By Bill Parry
State Assemblymen Francisco Moya (D-Jackson Heights) and Michael DenDekker (D-East Elmhurst) joined forces to call on voters to approve the Smart Schools Bond Act in November. The bill would help pay for the replacement of classroom trailers with permanent classroom space, the construction of new facilities for pre-kindergarten and the purchase of new educational technology equipment.
“Kids belong in classrooms, not trailers,” Moya said. The classroom trailers used throughout the city pose a health and safety risk for our students. If we are truly focused on the futures of our students, we must provide them with the learning environments that expand the mind, not chill the bones.”
Moya went “back to school” at PS 19Q in Corona, attending a class in order to expose the inadequacy of the classroom trailers. During the 2012-2013 school year over 7,100 student attended class in more that 350 trailers that are distributed throughout the city. Of the nearly 120 schools utilizing trailers, half of them are in Queens, including PS 19Q, which is operating at 126 percent capacity. Teachers report that the heating systems are inadequate, causing illness in some students, and that some trailers leak during rainstorms, have mold and rodents. Additionally, some trailers are as old as 20 and have begun to fall apart, according to Moya.
“There is no reason why any students in a city as prosperous and modern as New York should be going to class in rusting, thin-walled trailers,” he said. “New York is a world-class city and our students deserve a world-class education, not classrooms fit for the junkyard.”
After the class, Moya joined DenDekker with a group of concerned parents. “An old, rusting trailer is an unacceptable environment to learn in, and no student should have to call that a classroom,” DenDekker said.
Berta Asistimbay, a mother of two students at PS 19Q said, “My daughter was in them last year and she told me that when the bathrooms didn’t work, she had to run back and forth into the building to go to the bathroom, which during the winter meant she was always cold and wet and gave her a cough and respiratory problems.”
PS 19Q first-grader Julio Zhumi Jr. attended class in a trailer last year and said, “I had to wear two pants to school because it was so cold in there.”
During the 2014 legislative session, the Assembly and Senate joined in a bipartisan manner to include the Smart Schools Bond Act in the final budget. It would only be enacted if approved by voters on Election Day.
If passed, the measure would authorize the state comptroller to issue and sell bonds up to $2 billion. The revenue received from the sale of those bonds would replace classroom trailers with permanent classroom space, construct or modernize educational facilities, install high-tech security features and purchase educational technology equipment.
“Our children deserve the best education and learning environment possible for us to provide that for them,” DenDekker said. “By voting in favor of the Smart Schools Bond Act, New Yorkers can help us do just that.”
Reach reporter Bill Parry by e-mail at bparry@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4538.
