By Adam Kramer
The Council accepted the plan by a vote of 46-0. It also won unanimous approval from the Council's Land Use Committee.
The project involves construction of a new elementary school, a new middle school and a high school on the Creedmoor campus.
“It is an exceptional site, which I jog by several times a week, that lends itself to the building of schools,” said City Councilman Sheldon Leffler (D-Hollis) “You can't give students a quality education without seats.
“I commend the community for allowing seat and school creation. It is a very desirable project for all the people in Queens County.”
He said at the Monday's Borough Board meeting it was reported that there will be a shortfall of 29,000 seats in Queens over the next year. He said both school districts that will benefit from the new schools – School District 26 and School District 29 – are overcrowded and in desperate need of seats.
“The borough president supports the building of the schools,” said Dan Andrews, a spokesman for Claire Shulman. “It is a good location and adequate space for the complex.”
He said Shulman put together a task force to determine the best use for the site when the state decided to release the land and thinks the schools are a necessary investment for Queens and its children's future.
“The vote was expected and now they can start construction,” said Robert Benfatto, a spokesman for Leffler. He said there are still issues involving budgeting for playgrounds and ballfields.
The city Board of Education plans to build the three schools, an outdoor playground and 250 parking places on 19.3 acres of a 32.7-acre plot of the Creedmoor Psychiatric Hospital campus.
The Glen Oaks School Campus will be located at 78-70 Grand Central Parkway North on a block bounded by Grand Central Parkway to the north, Commonwealth Boulevard to the east, Union Turnpike to the south and the Cross Island Parkway to the west.
Two of the schools, prekindergarten through eighth grade, will be run by the Chancellor's School District and a high school will serve the Queens High School Division.
The elementary schools will hold 1,685 students: a 760-seat PS/IS 266Q and a 925-seat PS/IS 208Q serving School Districts 26 and 29 students. The 1,182-seat high school – the High School of Teaching Professions – will serve all Queens high school students.
The plan differs from the original proposal that called for a 704-seat elementary school, a 900-seat intermediate school and a 1,000-seat high school. According to the School Construction Authority, the schools are needed in both school districts and the high school division.
District 26, which covers northeast Queens, and District 29, which includes a large segment of southeast Queens, operate at a 105 percent utilization rate in the elementary schools and a 100 percent utilization rate in the intermediate schools, the SCA said. Queens high schools operate at 124 percent of capacity, according to the agency.
School Board 29 President Nathaniel Washington said the new schools on the Creedmoor campus were good for the borough but not necessarily for District 29.
“There were other sites in District 29 to build schools,” he said. “Some parents have some reservations about sending the district's students to the new schools, which are outside of the district.”
