Between birth and death, the most dramatic transformation of the lifespan is puberty: boys become men, girls become women, students anticipate university education or quitting academia.
Yet, researchers call middle school “the low ebb of education.” Grades fall, students disengage, bullying and indifference become cool. No wonder Chancellor Farina cites middle schools as the most important component of the New York City school system. Furthermore, it isn’t surprising that our community (parents, educators, public officials, and the press) has fought for six years for a new type of middle school at 75 Morton Street. Community Board Two has hundreds of young adolescents but no public middle school.
The fight has been long.
Indeed, Village parents have lobbied for a middle school for 40 years – hoping that the now defunct PS 70 would be placed in the former O’Toole location rather than on West 16th Street and then supporting two small middle schools, one on top of PS 3, one in PS 41. Over the past decade, the current Village baby boom flooded every elementary school classroom with younger children, and no public middle schools remain in Community Board Two.
In 2008, public school parents and Assembly member Glick spotted 75 Morton Street, with 177,000 square feet on 7 floors, owned by the state, underutilized for years. The state offered it for sale. The Department of Education did not bid, no private developer offered enough money.
That set off years of advocacy – huge rallies outside the school, postcards and visits to Albany, push from Assembly member Glick, State Senator Duane, City Council member Quinn, Community Board Chairs Hoylman and Hamilton, disability groups, community leaders, churches, block associations, and thousands of parents. Children grew, leaders changed, Quinn became City Council President, Walcott became Chancellor, and finally a deal was struck – New York City agreed to buy 75 Morton from New York State.
That was March, 2012. However, final closing did not occur until March 2014. In those two years, new champions arose – Hoylman became a State Senator, Johnson became City Council person, De Blasio became Mayor, a new cohort of children crowded elementary schools, parents from six nearby schools formed the 75 Morton Community Alliance and met repeatedly to agree that the school should be one, 600-seat, middle school with a small (about 80 children) separate school for autistic children who needed self-contained classrooms.
Spearheading the fight was a “lean and mean” Community Board Two Task Force – with Shino Tanikawa (Chair of Community Education Council Two), Keen Berger (Democratic District Leader), Heather Campbell (new head of PS 41 political alliance), Jeannine Kiely (parent and member of CB2), and Michael Markowitz (middle school parent and engineer). David Gruber, now chair of Community Board Two, attended every meeting,
Collaboration with the School Construction Authority and the Department of Education led to a grand vision: gut renovation, large windows, outdoor play space, high academic achievement, all students excited by learning. Task Force meetings are always open to the public: people from the press, city and state political leaders, and parent groups often attend. Every group or individual seeks a world-class
middle school, with science, art, and dance rooms, library with wireless connections and clusters of studying students, full gym, full auditorium, and more. Children will develop their bodies as well as their minds, imagination as well as skills. Dramatic groups, the Whitney, the Children’s Museum, Google, will all enrich the students’ learning in our true community school.
Battles have been won – from rejection to promise to closing – but battles still loom. No design is set nor renovation begun, no principal chosen, no students entering – now hoped for 2016. Six years of advocacy have gotten us far: the community will not stop.
Keen Berger is professor at Bronx Community College, Democratic District Leader in the 66th Assembly District, author of best-selling textbooks in developmental psychology, and mother of four graduates of PS 3.
