Pupils packed in, but plenty of room in HS

Many of the elementary and middle schools in the Riverdale/Kingsbridge area were overcrowded last year while the majority of the high schools had plenty of room, according to data released by the Department of Education earlier this month.
The DOE’s annual Blue Book tracks whether schools are over- or underutilized using a formula that takes enrollment and building capacity into account.

The most recent data are based on information obtained in October 2010. It reveals that while some elementary and middle schools, including PS 207 and the Multiple Intelligence School, PS/MS 37, were running just below capacity last year, many were overcrowded, including the Bronx New School, PS 51; the Robert J. Christen School, PS 81; AmPark Neighborhood School, PS 344; and the New School for Leadership and the Arts, MS 244. 

PS 51 Parent Teacher Association President Donele Harrison said last year the school became overcrowded when it received 15 to 20 extra students, forcing teachers to shift and share spaces. 

PS 51 was relocated this year after the DOE found that its old building contained a toxic chemical and now the school could use about 30 extra students, according to Ms. Harrison.

“The majority of our kids came from our area so we had a lot of kids that didn’t move with us … kids that were used to walking to school,” Ms. Harrison said of the new space, located more than two miles away from PS 51’s old building on Jerome Avenue.

Unlike elementary and middle schools, many high schools were reportedly underutilized last year, including Bronx Theatre High School, the Marble Hill High School for International Studies, the Bronx School of Law and Finance, the Bronx Engineering and Technology Academy, the David A. Stein Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy, MS/HS 141 and John F. Kennedy High School.

The Bronx High School of Science, DeWitt Clinton High School and the High School of American Studies at Lehman College were the overcrowded exceptions. Last year, Clinton ran at 128 percent, American Studies at 108 percent and Bronx Science at 132 percent.

However, some education observers, including Leonie Haimson, executive director of the non-profit Class Size Matters and City Comptroller John Liu, contend that the Blue Book is based on inaccurate calculations and faulty methods.

Ms. Haimson said annexes or trailers built near schools that need extra space are calculated separately from the main buildings even though the annex wouldn’t be there in the first place in the school had enough room.  

For example, PS 24 is said to be running at 95 percent capacity. However, some students at the school were forced to move into an annex across the street in 2009 to relieve overcrowding.

“If you want to get rid of trailers … you have to assign those students to the building in order to see how overcrowded the building really is,” Ms. Haimson said, adding, “They assume that the trailers have their own permanent separate capacities.”
In September, Mr. Liu audited the Blue Book and found that some data are inaccurate because they are based on incorrect building capacities misreported by principals who provide the numbers.