Metropolitan Avenue schools move forward

City Councilmembers Melinda Katz, Dennis Gallagher and community members are continuing their 10-year fight in order to ease the overcrowded schools in their districts.
&#8220We desperately need a junior high and a high school,” said Barbara Stuchinski, President of the Forest Hills Community & Civic Association.
The Department of Education (DOE) is still designing plans for a locally zoned 1,000-seat high school and a district choice 700-seat junior high school along Metropolitan Avenue, with construction scheduled to begin in 2007, according to a spokesperson for the DOE.
&#8220This district for too long has been overcrowded,” Katz said. &#8220We are happy that there will be a high school; there's no doubt about that.”
Margie Feinberg, a DOE spokesperson said that the 6-12 school would be district choice, meaning that anyone living within the district could apply and a &#8220vast majority of students” would come from within roughly 1.5 miles of the school. However, she said that there will be exceptions for students who live outside the area.
While Feinberg said that this encompasses a greater area than a locally zoned school, Gallagher expressed satisfaction with the determination.
&#8220Absolutely, I hope that the DOE is willing to put that in writing,” he said. &#8220For all intents and purposes, I consider that locally-zoned, and I think that will benefit the community.”
Katz also was happy with the DOE's decision saying that the community will bear the burden of the foot and car traffic, so they should be the ones that benefit from the additional school.
It is too early to discuss how applications would be selected for the 6-12 school, but that would be determined in the future, according to Feinberg.
Nearly 10 years ago, Katz and Gallagher helped lead the fight to keep this area from being turned into a movie theater and throughout that time have gone through environmental, monetary and other issues that have delayed the school construction.
Gallagher said that all of the obstacles that plagued them in the past no longer appear, and he wants to see progress quickly.