Corona Parents Thankful For New Facility But Tell CEC 24 More Needs To Be Done
As the District 24 Community Education Council (CEC 24) learned of plans for a new school building in Elmhurst, nearby residents attending the group’s Tuesday, May 22 meeting at nearby P.S. 143 pressed for more facilities to ease area school overcrowding.
Elizabeth Park and Emily Ades of the Department of Education’s (DOE) Office of Portfolio Management explained the plan for P.S. 330, the school currently located at 86-37 53rd Ave. in Elmhurst.
Currently, the 220-seat school- the former site of Ascension school-is being used as an “overflow” site for nearby P.S. 143, lo- cated at 34-74 113th St., meaning that P.S. 330 accepts students who do not fit into P.S. 143.
With a new school building currently being constructed at 111-08 Northern Blvd. in Corona, CEC 24 and the DOE have decided to move the school from its current overflow site to the new building rather than start the new building from scratch, and create a separate zone (the area from which a school draws its students) for the new P.S. 330 rather than continue to use it for overflow.
The new building is scheduled to be ready for the 2013-14 school year.
“This will provide (P.S.) 143 to be able to serve more of their zoned students and overflow less students as they’ve had to do over the past few years,” Ades said.
The new zone would also allow District 24 students currently attending P.S. 139-a District 28 school located at 93-06 63rd Dr. in Rego Park-to return to District 24.
According to CEC 24 President Nick Comaianni, students were originally sent to District 28 as part of an effort to promote better neighborhood relations but was no longer
Park stated that currently, P.S. 330 has 220 pupils, while P.S. 143 has 1,541-1,666 if an annex at the former site of Transfiguration Church School is factored in.
Park added, however, that the DOE’s lease on the site will expire in 2013 (the same year the new P.S. 3330 building is slated to open) and it is not known if the agency will continue to use the space.
P.S. 330’s current home would continue to be utilized by the DOE in some fashion.
P.S. 143’s current zone is generally bounded by Astoria Boulevard to the north, the Grand Central Parkway to the east, Roosevelt Avenue to the south and 104th Street to the west.
The DOE proposes to split the zone at 34th Avenue, with the northern portion going to the new P.S. 330.
The DOE predicts that the new zones will result in four kindergarten classes per year at the new P.S. 330, totaling 95 to 100 students, while P.S. 143 will shrink the number of inboring?” coming kindergarten classes from 13 to 11.
By 2015, the agency intends to seat 550 to 605 students at P.S. 330, while P.S. 143 will have 1,625 to 1,655 students, about 129 percent capacity.
The school’s projected utilization rate “does not account for the fact that rooms can be programmed more efficiently,” Park noted.
Many residents and teachers pushed for more immediate relief. Elsa Avalda, the school’s Parent Teacher Association president, claimed that P.S. 143 currently is built for about 900 students, meaning that the school will remain overcrowded even with the addition.
“The need is now,” said parent Angelica Salgado. “We cannot afford to wait two or three more years.”
Comaianni, in response, noted that this is “the first of five” new school buildings slated for the Corona area in response to overcrowding throughout the district. “We can’t magically make a building appear.”
“The relief will come, ” he stated. “It’s going to take a couple of years for it to come but we’re on the right track.”
CEC 24 Vice President Peter Vercessi noted that the new schools will add 2,000 seats to the area.
“We agree with you it is not enough, but what are we not doing?” asked Vercessi. “We have more schools being built than any district in the city.”
Local parent JoAnn Berger pressed Ades and Park on the projections being used, noting that the DOE is projecting for class sizes a year and a half in advance. Ades countered that the projections are based on the students the school will accept into their kindergarten classes.
Other news
CEC 24 Superintendent Madeline Taub-Chan announced that the chess team at P.S. 307, at 40-20 100th St. in Corona, recently came in second in a national chess tournament.
CEC 24 usually meets on the fourth Tuesday of the month at various locations throughout its district in Queens.
