In 2009, then-Chancellor Joel Kein announced three new citywide programs—BSI in Bay Ridge; STEM in Astoria; and TIER in Fort Green. At that time the DoE claimed that it was working to identify nearby middle schools where students could continue after fifth grade.
In 2010, Michelle joined the District 30 Community Education Council (CEC). She also started meeting regularly, albeit informally, with STEM parents at in their monthly meetings on Fridays at Igloo Cafe (near the school) and organized by Michal Melamed. This group of parents is not a formal organization or a PTA committee; it's open to any STEM parents to talk about a wide variety of STEM topics, not just middle school.
During 2010-11, Michelle began to untangle the various bureaucratic players in the middle school formation, and met with the Division of Portfolio Planning, the Office of Space Planning, and Enrollment.
She identified five different potential approaches:
1. a city-wide gifted middle school program in another school;
2. a stand alone city-wide gifted middle school that our kids transfer directly into;
3. a K-8 program in another school;
4. a stand alone K-8 city-wide gifted school;
5. using the Middle School Choice program, which in district 30 consists of PS/IS 122, the well-regarded district wide G&T program. (Other examples include Mark Twain for the Gifted & Talented (I.S. 239) in Brooklyn, Philippa Schuyler (J.H.S. 383) in Brooklyn, Baccalaureate in Long Island City, and the other city-wide programs we know—Anderson, NEST, TAG and BSI.)
Michelle learned the requirements of establishing a new school:
1. Acquire some kind of physical space (coordinate this with Capital Planning);
2. Create the school. The Division of Portfolio Planning would officially create the school; they write a letter of understanding and hire a principal;
3. Get students. For a Choice/Special Program school, the DoE's Office of Enrollment would determine the means of getting students (testing, lotteries, placement, etc.) For a zoned middle school the CEC for the district would supply zoning to determine who should go there; for a zoned choice school the CEC would zone it, but Enrollment would determine entry.
The requirements to form a program within an existing school, or to expand an existing program within an existing school, are less bureaucratically challenging. At some point in the process, Michelle realized that it took Anderson 18 years to become the Anderson that exists today.
November 2011, polling of STEM parents via meetings at Igloo, backpacked letter, email solicitation and Facebook occurred. Despite earnest appeals for opinions, fewer than 24 parents responded (about 25% of students, representing about 33% of parents.) There were pros and cons to each of the proposed schemes. At this time, Michelle mapped the geographical distribution of STEM families (at that time)—noting that over 60% of students come from District 30, with a great many students coming from just outside the District.
In the meantime, parent volunteers researched some best practices and created some documentation of different approaches that had been discussed at the Igloo meetings.
Research and polling clarified the issues and Michele met with Dr. Philip Composto, the District 30 Community Superintendent. Dr. Composto was responsive to STEM's middle school situation, but the DoE did not respond to Dr. Composto. Michele then started a letter writing campaign to local political officials to get their support, as well as a petition demanding the establishment of a K-8 citywide G+T program. Over 300 signatures were delivered to Denis Woloctt, in addition to Michelle's letter of January 19.
Wolcott's response to the parents and the Michele's letter was somewhat confounding, in that he merely agreed that there was no room at PS 85 for a middle school. The response was probably written by a PR aide.
In the meantime, Michelle had on-going talks with Rebecca Rawlins at Portfolio Planning, who said "we just don't do this (establish G+T middle schools.)"
Given that so many STEM students live in and near District 30, it was impossible not to pay attention to the district-wide G+T schools. While PS 150 students can matriculate into PS 122's well established middle school academy, PS 166 students have no clear path. In May of 2012, an idea to combine forces came to pass.
The proposal is to establish a "GATE Program" within I.S. 126, which is currently very much an underutilized school. It would house three classes per grade (6-8): a citywide middle school class (which would house STEM students), a district-wide middle school class (which would house PS 166 students) and a new G+T class. It is worth noting that the GATE plan does not put the city wide students and the district wide students in the same classes, only in the same program. This is particularly important since our kids are accelerated in math and the district wide is not. There would be no retesting for STEM or 166 students. Given how many 99s didn't get into STEM simply because of the lottery, it makes some sense to group citywide and districtwide and new students together in the same program.
Legislators (such as Vallone, Van Bramer, Dromm, Gianaris, Markey, Simotas, Avella, Braunstein, and Cathy Nolan) and the District 30 CEC love the idea. The principal at IS 126 is very positive. There is a suspension center at I.S. 126, but there are not that many students within the suspension center (under 50???) and it is itself a borough-wide center, so it is not centrally located. A good many of its students come from the Rockaways and Jamacia, so it is not a logically placed suspension center—it's possible to move it.
In November 2012, constituents met with Danny Dromm, the Citycouncilman who sits on the Education Committee. He brought the issue to a Panel for Educational Policy (PEP) meeting; at the meeting, there were reassurances that dissatisfied parents would meet with Dennis Walcott.
After that PEP meeting, on November 26, The Chancellor, our legislators, including Peter Vallone, Jimmy Van Bramer and Daniel Dromm, and representative from other legislators, the CEC and parent representatives from 122, 150, 166 and 85 (Michelle), met to discuss the issue. No decisions were made. The Chancellor promised another meeting to follow up, but it never occurred despite weekly follow from the CEC.
While this plan coalesced in the fall of 2012, the DoE said it would create a "screened academic program" at IS 126. In this scheme, all 5th grade students would be retested for middle school, including students at PS 150 and PS 122, who are already assured entry into the 122 Middle School Academy. While the District 30 CEC does not like this program, it points out that it would at least be more fair to apply the retesting rules to "next year's kindergarden students" whose families have not been promised a test-free middle school solution.
In January of 2013 at a town hall meeting, Dennis Wolcott assured parents that expanding STEM to middle school was a priority for DoE, and that they would present a plan in the spring.
