UPPER WEST SIDE — While education leaders have still not reached a consensus on how exactly local school zone lines should be redrawn, they agreed Monday to make a final decision on a new plan before the kindergarten application season begins next month.
Community Education Council 3 members, the elected body of parents who will have the ultimate say on how District 3 zoning lines should be redrawn, decided they'd commit to making a final vote on the rezoning plan on Dec. 2. The original vote was scheduled for Nov. 19, but the council said it needed more time to deliberate.
The Dec. 2 deadline lets the CEC squeeze in a decision before parents begin registering their children for kindergarten through the Department of Education's Kindergarten Connect, which begins on Dec. 7, members said.
Waiting to make a decision until the middle of kindergarten applications or after the application period has passed is "unfair to families," who would apply based on one set of zoning lines only to have those lines potentially changed weeks later, said CEC3 member Kim Watkins.
The DOE told DNAinfo Monday it wanted more time to hear feedback from parents, PTAs and principals of the affected schools — namely P.S. 191, P.S. 199 and P.S. 452 — before it generated a final plan to present to the CEC for its approval. It postponed sharing a final zoning plan with the CEC Monday night.
Several CEC members insisted at Monday's meeting that the goal should be to try to find a short-term solution for overcrowding at P.S. 199 — a school that's had a 100-child waitlist and is currently more than 150 students over capacity.
Others said that a long-term solution — one that strives to create more equity and diversity in the district — would help solve the overcrowding crisis.
The process to rezone the district has been lengthy already, members admitted. It started last spring with small group meetings that ran through the summer, leading to a series of public forums this fall.
But proposals just aiming for a short-term fix are the wrong approach, said CEC member Kristen Berger.
"I think we’re taking a very defeatist perspective — that nothing can be done, so let’s just get it done quickly," she said.
"If we could get both of our biggest problems solved," she noted, speking of overcrowding and diversity, "we should go for it."
The proposals that are currently circulating include, among others:
► Not changing the zone lines between P.S. 199 and P.S. 199, but sending a small portion of P.S. 199-zoned families to P.S. 452.
► Creating a "super zone" for P.S. 199, 191 and 452. Enrollment could be determined by choice or by lottery.
"I’m tired, it’s been a long process...[but] we do owe it to those families [to act]," Berger added.
CEC members agreed they'd work during the Thanksgiving break if necessary and create a subcommittee to drill deeper into enrollment data in the neighborhood to get a clearer picture.
The final presentation by the DOE is expected to take place on Nov. 19, members said.
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