The NY Sun yesterday cited DOE enrollment numbers, concluding that "P.S. 87 on 78th Street would be at 50% capacity if only neighborhood students zoned for the school attended." The way that this number turns out to be false reveals a lot about the DOE's preliminary rezoning proposal.

If you kicked out all kids attending the school last year in grades K-5 who didn't live in the zone, according to DOE data, the school would indeed be at 50% capacity. But DOE analysis misses a basic trend: each year, the percentage of in-zone kids has been rising. While 60 lottery seats were offered in 2007-08, only 35 lottery seats were offered for PS 87 kindergarteners for 2008-09.

Of those 35 seats, at least 16 went to siblings. Several others went to children with special needs who are assigned to PS 87 for CTT (collaborative team teaching) classes and other services. So of 175 kindergarten kids, fewer than a dozen, or about 7 percent, are non-sibling, non-special ed "out of zone" children.

The DOE is implying that it can gain scores of seats at PS 87 by limiting the lottery and expanding the catchment zone. But with fewer out of zone kids entering the school every year, redrawing PS 87's zone lines won't be much help in solving district overcrowding (as opposed to building a new school). Last night, parents from most grade schools on the Upper West Side met to discuss the DOE's preliminary rezoning proposal. While each school community has its own unique circumstances, some unifying themes emerged:

· Parents want sibling preference to be grandfathered in during any transition period;

· Schools with successful G&T or dual language programs want to be able to maintain them;

· Zone lines raised more questions than they solved; parents called on DOE to be more specific about metrics used to estimate the influx of children from new housing.

In the coming days, District 3's Community Education Council will look carefully at both the numbers and the underlying assumptions of DOE's proposals. We will scrutinize DOE's brand-new concept of "Target Zone Utilization,"to determine whether this number, which has no history or alignment with other educational goals, is an appropriate benchmark from which to build a plan.

Personally, I take hope from DOE comments that last week's initial proposal was just a starting point, a basis for conversation, and that District 3 families will be able to shape a DOE proposal that is based on realistic numbers leading to a real solution to overcrowding in our schools. Maybe I am naive, or masochistic, but I'm really not upset. At least not yet.

Updates: DOE rep Will Havemann said that DOE representatives would, on the CEC's invitation, come to additional meetings to hear parent and community comment on the rezoning proposal.

The CEC will next meet on October 2, at the JOA Complex (154 West 93d Street), at 6:30 pm. Parents and community members are welcome to attend, but organizers say there will be no opportunity for public comment. -hz