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School Officials Cautious
on MS 80 Planning By HEATHER HADDON Department of Education (DOE) officials said last week that the reorganization of PS 280 and MS 80 in Norwood is still in the planning stages, and not necessarily imminent but all indications are that big change is afoot at the two Mosholu Parkway schools. As the Norwood News reported in the previous issue, parents and staff were called to emergency meetings on March 4 to inform them that MS 80 would be divided into two academies with two student "clusters" within each. Neighboring PS 280 -- the schools are attached -- would be converted into a K thru 8 school by annexing a wing from MS 80. DOE spokesperson Paul Rose said last week that neither MS 80 Principal Lovey Mazique-Rivera, nor Gail Davis, the school's local instructional supervisor, could comment on the situation because it was still in flux. "It's in the early stages of planning," Rose said. "It still might not happen." Rose said that a series of public meetings will precede any finalization of the shake-up. But he did not have a time line for those meetings. At a meeting with journalists from the community and ethnic press last week, Schools Chancellor Joel Klein wouldn't reveal details about changes to individual schools. "The specifics haven't been worked out yet," said Klein to members of the Independent Press Association's New York chapter. "Regional superintendents are meeting with school communities, and they will make the final decisions and let us know in a couple of weeks." But the reported proposals for PS 280 and MS 80 fit squarely into Klein's larger plan to overhaul the middle grades, which he made public earlier this month. The majority of the city's middle schools will be reorganized into either K thru 8 or 6 thru 12 schools. Many of the latter will be home to academies or mini-schools, according to reports. "We found that middle schools face the real challenge," Klein said. "If a school is not meeting the needs of its students, we need to move forward on these things." Parent Chiffon Anderson thinks that MS 80 needs serious reform. "It's out of control," said Anderson, who is a foster parent of a 13-year-old at the school. She lives right across from MS 80, and says she frequently sees and hears kids being disruptive. "The principal, parent coordinator and the parents that are involved are bending over backwards," said Anderson, a parent association (PA) member. "But the students are hard to manage." At 1,300 kids and 110 percent capacity, MS 80 certainly presents management challenges. Many parents say Mazique-Rivera, who joined the school last year, is working hard to change the school's climate. But MS 80 has suffered from discipline problems and low test scores for years. Anderson supports the academy idea from experience, as she used to be on the PA of a school that was subdivided. "It's very good for the kids," she said. "Each academy felt that it was something special. It made the whole school great." In general, elementary schools have stronger academic records and safer environments -- factors that were considered in the city's new plans. "The middle school model isn't doing well, so we are doing this [adding middle school grades] to help other kids," said Gary LaMotta, PS 280's principal. LaMotta first heard about the restructuring proposal from Region 1 administrators back in January. To his knowledge, Klein approved the plan at the end of February, and LaMotta informed parents about the change on March 2. LaMotta, and many of the parents he has spoken to, support the idea as a way to provide continuity. "We are a tight school family," LaMotta said. In a partial return to its original location - the two schools long shared the same building -- PS 280 will expand into part of a floor at MS 80 by September. The school will grow by 100 kids per grade, for a total of 280 additional students, according to LaMotta. PS 280 fifth graders graduating this spring will the first class to remain at the school in the fall. "Anything of this magnitude is going to present some growing pains," said LaMotta, who hopes that the city quickly provides PS 280 with additional support. "It's a tremendous amount of pieces to coordinate, but if we have the correct information and appropriate funding, we will get a lot of it done in time."
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