Monday, February 7, 2011

P.S. 8 Annex Going Up Fast; Now Parents Want a Middle School

 The new P.S. 8 Annex, seen above jutting out from the original school building, blends right in on Poplar Street in Brooklyn Heights. It looks like it may even be completed in time for kids to move in next September.

Now on to the next problem: According to the Brooklyn Eagle, parents at P.S. 8 are desperate for a middle school and recently passed a resolution calling for their school’s expansion to the eighth grade.They're actively looking for a new school building within walking distance of the elementary school.

Many P.S. 8 children have gone on to a Fort Greene middle school, the Urban Assembly School of Arts & Letters, after P.S. 8, but that school will be cutting its enrollment in half soon.

In 2007, Councilman David Yassky pushed to build the P.S. 8 annex large enough to house a middle school at the same site. According to the Brooklyn Eagle:

"Since DOE already committed to build an annex at the site, 'Why not try to build P.S. 8 as big as you can?' said Jake Maguire, spokesperson for Yassky. 

"But School Construction Authority President Sharon Greenberger, at a July press conference revealing plans for the new annex, announced the city’s support for a middle school at Dock Street in DUMBO instead." 

Well that certainly showed foresight! Two Trees has not even filed permit applications for the Dock Street project yet, according to the Eagle. And as middle schools go, the one planned for Dock Street is small (300 seats). P.S. 8 serves 554 kids now and that number may increase when the annex is completed.

When the proposed Dock Street middle school is eventually built, it would be open to students from the entire district, not just the neighborhoods zoned for P.S. 8 which include Brooklyn Heights, DUMBO, Vinegar Hill, the Navy Yard Area and part of Downtown.

Photo by MK Metz


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