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Parents urge Council to press DOE on overcrowding as PS 889 faces classes of 33 students
Summary
Parents from PS 889 and other overcrowded schools told the Education Committee that DOE enrollment decisions have forced classrooms above legal class-size limits, eroding enrichment and spurring calls for the Council to tie funding to enrollment accountability.
Parents from overcrowded schools described how Department of Education enrollment decisions have left some buildings physically unable to comply with class-size law, producing classrooms of roughly 33 students and stripping space for enrichment.
Phoebe Assenza, a parent at PS 889 (District 22), told the committee her school’s second graders are on track to be placed in two classes of about 33 students each next year after DOE denied a request to cap intake. ‘‘We need you to press the DOE to align enrollment decisions with class-size law requirements,’’ Assenza said, noting local principals and superintendents had requested relief that was denied.
Roe Ford, also from PS 889, described operational consequences: lunches scheduled early because of building overcrowding, canceled music lessons for lack of space and families leaving the public system because the school could not meet students’ needs. Multiple parents urged the Council to attach clearer enrollment accountability to new funding and to require the DOE to justify decisions that increase in-school density despite space limits.
Witnesses asked the Council to require that DOE enrollment returns be aligned with class-size law implementation plans at the school level and to make funding contingent on demonstrable enrollment management and space planning. The testimony flagged a procedural disconnect between capital plan timelines (new schools slated to open years from now) and near-term overcrowding that affects current cohorts.
The committee did not take immediate action; parents submitted written testimony to document facility-level impacts and pressed for follow-up with DOE enrollment offices and the School Construction Authority.
