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September 13, 2021 Schools

Today was the first day of school for NYC public schools, and it was great to see some action at PS 234 and PS 150 this morning. (Thanks to H. for swinging by PS 89 for me on her way uptown.)

PS 150 has a new principal — more on Nico Victorino, seen below in the classic principal pose already, later this week — and PS 234 has what I have to think is one of its lowest enrollments in recent memory. When I checked the DOE site last year at this time, enrollment was 469, down from 638. This year it is 416. Folks tell me that this year’s fifth grade has 53 kids across three classes. See the chart below.

  • PS 89 was at 339 last fall, down from 456; this year it is at 320.
  • Spruce Street was at 499 last fall, down from 560; this year it is at 467.
  • Peck Slip was at 426 last fall, down from 468; this year it is at 352.
  • PS 276 was at 794 from 849 (keep in mind they are K-8); this year they are 733.
  • PS 150 was at 189 in 2019 and has 145 students now, which makes it down by 23 percent.

 
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4 Comments

  1. McDreamy
    September 16, 2021 • 7:10 am

    Enrollment is down because 1. People moved away and 2. The doe can’t get it tighter so people opted for private school which has their sh8t together.

    Reply
    • MissingTribeca
      September 16, 2021 • 7:49 am

      Fifth grade being down makes sense. The debacle of how they’re treating middle and high school placements has plenty of us worried. It’s less a reflection of downtown schools than it is a failure to trust the DOE. Or maybe we do trust that they’re not interested in supporting D2 kids being able to stay close to home in high quality schools as they grow up.

      It’s sad and frustrating.

      Reply
  2. R.
    September 16, 2021 • 8:27 am

    Also only high earners can afford Tribeca, many have the option for private schools anyway.

    Reply
  3. public school supporter
    October 4, 2021 • 12:24 pm

    Not surprised the enrollment numbers are down. We always supported public schools and never thought we would send our children to a private school, but we heard from our friends whose children didn’t get into their top choices and some who didn’t get into ANY of their choices. Some families moved out of NYC, but we jumped to a private school. Financially this was NOT an easy decision to make for our family!

    Instead of doing the hard work to increase the number of great schools in NYC, DOE is just opening the doors to already-great schools to more children to fight for the limited number of seats. It feels like instead baking more bread to feed the hungry children, DOE is baking the same amount and throwing the limited number of loafs and all kids into a deep pit for our children to fight it out.

    Reply

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