P.S. 187 Backlash

Next spring or summer, work will likely begin on a $113 million addition to P.S. 187, the big elementary and middle school on Cabrini Boulevard.

The project will involve years of construction and permanently alter P.S. 187’s enormous schoolyard.

These are big changes, and not everyone is convinced they make sense. But if city officials feel a pressing need to get community buy-in for the project, they haven’t yet done much to seek it. Many people involved with P.S. 187 say that communication has been patchy. Since announcing the plan, leaders haven’t held dedicated town halls or listening sessions, or engaged in the kind of civic diplomacy that sometimes accompanies big community projects. Basic details about the addition remain fuzzy.

The backlash has arrived. Some teachers are upset. Parents who are opposed to the proposal are organizing. And on Oct. 2, P.S. 187 parent Hila Milo Rasouly launched a petition calling for the city to pause the project and hold a public hearing on the plans. More than 800 people have signed so far.

The Timeline

In 2022, lawmakers passed new class-size limits for NYC public schools. One result is that certain schools, including P.S. 187, now have classrooms with far more students than the policy requires. That basically leaves two paths for the overcrowded school: cut enrollment significantly, or find additional space.

Parents were involved in conversations about how to address the class-size problem. But it’s not clear who made the ultimate call to build an addition. Multiple teachers told me that, during a meeting in June 2025, school leaders informed them that P.S. 187 would get a large addition. The announcement caught many of them by surprise. 

In December 2025, the principal and district superintendent wrote to parents announcing the plans. This past June, representatives of the School Construction Authority and NYC Public Schools offered a brief update to the Community Education Council and to a community-board committee, and they took some questions.

Recently, the school circulated an FAQ sharing some information about the project — much of which has been public for months. It says the five-story addition will include a music room, two art classrooms, a science lab, a lunchroom, and a medical suite. It will also include 20 additional classrooms for the school.

City officials say the plan is to spread the current student body — around 750 kids — throughout the larger space, not to grow the overall enrollment of the school. (Some people in the school community, citing the size of the proposed addition, don't buy this.)

The project is currently in the design phase, and the School Construction Authority aims to open the new space by September 2030. 

Pros and Cons

The case for the addition goes something like this: The School Construction Authority expects to spend billions to help comply with new class-size mandates. This project represents a major investment of capital in the neighborhood. It will bring new amenities to P.S. 187, and it will allow the school to reduce the size of its classes.

At a Community Education Council meeting in June, NYC Public Schools planning official Eric Herman explained that P.S. 187 is “a very high demand and popular school,” and that officials didn’t want to cut seats. It's not hard to imagine the reasoning here: At a time when public-school enrollment is dropping and families are migrating to charters with sleek new buildings, officials might not want to turn away families from a popular public school.

“Educational equity means expanding access, not protecting exclusivity!” one social-media commenter wrote in favor of the project last week.

But there are skeptics. One objection is about the numbers. Enrollment is projected to drop sharply in District 6 in the next decade. Already, the district as a whole is under capacity, and some local schools have so few students that they may be in danger of closing. In that context, does it make sense to spend $113 million on a new space instead of redistributing students and resources to other schools?

Other people worry about how the construction will affect students. And parents and teachers have questions about losing some portion of P.S. 187’s spacious schoolyard, which is a popular neighborhood gathering spot. 

This week, I spoke with three P.S. 187 teachers who are concerned about the project. They all requested anonymity, and they all shared similar observations: They question whether officials above them have done enough to consider alternatives, such as taking in fewer students. They worry about how students will thrive during years of construction, when access to the yard is limited or nonexistent — or after the construction is finished, if a big chunk of the yard is lost. “The yard is 187,” one teacher told me, quoting a former student. 

“If you change the school the way they want to change it, no one is going to love this school anymore,” another said.

Several teachers and parents also described feeling left out of the loop. "There’s just so many unknowns. And it’s frustrating," said Valentina Spalten Sbarra, a P.S. 187 parent. She listed off several of her questions: Where will recess take place during construction? And how much of the yard will be gone afterward?

A Design by Early Next Year 

Since March, I’ve tried multiple times to arrange an interview with District 6 Superintendent Renzo Martinez or Principal Emel Topbas-Mejia. So far, spokespeople for NYC Public Schools haven’t granted those requests.

Onika Richards, one of those spokespeople, referred questions for this story to the School Construction Authority.

Over the past few months, SCA spokesperson Kevin Ortiz has been responsive to questions. In an email to me this week, he said the SCA will solicit community feedback during this design phase “as part of a collaborative process.” And, he said, “we anticipate sharing the completed design with the community early next year.” 

According to Ortiz, P.S. 187 leaders reached out to the SCA earlier this week to set up a meeting with the school community. Caroline Jose and Noemi Diaz, co-presidents of the Community Education Council, also told me they’re “hoping to coordinate a community town hall” on the project.

“Transparency and community engagement are essential to the SCA’s work,” Ortiz wrote. He added that he and his colleagues “have kept the school community apprised of developments every step of the way.” 

Disclosure for all education stories: I have children enrolled in a neighborhood public school.