In a 6-4 decision, the District 2 Community Education Council approved the Department of Education's "Option 2" proposal for temporarily rezoning Lower Manhattan's school boundaries.

Under the plan, Tribeca students living west of Church Street. will be zoned for the highly-regarded, but becoming-over-crowded, PS 234. PS 89, originally the zoned school for Battery Park City students, will now be zoned for students living north of Battery Park City and Gateway Plaza.

The decision also defined the zoning boundaries for Lower Manhattan's two new public schools -- PS/IS 397 Spruce Street School and PS/IS 276 -- which the rapidly-growing community hopes will alleviate overcrowding while maintaining the strong reputation of its current schools.<!--more-->

Tribeca students living east of Church St. and all students in the South Street Seaport neighborhood will be zoned for the Spruce Street School, which is currently incubating in Tweed Courthouse and will move into the Beekman Tower for the 2011/2012 school year.

Students living south of Liberty St. in the Financial District and south of Albany St. in Battery Park City, will be zoned for Lower Manhattan's other new school PS/IS 276, which is also incubating at Tweed and will move into its new, highly-lauded "green" buildingin fall of 2010.

Lower Manhattan students will remain in their current school, regardless of the new boundary restrictions. Siblings will be allowed to attend schools that their older siblings are currently in.

According to Downtown Express, the District 2 CEC is urging parents to apply for the schools they prefer, despite the zoning. PS 234 principal Lisa Rippenger told Downtown Express that the meeting was a good start. "They’re all going to learn to read and do math,” she said, "Many schools can do that." Downtown Express reports that "the new school zones are expected to be temporary and could last for several years."

For more information on Spruce Street School and PS/IS 276, see our new reviews!