Parents ‘in a pickle’ over PS 24 students at neighboring high school

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The principal and parents at the David A. Stein Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy (M.S./H.S. 141, RKA) are voicing skepticism over a proposal to house two classrooms of elementary school students at the school starting next fall.

They voiced their concerns at a Monday Parents’ Association (PA) meeting, prompted by a crisis over space at the nearby Spuyten Duyvil School (P.S. 24). Since the Department of Education (DOE) failed to renew a lease for an off-site annex for P.S. 24’s fifth graders, the elementary school has scrambled to figure out where to house excess students next fall. Last month, P.S. 24’s Parents’ Association asked the DOE to accommodate fifth graders inside three new classrooms within P.S. 24, located at 660 W. 236th St. — and in two classrooms at RKA, at 660 W. 237th St.

“If it comes that that’s what happens and they tell us that they need that space, of course we’re going to make it work,” RKA’s principal Lori O’Mara said of the proposal to house P.S. 24 students inside her building. “And our folks next door at 24, they’re our families, too… so I really hope this doesn’t turn into a 141 versus 24 situation, but we are in a pickle. We are in a pickle.”

She explained that the DOE classifies RKA as being at 98 percent capacity this year. But Ms. O’Mara said 140 seniors are graduating and 300 sixth-graders are expected in the fall, putting the school well over capacity for the 2016-17 year.

Ms. O’Mara also noted that the classrooms P.S. 24 is eyeing are not in fact empty. They are currently in use six out of eight periods every day, with at least 30 students in each room.

“You all have been here in the day, you know it’s busy,” she told the parents. “You know that one thing we try and do is have teachers each in their own classroom so they are not floating around meeting students in different classrooms throughout the day. I believe that it is the best academic practice that we can set up.”

When teachers do not have their own classrooms, Ms. O’Mara said, they can’t help students during their lunch period, and they can’t build a sense of community in their room.

“As parents, if we think this is a bad idea, what can we do?” one attendee asked.

PS 24, RKA, Riverdale/Kingsbridge Academy, Lori O'Mara, Amy Carr, Bob Heisler, Department of Education, PS 24 annex, Isabel Angell
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