CARROLL GARDENS — A forum on overcrowding at neighborhood schools will be held next week for parents and local leaders to talk about impacts and options such as rezoning, cutting classes or creating new classrooms.
The meeting, to be held Oct. 21 at P.S. 58, will specifically address overcrowding at P.S. 32 on Hoyt Street on the border of Gowanus and Carroll Gardens, P.S. 29 on Henry Street in Cobble Hill and P.S. 58 on Smith Street in Carroll Gardens, organizers said.
Officials from the Department of Education, the School Construction Authority and local politicians are also expected to attend.
P.S. 58, a high-performing school with a popular dual-language French program, had a waitlist of 15 students for kindergarten this year.
Some of those students had to be turned away, said organizer Paige Bellenbaum, a CB6 member who has two children at the school.
"Every year there's been this fear of there not being spots for pre-K or kindergarten," she said.
School overcrowding has recently been a hot topic in nearby neighborhoods and districts. A lengthy waitlist and severe overcrowding at P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights has resulted in a contentious proposal to rezone two schools — P.S. 8 and P.S. 307 — in District 13.
The community fears that the city is not addressing the need for more school seats as Brooklyn's residential development boom brings hundreds of new families to local schools without room to accomodate them.
"You're setting your communities up for failure," Bellenbaum said.
The forum would allow parents to learn more about the effects of overcrowding and the steps that can be taken to alleviate it, such as rezoning, cutting classes or creating new classrooms.
"We wanted to be preventative," she said, "before we find ourselves in a deeper crisis."
The meeting will be held Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. at P.S. 58, located at 330 Smith St. The event is open to the public.
