school and moving out to the suburbs instead of relying on public middle schools.

“I wish the DOE would stop playing games with middle school numbers and admit we need another middle school on the Upper East Side,” Kellner said.

Community Board 8’s Youth and Education Committee has also been pushing for a middle school, specifically that the building that houses P.S. 158, which will soon have space for another school, will use that space for a middle school.

“We’re ever watchful about what’s happening with P.S. 158 that it becomes a middle school. All the electeds have spoken out that they don’t want it to be a charter school,” said Judy Schneider, co-chair of the committee.

“In September the DOE is expected to release Educational Impact Statements for co-location [of charter schools],” said Tanikawa. “While it seems the elementary and middle schools in District 2 are spared from co-location, we still need to voice our concern for having elementary students with high school students in the same building, and for potential overcrowding that could result from co-location.”
One small victory that parents around the city are celebrating is the reinstatement of a program that was recently cut—Wellness in the Schools, which pairs professional chefs with public school cafeterias to create healthy, scratch-made menus for the kids. Earlier this week, DOE officials said that they would have to cut the program to ensure that all schools would be able to meet more stringent federal school lunch regulations or risk losing federal money. Thanks to an immediate outcry from parents and elected officials, including Council Speaker Christine Quinn, the DOE announced that it would keep the program and work with the schools and chefs on keeping the menus within guidelines.

Students in front of PS 158

Parents and politicians are clashing with the Department of Education (DOE) in a war of numbers and need on the Upper East Side. While residents insist that they must have another middle school and soon in the neighborhood, the DOE is holding parents at bay, pointing to data they say indicates that elementary school seats are in far higher demand.

The flashpoint of the debate currently rests in the hallways of the Bayard Taylor School, P.S. 158, on York Avenue between East 77th and 78th streets. That building’s annex most recently held the first classes of the newly opened East Side Elementary, P.S. 267, which will be moving to its permanent home on East 63rd Street this fall. The annex was also home to East Side Middle School several years ago, a fact that parents cite as evidence that another new middle school could easily coexist in the building again.

Assembly Member Micah Kellner has been pounding the pavement outside elementary schools for weeks, gathering signatures—at last count almost 2,000—for his petition to urge the DOE to open a new middle school as soon as possible.

“This chancellor has said middle schools are the key to people’s success, and my [dstrict's] parents want better middle school options—they want more middle school options,” said Kellner.
He has accused the DOE of playing games with the data and driving families out of the
neighborhood when they feel their children’s middle school options are limited. He
said he has heard from parents who, when their child isn’t placed in one of the coveted
middle schools in the neighborhood, feel that their only choice is private school or moving to the suburbs.

“I’m not advocating for one middle school option over another—that’s for the DOE and the parents to decide,” Kellner said. “The more the DOE drags their feet, the more they’re harming our kids.”

The discrepancy between what parents and the Community Education Council want and what the DOE is willing to provide lies partly in the geography of the school district. District 2 encompasses the Upper East Side as well as all of Midtown and
Downtown. In theory, a student could live in the East 90s and attend a middle school
in the Financial District, but most parents would prefer their young kids take a short
walk or bus ride to a nearby school, rather than commute by subway for half an hour each way. What this means for DOE data is that while the numbers show an overall excess of 1,500 middle school seats in the district, those empty seats aren’t broken
down by neighborhood, and parents say open seats in other neighborhoods aren’t what they have in mind.

“The DOE says there are plenty of seats for middle school, but that’s if you want to send your kids to Chinatown or the lower West Side. That’s ridiculous if you want a neighborhood school,” said Todd Helmrich, the parent of a daughter entering 1st grade
and a son starting kindergarten at P.S. 158 this fall. He said he’s been alarmed by the
travails of stressed-out parents of older students trying to get their kids into middle
school, which is why he’s stepping in now.

Helmich said the two main options in the neighborhood aren’t viable for everyone—East Side Middle is very difficult to get into and Robert Wagner is quite large for a middle school, which makes some parents look for options elsewhere.

“The thought of having to put a 6th grader on a subway during rush hour to go all the way downtown is terrible to me,” Helmrich said.

At a recent press conference to hail the opening of a new elementary school in the Our Lady of Good Counsel building on East 91st Street, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott said the DOE will heed their data but will also listen to parents.

“We have to be sensitive to what the data actually says. At the same time, we’re going
to be conscious of hearing what the parents have to say, and they’re going to have to be
able to justify where they think that need is and why,” Walcott said. He called the process an “ongoing discussion” and said that the DOE has been trying to determine targeted needs for each district and neighborhood.

Kellner insisted that the data the DOE cites is disingenuous.

“They really make up the numbers to meet whatever decisions they’ve already made,” he said. “Elementary school kids turn into middle school kids. It’s literally biology. Unless Dennis Walcott is spending all that money on consultants developing a freeze ray, we’re going to need a new middle school.”

“In 2006, when the mayor reauthorized the marine transfer station, he did so under a false pretense. They made it seem like they were flipping a switch and reopening a facility,” Kellner said. “When the City Council approved the Solid Waste Management Plan, they only did an environmental impact statement studying what 1,800 tons of trash would bring. They need to amend their plan and do a supplemental environmental impact statement.”

The lawsuit, which also names the Department of Sanitation and the State Department of Environmental Conservation, demands that the city stop all planning for the new MTS and draft a revised impact statement, which would then need City Council approval. Kellner is the lead plaintiff in the suit; other plaintiffs are the Gracie Point Community Council, Residents for Sane Trash Solutions, Inc. and a handful of individual residents. State Sen. Liz Krueger, Assembly Member Dan Quart and Rep. Carolyn Maloney have all voiced their support of the lawsuit.

“[The MTS] will permanently and negatively impact the Asphalt Green athletic fields, which are adjacent to the site and used every day by thousands of New Yorkers,” said Jed Garfield, president of Residents for Sane Trash Solutions. “It will be a terrible environmental and health hazard for all nearby residents, including over 2,200 low-income New Yorkers and seniors residing just a couple of hundred feet away in the Holmes and Stanly Isaacs development.”

New Elementary School for Yorkville
Next year, Upper East Side tykes will get a new elementary school at the Our Lady of Good Counsel building on East 91st Street. The Department of Education has signed a 15-year lease with the Roman Catholic archdiocese to lease the school for P.S. 527, which will open this fall with two kindergarten classes and will eventually hold students through the 5th grade.
Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Assembly Member Dan Quart joined by his young son Sam, a future student of P.S. 527, and Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott visited the building last week to commend the opening of the new school that they say will help alleviate the overcrowding that plagues the neighborhood.

Art Goodies on Sale
The Metropolitan Museum of Art Store is holding a summer clearance beginning June 28. Art fans can pick up eclectic jewelry, home décor items, toys for the sophisticated tot and art books with enough breadth to cover any coffee table on the East Side. Many items are on sale for 25 to 75 percent off the original price. It’s a great place to stock up on cool gifts for the people who have everything. Visit store.metmusuem.org or call 800-662-3397 for information.

Catch the Fireworks
While some may still be roiling over Macy’s giving the East Side and the outer boroughs the shaft by displaying their famous fireworks on the Hudson River this year, it’s still a display worth schlepping for. If you’re planning on seeing the fireworks, a game plan is mandatory. Macy’s recommends that patriotic attendees head over to 12th Avenue below 59th Street at access points every few blocks along 11th Avenue. Parking will be severely limited. There will be no access at the Hudson River piers or the Hudson River Park promenade or bike path between 59th and West Houston Street. DeWitt Clinton Park is reserved for people with disabilities.
Plan to arrive at any of the viewing spots by 5 p.m., and don’t try to bring lawn chairs or large objects with you. The 25-minute show of 40,000 synchronized fireworks begins around 9 p.m.

UES Murderer is Sentenced
Last week, Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance announced the sentencing of Alujah Cutts, 30, who was convicted of a cold-blooded robbery and murder that he committed on the Upper East Side in 2009.
Cutts broke into the home of 90-year-old Felix Brinkmann on July 30, hoping to make off with a hefty haul. He demanded that Brinkmann give up the combination to his safe, and when he refused, Cutts brutally attacked him, strangling and killing him. He then phoned a friend, who is also being charged, to come help take a safe out of the apartment.
The district attorney condemned the cruel attack and applauded the sentence of 25 years to life in state prison.

Public School Agreement
Assemblymember Dan Quart with his son, Sam, Schools Chancellor Dennis Walcott and Rep. Carolyn Maloney announce the signing of 15-year lease between the DOE and the Our Lady of Good Counsel parish ensuring the location of P.S. 523, a new public elementary school in Yorkville. Sam will be a student at the school.

SILVER URGES OPENING SCHOOL FIELD TO PUBLIC
Last week, in an open letter to Department of Education Chancellor Dennis Walcott, Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver asked for the Seward Park High School Field on the Lower East Side to be reopened to the public.
The DOE only recently restricted access for nonstudents to the four handball courts, three tennis courts, six basketball hoops and track. In the letter, Silver reminded Walcott that 10 years ago, he helped the school win a “Take the Field” grant. Silver noted the grant “provided for extensive renovations, turning it into a thriving recreational space that served our area so well.” Silver said local communities are suffering from a lack of open spaces that encourage physical exercise and prevent childhood obesity.
“We should be providing more opportunities for our children to engage in safe, healthy physical activities, not shutting down public access to our parks,” Silver said.

CRABS IN CHINATOWN
Wednesday morning, during rush hour, numerous crabs escaped from a bucket that fell on the road during a delivery to a local Chinatown market. Bystanders, shop workers and a deliveryman all blocked traffic on Lower Eldridge Street trying to catch the scurrying shellfish.
Bowery Boogie, the Lower East Side website, reported that about a dozen people armed with plastic bags gathered the crabs on the street. Whether any of these crabs made it to the dinner table or a store shelf remains unknown.

CHANGES TO METROCARDS
This month, the MTA has increased the timeframe in which an unlimited MetroCard can be swiped at the same turnstile in an effort to combat fraud.
Scammers are currently making a profit by buying monthly subway cards for $104 and then selling a single swipe for less than $2.50, the price of a single ride pass. Scammers often jam vending machines, which prevents passengers from purchasing their own tickets. The MTA claims these practices are costing millions of dollars each year.
The Daily News reported that the MTA has changed turnstiles at 28 stations where they found fraud to be especially high. By increasing the time between swipes from 18 minutes to up to 60 minutes, the MTA hopes scammers will have to buy extra MetroCards to rotate during waiting times. With the longer waiting periods, it will be harder for scammers to make a profit.

ANONYMOUS ONLINE POSTING PROPOSAL
Last week, the New York State Assembly and State Senate proposed a bill that would require all New York-based websites to “remove any comments posted on his or her website by an anonymous poster unless such anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post and confirms that his or her IP address, legal name and home address are accurate.”
State Sen. Thomas O’Mara, who is sponsoring the bill, said the legislation would help prevent cyberbullying. According to a National Crime Prevention Council survey, about 40 percent of teenagers have experienced some form of cyberbullying.
Assemblyman Jim Conte, a co-sponsor of the bill, said in an online statement that if passed, the bill would also prevent anonymous users from criticizing local businesses.
“The legislation will help cut down on the types of mean-spirited and baseless political attacks that add nothing to the real debate and merely seek to falsely tarnish the opponent’s reputation by using anonymity on the Web,” Conte said.
The legislation would require website administrators to remove any anonymous comments from their pages upon request. Users would not have to reveal their identity when making a complaint for removal.

Chin Says Cuts to After-School and Daycare Programs Remain

Councilwoman Margaret Chin

In response to Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s executive budget, Council Member Margaret Chin noted that while the mayor has committed to fund 2,600 teaching positions, the budget still includes cuts to daycare, after-school programs and other services in the Lower East Side and Chinatown.

“The mayor’s budget once again takes aim at working families and minority neighborhoods in New York City,” Chin said in a statement. “These are programs that New Yorkers rely on in order to hold down a job, make a living and support their families. In Chinatown and the Lower East Side, we stand to lose 70 percent of our elementary and middle after-school programs.”

Chin said these cuts prove the programs “are not a priority for this administration. Instead, the City Council will be called on to restore these programs to what are already significantly reduced levels. Since 2009, we have lost 61 percent of our daycare and after-school programs. As a city, we should be focused on expanding after-school and daycare and making high-quality programs available for all our public school students,” Chin continued.

Citywide

Stringer Calls for MTA to create Temporary Reduced-Fare Cards for Seniors and Disabled People

This week Manhattan Borough President Scott M. Stringer demanded that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority reform its process for replacing lost or stolen reduced-fare MetroCards for seniors and disabled people, calling the current system “a ridiculous, time-consuming maze that burdens the very people we’re supposed to be helping and makes it harder for them to get around our City.”

The borough president said that reduced-fare MetroCard holders face formidable obstacles if their cards are lost or stolen. When they call MTA to request a replacement, Stringer noted, the wait for a new card can frequently take up to three months.

In the meantime, those who want to ride a bus at reduced fare must present evidence of their age to bus drivers and come up with exact change of $1.10. To ride the subway, they first have to find a station agent. Next, seniors or disabled get a one-trip MetroCard and a paper voucher that’s about as useful as an old token. It only works if they can find another subway station agent to take the voucher on their return trip.

“All of this takes an emotional and financial toll on New Yorkers, who have a right to expect better service,” Stringer wrote in a letter to Joseph J. Lhota, the MTA’s chairman and executive officer.

In his letter to the MTA, Stringer suggested that there is a simple solution to this problem: provide temporary MetroCards to seniors and disabled riders whose reduced-fare cards have been lost or stolen.

Stringer said the MTA already gives out such replacements when reduced-fare cards are defective, adding: “It’s a smart, sensible solution. These temporary cards last for three months under the current system, which is plenty of time for a new reduced-fare card to be issued. We’d be extending the same courtesy, the same seamless service to seniors or disabled whose cards are lost or stolen. No waiting for station agents. No digging for identification or the exact change every time you want to get on a bus.”

In a letter penned last week to School Chancellor Dennis Walcott, New York State Assembly Speaker urged the Department of Education (DOE) to abate school overcrowding in Lower Manhattan by opening a new pre-kindergarten center in the area. Silver pointed out that while the community has helped build several new schools over the past few years, there is still a kindergarten waitlist nearing 100 students for the Spruce Street School, P.S. 276, P.S. 89 and the Peck Slip School. “This is the most serious overcrowding problem we have ever had in this neighborhood, and it is taking place when we have even more kindergarten classes than originally planned in these four schools,” wrote Silver.

Silver pointed out that a new pre-kindergarten center would free up seat in the zoned schools in the neighborhood for incoming kindergartners, a measure that has been advocated by Silver’s School Overcrowding Task Force and Community Board 1.

“As I expressed to DOE officials at my last School Overcrowding meeting, it is important that the DOE present a plan for creating one of these centers in time for the coming academic year, consider adding an extra kindergarten class to the Peck Slip School, or come up with another option for adding seats in September,” Silver continued. “While implementing these plans would help cut down on our waiting lists, these are not long-term solutions. Our overcrowding problem is getting worse. We need more elementary school seats in Lower Manhattan and we need to begin planning for them now. It takes years to bring a new school on line and we simply don’t have the luxury of waiting. Members of my task force are already searching for possible locations for new schools and I hope the DOE and the School Construction Authority will do the same.”