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Local Principals Plan for Fall Enrollment
The annex will add six additional classrooms to the school, and a multi-purpose room. Fall registration now stands at 768 students, an increase of 68. But according to school projections, the summer and fall could add enough new kids to bring the school population to nearly 850, said principal Lisa Ripperger. “What we’re expecting is a significant increase,” she said in an interview with the Trib. “I have no way of knowing how many kids are coming.” That increase is expected to come from the hundreds of apartment buildings, currently under construction, that will be ready for occupancy between this summer and early 2008. Ripperger hopes that by adding enough new classes, they can begin the year with classes of 25 students, leaving enough empty seats to absorb additional students through the school year without class sizes growing too large. “I don’t want to start at 28 now and then we may end up with 32,” she said. While some of the new families moving into multi-million dollar residences could afford private schools, not all of them will get in, Ripperger pointed out. And so far, Ripperger said she is aware of only a few moves of current students to private schools next year. P.S. 89 in Battery Park City is facing its own growing pains. Next year a suite of guidance offices and the school’s computer lab will be turned into classrooms in order to reduce class sizes. Enrollment for the fall so far is 518—only slightly larger than than this year’s 514 kids—but principal Ronnie Najjar said she expects that to climb some more by the fall. “I only got approval this year to convert two classrooms. Right now we’re pretty maxed out in space,” said Najjar. To replace the computer lab, the school is hoping to use laptop computers that can go from class to class. Funding for those computers, up to $250,000, could come from Time Equities, the developer of a proposed 60-story tower at 50 West Street. A spokesperson for the developer said only that they are offering consulting assistance to the school to help them assess their needs. Alternatively, funds might come from a City Council budget allocation. Unlike P.S. 89 and P.S. 234, P.S. 150 can take students from anywhere in the district. But principal Maggie Siena said she has taken in more local upper grade students because she is aware of the crunch at the other schools. “I talk to my colleagues. If I have room I help wherever I can,” she said. Neither P.S. 89 nor P.S 234 are granting variances for students or siblings outside the schools’ mandated zones, according to their principals. P.S. 234 will be taking nine students from outside the zone under the requirements of the federal No Child Left Behind act. The Department of Education is talking with the Battery Park City Authority about locating a new school at a site in southern Battery Park City, but it is unlikely to open before 2011. The P.S. 89 PTA projects that at least four new Battery Park City buildings will be occupied well before then and that each building could yield as many as 30 new elementary school kids, according to PTA co-president Dennis Gault. A new school planned for Beekman Street could take some of the pressure off P.S. 234, but it is not scheduled to open until 2009. The annex will provide a cushion to keep class size down next year, but by fall 2008, Ripperger said, “The annex will not be enough.”
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