City Strikes Deal To Keep P.S. 150 In Tribeca Through 2022

TRIBECA, NY — The city brokered a deal to keep P.S. 150 in Tribeca until a new school is built in the Financial District come 2022, city officials said Thursday.

The 186-seat elementary school has occupied two stories in Independence Plaza for decades, but when the Department of Education's lease for the space expired landlords Vornado Realty Trust and Stellar Management decided not to renew the school's lease and plan to use the space to build more housing and amenities for the high-rise complex.

In a scramble to find a new home for the award-winning school, education officials planed to relocate P.S. 150 into the Seaport District's Peck Slip School by the start of the 2019-20 school year, city education officials have said.

The Tribeca institution would have squeezed in with Peck Slip for some three years until new school space is built at 28-42 Trinity Place at Edgar Street, but now the city and the landlords have agreed for P.S. 150 to remain at Independence Plaza until the school's permanent home is built in the Financial District come 2022, according to a spokeswoman with the Mayor's office.

“This is a big win for these kids and parents,” New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said in an emailed statement.

Parents had planned to rally against the plan on Thursday, but canceled when they heard the news. Lower Manhattan Councilwoman Margaret Chin praised the mayor's office for stepping in to help strike a deal with Vornado and Stellar.

“I am tremendously happy and grateful that the parties involved heard our voices and acted in the best interests of our children,” Chin said in a statement.

Students rallied in November with their parents and elected officials to keep P.S. 150 at Independence Plaza. (Photo courtesy of Caroline Spivack/Patch)

Parents learned in October that the school would have had to move for the next academic year and vehemently petitioned the relocation, citing fears that the school bouncing across Lower Manhattan would harm students' growth and hamper certain programs with limited space.

At a November rally parents, elected officials and even young students blasted the move. Several parents called the landlords' plan to boot the school for housing a short-sighted cash grab that overlooked the school as a neighborhood draw for families.

In 2014, the U.S. Department of Education awarded the school the prestigious title of Blue Ribbon School. It is an honor bestowed on institutions that have test scores in the top 15 percent of their state and no major gaps among student demographics.

A petition to keep the school in the neighborhood has collected more than 3,000 signatures for P.S. 150 to remain permanently in the community. The Department of Education did not immediately return a request for comment on whether the city is continuing talks with the landlords to potentially secure a long-term lease for P.S. 150 at the Tribeca space.

One parent said she would prefer the school not relocate altogether, but appreciates that the deal gives educators time to better prepare for the move.

"The announcement felt so sudden — out of nowhere packing up and moving to a new school and then doing the same thing a few years down the road," said Tribeca resident Samatha Lawson, 37, whose daughter is in the second grade at P.S. 150.

"At least now there is time to prepare and work things out."

Lead photo courtesy of Caroline Spivack/Patch