City Proposes Closing Upper West Side Middle School

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — The City Department of Education has proposed closing an Upper West Side middle school as soon as next school year.

Sixth and seventh graders at P.S. 165 could be forced to transfer schools if the DOE's plan is approved by the city Panel for Educational Policy in January, according to the Community Education Council for District 3. The DOE has proposed getting rid of the middle school grades of P.S. 165 due to under enrollment and to create more space for another middle school that shares the building. P.S. 165 school would continue on as an elementary school and current elementary school students would not be affected by the plan.

P.S. 165 currently enrolls 33 sixth graders and 47 seventh graders. Should the DOE's plan pass, those students will have the opportunity to enroll in any higher-performing middle school in District 3, according to the Community Education Council. Current eighth graders at the school will graduate at the end of the year.

"I want to assure you that the District and [Family Welcome Center] staff will work directly with students and families in reviewing school options in order to ensure students choose the school that best meets their needs to continue their education for the 2018-2019 school year," District 3 superintendent Ilene Altschul wrote in a letter to P.S. 165 families.

The space vacated by P.S. 165 will be taken over by Mott Hall 2, a middle school that currently shares a building with P.S. 165, according to the Community Education Council. The school could eventually grow by up to two sections and use the space for classrooms or administrative space.

The Community Education Council for District 3 will meet on Dec. 13 for its monthly calendar meeting. The meeting will be held at P.S. 241 on West 113th Street between Frederick Douglas Boulevard and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard.

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