By Nicole Breskin
DNAinfo Reporter/ Producer
MANHATTAN — The Department of Education revealed two proposals to rezone Lower Manhattan's school district at a public hearing Wednesday night, drawing the ire of angry parents who turned out in force.
Both plans account for two new elementary schools and redraw the zoning boundaries that decide what schools children in TriBeCa, Battery Park City and the Financial District go to. After a series of public hearings, the local Community Education Council will decide on a proposal.
The first plan cuts the number of TriBeCa families who can apply for P.S. 234 by at least half from what it is currently. Only families who live around the northern part of P.S. 234 will able to apply for the much sought after school if the first plan goes ahead.
The second proposal also takes a chunk out of P.S. 234's current catchment. Under this one, children who live east of Church Street will be rezoned for P.S. 397, also known at “The Spruce Street School."
While boths plans mean students are guaranteed a seat at their zoned school, and eliminate lotteries that were heart wrenching for parents last year, they still drew criticism Wednesday.
Many parents fear being zoned out of P.S. 234, an established school, to go to a new school, such as P.S. 276 or P.S. 397, which opened in fall 2009.
Ilya Mazur wants his two-year-old daughter to eventually go to P.S. 234. But catchment area for Mazur's apartment complex is divided in half under the first proposal. The children who live in the high-rent section at 101 Warren Street can get into P.S. 234. The children who live in the affordable-housing units of the same complex can't.
“I can see the school from my window,” Mazur said. “It breaks TriBeCa in half.
"This divides the neighborhoods we care about and sells us out.”
Other parents criticized the Department of Education from drawing the boundaries based on where children who applied for schools in 2009 live. The parents say that the new boundaries should be based on projections about where children applying to schools in the future live.
“We need to know where the children are,” said Shino Tanikawa, who is the chair of the rezoning committee for District 2’s Community Education Council. “We can’t draw the lines without knowing where the kids are.”
Elizabeth Rose, the Director of Porfolio Planning at the education department, conceded that not every parent was happy with the plans.
“It’s probably impossible to come up with zone lines that makes everybody happy,” said Rose. “So what we’ve tried to do is put together zoning proposals that we think make sense and incorporate feedback we’ve already gotten.”
Rose said the zones account for 25 percent growth.
The Community Education Council has 45 days to decide on a plan or make one of its own based on public hearings.
