By Gus Saltonstall
The New York City Department of Education has withdrawn multiple controversial proposals to close or relocate three schools on the Upper West Side for the start of the next school year, a spokesperson from the DOE confirmed to West Side Rag on Monday morning, The change was first reported by Chalkbeat.
Those proposals included the closure of the P.S. 191 Riverside School for Makers and Artists at 300 West 61st Street; the relocation of the Center School, from its building at 100 West 84th Street to the P.S. 191 building; and the truncation of the Manhattan School for Children middle school at 154 West 93rd Street.
All three of these proposals were slated to be voted on by the Panel of Education Policy (PEP) on Wednesday, a vote that will no longer take place.
“These proposals were always ambitious,” New York City Schools Chancellor Kamar Samuels told Chalkbeat. “I think when you have transition and you’re hearing simultaneously that families want more time, I want to be a chancellor who listens and engages and understands the complexity of all of the issues.”
The withdrawal of the proposals makes it close to a certainty that any changes to the three Upper West Side schools won’t take place next school year, but it is unclear whether the DOE will look to move forward with some versions of these proposals in the coming years.
Even if the DOE had not withdrawn the proposals, it is unclear if the changes would have been approved. Multiple PEP members had voiced concerns to West Side Rag about the Upper West Side school proposals, including at least one member who said that he would vote against the changes.
Samuels told Chalkbeat that the possibility that PEP could reject the proposals was not a factor in the decision to withdraw them. However, the education publication wrote, “But losing a high-profile vote could have complicated [Mayor] Mamdani’s campaign pledge to run the school system in a more democratic fashion.”
The DOE’s decision to withdraw the three remaining Upper West Side school proposals also comes around two months after it pulled the proposal to close the Community Action School middle school, also at 154 West 93rd Street, following “abhorrent remarks” made by a neighborhood parent as a child was speaking during a meeting.
Upper West Side City Councilmember Gale Brewer, who was slated to host a press conference on Monday morning calling to relocate the Center School to a building on West 85th Street (rather than to the West 61st Street address), released a statement following the DOE decision. Brewer said that the Center School still needs to focus on finding a new home, given the space concerns it has within the 100 West 84th Street building it shares with P.S. 9.
“Center School must find a new home,” Brewer wrote in a statement shared with West Side Rag. “As we know, the Center School community does not feel that the PS 191 building, a school that I was able to ‘build’ as part of the Riverside Center ULURP on West 61 Street, is in a place where they want to be for their educational model. Any future site for Center School will be discussed as part of the ongoing planning process.”
Read More:
- UWS Middle School with Focus on Students With Disabilities Fights Against Its Possible Eradication
- Member of Panel That Will Decide Fate of Three UWS Schools: ‘It Clearly Wasn’t Enough Time’
- City Halts Plan to Close Upper West Side Middle School: ‘Our Focus Must be on Healing’
- Racist Remarks Shock Participants at UWS Schools Meeting: ‘We Take These Matters Very Seriously’
- UWS Middle School Fights Against its Possible Elimination: ‘We Are Not Just Going to Roll Over’
- UWS Middle School Meets With DOE Reps to Discuss Possible Move: ‘We Want to be Heard’
- An UWS Middle School is Pushing Back Against Possible Relocation: ‘This School is Our Home
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This was a wise decision. Making changes like this at such a late date was a horrible idea. It was very unfair to those who had already made decisions and would have no way to change.
That being said, I completely agree with Ms. Brewer – some change is likely necessary. Rather than going into hibernation, immediate action should begin on resolving the situation in a more thoughtful way that looks at things from a big picture perspective. Hopefully a decision can be made by the fall so that plans for Fall 2027 can be made with sufficient notice. And hopefully we can work together on this rather than treating each other like enemies.
As I have suggested before, I think the obvious solution if the numbers work is moving Anderson elsewhere in the city rather than letting it have prime UWS real estate. It is a citywide school – people will travel to go there. It should not be a sacred cow. From what I understand, if they have to move, Center School parents would be happy to move to the Anderson space as it is nearby and has an adequate auditorium, which is critical to their curriculum. This seems like a win-win.
Thank you Leon. I am hopeful today that families across the district can advocate for the DOE to approach this with a coherent, full district plan. As has been said before, it’s known that there are other schools in the district that will need some change or another to meet the class size law. Given that many changes will be needed, it makes sense and builds trust in the public schools for there to be a plan that families can rely on when choosing schools, rather than piecemeal decisions that leave families wondering which school is next, and leads some families who can to opt out entirely.