April 15 Joint Public Hearing: Proposed Grade Reconfiguration of P.S. 676 from an Elementary school a Middle School Beginning in the 2022-2023 School Year and Future Re-Siting
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Thursday, 4/15/21, 6pm. SUPER IMPORTANT DOE public hearing
DOE summary of comments they received before the 4/28/21 PEP (Panel for Educational Policy) hearing and vote on zoom is here. Comments has to be submitted by April 27, 2021, at 6:00 p.m to D15Proposals@schools.nyc.gov.
The 4/15/21 hearing has passed. The recording is here and the passcode is 5N6SLKi@
We found we had to type in the passcode and could cut and paste it.
The official DOE webpage for this “school utilization” process is here. Copying the section for Red Hook from that page (in italics) below:
The Proposed Grade Reconfiguration of P.S. 676 Red Hook Neighborhood School (15K676) from a K-5 to a 6-8 School Beginning in the 2022-2023 School Year and Future Re-siting to Building K680 and Co-location with P.S. KTBD (75KTBD)
Contact: Anne McGroarty, 212-374-0208, D15Proposals@schools.nyc.gov
PortSide statements
PortSide testimony for this hearing - updated, version 2
PortSide Summary of the Situation:
Short version: PS 676 (the old 27) gets phased out as an elementary school, a new middle school with a maritime theme will built on the north edge of Coffey Park (kittycorner from Visitation Church). It will include a District 75 school (school for students with special needs). Summit Academy Charter School will remain in the building at 27 Huntington Street, and plans need to be developed for how to use the rest of the space in the building which could be used by PS 15, a new high school, and/or other ideas.
Longer version is all of the following below: Starting September 2022, the DOE will “reconfigure” PS 676 (the old 27) as an elementary school by shrinking it year by year while creating a new middle school. PS 676 will be relocated in a new school building, to be named K680, to be built at 21-31 Delevan Street, on the north edge of Coffey Park. The scheduled opening of the new school building is September 2025.
Maritime partners for the new middle school
During discussions of a maritime middle school a few years ago, the NY Harbor High School on Governors Island was very involved; they are no longer involved.
PortSide NewYork is an award-winning, maritime nonprofit, and our work includes creating innovative maritime educational programs (we call them WaterStories). We look forward to having a major role in shaping the curriculum of this new maritime middle school. We have had a big impact so far. It was our programming with PS 676 that inspired the DOE to suggest to PS 676 that they become a maritime elementary school. For more about our programs with 676 see this blogpost. More about PortSide’s education programs with other schools and age ranges on our webpage EDUCATION & YOUTH. PortSide has created deep virtual educational resources that support our school programs such as our virtual museum Red Hook WaterStories which turns all of Red Hook into a living museum and our African American Maritime Heritage resource page. Some photos of PortSide education programs with Red Hook schools below. We do programs on and off our historic ship MARY A. WHALEN (so sometimes we go on other ships as well as work ashore.) Some sample photos below with students from Red Hook schools.
How phasing out of PS 676 will work
The way the reconfiguring of PS 676 will work is that existing 676 students will advance to a higher grade normally, but when the 1st grade class graduates in 2023, there will be no new 1st grade class admitted the following year, and then the next year there will be no 2nd grade, so the school shrinks as the students advance.
In September of 2022, PS 676, would add a 6th grade and ends pre-K and kindergarten. The next year 1st grade will be dropped and a 7th grade added. This will continue each year:
• September 2023 = Grades 2 to 7
• September 2024 = Grades 3 to 8
If all goes according to the plan the school would move to the new building in September 2025
• September 2025 = Grades 4 to 8
• September 2026 = Grades 5 to 8
• September 2027 = Grades 6 to 8
The building will also house a school for children with special needs (known as a District 75 school).
According to the plan, students who fail to graduate from a grade being discontinued will be relocated to another school.
Current PS 676 students will be able to progress into the middle school instead of going through the middle school admissions process. If this proposal is approved, District 15 students will be able to enroll in middle school at P.S. 676 beginning in the 2022-2023 school year through the middle school admissions process using an open admissions method.
Use of the school building at 27 Huntington Street
Summit Academy Charter School would remain in its current building (where it is now in the old PS 27 building at 27 Huntington Street ). As to what happens to the rest of the space in that building, the EIS statement says on page 3:
“If this proposal is approved, in advance of a re-siting of PS 676 to K680, the NYCDOE will build upon the existing collaboration with CEC 15, the PAR team, and the Red Hook schools and community to develop a plan for the use of available space at K027. In the context of discussions related to this potential proposal, the NYCDOE has already been in conversation with key stakeholders to begin developing a vision for the potential space at K027, which has surfaced several ideas, such as a new district high school, early childhood programming, and/or additional space for the remaining elementary school in Red Hook, P.S. 15 Patrick F. Daly, should there be a capacity need. The NYCDOE is committed to reserving space made available by this proposal in the K027 building for a district use that is responsive to the needs of District 15 and the Red Hook community, specifically.”
The power of maritime education (WaterStories) the PortSide way
CORRECTION: Our first testimony had incorrect info in a paragraph calling for more advance notice of this hearing, omitting that CEC15 had sent a 3/19/21 email about this hearing. We deleted the incorrect info in our testimony, and revised our paragraph about the need for better outreach, which we still recommend.