Petition to make PS / IS 338 exclusively a middle school

Dear Chancellor Fariña,

Last June, nearly two hundred concerned parents of children at PS 139 and 217 signed a petition asking you to reconsider the plans for PS IS 338, the new school under construction at 510 Coney Island Avenue, and turn it into a middle school.

Since we wrote to you, we have been meeting with parents from other nearby schools at the northern end of District 22  - PS 245, 134, 315, and 152. Today, we are writing you together. All of us share a common goal: A local District 22 middle school option for our children. Without this option, the majority of our children go out of district for middle school, traveling to far-flung schools across the district and borough.  A local option would foster community and parent involvement. Many of us are very involved at the elementary school level - the energy and commitment we bring to our elementary schools is lost at the middle school level, as it is difficult for working parents to get involved with schools that are so far away from our homes and community. 

We feel strongly that our district should have the same kinds of choices and options that are open to children in other districts of the city. And if this new school has only 90 slots available to incoming sixth grade students, as was reported by the District 22 CEC, it will not provide many options for the nearly one thousand students graduating from elementary school each year in our local area.

In short, we hope that the Department of Education will reconsider the new school’s zoning and make it exclusively a middle school. We feel this will be the best way to serve the strong students here in the northern end of District 22.

Sincerely,

Parents of greater Flatbush / Ditmas Park area

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Original petition text is below...

June 20, 2016

Dear Chancellor Fariña,

We are writing to you as a group of concerned parents of students at PS 139 and PS 217 in District 22 in Brooklyn. We recently attended a meeting to discuss the enrollment plan for the new school under construction at 510 Coney Island Avenue, PS/IS 338.

As District 22 parents, we are pleased and happy to say that our children are receiving excellent instruction and enrichment at PS 139 and PS 217. We are proud that are our children are able to attend such wonderful schools, which are headed capably by Mrs. McDonald and Mrs. Conti respectively.

And that is why we were distressed to learn that the new school will be zoned as a PS/IS. We feel strongly that here on the northern end of District 22, there is an urgent need for more strong middle school choices that can serve our kids as well as PS 217 and PS 139 do.

We fear that zoning the new school as a PS/IS will further deplete enrollment at 139 and 217, both of which lost funding at the beginning of the 2015-2016 school year due to unexpected under-enrollment. Our elementary schools serve a population that urgently needs every penny of their funding to help with ESL programs and other programs that serve the entire community, but particularly the immigrant community that is our base.

We also feel strongly that our kids need more choices for middle school in District 22. Parents of fifth graders were crushed at the beginning of this school year to learn that a new and exciting middle school right on the border of our district, MS 839, would be open to District 15 students only. This was a huge disappointment to parents in our neighborhood, who long to be able to apply to such smaller, specialized programs for our kids.

We feel strongly that our district should have the same kinds of choices and options that are open to children in other districts of the city. And if this new school has only 90 slots available to incoming sixth grade students, as was reported in the meeting, it will not provide many options for the approximately 200 students graduating from PS 217 and the 170 kids graduating from PS 139 each year.

In short, we hope that the Department of Education will reconsider the new school’s zoning and make it exclusively a middle school. We feel this will be the best way to serve the strong students here in the northern end of District 22.