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Harlem School Rezoning and UWS School Relocation Up for Public Review

By Emily Frost | December 8, 2016 11:25am
 The DOE created new zone lines in the northern part of the district because of the proposed re-siting of P.S. 241 to the P.S. 76 building.
The DOE created new zone lines in the northern part of the district because of the proposed re-siting of P.S. 241 to the P.S. 76 building.
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DOE

UPPER WEST SIDE — A pair of upcoming hearings will give residents the opportunity to weigh in on school zoning lines in the northern part of the district, as well as a plan to move an elementary school into a new building.

On Nov. 22, after countless meetings and hearings and a failed rezoning in 2015Community Education Council 3 voted to approve a redrawing of school zoning lines in the southern part of District 3.

The shifted lines changed the zones for 11 elementary schools — P.S. 191, P.S. 199, P.S. 87, P.S. 452, P.S. 9, P.S. 166, P.S. 75, P.S. 84, P.S. 163, P.S. 145 and P.S. 165 — that lie between West 59th and 115th streets from Central Park West to Riverside Drive.

The council's vote represents the final stamp of approval for the plan, but the relocation of one school included in the rezoning still needs the Department of Education's approval. 

The city's Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) is now accepting feedback on moving P.S. 452, currently located on West 77th Street, into the P.S. 191 building on West 61st Street. P.S. 191's move into a new school building was approved last month. 

P.S. 452's relocation would allow the school to grow and create more elementary school seats in the district, CEC 3 members have said. 

However, some P.S. 452 parents oppose the plan, with school Principal Scott Parker acknowledging in November that it "is not the popular choice."

The public hearing and PEP vote on the re-siting will take place on Jan. 18 at 6:00 p.m. at the Taft Educational Campus, 240 E. 172nd St. in The Bronx, according to the DOE. 

Members of the council also asked the department to extend the rezoning to include the northern section of the district, which includes six schools located between Central Park North and West 124th Street.

The DOE presented a new map for this northern section in early November, but the CEC decided not to vote on it during its Nov. 22 meeting, said Kim Watkins, chairwoman of the council's zoning committee.

The proposed northern rezoning dissolves the zone for P.S. 241 and splits it between P.S. 180 to the west, P.S. 185 and P.S. 208 to the east, and P.S. 76 to the north. Under the plan, the zones for P.S. 149 and P.S. 242 would remain the same.

Instead, the CEC is hosting hearings on the new northern rezoning map, the first of which is happening on Thursday, Dec. 8, at 6:30 p.m. at P.S. 241, 240 W. 113th St.