Change of Zone Lines Marks a New Era for Two Brooklyn Schools

Nearly four months after the city held its first contentious town hall meetings on the issue, a plan to redraw the school zones for P.S. 8 Robert Fulton in Brooklyn Heights and P.S. 307 Daniel Hale Williams in Vinegar Hill won approval Tuesday night by a council made up of nine parent leaders in School District 13. 

The plan shifts families living in Dumbo, Vinegar Hill and three buildings of Farragut Houses from the zone for P.S. 8, which enrolls mostly white and well-off students, to P.S. 307, a school that enrolls mostly low-income students of color. Until now, the zone for P.S. 307 has only included a portion of Farragut Houses, the public housing apartments across the street.

The change takes effect in September and applies to the current kindergarten application process, which runs until Jan. 15. The proposal does not affect current students at the schools. Younger siblings of those existing students will also retain priority in admission.   

The rezoning plan drew opposition from both sides. Families living in Dumbo and Vinegar Hill who thought they were bound for P.S. 8 spoke out against the change, questioning P.S. 307's low test scores and chronic absenteeism. Meanwhile, families with ties to P.S. 307 and Farragut Houses expressed concern that low-income students of color would eventually be pushed out of a school that they viewed as high-quality, with ample enrichment programs and an academic focus on STEM. 

"When rich people come in, they have the money to force people to do what they want," said Dolores Cheatom, who has a toddler and lives in Farragut Houses.

Cheatom spoke against the rezoning ahead of the vote at Tuesday's meeting. She and others expressed a feeling that the rezoning, and other changes being made in a gentrifying neighborhood, were for the benefit of newcomers rather than the Farragut community, the longtime residents of the neighborhood. They said that a rezoning could ultimately segregate P.S. 307 in the other direction: they feared the school would go from enrolling mostly black and Latino students to mostly white, middle class students -- mirroring P.S. 8's history. 

Families living in Dumbo and Vinegar Hill urged a "no" vote as well. Doreen Gallo, who leads the Dumbo Neighborhood Alliance, read a prepared statement on behalf of families in both neighborhoods, asking for the rezoning to take effect in Sept. 2017 instead of next fall. 

"Such a delay will allow the time needed for these diverse communities to better build unity and support for a rezoning effort," she said.

Despite the last-minute pleas to reject or postpone the proposal, the rezoning passed in a 6-3 vote, and members of the Community Education Council each spoke passionately about their views of the plan.

"We have to approach the elephant in the room," said Vascilla Caldeira, who voted in favor of the proposal. "Everybody says 'oh, it's not about segregation.' It is. Segregation of race, segregation of class, segregation of learning."

Building a high-quality school, she said, required parents rolling up their sleeves and getting involved. 

Council members said the next step of properly implementing the proposal was the real work at hand, and Department of Education officials said as much.

“While this is a momentous step, the work is far from over," said Devora Kaye, a department spokeswoman, in a statement. "We’ll continue to work closely with all partners to implement this plan and provide support during the transition.”

The Department of Education pledged to create an implementation task force, which would include parents from both schools.

Throughout the meeting, the principal of P.S. 8, Seth Phillips, and the principal of P.S. 307, Stephanie Carroll, sat side-by-side. Afterward, they smiled broadly.

"We're just going to do what we were going to do anyway, which was work together," said Phillips.

Of the rezoning, Carroll added, "I think it was the right thing to do."