District 24 is the most overcrowded school district in New York, according to the School Construction Authority, and to help remedy that, it is receiving the most new schools over the next four years.
Mary Leas, senior manger of external affairs at the SCA, told parents that long-term relief for overcrowding is on the way — but still years away, with six schools opening before 2015.
The Department of Education is still playing catch-up though. The district will need thousands more seats even after the construction, Leas said at the Community Education Council 24 meeting on Nov. 22.
The areas of Maspeth, Middle Village, Glendale, Ridgewood, Elmhurst and Corona covered by District 24 will get 4,299 new seats — 2,605 less than the Department of Education says the area needs.
“These are the additional seats that we recognize we need for your district, but we don’t have money right now,” Leas said.
Overall, six new schools and an addition will help alleviate crowding. Ridgewood will get 616 seats at PS 290 in 2014. Middle Village will get a 140-seat at existing PS 87. Leas also said there was leftover money for 180 more seats, but the District has nowhere to put them at this point.
She said the good news is none of the projects have been cut due to budget concerns, and at this point, they are in either the design or building faze and look to be locked in.
“It’s all based on utilization and your district is the most overcrowded,” she told the CEC. “It has consistently been, as soon as we build them, you fill them up.”
Overcrowding is an issue CEC 24 has continually tackled, with schools in Corona being a particularly hot spot.
CEC 24 President Nick Comaianni said the board has been involved early and often with the planning process, even giving the SCA ultimatums to include space for gyms and science labs at new schools so they could be used all the way up to high school if needed.
He said that involvement helped them finalize projects as quickly as possible in an effort to guarantee funding before a delay could kill the construction.
“In my experience, once a project has been prolonged, it might not happen,” he said.
These projects are being added as part of the November amendment to the SCA’s Capital Improvement Plan, Leas said. In the amendment, the SCA identified the city needs 50,000 new seats for students, but could only provide 29,000, and District 24 got a good chunk of those desks.
CEC 24 Vice President, Peter Vercessi asked how the projects in District 24 stack up to the rest of the districts in New York.
“I don’t know any district that’s getting more than this district,” Leas said. “You’re the most overcrowded district; you deserve the most schools.”
By Jeremiah Dobruck
j.dobruck@theforumnewsgroup.com
