Building On Education:
Boroughwide Hunt For Room To Teach

Once a month, a War Room Meeting is convened in the conference rooms of Queens Borough Hall. It’s a battle over land and the generals on hand include the Borough President, School Board Superintendents, the School Construction Authority and the Division of School Facilities. Their goal is to keep up with and cut through the bureaucracy in order to make a little more room for learning.

Borough President Claire Shulman has declared a personal state of emergency over the overcrowding in her borough, and with unquestioning determination, she told the Tribune last week that she would see the five-year funding secured by the Mayor for construction in the borough was used and the schools were built.

The "War Room Meetings," as she calls them, are based on a long list of projects currently being investigated or in progress around the borough and the list is dated each month to show the progress – or lack of progress – for each site.

But the problem, as site selection continues and construction slowly creeps forward, is that to add new schools you need someplace to build them, and open space does not come easily in Queens – nor is it easy to make neighborhoods understand why their space is being enlisted.

John Ciafone, vice-president of Community School Board 30, put it simply, "Queens is essentially built to the max." There’s a lack of vacant land in Queens, particularly in the residential and commercial business-filled neighborhoods which would benefit the most from new schools.

Karen Koslowitz, the Queens member of the City Council’s Education Committee, explained "due to the severe lack of space in Queens schools, educators are looking at sites for schools that never would have been thought of otherwise - there’s no other choice."

Community School District 24, which includes the neighborhoods of Woodside, Maspeth, Middle Village, Ridgewood and Sunnyside, is the most overcrowded school district in the entire City. Despite that, two recent plans to add schools were met by mixed reaction from the community.

In Woodside, despite support from some parents, plans for a 1,000 elementary seat school are still up in the air following objections from a number of community leaders. A date for a public hearing to determine the fate of the school, which would be located at the site of a former Stevens appliance store on Queens Boulevard, has not yet been announced according to Community Board 2 District Manager Dolores Rizzotto.

Back in the Spring, Community Board 2 voted in opposition of the school by a vote of two-to-one. The Board cited safety concerns due to the school being located on Queens Boulevard — arguably the most dangerous stretch of highway in the borough, for their disapproval. The Board also stated the site is in transition and a 30-year lease has already been signed to convert the building into a PC Richards electronics store.

"We need new schools, and we want new schools -- just not in the site chosen," said Joseph Conley, chairperson of Community Board 2. Aside from leasing problems, Conley believes "it would be extremely dangerous for children to traverse Queens Boulevard," and also cited environmental concerns due to a trucking company and gas station nearby.

CB 2 suggested the Board of Education look into more "appropriate sites," including the Schemmerhorn Music Factory and the former New York Times building. Borough President Claire Shulman and Schools Chancellor Harold Levy have vowed to fight for the school’s opening.

A proposed, 900-seat elementary school in Maspeth ran into similar difficulties. Some local leaders and community members were opposed to the school due to safety concerns regarding the school’s proposed location on Grand Avenue, considered by some to be dangerous for young students.

The Maspeth site was originally slated to become a Staples, but the school will indeed open following a month-long City Council hearing held in the spring which found in favor of the Board of Education. In cases where landlords refuse to sell their properties to the Board of Ed., the City has the legal right to condemn the property.

Ciafone said, "Although many residents and community leaders speak of the need for new schools, when it comes down to a new school opening in their particular community, they often have a typical ‘not in my backyard’ policy."

School District 30 has been successful in securing sights for new schools, but not without controversy. A new, 655 seat elementary school will open in the district this September – in the middle of a residential block.

Due to the location of the school, it has drawn protest from the community but will open this fall. The building, whose exterior has been designated a landmark by the City, is a former Jewish Synagogue.

According to Arlene Fleishman, member of Flushing, Whitestone and College Point’s School District 25, overcrowding in one district school was lessened by the conversion of an unused garage, located across the street from the school, for educational purposes. Said Ron Levine, spokesperson for Central Queens’ School District 28, "wherever there’s even a reasonable amount of unused space, you have to be hopeful and try to make the best out of it."

In attempts to alleviate overcrowding in their district, Southeast Queens’ School District 29 has drawn criticism from local residents regarding plans to open a 900-seat junior high school - on the grounds of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Facility. Despite the large amount of open space available on the grounds of Creedmoor, many within the community have called the plan "ludicrous" and parents are concerned about the safety of their children due to the large number of outpatients who currently visit the facility.

Also not without its share of controversy, Queens College plans to build a several-hundred seat elementary school on the north side of the campus facing Kissena Boulevard. Although supported by the local community board, nearby residents have stated concerns about the school, largely traffic-related. The school has recently run into problems, with construction currently being put on hold due to uncertainty regarding the site chosen.

"We only have enough funding for one new school, so we better make it count," said Fleishman, whose district will need to accommodate an estimated four to five hundred additional incoming students this school year.

It is estimated that Queens schools will be short some tens of thousands of school seats this coming school year — while already operating at well over 100 percent capacity. The overcrowding has resulted in as many as 35- 40 students in some Queens classrooms, which school officials have labeled "unacceptable."

While the other four boroughs’ populations have stabilized and declined, thanks to immigration and a good quality of living, Queens’ population has grown and continues to do so - an estimated 30,000 each year. School officials claim the population increase has directly resulted in the lack of space for students and the need for new schools.

Last school year, some Queens schools were forced to lease room from nearby churches and attach mobile trailers to school yards. Some students were bused around their districts based on seat availability.

However, some are hopeful there is an end in sight for the overcrowding. "The population increase is cyclical," said Fleishman, who has served on School District 25 for over two decades. "Eventually, the growth of new students will level off. If history serves right, it will have to."

School seats are needed as soon as possible, and the process of starting a new school is a long one. First, the Board of Education’s Division of School Facilities searches out a site and requests a feasibility study from the City’s School Construction Authority (SCA), which operates independently from but works with the Board of Ed.

The SCA feasibility study includes environmental impact of the school as well as impact on the surrounding community. Plans are then subject to public hearings and must meet the approval of the local community board, the local school board, the City Council, the Mayor’s office, and the public.

The following projects were on the agenda for the August 10 War Room Meeting at Borough Hall. The listing includes the School Board number and the project number of seats to come:

• District 24: Rollover Capital Projects, 2,075 total seats; New Capital
  Plan Projects, 11,522 total seats; Completed, 2, 315 total seats.

• District 25: Rollover Capital Projects, 1,320; New Capital Plan Projects, 0;
  Completed, 1,140.

• District 27: Rollover Capital Projects, 2,152; New Capital Plan Projects,
  2,498; Completed, 1,548.

• District 28: Rollover Capital Projects, 650; New Capital Plan Projects, 0;
  Completed, 1,263 total seats.

• District 29: Rollover Capital Projects, 1,465; New Capital Plan Projects,
  2,112; Completed, 660.

• District 30: Rollover Capital Projects, 1,243; New Capital Plan Projects,
  2,314; Completed, 1,783.

• 78Q: Rollover Capital Projects, 4,000; New Capital Plan Projects, 8,850;
  Completed, 0.