Manhattan, NYC: Special elem school opening; 2 staff to 6 or 8 students
- The end of childhood
- Aug 6, 2025
- 2 min read
Aug 3, 2025, NY City, West Side Rag: New Special Education Elementary School to Open This Fall on the Upper West Side
The city’s Department of Education (DOE) is opening an Early Childhood Learning center this fall at 1972 Broadway (between West 66th and 67th streets). The elementary program, known as District 75, will be geared toward students with special needs such as autism, cognitive delays, emotional disabilities, and sensory impairments.
Starting in September, the center is expected to have 36 to 48 students, who will be divided into six specialized classroom settings. Each classroom will have one teacher and one paraprofessional for six to eight students, “based on their individualized education programs,” a DOE spokesperson wrote to the Rag. .
The school covers three floors that used to be a Century 21 department store, which closed in December 2020. City Councilmember Gale Brewer and Kristen Berger, who co-chairs Community Board 7’s Youth Education & Libraries Committee, did a walkthrough of the renovated space in February. “I was blown away, because it is so beautiful,” Berger said on a call with the Rag. “Any student and any teacher would be really happy and delighted to be in that building.” . . .
“We’ve already heard from almost 100 families with one or more children turning four in 2025, 2026, 2027, or 2028 who have completed our survey and are interested in sending them to this space,” Brewer wrote in her newsletter.
The DOE’s own data also suggests that demand for special education programs has grown.
Over the past five years, enrollment of elementary school students attending a District 75 program has increased by approximately 23% in Manhattan and by 8% in public school District 3, which covers the Upper West Side and Lincoln Square, Brewer wrote.
Comments