LOWER MANHATTAN — The District 2 Community Education Council rejected the city's controversial rezoning plan for lower Manhattan's schools in a unanimous vote Wednesday.
The CEC, a panel of appointed and elected parents who must approve school zoning changes, asked the Department of Education to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new plan that lets all TriBeCa children go to school closer to home.
The CEC was responding to the DOE's most recent rezoning proposal, which would send TriBeCa children living east of West Broadway and north of Murray Street to P.S. 1 in Chinatown. Parents panned the proposal, saying the daily commute from TriBeCa to Chinatown would inconvenience parents and put children in danger.
"We need to tell the [Department of Education] we want a better plan," Michael Markowitz, a CEC member, said at Wednesday night's meeting.
Specifically, the CEC is asking the Department of Education to not send any TriBeCa children to schools north of Canal Street or east of the Civic Center.
A potential downside of the CEC's request is that it could result in waitlists at Downtown's already-overcrowded elementary schools — but several parents said they would prefer taking the chance on a waitlist rather than being rezoned out of their local school.
Rinat Aruh, who lives at West Broadway and Reade Street, and has a son entering kindergarten next fall, praised the CEC's move, saying she wanted her son to at least have a chance at attending TriBeCa's popular P.S. 234, which is two blocks from her home. Under the DOE's proposal, Aruh would be zoned for P.S. 1, nearly a mile away.
"Thank you for listening to the community," Aruh told the CEC.
The CEC hopes that in response to the concerns about the DOE's current proposal, city officials will present a new proposal at the council's next meeting on Nov. 28.
A DOE spokesman did not immediately comment Wednesday night.
If the Department of Education decides keep its current proposal in place, and not make any changes, the CEC would either have to accept what is now on the table — sending TriBeCa children to Chinatown — or leave all of the neighborhood's school zones exactly as they are, Markowitz said.
He is concerned about leaving the school zones as is, because that would mean the CEC would be unable to draw a zone for the new Peck Slip School, which is opening next fall in temporary space in Tweed Courthouse. Without a zone, the Peck Slip School would have to accept students via lottery, which is not ideal, Markowitz noted.
Also Tuesday night, the CEC rejected the city's latest rezoning proposal for schools in Chelsea and Greenwich Village.
CEC members said they were concerned that the city has not given enough thought to the proposed boundaries of the new zone for the Foundling school, and several members suggested waiting until next year to zone the school.
The CEC hopes to vote on final versions of the zoning plans at a meeting Dec. 14.
