Final Upper West Side School Rezoning Meetings Scheduled

UPPER WEST SIDE, NY — The final meetings to discuss a proposed rezoning of Upper West Side elementary schools have been scheduled.

The Department of Education (DOE) has already released three draft rezoning proposals, but will present a final scenario on Wednesday, Oct. 19, according to the Community Education Council 3 (CEC) website. Two additional public hearings will be scheduled for Oct. 29 and Nov. 1, and a final zoning presentation will be given on Nov. 3. The CEC will then vote on the DOE's selected proposal on Nov. 9, according to the posted schedule.

The Department of Education is proposing a rezoning on the Upper West Side to reduce overcrowding and increase diversity in neighborhood schools, said Sarah Turchin, the DOE's director of planning in Manhattan, during a September presentation.

Many neighborhood parents have decried all three plans the DOE has thus fat submitted, stating that the rezoning plan will disrupt communities by sending neighbors to different schools. The most vocal community has been Lincoln Towers, where two of the eight buildings may be rezoned from high-performing P.S 199 to the lower performing P.S. 191.

Regardless of which zoning proposal is eventually chosen, children currently enrolled in neighborhood schools will not be forced to change schools. Those children's siblings will also be grandfathered-in to the area's currently zoned school.

Photo: Patch