New Schools Ready For Fall Debut

By Jessica Ablamsky

Local students will see some relief this fall from persistent overcrowding. At a price tag of nearly $240 million, Queens will gain 3,120 seats in grades 6-12, some of which were sited in temporary facilities.

The new Metropolitan Campus in Forest Hills will house three schools and serve 1,700 students.

Currently located in a former synagogue, Gateway to Health Sciences Secondary School will debut this fall in its brand new, $70 million building at the Queens Hospital Center at 160-20 Goethals Ave, in Jamaica Hills.

The 805-seat school will open for 2010-11 with grades 7-12, with a sixth grade planned for the 2011-12 school year.

The new four-story, air conditioned high school building features art, music and standard classrooms, science and technology labs and the usual school building fare.

Gateway will also house a District 75 special education school, P752. In 2010-11, the school will serve 42 kids in six designated classrooms.

Two notoriously overcrowded high schools in Central Queens, Forest Hills High School and Newtown High School, might have fewer faces this fall, thanks to the Metropolitan Avenue Campus at 91-30 Metropolitan Ave. in Forest Hills.

Located on the site of the former Queens Morgue, the Gateway School is set to open in two weeks.

Featuring three schools, the $158 million campus will house more than 1,700 students.

A District 75 school will provide 200 new seats, while Metropolitan Expeditionary Learning School will offer grades 6-12 for 700 students citywide. The locally zoned Queens Metropolitan High School, with room for 1,000 kids, will accept students from parts of District 24 and 28.

Each fully air conditioned school will have its own administration area, cafeteria, classrooms, gym, library and meeting rooms. They will share the auditorium and outdoor recreation areas.

Although not technically new, the Young Women’s Leadership Academy opened a couple of years ago, the school is phasing in the last of its students this fall.

Located at 23-15 Newtown Ave. in Astoria, the $15 million renovation of Our Lady of Mount Carmel made room for 540 students in grades 6-12. Of those, 140 are slated to open this fall.

The all-girls school focuses on math, science, technology, community service and leadership.

Upgrades included renovation on 16 classrooms, such as art, music, practice and resource rooms, a dance studio, guidance suites, full kitchen, library and tech lab.

Reach Reporter Jessica Ablamsky at jablamsky@queenstribune.com or (718) 357-7400, Ext. 124.