Are you concerned about the tragic direction of our elementary schools? 

Do you worry about overcrowding impacting the safety of our schools?  Waitlists putting your child's future in limbo?  Rezoning splitting our community at its seams, across geographic, class-based and ethnic lines? 

A “3-School Split-Sited” System Could Help Relieve All of these Issues in YEAR ONE

But the DOE and CEC are heading towards the same direction they have been for decades, approving a solution which does not fully address any of these issues, simultaneously jeopardizing the community's access to PS199 and continuing PS191 on its dangerously isolated path.

What is the “3-School Split-Sited” system?

• A proposal to split the southern portion of District 3 by grades rather than class, ethnicity or geography
• Students from the entire zone would attend Pre-K/K-2 in one building, 3-5 in another and have access to a dedicated city-wide middle school in a third building
• Would be phased in with an incoming K class and would not impact current students whom would graduate from their current school whether PS199 or PS191
• Has a precedent with a split-site being implemented in PS130 in Brooklyn this year which Councilman Brad Lander referred to as one "successful effort" to implement the recently passed Resolution 453 (aka the "School Diversity Accountability Act")

What is the benefit?

• By spreading demand across multiple facilities, this solution relieves overcrowding in YEAR ONE
• By increasing existing seat utilization at PS191, it resolves waitlists in YEAR ONE
• By maximizing fairness with no “winners and losers”, it avoids rezoning conflicts in YEAR ONE and beyond
• Most importantly, by finally integrating the most segregated public school system in the country (UCLA Civil Rights Project 2014), it takes a small step towards bringing much needed diversity to the New York Public School System

Why now?

• The CEC3, an elected board of community members, must approve a plan to relieve overcrowding at PS199 for the coming 2016 school year
• The “3-School Split-Sited” system is the best alternative to relieve this overcrowding in YEAR ONE
• However, the CEC3 and DOE will not even consider this option without community support 

How can you help?

• Please consider signing our petition and joining your voice with a growing segment of our community which supports real solutions for our childrens' future
• If you want the CEC and DOE to formally consider this proposal, then we need your voice and your support!

THANK YOU! 

Additional detail below related to the importance of this decision and potential implementation options.

New York City has become the most segregated public school system in the country (as confirmed by the UCLA Civil Rights Project last year).  This is undeniably one root cause of Mayor de Blasio’s signature platform issue, the "Tale of Two Cities".

As such, by signing this petition (If you are a resident of NYC, please consider including your address on the petition so it officially "counts" when city officials review it!), you lend your support to a "3 school split-sited" proposal for the PS199, PS191 ("Amsterdam facility") and planned PS342 ("new building") facilities in the Upper West Side, whereby ALL kids from the zone can attend the same upper and lower elementary schools regardless of race, class, or geography. 

This solution would immediately resolve the dual crises of overcrowding and lack of critical mass that currently face PS199 and PS191 and, in the process, lift a decades-long burden of de facto segregation from our community's shoulders.

A Tale of Two Schools:

• PS199, a nationally recognized school with the longest waitlist in New York City, is buckling under the pressure of ever increasing seat demand.  If left to the Department of Education, their primary proposal would be to simply shrink the current PS199 zone by half, pushing hundreds of anxious families to distant alternates or out of the public school system entirely.
• PS191, recently put on the state’s “persistently dangerous list”, is nearly 90% Black and Hispanic and is on the verge of collapse with only approximately twenty five zoned-in students per Kindergarten grade.  If left to the Department of Education, their proposal would be to largely leave PS191 to its own devices, at the mercy of a powerful, systematic inertia which will inhibit any effort to attract the requisite infusion of new students necessary to keep PS191 going.
• While only nine blocks separate these two schools, they are worlds apart with respect to demographic makeup, socioeconomic means and educational needs. 

The DOE has stated that a solution via integration is unachievable and not in step with "reality".

Or is it?

• What if, by splitting our facilities by grades rather than geographies, we could simultaneously relieve the overcrowding at PS199 and take one small but meaningful step towards reversing our current trajectory of segregation? 
• What if, in addition to being the socially just thing to do, integration was in fact the most elegant solution to a complex, multi-variate problem?

  A growing number of parents believe these are both possible and true.

The Department of Education's Unsuccessful Tactics to Date

To date, all conventional Department of Education plans have proven ineffective to resolve either issue. 

• Simply shrinking PS199's zone in 2008 and again in 2010 and summarily failed to permanently address either overcrowding or segregation.  Thus, we find ourselves in another rezoning process in 2015. 
• A second option, referred to as the “Super Zone”, is a step in the right direction but requires that a lottery system be put in place to determine enrollment. A lottery leads to uncertainty surrounding a child's future school and wait-listing for school preference.
• Both of these alternatives would do little to resolve either issue.  That is because both proposals fail to address the underlying perception of “winners and losers”.  They fail to align the incentives of all the various stakeholders. 

A Third Option: The "3 School Split-Sited" Structure  

A proposed third option, a “3 school split-sited” structure which erases school segregation lines altogether in favor of a fully integrated upper elementary, lower elementary and middle schools, is the one we urge Mayor de Blasio to consider.  For example:

- a lower elementary elementary (grades pre-k to 2) at the new building
- an upper elementary (grades 3-5) at the P.S. 199 facility
- a middle school (grades 6-8) at the Amsterdam facility

While we are open to discussing different permutations of a 3 school structure, we are recommending the following implementation steps:

1. Year One - In year one (assuming 2016 but could also be 2017), a zone-wide "Super Class" of approximately 10 K sections would enroll at the Amsterdam facility (currently PS191)
2. Incubation - We believe the lower elementary school could be housed at either the new building or the Amsterdam facility.  If housed in the new building, initial "Super Classes" would be incubated at existing Amsterdam facility until new building opens in 2018
3. Transition Period - Over a 5-6 year transition period, the first "Super Class" and all subsequent "Super Classes" would progress through grade 2 in either the Amsterdam facility or the new building and then "graduate" to upper elementary at PS199 for grades 3-5 starting in year four
4. Middle School - The existing middle school grades 6-8 at PS191 could be either transitioned to the new building once it opens in 2018 or could remain in the Amsterdam facility.  In either case, the newly focused building could receive any necessary upgrades or renovations, once the initial "Super Classes" are transitioned, to make it a truly exceptional and competitive middle school for the neighborhood and the city. 
5. Current Students - All students currently enrolled at PS191 or PS199 would graduate at their current schools, the transition would be for newly enrolled students only
6. PS199/PS191 Student Ratio - Currently, PS191 is an unzoned school with only 67% of current K-5 students actually zoned for PS191 (i.e. ~25-30 zoned-in students per grade in k-5).  Thus, assuming PS191 converts to a zoned school with this proposal and local support increases, only about 25-50 currently zoned PS191 students would be in a 10 K "Super Class" (estimate 200-250 total students per class)
7. Logistics/Drop-Off -  Drop off for families with multiple siblings in different age ranges is an important topic to be discussed.  However, it is also important to consider that we are not without options whether this is staggered start times, increased crossing guard coverage, "chaperoned drop-off services", shuttlebus service between schools or any other solution that we, as a community, could create.  Also, while 199 and Amsterdam facility are nine blocks apart, there are only 4-5 actual crossing intersections down West End Ave.

The benefits of such a plan are clear:

• Maximum Certainty
  - No more waitlists!  No lotteries! 
  - All students currently zoned for PS199 and PS191 would know where they are going to school.
• Resolves Overcrowding... IN YEAR ONE
  - Better utilization of available seats at PS191 adds extra capacity to the entire system to absorb existing PS199 demand. 
  - In YEAR ONE, this proposal could reduce overall strain on PS199's facilities by 5-7 sections or approximately 125-175 students. 
  - Also maximizes flexibility for future variances in class size.
• Increased Equity and Support
  - Eliminates the huge disparity between PS199 and PS191.
  - Segregation is eliminated, you are not "zoned" based on your class, your race or your geography. 
  - Likely increases parental support, city funds (due to increased enrollment) and PTA funds for all three schools.

While perhaps unconventional relative to the Department of Education’s typical tactics, this proposal is far from unprecedented.  In fact, as of the fall of this current school year 2015-2016, District 15 in Brooklyn has implemented a split-sited solution for PS130 and PS437 to address these very same dual issues of overcrowding and diversity. 

The urgency is clear.  Something must be done.  And something can be done. 

The “3 school split-sited” proposal is a rational, just and effective way to create not just one great school but a network of excellent schools in District 3 and perhaps in other districts across all five boroughs.

Mr. Mayor...

We understand the reality that integration cannot be forced.  We understand that you and Chancellor Fariña cannot and should not have to act unilaterally with respect to this extremely sensitive issue. 

This is why we are asking other members of our community that share our vision for school integration to join us and express to you and the Chancellor that you need not shoulder the burden of this decision alone.

I am writing and signing this petition to make my voice heard.  It is my hope that, with the subsequent signatures to follow, our community will also make its collective voice heard.

If we do, we urge you to listen.  We trust you to act.  And we hope, at last, that we can finally take a meaningful and necessary step towards bringing a Tale of Two Schools together as One.

(To read the complete letter addressed to Mayor Bill de Blasio please follow this link.  If you would like to join our discussion please feel free to email us at district3splitsiting@gmail.com)