P.S. 705 Highlighted in New York Times

P.S. 705, a new school on Classon Avenue, got some major publicity in the New York Times this weekend as an example of how young families are managing to find schools they love in neighborhoods they can afford.

The school, also known as Brooklyn Arts and Science Elementary School, opened in September in Crown Heights on the Prospect Heights border at 443 St. Marks Ave. It shares a building with P.S. 22, which is being phased out, and Exceed Charter School.

The front page article of Sunday's real estate section discusses a variety of ways that parents are "approaching the complicated calculus of real estate and education in the city." 

While families used to be able to simply buy a home near their desired school, these days zones frequently change, leaving people even a few blocks from their target school suddenly zoned elsewhere. 

To combat this uncertainty, some families make use of the DOE's "once you're in, you're in" policy by squeezing into a too-small apartment in a pricy neighborhood until their children begin school and then moving. Others pinpoint an up-and-coming-but-under-the-radar school to move near, the Times reports.

P.S. 705 is used as an example of families choosing an up-and-coming neighborhood with the hope that the public schools will improve by the time the kids are of age.

Kelly Bare, president of 705's P.T.A., told the Times that her family couldn't afford the space her family needed "in a zone where the schools were already proven." Instead she took "a calculated risk—buying an apartment that we loved, on the edge of a neighborhood that we loved, in an area we presumed would change fairly rapidly."

According to Bare, the risk paid off. Her 5-year-old son attends the brand new school, which has dual-language immersion, an inquiry-based instruction model that encourages student experimentation and a strong focus on the arts.  

“It’s what this neighborhood has been waiting for,” Bare told Prospect Heights Patch in the fall. “It’s an incredible opportunity for anyone who is hoping to help build something.”

Read more about P.S. 705, and the full New York Times article.