PARK SLOPE — P.S./M.S. 282 will begin phasing out its middle school next year and will only serve pre-K through fifth grades by the year 2020.
The city's Department of Education has been looking to cut middle school seats in District 13 — which covers Brooklyn Heights, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bedford-Stuyvesant and a sliver of Park Slope — after determining there was an oversupply, according to an Educational Impact Statement (EIS) filed by the DOE in November.
The department had originally wanted to phase out the middle school at P.S./M.S. 282 in the 2017-18 school year, but postponed it by a year after getting feedback from parents. On Dec. 21, the DOE's Panel for Education Policy voted to phase out the middle school beginning in the 2018-19 school year, meaning all those grades will be gone by 2020.
Dad Steve Hamill, co-chair of the school’s leadership team, said the change felt "bittersweet." Some parents who were counting on sending their kids to 282’s middle school aren’t looking forward to entering the often stressful middle school selection process, he said.
Fifth-graders at 282 get preferential placement for middle school seats, but they'll have to vie for other seats in the district with the new changes, according to Hamill.
"We were a good option for families who were looking for a dependable middle school, and that won't be there any more," he said. "It leaves families feeling uncertain, and that's one thing you never want to feel about your kids' education. But on the other hand, there are families who are excited to double down on having a kick-ass elementary school at 282."
District 13 has the capacity to serve approximately 3,300 students in sixth through eighth grades. Only 2,147 students were enrolled for the 2016-17 school year, according to the DOE.
Cutting 282’s upper grades will "provide P.S. 282 with the opportunity to focus exclusively on its elementary school grades and further P.S. 282’s ability to serve as an elementary school option for the students in its community," the impact statement from the DOE says.
"This proposal is expected to help reduce the excess of middle school capacity in District 13, by decreasing the number of middle school seats at P.S. 282 and allowing this middle school seat capacity to be repurposed for much needed elementary school capacity," the statement continues.
Hamill said 282 is thriving and that school tours are jammed with families. He predicted that the school could have wait-lists for kindergarten and pre-K next year.
The school has become more popular since the arrival of its new principal, who oversees both middle and elementary grades. Test scores have improved, and this past fall the education publication Inside Schools named 282 as a "pick" because of its commitment to quality education.
The school is known for its champion chess team and has a well-regarded pre-K program.
It's also one of the more diverse schools in Park Slope, with 9 percent of the school population being white, 59 percent black, 25 percent Latino, and 3 percent Asian, according to DOE statistics.
Just a few blocks away, P.S. 321, is about 75 percent white, 4 percent black, 8 percent Latino, and 7 percent Asian, the stats show.
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