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.
Speaking of ironic, does anyone else not find it interesting that judging from this thread, the new motto of Williamsburg should be…
“BEST SCHOOLS IN THE CITY”
Hey…give it to them. You heard it here folks.
Park Slope is getting hipper every day.
Yes me too, 7:51, that and it’s butt mugly.
sounds like the couples with kids in williamsburg are very similar to the entitled-skinny- jeans-wearing-20-somethings that made the neighborhood cool enough for you all to decide to raise your children there in the first place.
how ironic. i smell a movie.
new york gives us all so much every day. i’m so curious to know how many of us give back even 1% as much as it’s given to us.
Williamsburg is great. One of the greatest things about it is that its a stones throw to Manhattan. Thats what brought me here in the first place over 20 years ago. A quick ride over the Williamsburg bridge or 1 stop on the L train and you have access to some of the best schools in the city. When its that easy, why settle for less?
i love williamsburg. if you don’t like it, maybe you never lived here or it’s not for you. this is my 4th brooklyn hood (cobble hill, prospect hts and the slope before).
i am willing to help the schools when my kid gets older. think that whatever did happen at 84 should be spelled out altho we are not zoned for it anyway. we are zoned for 17. i am not a snob, but if i try 17, and it doesn’t work out for my kid, then i do agree with other posters that i probably will do whatever is best for her.
this is a changing neighborhood, and with people like myself spending over a million to move here, it will not be what it was. this is new york city. neighborhoods change.
reading this thread makes me realize why i dislike williamsburg so much.
“The local public schools here don’t serve my kids, it doesn’t make sense for me to serve them. Its not like I haven’t given them a chance.”
Back that up. What haven’t they done? Aside from the locals not liking you (if it was you) I’m not really getting a sense of what the issue is.
I would rather spend my time helping out at the public school my children attend. Unfortunately that school is not in this neighborhood. The local public schools here don’t serve my kids, it doesn’t make sense for me to serve them. Its not like I haven’t given them a chance. I don’t believe people are “turnig their backs in sneering derision”. (that is a rather attention grabbing dramatic statement) Remember ps 84? I guess when I become rich, get an inheritance from relatives (that won’t happen) I will donate money and time to schools that my kids don’t attend. That might help me deal with my shame regarding my middle class privledges.
Can even one parent who pulled their kids out of Williamsburg schools provide a specific example? Vague claims of “likemindedness” just make me think you’re all a bunch of horrible snobs. Which I admit, having met many of you, I suspected anyways.