Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Upper East Side Parents Tell Plaintiffs in Lawsuit to Keep Fighting School Closures

By DNAinfo Staff on February 2, 2010 7:35am  | Updated on February 2, 2010 7:33am

Upper East Side students had the option of enrolling in an
Upper East Side students had the option of enrolling in an "incubator" school at P.S.158 as part of an effort to relieve overcrowding.
View Full Caption
Flickr/bjmcdonald

By Gabriela Resto-Montero

DNAinfo Reporter/Producer

Upper East Side parents registered their children for a new school Monday as part of a plan to relieve classroom overcrowding in the neighborhood.

The collaboration between parents groups and the Department of Education to create P.S. 158, on York Avenue between E. 77th and E. 78th streets, contrasts with the frustration of parents represented in a United Federation of Teachers lawsuit, also filed Monday.

While parents on the Upper East Side bargained with the department for three years to create the new school, plaintiffs in the lawsuit claim parents were bypassed during the decision making process to close 19 city schools.

Teachers and parents accuse the department of ignoring community protests against the closures of the schools, four of which are in upper Manhattan and another on E. 33rd Street. The suit claims the department did not analyze how the closures would affect other overcrowded schools and failed to give due explanations at public hearings.

"It is now nine weeks since we learned of the proposed closures, and we still have no explanation for why these schools were chosen and no role for the community in a decision that will forever uproot their children," said Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer in a statement.

The Department of Education did not return calls by deadline.

But parents on the Upper East Side have some advice for those battling city officials.

"Parents need to stand firm, stand their ground and state the facts and keep persisting until DOE does what’s right for the kids," said Andy Lachman, a parent who fought for P.S. 158.

"And you can do that in a respectful way, that’s key."

The approval of P.S. 158, which will run from kindergarten to grade 5, was a sign of the compromises possible with the Department of Education, Lachman said.

"The Department of Education did listen and they revised their plan and that's important," he said.

The incubator school will first occupy the space now taken up by East Side Middle School in the P.S. 158 building. The middle dchool will move to new facilities Sept. 1, leaving space for the new school, which will only have kindergarteners to start.

Eventually, the incubator school will have a permanent residence at the Old Manhattan Eye, Ear and Throat building, located at 213 E. 63rd St., when the current tenant, P.S. 59, moves to its new location.