Overcrowding At Roosevelt Island's PS/IS 217 Reports Parents In Fox News Report, D Letter Grade From NYC DOE and No Child Left Behind Documentary From Former Roosevelt Island Student Teacher

Concern Over Classroom Crowding in NYC: MyFoxNY.com

My Fox New York reports on September 22:

The parents at P.S. 217 on Roosevelt Island are used to 20- to 24-person classes. So imagine their surprise this year when the fifth grade class had 34.

"What's wrong is the children aren't getting the adequate attention they deserve," Lord said, showing Fox 5 pictures of her daughter's class.

One kindergarten class has 28 kids with no assistant.

These are just two of 7,000 classrooms in the city the UFT said has with too many students. The UFT said that is 1,000 more than last year. And almost a quarter of New York City school children....

Click here for the rest of the article.

The NYC Department of Education (DOE) recently released Progress Reports for NYC schools. Roosevelt Island's PS/IS 217 grade for 2010-11 was a D. According to the DOE:

Each school's Progress Report (1) measures student year-to-year progress, (2) compares the school to peer schools and (3) rewards success in moving all children forward, especially children with the greatest needs. Strong Progress Report results are the basis for monetary rewards for school leaders, and poor results are an important factor in determining whether schools require intensive support or intervention. For more information,...

PS/IS 217 Progress Report Letter Grade was B for 2009 - 10 and 2008 - 09.

I asked Roosevelt Island's PS/IS 217's PTA and Principal for a comment on the overcrowding issue raised by the Fox report and the D letter Grade from DOE. PTA Vice President Nikki Leopold replied:

The overcrowding issue came as a surprise to all of us, including the administration who received an overwhelming amount of new registration during the month of August.  Over the last two years, the PS/IS PTA and administration succeeded in creating a school environment in which parents would not hesitate to send their children, as evidenced by the fact that we now have unprecedented enrollment.  The down side is that it puts us in the same position as so many other city schools as we struggle with large class size and steep budget cuts.  The school is committed to addressing this problem to the best of our ability, but it will continue to be a challenge. 

Phoebe shared with my your inquiry about the D grade on the school report card.  As we received a B last year, the D grade was a devastating blow to our school, especially in light of the tremendous progress made in the last two years.  While the grades just came out last week, the administration is in the process of reviewing the new evaluation method put forth by the DOE, which led to the D report card grade determination.  Through this process, the administration will have a clearer picture of what changes need to take place, a key factor in providing parents with an honest and transparent response.    Through my experience with the public school system, I've learned that things are most often not what they seem on the surface especially regarding budgets and school evaluations.  It is my hope that  our school community can ban together as we navigate the details of the unfortunate news.  As with the class size issue, the PS/IS 217 Administration, in partnership with the PTA Executive Board, is committed to confronting the difficult questions that will need to be addressed regarding DOE's report card determination. 

Thanks for the opportunity to respond.

PS/IS 217 Principal Mandana Beckman adds:

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to respond, and I apologize for taking so long to get back to you. As Nikki mentioned, we were overwhelmed and surprised by the class sizes that we found ourselves facing as the school year started, especially in the Kindergarten and 5th Grade classes. We were offered no recourse by the DOE, as this problem faces schools citywide, however we have managed to creatively address the situation in a way that, we think, ensures the most benefit to the classes affected. At the Kindergarten level, we have created a Kindergarten/First Grade bridge class, which brings the number in those classes to 25 each (where it had been 29 in Kindergarten). This will ensure both more individual student attention, as well as develop what we hope will be a mutually beneficial opportunity for 1st Graders to model expectations to their younger classmates.

This kind of solution was unfortunately not available to us for our 5th Grade, which started the year at 34 students. We sought out partnership with PS 183, which is under limit in their 5th grade class, and they were able to offer - and have two families accept - placement at that school. This brings the 5th Grade class to 32, which is within the contractual limits of the UFT, and has fortunately now been capped at that number by the DOE.

City Limits tries to help parents understand what these grades mean:

Last week, the New York City Department of Education announced it was evaluating the futures of dozens of schools which had earned bad grades in the department's annual progress reports.

This was welcome transparency compared with the early years of Progress Grades, when DOE announced school-closing lists as faits accompli, without community feedback or participation.

But while the public is learning more about what might be done after this year's round of progress reports, understanding of the reports themselves is not widespread—largely because the reports employ a complicated formula that has evolved since 2007, when the DOE began rating city schools with letter grades....

Click here for the entire City Limits article.

A former student teacher at Roosevelt Island's PS/IS 217 made a very interesting documentary about the No Child Left Behind policy:

After spending a year as a student teacher in a New York City elementary school, documentary filmmaker Lerone Wilson explores the effects of George W. Bush's momentous No Child Left Behind Act on schools across the country.

Take a look

You Tube Video of No Child Left Behind.

At about the 2 minute 15 second mark we see the student teacher on Roosevelt Island.