Photo Courtesy of CEC 27
Despite opposition from Sen. Addabbo (standing) and Community Board 10, CEC 27 voted in favor of a change in zoning regulations for PS 335, which is scheduled to open in fall 2017.
By Michael V. Cusenza
Despite a vocal opposition that included State Sen. Joe Addabbo, Jr. (D-Howard Beach) and Community Board 10, Community Education Council 27 on Monday voted in favor of changes to the zoning regulations of a new elementary school set to open next fall in Ozone Park.
Addabbo and CB 10 have denounced the adjustment because it opens PS 335’s doors to large numbers of students from neighborhoods outside of Centreville.
“While I, along with CB 10, don’t agree with the approved zoning, I am prepared to work with any entity to ensure a successful education environment for PS 335,” Addabbo wrote in an email to The Forum.
Addabbo reached out the Department of Education in July, asking the agency to ensure that PS 335 is opened strictly to children who live nearby. In a letter to the DOE Queens Office of District Planning, Addabbo urged the department to see that CEC 27’s vote in favor of keeping PS 335 zoned for families in area neighborhoods is upheld in order to help ease overcrowding in not only the new Centreville school and in other Ozone Park schools, but also the overcrowding that exists in nearby schools, like PS 146 in Howard Beach.
Addabbo learned earlier this month that the DOE instead has amended its plans to include approximately 250 residences outside the originally agreed-upon zone, about half of which are two-family homes and threaten to take up more than 400 of the schools approximately 500 available spots.
The changes to the zoning map for PS 335 also jeopardize the DOE’s assurance that buses would not be utilized, as the school was originally meant to be a building only for students within walking distance, Addabbo noted.
“The tight residential area where the building is set to open cannot handle the congestion that will be brought about by busing students who live further from the school than originally expected,” the senator said. “This is not the plan that we were informed of by the DOE, and this is certainly not something this community would have ever agreed to.”
As Addabbo noted last week, this is not the first time the DOE has changed the direction of PS 335. Earlier in the year, the DOE mentioned the school might be considered for a middle school instead of the elementary school that was proposed to the community. Collectively, local elected officials and the community successfully restored the facility’s elementary status.
