Jerry Butler
Center School Parent

Letters have been edited for clarity, style and brevity.

To the Editor:
Oft overlooked and central to the Community Education Council draft resolution is that most families in the P.S. 199 catchment choose to send their children to P.S. 199, an elementary school offering only a general education program. Might I offer that up as a feather in the cap of public education? Too many families, not enough room. See the problem?

The idea to use space at P.S. 9 as a new elementary school was proposed and considered. Is anyone at all curious as to the Department of Education manpower and resources needed to implement this idea? In these economic times? Seriously?
Further, even if P.S. 199 families were given every seat available in this overflow idea, it would still not accommodate every kindergartener in our catchment for next year. Sending the excess 199 kindergarteners to P.S. 191 and P.S. 87 could hamper or eliminate their choice programs.
Center School is a district-wide middle school. Their passionate argument against relocation infers their program’s collapse. Have faith, wonderful and vital Center School. “Yes You Can” survive a move!

The very best we can do is advocate equitable and age-appropriate choices for our children. And to continue to offer those same choices to the children who come after our children.

The only issue is space. The only solution lies in absolute district-wide fairness.

Becky Neustadt
P.S. 199 and M.S. 54 parent

Letters have been edited for clarity, style and brevity.

To the Editor:
As with most parents, I would go to the ends of the earth to do what is best for my child. If that included putting him on a bus or taking him on a subway every morning to school, I would do it. But I will not do that when there is one of the best elementary schools in the city one block away—where my neighbors can watch over my child, where I have neighbors who can pick up my child if I cannot (I am a single parent.)

Many of us made sacrifices to move to this area or to stay in this area—myself and several parents (both potential and current) I know are in studios and one-bedroom apartments with one or more children so that we can stay here and send our kids to this school and, more importantly, to stay where we have created a wonderful community.

Two things could change our community: 1) Not allowing any new children into P.S. 199 for at least the next three years, which is what would happen if we don’t gain The Center School space, and 2) if the parents and connected parties to the Center School continue their vitriolic attacks on anyone who disagrees with them.

If this is the legacy The Center School wants to leave, then so be it; but I would hope as an educational institution and as our neighbors they can move beyond that, and we can begin to repair the harm done. We have been called racist and elitist. That is not the community I know and not the one I am fighting for. The community I know includes musicians and teachers and those working hard in the private and public sector as advocates for any number of social causes. And yes, we have a large number of wealthy individuals as well. AND so does Center School. This is not a bad thing to have at a public school—it means our teachers can teach and take home their hard-earned paycheck and not have to pay for crayons and paper towels in their classrooms.

Why doesn’t Center School want a bigger space with more rooms and more resources, where their children don’t have to learn in hallways? I still haven’t heard a compelling argument.

Karen Dinitz
Prospective P.S. 199 Parent

Letters have been edited for clarity, style and brevity.

The plan, approved by a 7-1 margin at a Nov. 19 meeting, is intended to alleviate crowding in the district, particularly at P.S. 199 on West 70th Street. The Center School middle school will move from P.S. 199’s building to the P.S. 9 building on West 84th Street. And The Anderson School will move from P.S. 9 into the building on West 77th Street shared by M.S. 44 and The Computer School. The exact timeframe for the schools moving over the summer remains unclear, the department says.

During the public comment section of the Nov. 19 meeting, P.S. 199 parents praised the proposal, while Center School parents continued their staunch opposition. Meanwhile, a few parents from The Computer School expressed concern that The Anderson School, a gifted school, would take precedence in their building. These parents, along with Center School parents and other diversity advocates, had staged a rally before the meeting. According to the group’s press release, they were protesting “a proposal that primarily benefits the district’s wealthiest school at the expense of several other schools with much greater racial, social and economic diversity.”

State Sen. Tom Duane made an emotional speech at the meeting as well, saying the conflict had been “wrenching” and that he hoped the various parties could come together.

Another group of parents upset by the changes were residents of three buildings at the bottom of Riverside Boulevard, which were zoned out of P.S. 199 and into the P.S. 191 building in the final draft of the proposal. Many residents of those buildings spoke at the meeting. Jennifer Freeman, the point person for the rezoning issue on the Community Education Council, said it was technically impossible to amend the proposal at the meeting, but urged these parents to appeal the specific zoning lines within 10 days of the vote, in accordance with the Chancellor’s regulations.

As for whether P.S. 199’s building will be ready to for the influx of students, “We’re confident the school will be able to accommodate all the students without any facilities work being done,” said Will Havemann, a department spokesperson.

Center School parents have been adamantly opposed to their school’s relocation as a solution for P.S. 199’s overcrowding. At the outset of last week’s emotional meeting, parent council members pleaded with angry parents, saying they had run the numbers to find a solution that would keep The Center School in place. However, the parent council felt that P.S. 199’s overcrowding was too dire to allow The Center School to stay put.

In a period of scheduled public comments from PTA presidents throughout the district, Center School parents and supporters spoke passionately about the need to preserve a racial and socio-economic mix as a reason to protect their diverse school.

Center School parents got a public boost from one of their own: actress and education activist Cynthia Nixon, known to many New Yorkers as Miranda from Sex and the City. Side by side with fellow Center School parent Mary DiPalermo, Nixon stood at the microphone and waited out boos from current and prospective P.S. 199 parents. She delivered an impassioned plea, saying that without The Center School, P.S. 199 would become a “de facto segregated school.”

On the other side, P.S. 199 parents and prospective parents praised the parent council’s plan for enabling small children to attend a neighborhood school.
John White, from the Department of Education’s Office of Portfolio Development, praised the parent council and tried to assuage parents throughout the evening.

“I ask that you understand that this represents, in many instances, a set of tradeoffs that we’re not enthused about making,” he said. “And yet we believe, the chancellor [Joel Klein] believes, that these are the best answers to ensuring that as of next fall we have stability, that we are not doing these meetings again next fall.”

White did not, however, directly address the diversity issue brought up by parents, saying he’d only respond to “fact-based” comments.

During the reading of the proposal just before the vote, about 50 parents from The Center School and their allies walked out of the room in protest. The vote then proceeded without incident. At press time, the parent council was expected to uphold the plan in a second vote, largely a formality, at a public meeting on Nov. 19.

P.S. 199’s kindergarten enrollment has nearly doubled since 2003. Photo By: Andrew Schwartz

hope that upcoming collaboration between district parents and the Department of Education will result in a solution amenable to all.
This fracas could be a harbinger of what’s to come elsewhere if the “strollerfication” and gentrification of Manhattan continues without school buildings rising at the same rate as condos.
In September, the department floated two initial proposals to alleviate District 3 overcrowding, kicking off a back-and-forth dialogue with the parent Community Education Council. Plan A involved rezoning throughout much of the district. Plan B basically leaves P.S. 199’s catchment lines alone, but moves two small middle schools, The Center School and The Anderson School, into extra space in P.S. 9 and M.S. 44, respectively.
Center School parents say that the inconvenience of the rezoning in Plan A has left one alternative: evicting their school from its 26-year-old home. “We don’t want to be their solution. We’re not their problem,” said Alan Madison, a former 199 parent and current Center School parent.
Indeed, many P.S. 199 parents feel that the department’s dual proposals leave them with only one viable choice. “As far as we see it, it’s the only option,” said Michelle Ciulla-Lipkin, a P.S. 199 parent. “No one has been able to come close to giving us an alternate solution.”
P.S. 199’s kindergarten enrollment has nearly doubled since 2003 as new residents flocked to the neighborhood, including to the new Trump complex on Riverside Boulevard.
Many parents who moved to the neighborhood with P.S. 199 in mind for their pre-school age children grew concerned that enrollment at the school would be capped. An unofficial group of area parents have started an online community, Save P.S. 199, urging the removal of The Center School.
Lee Huang, who founded the online group, is one such parent. His son is 4 years old. “I walk by P.S. 199 each day, and I really hope my son can go to the school we’re zoned for,” he said. “If they introduce capping, the parents are toast.”
The crowding has prevented P.S. 199 from using “cluster” rooms for art, music and other enrichment classes.
“The truth is it’s incredibly apparent from the moment you drop off your child that our school is crowded. My son’s class used to go the library, but now the librarian has to go into the classroom with a cart. They no longer have a music room,” said Ciulla-Lipkin.
However, not all P.S. 199 parents see the situation as quite so dire. Judy Myers said that getting back the cluster rooms should not be first priority when other schools may be more in need of resources. She feels that having the Center School continue to share the building, and keeping each school relatively small, is more in P.S.199’s interest than gaining extra classrooms.
“I’ve been at 199 for 11 years and I love the school. My kids are getting a world class education there, but fair is fair,” she said.
Center School parents say their small size and diverse demographics—students have to apply to get in, whereas P.S. 199 draws from the surrounding neighborhood—have put them at a disadvantage when leveraging for their cause. “It’s a David and Goliath story. We have a totally different demographic. We’re not homogeneous by race or economic class,” said Madison, the Center School parent.
Roxalyn Moret, another Center School parent, said the high-performing school is one of the rare schools in New York where de facto segregation is not prevalent.
“What I feel could happen in moving The Center School is they could upset that balance,” Moret said. “It insures that 199 will become a white, affluent grammar school, [associated] with the Trump Towers. Center School is school for New York City to be really proud of, a school that the city should try and replicate, not take apart.”
Center School parents question why the department eschewed options that would inconvenience P.S. 199 parents, such as trailers or zoning children to the underutilized P.S. 191, immediately to the south on West 61st Street. A September letter to the parent council from The Center School PTA mentioned that the middle school parents raise a fraction of the funds that their counterparts at P.S. 199 do, and asked why “disproportionate concern” was being paid to a P.S. 199 at their expense.
For their part, P.S. 199 parents say their concerns are with raw numbers and viable solutions, and are wary of touching the diversity issue. “We’re a catchment school, and we have no control of the diversity of the school,” Ciulla-Lipkin said. “but I do believe our school is diverse.”
One thing parents from both schools agree on is that even if The Center School is moved, it won’t be a long-term solution, even for P.S. 199, which will face crowding again down the line. Most agree that a new elementary school is needed.
Keeping this need in mind, the District 3 parent council has not endorsed either of the department’s crowding proposals, and is instead asking for a good faith effort from the department to add more seats while keeping the unique schools in the neighborhood as intact as possible.
Will Havemann, a spokesperson from the department, said that the city is committed to working with parents to find a viable solution for all parties involved. “We realize that asking a school to move is a tough choice. We acknowledge that, and we want to make sure we’re working with the community,” he said.
The department hopes it can come to a consensus on the issue by Nov. 30.