Student shuffle: Upper West Side parents outraged as a plan to relocate public schools takes shape

"The Center School, also known as M.S. 243, on the Upper West Side, will relocate to another location within District 3 if a plan from the Department of Education (DOE) becomes a reality. Parents and teachers at the school, which shares a building with P.S. 9, at 100 W. 84th St., are outraged and concerned about the proposal, which would dismantle a mixed-grade student body of grades 5 to 8 and disrupt its curriculum."

"While we would prefer not to move, it's important to us as a school community that if we have to move that we have access to a real auditorium for our all-school theater shows, a safe outdoor play space for all of our students to gather at recess, that we're near transit hubs, that our current families are able to come along with us, and that they have the time to have a voice in the process, he said."

The Center School (M.S. 243) on the Upper West Side faces a proposed relocation within District 3 by the Department of Education. The school shares a building with P.S. 9 and serves grades 5–8 with a heavily arts-based curriculum and a large auditorium used for all-school performances. DOE officials have indicated class size and student enrollment are considerations in the move. Parents, teachers, and staff express outrage and concern that relocation to P.S. 191, about a mile south and lacking an auditorium and nearby cultural resources, would dismantle the mixed-grade program and disrupt curriculum, community, and access to facilities.

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