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New West Village Middle School Will Be Zoned, Includes Downtown Students

 The Department of Education has finalized its zone proposal for the new middle school at 75 Morton St, which includes the west side below Canal Street. The zone plan was approved by the CEC.
The Department of Education has finalized its zone proposal for the new middle school at 75 Morton St, which includes the west side below Canal Street. The zone plan was approved by the CEC.
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DOE

MANHATTAN — After a long push from parents and school advocates, a highly anticipated new Manhattan middle school will be zoned when it opens in September 2017.

The District 2 Community Education Council voted Tuesday night to approve a Department of Education zoning proposal for 75 Morton, a public West Village Middle School that will now be the zoned school for students from Battery Park City, TriBeCa and up to 59th Street on the West side.

"This is an exciting day for us," said CEC board member Michael Horovitz before the zone proposal passed unanimously.

Most at the meeting were pleased with the zoning plan, which includes students from Lower Manhattan's P.S. 89, P.S. 234 and P.S. 276. It also finally gives students living in a swath of Hell's Kitchen a zoned middle school, something they had long been without and parents had long pushed to secure.

But several parents, with the support of local elected officials, took issue with a small section of blocks that aren't included in the new 75 Morton zone. Because the new zone is largely based on already existing elementary school zones, that includes a controversial school boundary that slices along West 12th Street from Fifth Avenue to Sixth Avenue, separating the north side of the street from the south.

Parents along West 12th Street want the entire block to be included in the zone for 75 Morton, not just half the block. Community Board 2 also supports including a swath of blocks — from 12th to 14th streets, from Greenwich Avenue to Fourth Avenue — inside the 75 Morton zone.

"Our block has been divided in half by a school zoning line for no reason" said Peter Leonardi, a member of the West 12th Street Block Association, at the CEC meeting. "I urge you to either rectify this or vote against this zone."

After a long debate, the CEC decided to move forward with their vote on the zone plan as presented, but said they would send an official letter to the DOE, to request a new map for the zone that would include the disputed blocks.

The zone could be eventually be amended to include all West 12th Street families, they said.