School Zoning: When Too Much Good News Is Bad News
23rd September 2015
The gentrification of the “Dumbo” area of Brooklyn was good news for P.S. 8. (New York City calls its grades K-5 schools P.S. schools). The school became predominately SWPL and thus a safe place for white parents (as well as SWPLfied Asians) to send their precious children.
But too much of a good thing is now a bad thing because the school now has too many children for the size of the building. The city’s solution? Send some of children now zoned for P.S. 8 to nearby P.S. 307 that primarily draws students from the housing projects.
Not surprisingly, the SWPL parents who thought they were zoned for a free and safe public school are outraged. But somewhat surprisingly, the parents in the projects don’t want a bunch of white kids invading their school either!
And you can hardly blame them. As George Carlin famously said, ‘ You can bet the Eddy, Vinny, and Tony can easily beat up Tyler, Kyle, and Tucker.’