School overcrowding in Queens, as well as citywide, is a problem that has persisted for years and this year is no exception.
A recent survey by the United Federation of Teachers (UFT) said that about 230,000 students or close to 25 percent of the entire school system spent “part or all of their first few weeks of the 2013 school year in overcrowded classes.”
The UFT survey went on to pinpoint that nearly 800 of the overcrowded classes were found in three Queens’ high schools: Benjamin Cardozo in Bayside, Hillcrest in Jamaica and Forest Hills High School.
Moreover, Dmytro Fedkowskyj, the Queens Borough Appointee to the Panel for Educational Policy (PEP), said that, locally, overcrowding is especially bad in Districts 24 and 30.
“The borough could always use more seats,” Fedkowskyj said. “There are pockets of overcrowding throughout the borough.”
Nick Comaianni, president of Community Education Council 24, said that District 24, which includes Glendale, Ridgewood, Middle Village, Elmhurst, Corona and Woodside, remains the most overcrowded in the city with about 90 percent of the district’s schools being classified as overcrowded or having more students than available seats.
A spokesperson for the Department of Education (DOE) said that school registers were still in the process of being adjusted and that it was still too early to determine “exactly” where overcrowded conditions exist in the borough.
Regarding the borough’s overcrowding problem, Fedkowskyj said, “We need more seats in some districts, because the demand continues to surpass the supply.”
He also stressed the need for enhanced technology in every school “sooner than later in order to give our students the most optimal learning experience.”
But, technology aside, Comaianni said that two of the biggest contributing factors to the overcrowding problem are illegal tenements, which can house multiple families uncounted by the Census as well as people giving false addresses in order to have their kids attend preferred schools.
“Any additional school seats we add can’t keep pace with the population growth in the district,” he said, adding that much of the worst overcrowding exists in the northern part of District 24 including Corona, Elmhurst and Woodside.
Other problems, said Comaianni, include the amount of time it takes to site and build new schools. “Many new schools are still years away,” he said, noting that some new schools recently opened include PS 290 in Ridgewood and an extension at PS 87 in Middle Village.
“As fast as we build new schools, that’s how fast they are once again overcrowded,” he said.
As part of the DOE’s most recent five-year capital plan, 7,000 seats were added to the district yet Comaianni said that even those expansions of capacity were not enough to keep pace with growth in the district.
Fedkowskyj, who last year held a parent meeting at Queens Borough Hall with the School Construction Authority, where they presented the current capital plan that was approved by the PEP and City Council before June 2013, said that more seats are still needed to address chronic overcrowding issues.
“While the plan has been ambitious, and the School Construction Authority has done a great job building some wonderful new schools, we still need an increase in the capital plan budget to meet the needs of the Borough,” Fedkowskyj said.
Overall, the current Capital Plan will add 33,888 seats with total capital improvements for Districts 24 and 27 totaling about $183 million.
New schools on the horizon in District 24 include PS 315 in North Corona/Elmhurst, which will add 1,110 new seats with a projected opening in 2015 and IS 311 in North Corona, which will add 785 new seats, slated to open in 2016.
In District 27, PS 316 in Ozone Park/Woodhaven will add 444 seats, scheduled to open next year.
Comaianni added that building new schools also poses its own set of problems.
“Locating buildings for new schools in Queens is a big challenge as the locations have to be approved by the local community boards and space, especially in District 24, is very limited.”
By Alan Krawitz
