Research before decisions

In the Oct. 13 editorial “Let’s talk about schools,” The Press proposed an exchange of opinions in the community about the troubled Spuyten Duyvil School (P.S. 24) through an online survey. The number of responses we received – 188 during the week the survey was running – along with scores of thoughtful, impassioned comments, highlights the importance of the issue for the neighborhood. We would like to thank our readers and our community for your detailed and thoughtful responses. 

For an analysis of survey results, see the article “Readers weigh in on school dispute” on page A1. For more details, see additional charts and read comments by survey respondents. 

Among the ideas respondents advanced on resolving the school’s overcrowding, one proposal emerged as a widely shared view: Build more schools. Although the survey makes no claim to statistical validity, the call for more school space seemed popular among respondents in the poll. 

But before any decisions on construction or leasing can be made, education authorities need to do a study. The questions to answer include: How many elementary-school age children are there in the P.S. 24 school zone? How many of these children’s families would like them to attend a public school, if a good one with plenty of space was available – as opposed, for instance, to enrolling children in a parochial school? 

Simply building more space is not going to solve the problem at a time when critics claim that overcrowding is due to too many out-of-zone students attending P.S. 24. Education authorities need to find out precise answers and exact figures. 

Critics, such as Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, argue that the surge in enrollment at P.S. 24 does not reflect a much more modest growth in Riverdale’s population. Advocates of increased enrollment counter that Riverdale’s population of young children has seen much greater increases than population in general. 

Riverdale has certainly seen new construction and new apartment buildings lately. Population density seems higher than a decade or two ago, and many newcomers to Riverdale are likely to be young families with children. It is possible and even likely that the number of elementary-school age children in Riverdale has been growing at a greater pace than the area’s population as a whole. 

But until studies are done and figures are known, all those hypotheses remain just guesses – educated guesses at best and groundless speculation at worst. 

Decisions, especially important ones that affect children, must be based on knowledge, not on speculation. 

A study that would find out how many young children Riverdale has is long overdue.