The city plans to move Vinegar Hill middle school MS 313 to a new building in Dumbo next year, and parents and locals can learn more and have their say on the scheme at a town-hall meeting at the school on Tuesday evening.
MS 313 is currently co-located at York Street and Hudson Avenue with PS 307 — which the city simultaneously plans to rezone next year to bring in more kids from neighboring areas — but the Department of Education wants to move it to a new luxury housing high-rise at Water and Dock streets to free up chairs at the elementary school and make use of a specialized 300-seat middle-school space currently sitting empty inside the tower.
The department released its proposal for the relocation at the beginning of the month (you can read it for yourself here), which outlines the nuts and bolts of the move and its intention to “redesign” the school with as-yet-undetermined new programs for the next school year.
But some area parents aren’t happy — they claim the city originally pledged to create an entirely new middle school dubbed IS 611 at the Water Street development that would encompass MS 313 — bringing with it extra funding and a new vision that would cater to more tweens in the district — and simply moving the existing school with no clear plan for its future is a wasted opportunity.
At least two members of Community Education Council 13 — a voluntary board of 10 parents in the local school district, which also includes Brooklyn Heights, Clinton Hill, and Prospect Heights — say they will vote “no” on the PS 307 voting if the city doesn’t come up with a more concrete plan for a new Dumbo middle school.
The council does not get a say on the middle-school move — that honor goes to the city-wide Panel for Education Policy, which will vote on the scheme on Nov. 19.
The city will also host a second meeting about the move on Nov. 2.
MS 313 relocation meeting at PS 307 [209 York St, between Gold Street and Hudson Avenue in Vinegar Hill). Oct. 13 at 6 pm.
