UPPER EAST SIDE — When the city recently unveiled a proposal to trim nearly 10 blocks from the prestigious elementary school P.S. 290's catchment zone, the principal and parents complained that the shrink could lead to under-enrollment, despite its recent years of long wait-lists.
In its final plan unveiled this month, the DOE made one minor change to the plan — It restored a block between East 85th and 86th streets between Lexington and Third avenues.
But the move has parents scratching their heads.
They wondered why that block was selected instead of ones closer to the school, at 311 E. 82nd St. between First and Second avenues. P.S. 290 had been urging the DOE to restore the nearby blocks from East 84th to 85th streets between Second and York Avenues to its zone.
"We were pleased, and very appreciative, that our argument was seemingly being heard, and we know that there are happy current and future 290 families who live in that block," school parent Amy Rabinowitz said at a recent Community Board 8 education committee meeting.
But, she added, "We couldn’t figure out why it was just that block, which isn't particularly close to our school."
The block is anchored at one end by the new, ultra-luxury Lucida condo, an eco-friendly building with rooftop gardens, a spa, indoor pool and indoor playground, where a three-bedroom apartment starts at $3.65 million, according to CityRealty.com.
At the other end is the Park Lane, an elegant 35-story rental built in 1967 that was the fictional home of sitcom family "The Jeffersons," CityRealty noted.
Rumors swirled around the neighborhood that buildings, worried about their real estate values, had launched petitions to stay in the P.S. 290 zone. Parents said they saw petition posters in the area where the block was restored.
It made Adam Kudelka, who lives in the 32-story Adam’s Tower rental building at 351 E. 84th St., wonder if he should start a petition to try and get his block restored to P.S. 290’s zone.
“We live two blocks from P.S. 290,” Kudelka said at the CB 8 meeting. “We can see it from our balcony.”
Kudelka said his family moved to Adam's Tower in August 2010 specifically so his daughter could go to P.S. 290 when she entered kindergarten.
“Several families in the building are at the school," he said. “We have nothing against other schools. We just want to be part of the community of the school closest to our building. It’s not fair when kids in one building are going to different schools.”
As the Upper East Side has become more attractive to young families in recent years, the area's elementary schools face their second rezoning in two years. Under the current plan, three existing school zones are being shifted in order to create a zone for a new elementary school opening next year.
DOE officials said the department received no individual petitions from blocks or buildings requesting to move back into any zone.
The Community Education Council, which votes on the DOE's plan, wanted to slightly alter the zoning proposal, DOE officials said. The particular block moved was seen as a better fit since DOE officials didn't think it would create an additional wait list burden for the school.
P.S. 290 had a wait-list of 64 students in June — with 164 zoned students vying for 100 seats — but the wait-list was exhausted by the first week of school this year, school principal Sharon Hill had said.
Hill worried that chopping blocks from its zone could lead to too few students and therefore hurt the school's budget, since school funding is allocated based on the number of students. On top of budget cuts from this year, the school fears that treasured programs like the arts will suffer.
The school believes the wait-list numbers are inflated by many families who register at P.S. 290 like it’s a backup or “safety school," since private school acceptance and gifted-and-talented test results are not known at the time of registration.
During last year’s rezoning, the DOE restored several blocks to P.S. 290’s zone. This happened not because the principal and parents from the school asked, but because co-op and condos did, Rabinowitz explained.
"At the eleventh hour, the final plan added back in several blocks because of arguments about property value," she said.
"Educational quality, and not property values, must drive the zoning plan for the Upper East Side in a way that is fair for all of the schools and all of our children."
