HARLEM — The local Community Education Council is hosting a first-ever summit this Saturday to bring together parents and educators to talk big-picture issues like school zoning, marketing and parent engagement.
The summit organized by CEC 3 invites parents, educators and administrators to discuss how the school system is set up and how they can make “community-led change happen,” said Kim Watkins, the council's zoning chair.
“Things are just being done through the schools in Harlem,” she explained, referring to a top-down approach from DOE. “We have a chance to come to the table and move the conversation in the right way.”
The summit will be a place where parents and educators can brainstorm solutions to make the landscape of picking schools in the district for kindergartners less nerve-wracking.
Watkins noted that Harlem parents are currently overwhelmed with school choices for their kindergartners.
For example, lower Harlem has 13 elementary schools — seven charters and six DOE schools— in a zone just covering 56 city blocks. That's compared to roughly two to three schools covering 56 blocks on the Upper West Side, she said, citing data.
Watkins said she was hard-pressed to find a place in the city where so many schools are packed into a “tiny” zone.
The situation “unfairly burdens Harlem families with excessive choice,” Watkins said, adding that the current system is untenable.
“For parents in Harlem, that renders a lot of parents paralyzed, and a lot of them go to the path of least resistance,” she noted.
That oftentimes forces parents to choose “flashier” schools — namely charters with marketing budgets — which can create enrollment challenges, among other issues, at district schools. Other times, DOE schools are on their own to market their schools to bolster enrollment.
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“Everyone loses, and it’s not sustainable for the future of the district,” Watkins said.
Parents and administrators from charter schools as well as DOE schools will be in attendance, including the principal of Harlem Link Charter School, Watkins said.
The summit will include a workshop on parent engagement, a discussion about how to mine education data, and the opportunity to speak with representatives from the Department of Educations enrollment and charter offices, as well as elected officials.
The summit will be held on April 1 at P.S. 242 Young Diplomats Academy, 134 W. 122nd St., from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. It is free for all attendees. Click here to RSVP.
