Congresswoman Maloney Struggles On

At the follow-up meeting today to Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney’s mighty assembly of public officials questioning DOE’s plans for addressing D2 overcrowding (see our post below of July 21), NYC’s elected representatives explored new territories of amazement at DOE’s refusal to plan for the overcrowded classrooms so nearly upon us. Parents who have been bemused in the past by OSEPO head Marty Barr’s assertion that DOE makes no plans to address overcrowding until students have hung up their lunchboxes on the first day of school had the treat of seeing a whole new audience marvel at this stubbornly counterintuitive policy. When asked if OSEPO had contingency plans for overcrowding when it does emerge, and what contingencies trigger them, Barr averred that these must remain secret, even from officials, at the risk of starting a panic. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer brought a welcome draught of clear thinking to Tweed with his proposal that officials and DOE collaborate on a “war room,” to combine city planning and educational planning for school construction. Chancellor Klein declared that this idea made sense, betraying no prior familiarity with the planning component of the Borough President’s portfolio. Senator Tom Duane made a heartfelt plea not to be regarded as a mortal enemy when approaching DOE to discuss the concerns of his constituents. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, Senators Liz Krueger and Marty Connor, and Councilmember Daniel Garodnick were all strikingly on point. But few practical solutions were on offer by the hosts, and there were some scary intimations, such as reference to a document outlining of “instructional decisions principals must make” regarding the use of classrooms in these times. In spite of the familiar obfuscations however, observers were refreshed by the commitment and preparation of the elected officials, and cheered by the knowledge that some increasing capacity does seem, somehow, to be eking out of this system, though perhaps not directly through the good works of the DOE.

Congresswoman Maloney Battles Bloomberg Administration Over School Crowding

While the mayor and chancellor were off in Washington seeking to burnish their images as school reformers, their poor management of the school capacity crisis was drawing sharp criticism here from a Manhattan Congressional representative.

Last Monday, at a meeting called by Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney, a broad array of Manhattan elected representatives pressed Deputy Mayor Dennis Walcott for action on the growing school capacity crisis in Manhattan. The meeting had taken three months to arrange due to the refusal of the administration to meet. But Maloney has been determined to hold the Bloomberg administration accountable. As Maloney told the The Villager newspaper who covered last week's meeting:

“When you’re constantly called to task, you can’t be telling people that you won’t meet with them,” she said of D.O.E.

Maloney explained that the flurry of action is what happens “when it gets to the point where you can’t walk down the street or go to church without your constituents coming up to you and saying it’s overcrowded,” noting that two-thirds of schools in the district were above capacity.

At a press conference held today at PS 116 with parents and lcoal electeds, Maloney cited how rampant residential development in the area has outstripped school capacity. While the mayor and chancellor travel the nation trumpeting their "successes", Manhattan parents have been left to contemplate 10:20 am lunches, kindergartens of 28, lost cluster rooms and shuttered G&T programs.

See story here on NY1 and press release here. Also the Daily News article: Protest vs. school crowding.

Crowded out: report on city's failure to plan for new schools

Read Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer’s important new report on school overcrowding, “Crowded Out.”

Here in NYC we are in the midst of an unprecedented development boom. In four Manhattan neighborhoods alone, the city has approved enough new buildings to add up to 2,300 new public school students in grades K-8, while increasing total school capacity by only 143 seats.

Every day, we fall further behind. Kindergarten classes are already 28 students in some schools, high rises continue to spring up around us, and rate of new residential construction is not likely to let up anytime soon.

As more and more schools become overcrowded, there are few prospects for alleviating these conditions, no less reducing class size. In all, this administration’s record on school construction and planning for the future has been an abject failure.

The recommendations of this report? The city needs to improve its planning to make sure that enough schools are built along with new housing, and adopt a transparent process for projecting population growth; they must plan for new schools at the neighborhood level where the overcrowding is most intense, rather than at the school district level; and the next capital plan must be far more aggressive if there are going to be enough schools to eliminate overcrowding and reduce class size.

See also this letter from elected officials, including Rep. Carolyn Maloney, to Joel Klein about the administration's failure to site and build enough schools.

Check out the media coverage of this report on NY1, WCBS, and the NY Daily News.