P.S. 282 Park Slope

PS 282 has long welcomed children from across Brooklyn. Now, with the phase-out of its middle school complete, it has expanded enrollment in PK-5 by more than 300 seats. The school has garden plots, and a local chef has helped harvest it and prepare food for children to sample. Parents appreciate the fact that their children get physical education in a real gymnasium. Children may participate in an on-site after school program with plenty of options. PS 282 also has a gifted and talented program.

Amy Rodriquez, who became the principal in 2019, has worked as a teacher and a literacy coach, and served as assistant principal and later principal of Peace Academy MS 596. Most recently she was listed as interim-acting principal of Park Place Community Middle School 266.

Rodriguez replaces Rashan Hoke, who served as principal from 2014 to 2019 and was credited with making the school more "child-centered," a place where children explore their own interests and speak in class, with less time listening to teachers. Teachers have received training in the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project approach, in which children choose books of interest to them, and write about meaningful topics and practice editing their own writing.

PS 282 has a gifted and talented program open to children from across District 13. Many of the children in the gifted program live in the school zone. However, because the school has so much space for out-of-zone children, the general education classes have had children from as far away as Sheepshead Bay and Bay Ridge.

Some of the school’s longtime strengths include a champion chess team, a drama program and a software engineering program that teaches computer coding. The school, while improving, is still a work-in-progress. For example, about one-third of the students miss at least a month of school.

The middle school, launched in 2008, struggled to find its academic footing. The Department of Education decided to phase it out beginning in 2017. Because of quirks in zoning, children who are zoned for PS 282, part of District 13, are eligible to attend District 15 middle schools and many take advantage of that option.

ADMISSIONS: Neighborhood school. District-wide gifted program. The school has long had room for children from outside the attendance zone. (Lydie Raschka, web reports, July 2019)