District 15 PAR Project

Somos el equipo PAR de Sunset Park y nos hemos unido de todo Sunset Park para averiguar la mejor manera de apoyar a las escuelas de Sunset Park para que prosperen con la apertura de nuevos edificios escolares. ¡Continuaremos publicando aquí durante todo el proceso para proporcionar actualizaciones y oportunidades para participar! ¡Estén atentos para un nuevo nombre de grupo próximamente!

我们是日落公园的PAR团队，我们从日落公园社区一起岀来是为了找到和支持让日落公园社区的学校更好的繁荣起来。我们每周一次会议，我们也会继续的在这里发布关于会议中的信息和进度同时也是个非常好的参与机会。请关注我们很快会有个新的团队名称出来。

We are the Sunset Park PAR Team and we have come together from across Sunset Park to figure out how best to support thriving schools across Sunset Park with new school buildings opening in the community. We will continue posting here throughout the process to provide updates and opportunities to get involved! Stay tuned for a new group name coming soon!

So far we are:

Eva Hernandez, PS 516

Jennifer Padilla, PS 516

Tory Messina, PS 516

XiuJing Dong, PS 94

Kay Shao, PS 94

Yan Feng Zhang, PS 94

Rui Juan Sun, PS 94

Yan Chen, PS 169

Xea Rong Tang, PS 169

YanYingou Yang, PS 169

Wanda Muñiz, PS 24

Sandra Lopez, PS 24

Laura Espinoza, PS 24 y Visión Futuro

Sandra Cordero, PS 1

Maribel Dominguez, PS 1

Yesenia Hernandez, PS 1

Flor Urgiles, PS 896

Juana Gutierrez, PS 896

Jin Liu, PS 896

Fang Chen, PS 896

Apply here to be on the Sunset PAR Team!

Application Deadline Extended to December 3rd!

We are excited to announce that we are collaborating with District 15 , the DOE Office of District Planning and the Sunset Park community in a second participatory action research process.

Did you know that there are four new school buildings opening in Sunset Park over the next few years? Are you interested in learning more about the schooling experiences and needs in our area and making recommendations about what should happen with SP schools?

The D15 Sunset Park PAR Project will develop recommendations around what should happen with Sunset Park schools, with a goal of equitable education and thriving schools for all children in Sunset Park.

We will be using a participatory action research (PAR) approach to build an understanding of what we need as a community to achieve equitable and thriving schools.

Participatory action research (PAR) is an approach to knowledge production where those most impacted by a question, problem, or issue are centered and in leadership of the research process from beginning to end. The process is community-powered and community-accountable. In this project, a team of local community members who will be impacted by schooling changes will carry out the research. We call this group of community researchers: the Sunset PAR Team.

A team of local community members, who will be directly impacted by changes in our Sunset Park Schools, will carry out the work. We call this group of community researchers: the D15 Sunset Park PAR Team.

We are seeking local community members from across Sunset Park and connected to all our schools to join the D15 Sunset Park PAR Team. We are recruiting 12 community members to join as the Sunset PAR Team. Sunset PAR Team members will meet weekly, put in 1 – 5 hours/week on the project, receive a stipend for their participation. No prior experience necessary. There will be many ways to be involved and participate in the project in addition to being a member of the Sunset PAR Team.

The PAR Team will work together to figure out what we need to ask our neighbors to achieve equitable and thriving schools. The PAR team will be a group of people who will meet for 1 – 5 hours a week to:

• create community
• discuss and think through the biggest questions facing our community
• research history of schools and schools zones
• be trained in research methods and ethics
• carry out research (like interviews, surveys, focus groups) at laundromats, playgrounds, church groups, community centers, and other places
• study and analyze Dept of Education data
• compile and analyze community knowledge + DOE data
• lead art projects with children
• share back what we find via community forums
• produce recommendations to inform DOE policy

This participatory process will center families impacted by the school changes and particularly families from historically excluded communities.

NOTE: District 15 will soon be launching a Design Team for the new PS 958 to develop the plan for that school. The D15 Sunset PAR Team will communicate closely with the PS 958 Design Team, but the D15 Sunset Park PAR Team is not working on the design of PS 958.

Click Here Apply to be on the Sunset Park PAR Team and/or Get Involved in the project.

On Tuesday, June 15, 2021, CEC15 held Special Session to vote on the rezoning proposal for Subzone 3 of District 15. CEC15 members voted unanimously to approve the Rezoning of 7 elementary schools in Subzone 3: PS 15, PS 29, PS 32, PS 58, PS 261 and PS 676 – in line with the PAR Team’s recommendations.

The full resolution is posted on the CEC15’s website: https://cecd15.org/resolutions-1

Stay tuned for links to the zoom recordings.

As a PAR Team we are glad we’ve reached this moment and we remain engaged in the work. We are each committed community members who will continue to work – collectively and individually – towards the goals of our project. We look forward to continuing to collaborate with our communities, our schools, the DOE, D15, and the CEC on the implementation of the rezoning and our recommendations.

We thank everyone who has supported us and collaborated with us along the way so far!!!

More from us soon!!!

On May 11th we presented our recommendations and the DOE Office of District Planning shared their draft proposal for the rezoning of PS 15, PS 676, PS 58, PS 32, PS 29, PS 38 and PS 261.

You can see the presentation deck here:

D15 PAR Project Recommendations and DOE draft Rezoning Proposal May 11th, 2021

Community feedback on the draft proposal is welcome!

To provide feedback on the draft proposal please email: BrooklynZoning@schools.nyc.gov

We are excited to announce that we plan to share recommendations for the rezoning of sub-district 3 on May 11th at 6:30 pm, hosted by a Special Session of D15 CEC!

Interpretation in Spanish, Arabic, and Mandarin
Register in Advance for the Zoom meeting:
HTTPS://NYCDOE.ZOOM.US/MEETING/REGISTER/TZCUFUGPRZKP
HTMBZ9IOUZVM7HKYHEYP8_LL

Join us and spread the word!

The DOE and PS 676 have posted a proposal for the grade reconfiguration of PS 676 to slowly transform into a Middle School over the next several years.

As all this was in process, we hosted a Red Hook community meeting to hear from the Red Hook school leaders and community members about the vision for Red Hook. The proposal is responsive to community vision, needs, and desires. The PAR Team is excited for the possibilities and opportunities for Red Hook and beyond.

You can read about the proposal here: https://cecd15.org/

The DOE is hosting a Joint Public Hearing to provide the public with an opportunity to present comments or concerns on the proposal:
April 15th, 6pm, via teleconference: https://learndoe.org/odp/

Meanwhile, the PAR Team continues to work on rezoning!

Timeline Update! The plan is that the CEC will vote on the rezoning in winter/spring 2021 for fall 2022 implementation.

More soon from the DOE on the idea for PS 676 to transform into a middle school and on the rezoning proposal.

Tune in to the Dec 15th CEC Meeting for an update from the PAR Team and the DOE’s Office of District Planning.

CEC15 Calendar Meeting
Dec 15, 2020 06:30 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join the Zoom Meeting clicking here
Meeting ID: 815 5385 4154
Passcode: 927781
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For Spanish Interpretation dial +1 347-966-4114 United States, New York City (Toll)  Conference ID: 488 837 227#

On Tues Nov 17th, the D15 PAR Project shared findings and initial recommendations at a meeting of the District 15 CEC. We are posting a link to a recording of the meeting here – the PAR Presentation begins around 1 hr 18 min