This week, Downtown Brooklyn's Education Council voted in favor of a school rezoning proposal that sends Dumbo and Vinegar Hill students—currently attending the predominantly white and overcrowded PS 8—to PS 307, a school under capacity and predominately serving African-American students living in the Farragut Houses (above). The overcrowding situation is partly due to Downtown Brooklyn's robust real estate development.
According to Gothamist, Black and Hispanic students represent 34% of PS 8's student body, while PS 307 is 95% minority. Under the proposed rezoning, these percentages are expected to shift to 25% to 35% and 55% to 65%, respectively.
However, parents on both sides have been fighting the deal; PS 8 has stronger state test scores, and the rezoning means only Brooklyn Heights students will have access to the school, while PS 307 parents are concerned about gentrification, fearing "the plan will fall short of preserving the influence of the school's current stakeholders in the long run," PS 307 PTA president Faraji Hannah-Jones says. [Gothamist]
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