NYC schools could use gyms, other spaces to comply with class-size mandate as critics blast ‘disaster in the making’
As many as 500 schools could choose to repurpose gyms and faculty lounges as classrooms as the city scrambles to meet the state’s class size mandates amid soaring enrollment.
The option is one of 12 suggestions for schools that are listed in a draft plan released by city Department of Education officials Tuesday.
“Principals could closely review the space available in their school, including spaces currently not used for instruction but capable of supporting classes, and identify new space available to create new sections to reduce class sizes,” the plan said.
Deborah Kross, a representative for the Bronx on the Citywide Council on High Schools, told The Post that she thinks “it’s a disaster in the making.”
“We’re going to potentially lose our libraries, our labs, our art rooms to make room for core subjects.”
Yiatin Chu — who has a child that attends a school in Brooklyn — said she and other parents she’s spoken to are terrified at the uncertainty.
“Everything beyond the four core subjects are also really important for our children’s experience in the school,” she said.
Gov. Kathy Hochul and the state lawmakers — under intense lobbying from the United Federation of Teachers — approved a law in 2022 requiring schools in New York City to slash class room sizes across the board by 2027-28.
Under the law, K-3 class sizes max out at 20 students, grades 4-8 are limited to 23 students and grade 9-12 must be 25 students or fewer by the deadline.
Some 537 schools “may not be able to meet the new class size mandates in their existing space and enrollment configurations” the plan revealed.
Whether a space used for electives will need to be repurposed will depend on how the law is implemented in the coming years, the DOE said.
School districts have been urged to increase their share of compliance by 3% stating the draft reduction plan provides “clear, actionable steps” to make this happen.
Boosting the number of classes taught by assistant principals, staggering start times and virtual learning are also among the other suggestions made by the DOE.
“The law is so inflexible that if, let’s say, you’re in a high school, and you have 26 students in one class, as opposed to 25, and you’re the principal you’ll be forced to create a second classroom,” Queens parent Jean Hahn told The Post.
“It’s an immense waste of resources,” she added.
Class Size Matters Executive Director Leonie Haimson — who advocated for the law and was a member of a working group that provided advice to the DOE on how to implement the law — said the plan is “completely inadequate.”
“There were many effective proposals made by the class size working group, almost none of which the DOE has adopted in their draft plan,” Haimson said, noting that online learning and repurposing elective rooms were not part of the working group’s suggestions.
Haimson said despite her disappointment she’d held high hopes for the plan claiming “support for the law is strong, despite a small group of vocal opponents.”
Officials do not expect any major changes before September. Some 20% of Big Apple schools need to comply with the mandate for the 2023-24 school year and officials say they’ve well exceeded that mark with about 40%.
They say the draft plan will make it possible for schools to remain compliant for the 2024-25 school year but still requires sign-off by teachers and principals unions.
“Further, [the plan] provides targeted support for high-need schools and supports robust teacher recruitment – powered by $182 million in new school funding,” said Chancellor David Banks.
