DeWitt Clinton High School’s alumni association is troubled over a proposal by the city Department of Education to add a special education high school to the campus for the next school year. While the group doesn’t object to the program, they’re worried it will significantly diminish the Norwood school’s presence as it begins to hit its stride.

DOE spokesman Doug Cohen confirmed to the Norwood News the agency’s consideration, writing in a statement that it will “continue to work closely with the [Community Education Council] and the entire school community throughout this process to address any feedback and ensure we’re meeting the needs of all our students.”

This doesn’t sit well with DeWitt Clinton Alumni Association Inc. President John Barbarette, who, in a letter to the borough’s Executive Superintendent for the Bronx, Meisha Ross Porter, outlined some concerns. Among them is the placement of 150 high-need students into the building that will automatically take up 16 classrooms in the building’s first floor.

Barbarette said that classroom sizes for DeWitt Clinton High School—which shares its four-story building with Bronx Collaborative and World View High School— will go from 25 to 34 students. The classroom size would maximize the allowable number of students per high school class, according to the current contract by the United Federation of Teachers with the City of New York.

“You are planning to put the program in [DeWitt Clinton] where staff, students, and parents have worked so hard to restore the school to visibility,” wrote Barbarette in his letter to Porter on Feb. 7. “DWC can only be hurt by curtailing its space.” Barbarette has identified 37 schools around the Bronx that can easily take in more students, including Lehman High School, Longwood Preparatory Academy, and the School for Tourism and Hospitality.

The news comes as the storied school overlooking Mosholu Parkway South comes off receivership—those schools that rank in the top five percent of worst-performing schools—allowing the city to remove teachers or make them reapply for their jobs. The hope was to turn the school’s reputation around, which narrowly succeeded, avoiding the city to turn control over to the state. Its graduation rate saw an increase of 62 percent, climbing 16 percentage points from 2017.

Roughly 450 freshman students are expected to enroll next year, according to Barbarette. Co-located schools need to be approved by the Panel for Educational Policy. Over the last few years the need for District 75 seats in District 10 has grown. The DOE estimates there are 670 extra seats available.

Additional reporting by Sha-Nia Alston