Thursday, March 5, 2015

Shocking news: schools are overcrowded

From the Daily News:

Nearly half of city schools are bursting at the seams, officials said Tuesday.

Department of Education Deputy Chancellor Elizabeth Rose acknowledged that 575 of 1,311 buildings — 44% — house more kids than they’re supposed to.

“We have individual buildings, and in some cases entire neighborhoods, that are overcrowded,” she said at a City Council oversight hearing. “For our school communities, overcrowding is primarily experienced as larger class sizes.”

Some 490,000 kids attend overcrowded schools, and 80% of the buildings with the problem are elementary schools.

The school system overall is only 93% full — but the available seats aren’t in places where kids live or want to go to school, leaving some schools with empty seats while others are overcrowded.

The biggest problem is in Queens, where schools are at 105% of capacity.

The budget office said the greatest needs are in District 20 in southwest Brooklyn, where 7,764 seats are required to eliminate overcrowding, followed by District 24 in western Queens, which needs 7,252 seats, and two districts in eastern Queens, which both need more than 5,000 seats.


I can't imagine why this is happening.

14 comments:

A Better NYC said...

The NYC public school system is arguably the most worthless, corrupt, inefficient institution in the entire country.

Zero learning takes place in countless "schools".

Thousands of children pass through the system without knowing how to read or write.

Thousands of children pass through the system without ever showing up to class at all.

It's a joke. It's sad. It's hopeless.

There are too many people involved that make a lot of money off the system. So things will never change.

Anonymous said...

There are too many people. Period.

Can we ask the "Vibrant and Diverse" to stop breeding for a couple of years? No one NEEDS to have more than 1 or 2 children!

In Corona and Elmhurst one routinely sees extremely young Latinas dragging 3 to 5 kids around with them - even at night!

Is the laundromat an appropriate setting for small children on Saturday at 11:00 PM? These parents selfishly procreate and subject their children to an incredibly third-rate upbringing!

There must be too many incentives supporting this sort of over-breeding - it doesn't work in the animal world and it sure as hell doesn't work in the human.

So many kids learn nothing because their parents bring nothing to the table because they're also uneducated and not-inclined to improve their English skills and THEY DON"T READ!!!

NYC will(is) be populated with millions of people that are good for nothing but being busboys and shelve stockers!

Anonymous said...

If we deported like we should, we wouldn't have this huge problem. Also, certain races aren't distributed around the school systems properly. Bus out the asians more. Diversity is pushed on the whites.....so push "diversity" on the asians. I went to school in bayside (because I live here) and I went to school with kids from Jamaica who were bused in via the 31 bus. They even had a special bus stop and special buses for them which nowadays I seen have turned into a q27 bus stop instead. Granted at that time, bayside had a larger population of black people too. So between the two, I had a pretty good population of black students in my elementary and Jr high schools.

JQ said...

Charters certainly won't change it, in fact it might have exacerbated it in addition to the lack of affordable dwellings leading to forced homelessness.

Of course the choices people make in having kids they can't afford and the burgeoning arrival of newly legal immigrant citizens, who seem to only want to live in New York. It's not xenophobic to realize this, we live in a big country and they might be better off building lives in other cities that are cheaper than here,which is everywhere except for San Francisco.

The location problems of some schools with capacity is more egregious.

Anonymous said...

And so are our hospitals. Response time from emergency services has also increased. Meanwhile these overbuilding developers enjoy their own personal good life far from it all. It has been said that council member Peter Koo lives comfortably...is it in Port Washington? That's a big jump from overcrowded, overburdened downtown Flushing. Power has its perks...even if they are questionable.

Anonymous said...

This just in from the UFT:

1. Raise the salaries and benefits for teachers.

2. Hire more teachers.

3. Raise the salaries and benefits for teachers.

Anonymous said...

To all those who blame teachers I would like to tell,my daughter is a teacher,2 masters and dedicated to the children,after teaching for 10 years in one of the worst areas in NY she gave up,the threats of rape,assault and murder just became to much,the parents destroyed the car I bought her on report card day,children with broken arms and black eyes again became to much,now she teaches Asian children,homework complete and signed by 2 parents,polite and respectfull and lines on parent\teacher night,its a shame good teachers are vilified because teaching has become nothing more than dropping off unwanted children for free lunch and daycare,
If you speak English Thank a Soldier,
If you can read English Thank a
TEACHER,
IF YOU CAN DO NEITHER
THANK A POLITICIAN!!

Anonymous said...

My parents and grandmother taught me to read. It didn't start in school.

I did have many great teachers but I went to Catholic schools back in the 60s. Teachers didn't need a Masters in Education because they were already really smart, organized and had great teaching skills. We aced every standardized test - they were easier than our regular tests!

We routinely had 3-4 hours of homework every night - how much work do children do after school these days?

We didn't dick around with after-school nonsense - we went straight home and did our work. And our parents checked it! And if we screwed up WE got blamed - not the school system and most certainly not the teachers!

Anonymous said...

Asian kids are consientious about learning and doing homework that a lot of third worlders are not. They get ahead because less time is spent on hip hop crap and more time is spent cracking the books. We have a big problem with inter generational welfare.

Anonymous said...

In Staten Island, developers in South Richmond must secure "school seat certification" from Zoning. It's great that they do this in an area that's high-income... not. In other areas of Staten Island, already above capacity and over-crowded, developers can, and do, build as much as they want. I hate to say it, but no big projects should be allowed to move forward without certification of not only schools, but ALL infrastructure (sewers, road capacity, playgrounds, mass transit, et alia).

Anonymous said...

If you speak English Thank a Soldier,
If you can read English Thank a
TEACHER,
IF YOU CAN DO NEITHER
THANK A POLITICIAN!!
-----------------------------

AMEN!

Jackson Heights Johnny said...

I agree with ANONYMOUS # 6....

I too am a product of the Catholic school system: St Gabriel's 1953-61, McClancy HS 1961-65.

Tough no-nonsense teachers: you fooled around in class, you got hit. Then when you went home with a note, you got hit again. Plenty of homework; projects that took up your weekends etc.

Outside activities? YEAH - extracurricular sports activities...

Went on to get a Masters Degree in Business at NYU.

How? Why? A damn TOUGH elementary and high school education!

Things in school were JUST SO MUCH BETTER BACK THEN. Where have parents/teachers values gone to?

Anonymous said...

Schools are way too overcrowded, Too many incompetent teachers/administrators...

Anonymous said...

Those who can...do. Those who cannot...teach. Those who cannot teach...teach teachers.

There are a lot of lazy lifers passing themselves off as ecucators.

Anyway who needs an education?
Our politicians prefer a dumb electorate, because then it is easier to fool them.

The old , keep 'Em dumb, barefoot in the kitchen and pregnant adage, applies to male voters as well.