School's Out in Williamsburg
Williamsburg and Greenpoint may be filling up with affluent families lured by the recent condo boom, but the well-heeled new residents are hardly beating a path to local schools. According to an article in this week’s Crain’s (sub. req’d), enrollment is plummeting in the neighborhoods’ public schools–it’s down 12 percent in elementary schools over the…
Williamsburg and Greenpoint may be filling up with affluent families lured by the recent condo boom, but the well-heeled new residents are hardly beating a path to local schools. According to an article in this week’s Crain’s (sub. req’d), enrollment is plummeting in the neighborhoods’ public schools–it’s down 12 percent in elementary schools over the past two years, with middle schools operating at 56 percent capacity, on average. The classrooms are emptying as older residents priced out of the neighborhoods are forced to leave and newer residents put off by what they consider to be conservative education practices decide to send their kids to schools farther afield. The trend is exposing chinks in the armor of the Bloomberg administration’s rezoning of northern Brooklyn, which was supposed to create a community where rich and poor (and their offspring) rubbed shoulders. On top of that, it could spell trouble ahead for developers who are marketing Williamsburg and Greenpoint buildings to young professionals with families. And developers are keenly aware of the areas’ lack of pull on the education front. “We have thought about it,” said Ron Moelis, a principal with L&M Equities, which is developing Schaefer Landing. “I don’t have an answer for you. There’s talk of a charter school, a new magnet school or maybe even a new private school. It would be great if that occurs.”
Photo by specmotors.
The comment about Park Slope’s high school, above, apparently refers to John Jay High School, which has been phased out by the DOE. It was indeed avoided by the vast majority of local parents, for the simple reason that other high schools (Stuy, Bronx Science, Tech, Midwood, Murrow, etc.) were far better. High school kids are more mobile and will go to where the quality is. John Jay’s failure was more a reflection on the old Board of Education than on Park Slope. That said, John Jay was a lot better than the worst high schools in Brooklyn (remember Thomas Jefferson HS?), which is why some kids came from far and wide to attend John Jay.
I read the whole article. Although I don’t see what it has to do with the topic, it is a great article. I like the part about the chores. Now I don’t feel like such a bad mom when I make my 5 year old feed our pets every night or yell at her if she pulls their tails.
I don’t see what your implication is. Can you be more direct and say what this has to do with the topic?
Regarding cheating to get your child in a school outside your district read this article I stumbled across when doing some research.
http://www.phillymag.com/articles/bad_parents/page1
To quote from it:
“No less important, though, is that a generation of kids who’ve been overindulged, overprotected and generally over-parented seems to be overwhelmingly underprepared to live in the real world. “They’ve been exposed to so much more, and on one level, they’re so much more sophisticated than we were,†says Janet Walkow, a business consultant in Wayne and the mother of three college-age girls. “But they’re less sophisticated when it comes to street smarts. They’re not as mature.â€
Not that you can tell them. A study released earlier this year found that the current generation of college students is the most narcissistic ever. In the study, psychologists asked students to respond to statements like, “If I ruled the world, it would be a better place,†“I think I am a special person†and “I can live my life any way I want to.†Two-thirds of the kids showed elevated levels of Ânarcissism — 30 percent more than when the study was first done in 1982.
How did this happen? How is it that a group of moms and dads who love their kids so much, and who were so intent on being great at raising them, has turned out to be, arguably, the worst parents ever? The short answer might be expressed like this: We’ve been too uptight about things — achievement, success, appearances — we should have been relaxed about, and too relaxed about things — values, integrity — that we should have been more uptight about.”
The School District 14 (Williamsburg, Greenpoint, Bushwick) CEC meeting this Thursday should feature a 1-hour session with Martine Guerrier, “the City’s first ever Chief Family Engagement Officer.”
This session should offer an opportunity to air some issues to a parent advocate whose responsibility includes many of the points raised on this thread; relationship between parents and school administration, evaluation of schools by parents and how those evaluations are factored into the school’s “report card,” How schools adapt to a new student body, etc.
DoE likely has a different description, but as I understand it, the CEC is a parent-and-stakeholder advisory board with certain review responsibilities over DoE policy and practices in the District. It was mandated by the State as part of the transfer of control away from Community School Boards and to the Mayor’s Office. It is a problematic entity which can be discussed in its own thread.
Please support the District 14 CEC. The members of the Council are not in control of any decisions and are grappling with their role without adequate training or guidelines. There is no incentive for the DoE to better empower the CECs, so they are left over-burdened, under-supported and confused. There is potential for good to happen through our CEC, but it needs the support of all who have a stake in this issue.
COMMUNITY EDUCATION COUNCIL FOR DISTRICT 14
Time: 7: 00 pm
Thursday October 18, 2007
215 Heyward Street Auditorium
For more information, please call CEC14 office @ (718) 302-7624 or
E-mail us at cec14@schools.nyc.gov
Anyone wishing to speak during the Open Discussion period must sign the Speakers’ Sheet, prior to the start of the meeting. You will be allowed up 3 minutes
Community Education Council District 14 –
215 Heyward Street (Room 233 B)
Brooklyn, New York 11206
718.302.7624 Office
718.302.7606 Fax
CEC14@schools.nyc.gov
True that. All the schools are pretty good at the Pre K level. They tend to get progressively worse as the grades go up.
PS 17 may be underenrolled but the last time I checked they only had one fifth grade with something like 38 students in the one class. How could any child thrive in that environment?
Parents with young children tend to only look at Pre-K and K– (and check test scores)they need to look at all the grades when they check out schools.
I was born and raised here in Williamsburg/Greenpoint. I attended school at St. Anthonys and then I went to a private school in Manhattan. Now as an adult looking back, I am so glad I did this. I had the best of both worlds. Not only did I have my neighborhood friends but I had friends all over the city. Now I am grown up. I moved away for many years and am now back to raise my child in the same neighborhood I grew up in. We tried the local school for a year but ended up sending her to school in Manhattan. So here I am, one of the “locals” who is rejecting district 14 for Manhattan.
The principal at 84 was the ap at 132/577 she is a wonderful educator/administrator/person and above all has a genuine care for the children in her school. she went into that school when there was already a problem from the previous administration. she deserves time to straighten out the problems of the past and she will turn around that school