Due to school overcrowding, Queens students have been taking their classes in trailers like this one. Photo courtesy of Office of the Queens Borough President.
Queens Borough President Melinda Katz, in January’s State of the Borough address, was firm in outlining a plan to reduce overcrowding in Queens schools. Calling it her “#1 priority,” she listed the schools that would get relief by year’s end: P.S. 55 in Jamaica, P.S. 70 in Astoria, P.S. 92 in Corona, and Richmond Hill High School.
“We need to get our kids, once and for all, out of these trailers we call classrooms,” she said.
And just a few weeks later, plans were underway to permanently expand capacity that’s been long overdue at P.S. 19Q in Corona, the largest elementary school in New York City. The plans include removing all six school Temporary Classroom Units, or trailers, at P.S. 19Q and temporarily relocating 500 of its students to a nearby newly-constructed building until the completed construction of a new physical addition to P.S. 19Q.
Despite the overcrowding, P.S. 19Q is an “A Grade” school, and meets or exceeds all of its student performance targets according to the New York City Department of Education 2013-2014 School Quality Guide. In addition, P.S. 19Q students are rated as having made excellent year-to-year progress on the statewide English and Math tests, according to the DOE 2013-2014 School Quality Snapshot.
“Classroom trailers are like Band-Aids – you can make it pretty, but it’s always a temporary fix and should never be a permanent solution,” said Queens Borough President Melinda Katz. “For too long, P.S. 19 has been inadvertently punished for its own success.”
Of the School Construction Authority’s $13.5 billion 2015-2019 Capital Plan, $4.5 billion has been set aside for new school construction, which will include the new physical addition for P.S. 19Q. The Capital Plan will create around 33,000 seats to address overcrowding and enrollment growth, and also takes significant steps to address pre-K need and invest in school infrastructure to enhance educational opportunities for our children.
Other schools are on track to be trailer-less within a few years, including P.S. 11 and I.S. 125 in Woodside, P.S. 163 in Fresh Meadows, and Bayside High School.
By Forum Staff
