Middle school likely to move into PS 145

Empty classrooms at PS 145 on 105th Street and Amsterdam will soon be full of middle school students from a school on the Upper West Side.

PS 145, also known as the Bloomingdale School, had been slated to share school space with the first Upper West Side chapter of a charter school, but after strong objections from charter school-wary parents this fall the Department of Education decided to send the charter school elsewhere.

But according to an internal DOE document leaked by the New York Times on Jan. 13 detailing plans for closing and moving several New York City public schools, the DOE plans to move West Prep–currently located at 77th Street and Columbus Avenue–into PS 145, an elementary school with many vacancies.

DOE spokesman Jason Zarin-Rosenfeld emphasized that the leaked document is a draft, and the move into Bloomingdale has not been finalized. However, he added that moving West Prep Academy to PS 145 made sense in light of public comments made during protests against Upper West Success, the proposed charter school.

“We heard that the school community felt that it made more sense to use the building for an existing school, not a new school,” Zarin-Rosenfeld said.

Tina Crockett, head of the Parents’ Association for PS 145, said parents are taking the news in stride.

“We at first were not as excited about it because we wanted to grow our own 6th, 7th, 8th grade,” she said, noting that the elementary school would not be able to expand if West Prep, a middle school, moved in. “So first parents were not happy about it, we had public hearings.”

But ultimately, she said the state’s board of trustees decided it was unlikely that PS 145–which is at 59 percent capacity according to DOE statistics–would be able to enroll 200 students to fill available seats. Crockett said the school is preparing for the move, which may come as soon as this fall.

“We were told that 2011—September—that is when it will be official,” she said.

PS 145’s principal Ivelisse Alvarez said despite concerns she hopes the move will work for everyone.

“As with any change, there has to be a lot of conversation between two communities in order to understand and come together. Either way, and despite my heart, I have to make things successful for both schools,” she said.

Crockett said sharing space with West Prep didn’t seem as bad as doing so with a school from the Success Charter Network, which currently operates five charter schools in Harlem. Educators and parents have accused the charter schools network of pushing public school children out of classrooms.

“There’s better synergy,” said Mark Diller, chair of Community Board 7’s Youth, Education, and Libraries committee, comparing PS 145’s relationship with West Prep to its relationship with Upper West Success.

Crockett said PS 145 shares similar goals with West Prep, whereas Upper West Success–a proposed elementary school–would have competed with PS 145’s goal of increasing its kindergarten and first grade enrollment.

However Crockett said parents are concerned that PS 145 might lose out on part of an $11 million grant for district 3 schools on the Upper West Side to promote racial diversity.

“They’re bringing more minorities to a school with minorities so we’re not getting the other ethnicities,” she said. West Prep and Bloomingdale both have predominately black and Hispanic students.
Bloomingdale parent Veronica Ranquel said parents are also concerned about how West Prep’s middle schoolers will interact with the younger children at PS 145.

“The possibility of West Prep is a problem because we don’t want other people and other students here in the school,” she said. “I have another daughter who attended a school when she was younger with older students, and there was a problem with the gangs and more people.”

Security Guard Dee Medford said that based on prior experience, the age gap may be problematic.

“It was a threat to the community because they made younger kids cross the street alone because they were intimidated by the older kids and their groups,” Medford said of middle school students where she used to work.

“Anything is possible,” she added. “I’m not saying these kids are bad kids.”

Crockett said there are other difficulties, including dealing with facilities like bathrooms designed for smaller children. A bigger issue, she said, is space. Fitting both schools’ administrative departments and Parents’ Associations will be a tight squeeze.

Alvarez said she remains concerned with how the school will manage to share space with West Prep.

“They [the DOE] are saying we have room here for 200 or 300 more students but that’s not possible, I don’t see it happening,” she said.
She added that logistics remain uncertain.

“We don’t know how the transition is going to go, how anything is going to work,” she said. “I don’t know how they’re going to do this.”

news@columbiaspectator.com