Parents said at a meeting in Ridgewood last week that they were concerned a proposed rezoning of elementary schools in District 24 would present a number of safety issues. Kerry Goleski/The Forum Newsgroup
The city Office of Portfolio Management has proposed a plan to rezone elementary schools in District 24 to alleviate crowding and utilize the new space that is available – but the public raised concerns about how the proposal will affect PS 229, an elementary school located near the border of Woodside and Maspeth.
Jillian Rowland, of the Office of Portfolio Management, said at a presentation to Community Education Council 24 at PS 305 in Ridgewood last Thursday that “the rationale for the new zoning is to account for the new capacity of building Q313 and Q290 which will open in 2014” plus Q320 will open in 2015. Rowland said that this is only a “proposed rezoning.”
PS 313 will be located in Sunnyside, and PS 290 is in Maspeth.
The affected schools within the proposed rezoning include PS 305 in Ridgewood, 81 in Glendale, 71 in Ridgewood, 290 in Maspeth, 153 in Maspeth, 229 in Woodside, 199 in Long Island City and 12 in Woodside.
The map shows how the school districts will be redistributed based on the new schools. Sarah Turchin, of Portfolio Management said, “all of the kindergarten zones will go down in size based on the rezoning, except for PS 305 which accounts for the new building.”
After receiving the proposed rezoning maps, parents and faculty raised concerns about PS 229.
“I am speaking for 229, and although I do appreciate the problem of overcrowding in 224, there is a big population that choose to go to this district,” said Sibylle Ajwani, principal of 229. “…We do not like this proposal. We know there is a problem and we will try to work with you.”
Rosemary Parker, a parent, spoke about 229 as well.
“Now you are going to make it so the students have to walk across Queens Boulevard,” Parker said.
Sinead Kiernan, another PS 229 parent, echoed the same sentiment.
“Maurice Avenue is a dangerous road,” she said. “With this rezoning they will have to walk down this road. Why would students who can basically see the school at Q229 go to 153?”
Rowland took note of the concerns with crossing the Long Island Expressway, Queens Boulevard and Maurice Avenue.
She asked the city to “please flag any major roads” that could be a danger for student crossing.
Other concerns included rezoning elementary school concurrently with middle schools and siblings within changed districts.
“As grammar school parents, we need a conversation not only where the grammar school lines are but the middle schools,” said Judy Mittler, principal at PS 125. “The middle schools should be a part of the conversation.”
Rowland said the middle school zoning will have to go through the same process but there is no presentation ready for the public at this time.
Nick Comaianni, president of CEC 24,, mentioned the students that District 24 took in from District 30 – which represents schools in western Queens.
“The problem is not District 24, not portfolio,” he said. “The problem is District 30 – half the board is being very selfish. I have been trying to get [the students back into District 30] for 10 years.”
If the rezoning is approved, only students going into kindergarten in the 2014-2015 will be affected. Rowland said that a “sibling priority system” will be implemented – meaning if a new kindergarten student’s sibling already attends a certain elementary school, there will be a priority based on capacity to put the new student in that same school as his or her sibling.
To make the decision on how the zoning will change the office of portfolio management looks at historical kindergarten enrollment, the capacity in each district and the new construction that will provide more student capacity.
There will be another meeting held by the CEC on Tuesday, September 24 at PS 229 to get feedback from the community.
By Kerry Goleski
