PS11 located in Clinton Hill, Brooklyn currently serves 602 students in grades Pre-Kindergarten to Grade 5. By utilizing a school wide enrichment model PS11 successfully provides students with a comprehensive curriculum that is sensitive to individual learning needs and styles, while encouraging and cultivating individual strengths. Currently PS11 parents are working with the school's administration to move forward with a comprehensive plan for expansion into a PreK-8 school. Our belief in the need to expand Public School 11 to include grades 6 through 8 stems from our recognition that parents, students, teachers and the broader community are calling for quality middle school options in District 13. This expansion will build upon the growing and already strong reputation that PS11 has garnered as a family and community-oriented school with rigorous academic and enrichment programs. The expansion of PS11 will provide students and parents with the opportunity to benefit from continuity of education and relationships during a critical developmental stage. As children enter the tumultuous years of early adolescence, it makes sense to keep interested students in the same nurturing environment where they have established roots and have a demonstrated history of success.

The expansion of PS11 will also have a positive impact on all District 13 students. Some of our local schools (PS282, Arts and Letters) have expanded to serve elementary and middle school populations, resulting in a reduction of available middle school seats for PS11's fifth grade students and other students across the district. PS11's expansion to a PreK-8 school will have a mitigating effect on this reduction. Expanding PS11 will likely entice many families to keep their children enrolled in District 13 schools rather than fleeing to other districts.

Our rich standards-based science, mathematics and arts program will serve as the bridge into a vibrant middle school. Benefiting from its Clinton Hill location which is home to many historic and landmarked buildings, the PS11 middle school will utilize the educational contributions of surrounding institutions and the evolving cityscape to provide students with access to hands-on collaborations and interdisciplinary projects that will build on the core strengths of our elementary school program, the arts, science and mathematics.

Please express your support of our initiative for expansion of PS11 to a PreK-8 school by signing this petition.