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School Board Votes To Add Grades To Heights%u2019 P.S. 8BY IRENE VAN SLYKEA six-year effort by parents of P.S. 8 in Brooklyn Heights to get approval to add grades seven and eight to their school succeeded when Community School Board 13 voted Dec. 18, six to three, to ask the Central Board for a zoning change.The vote was the third attempt in the last few months to dispose of the matter and came after charges of racism and elitism were tossed back and forth in heated public sessions along with reminders by parents pressing for the grades that Board members face reelection next year.Superintendent Jerome Harris said during and after the meeting, however, that he was not sure how to implement the change since he found the resolution too vague and Board member John Kemp thought that the resolution might actually be \With a full Board present for the meeting at 100 Waverly Avenue, members voting in the affirmative were: Charles Pauli, who had introduced the resolution, Gertrude Jefferson, Mario De Falco, Rev. Sylverster Benack,Velmanette Montgomery andM o s e s D av is V n fin a a o a in s t w c rt*John Kemp, Martha Graham and Board President Carmen Norat.The resolution asked the Central Board of Education for a zoning change and stipulated that the balance of P.S. 8 students not fall below 45 percent of black and Hispanic students and that P.S. 8 extra grades would be considered an alternative similar to the Satellite Program.Several Board members reiterated why they were for the change, but the tw'o surprise yea votes came from Montgomery and Jefferson w'hose position had been uncertain before the voting. Montgomery said that she could understand that parents want to send their children to a school that has \better settings%u201d and that her reason for supporting it was that it \the district%u201d and can \not only the Heights.%u201dKemp in opposing the resolution read a statement in which he said that because of the 1980 election, Board members \Brooklyn Heights%u201d and their \tical clout,%u201d and added that %u201cthismight be my last year.%u201d He alsoc f o t o H t U o f fV%u00bb i t T A f n c i i V t c f n r t f i o Uivu ttiui m wit. rtuo a juuoiam iui\the legality of stipulating a perCharges ofracism andelitism weretossed back andforth in heatedpublic sessionscentage of black and Hispanic students that should be enrolled in the school. DeFalco said that he was tired of debating the issue for six years and added \the Central Board decide.%u201dAt the meeting, parents asked for clarification on who wouiu be eligible to attend the school since the present Satellite Program is open to every student in the district who reads at or above grade levels Pauli answered that P.S. 8 students would have first call and any seats left would be available to any student in the rest of the district. This comment brought charges of elitism and racism from some in the audience. A white parent of a P.S. 8 student responded in saying that \.added \%u00bband feel secure that she is alright.%u201d The Satellite program is located in a Junior High in the Navy Yard area. One other white parent responded and said that he sent his child to Satellite West and pleaded that the other parents \school a chance.%u201dA principal of one junior high school inthe District spoke up to complain that teachers hired for the possible new P.S.8 program would cost extra money and would take away from present junior highs in Ithc district. He also asked if the Board had decided to assign general assignment teachers as theones who teach in the elementary schools or wouid specialize in subjects as are used in junior highs be the staff at the new grades. No Board members addressed that question and the vote was taken quickly.Superintendent Harris' statements at the meeting requesting specific policy decisions on implementing the decisions by the Board may turn out to be pivotal in whether the grades ever become a reality at P.S. 8 as a result of the Dec. 18 vote. Joe Elias of the Central Board%u2019s Office on Zoning and Integration explained last Friday that the Community Board%u2019s staff would have to write a specific zoning proposal stipulating how the policy would be implemented. It would have to include, he said, \impact on ethnicity and utility%u201d at P.S. 8 as well as in the rest of the district%u2019s schools. He added that the plan would also have to show why the policy would be beneficial to the district. 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