Queens School District Is Citys Most Crowded

The Fernandez twins got an earful last week on whats wrong with their school, P.S. 19 in Corona. The five-year-old kindergarteners sat between President Clintons Secretary of Education Richard W. Riley and School Chancellor Harold Levy as their school was cited as one of the citys most crowded.
The officials were part of a blue ribbon educational task force that toured the school — one operating at 150 percent over capacity — to drive home the Administration goal of revitalizing urban schools with a surplus of billions of dollars in the national budget.
Although Lucille and Camila Hernandez may not have appreciated the underlying political and budgetary significance for their schools congestion, they did seems to understand the central point.
"Too many children," Camila in K-1 said, as her sister nodded enthusiastically.
Lucille, who is in K-4, chimed in with her own opinion.
"Too noisy because we got too many kids."
The assembled brass assented. They included Congressman Joseph Crowley, whose district includes Community School Board 24; Levy; Borough President Claire Shulman; Terri Thompson, Queens member of the Board of Education; Assemblyman Ivan Lafayette and representatives of the United Federation of Teachers.
They gathered in a "temporary" building at P. S. 19, near Roosevelt Ave., to call for Congressional action to rescue the school and others like it from overcrowding.
Riley asked a sampling of students sitting in front of him, "Youre going to college arent you?"
He described his recent visits to New York City schools.
"I have just come from visiting several classrooms. P.S. 19, like so many other schools in New York City, is a school with no room to spare. Every inch of the school is being used.
"Children are learning in closets, in the hallway, and because there is no cafeteria, the children have to eat their lunch at their desks. and they have no playground."
Riley said he was on his way to Chicago and expected to run into the same school overcrowding there.
Since it was a school holiday, the building was empty except for a handful of students who were on hand to greet the dignitaries.
Crowley called P.S. 19 one of the largest and most diverse elementary schools in the country. He said schools in his Congressional district are nearly 10,000 seats short and that in the next 10 years population growth will expand that figure to five of the six school districts, leaving them almost 45,000 seats short. He orchestrated the event and invited Riley to come to Queens.
Crowley rapped House Republicans, calling them an obstacle to passage of legislation enabling the construction of badly needed schools to replace decaying structures.
According to Catherine Zarbis, P.S. 19 principal for the past three years, there are 2,200 students jammed into the classrooms where children speak more than 50 languages.
Zarbis, who graduated from P.S. 19, said her top priority is for the city to build a new school in teeming Corona.
She said that during the 1998-1999 year enrollment was up to 2,745. The decline in enrollment was due to the opening last year of a new school four blocks away.
"How long have you had these temporary transportable buildings?" Acting Chancellor Levy asked Zarbis.
"Six years," she replied.
"And thats what they mean by temporary," Levy quipped.
Zarbis grimaced and shot back: "We roll with the punches. Its a constant struggle."
The principal said that there were about 32 students to a class and 21 assigned to kindergarten classes.
Levy, the acting chancellor with aspirations to accept the job on a full time basis, drew a comparison between schools in Queens and on the east side of Manhattan and in the suburbs.
"Theres a world of difference," he said. "If we cant reduce class size, were not going to be able to teach children."
He estimated that the city needs at least $24 billion to repair its aging, crumbling schools.
Riley waved to the Hernandez sisters as he left the school under heavy security.