The D15 PAR Project in relation to the rezoning of PS 676, PS 15, PS 58, PS 32, PS 29, PS 38, and PS 261 wrapped up in June 2021. The rezoning proposal as informed by the PAR Process was unanimously approved by CEC 15 and will go into effect for the 2022-23 academic year.
What is the timeline and how will this work?
The Gowanus/Red Hook/Carroll Gardens/Cobble Hill PAR project was originally designed to run from February – June 2020. We recruited 10 local community members to join the project as the core research team. The group was intentionally formed so as to center the perspectives and experiences of BIPOC community members/ school communities impacted by the potential rezoning. This group met weekly for three weeks before New York State entered PAUSE for the COVID-19 pandemic. In May, we re-gathered – on Zoom – and the project re-launched.
The project has been extended to run through Fall 2020.
The PAR Team meets (at least) weekly and is actively engaged in outreach throughout the week.
In June – we began reaching out to community members to conduct small group and one-on-one conversations about experiences and perspectives on schooling.
Meanwhile, in our weekly meetings we learned about community experiences of rezoning in District 1 and District 3, we built knowledge around history and policy context of rezoning. We meet with the DOE Office of District Planning regularly to better understand the specific context of this potential rezoning.
In July – we continued conducting community conversations, and as the City opened up a bit, we started spending time at Open Streets events and in playgrounds talking with community members and building knowledge about local experiences and perspectives.
Through June and July we conducted 40+ one-on-one conversations. In July, we conducted a preliminary analysis of what we’d heard so far. We used the knowledge to build a community survey for broad distribution across the subzone.
In August – Launch of D15 PAR Project Community Survey!
In Sept and Oct: We are continuing to collect surveys, having community conversations, and connecting with communities. We are sharing preliminary findings (in public forums and in community-based conversations), engaging in cross-community knowledge-building about the histories and present of educational equity, and building towards recommendations.
We will be introducing our team and sharing about what we’ve been up to at the Sept 29th CEC meeting! https://cecd15.org/ for more info
We anticipate sharing findings and recommendations in October.
If you would like get involved and/or share your experiences and perspectives on schooling – please email us district15 parproject @ gmail.com
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