Nov. 14, 2012 By Christian Murray
The New York City School Construction Authority announced last night at a Woodside town hall meeting that it has approved plans to add 300 seats to PS 11 through the building of an annex—as well as build a new school nearby.
Education officials said last night that PS11, located at 54-24 Skillman Ave., is one of the most overcrowded schools in the city. The school, with 1,350 students, is at 126% capacity and its yard is dotted with about 10 trailers.
Mary Leas, executive director of the School Construction Authority (SCA), hopes that the annex—plus the addition of a new 440-seat elementary school on 39th Ave. and 57th Street will alleviate the problem. Neighboring schools, such as PS150 is at 110% and PS 152 at 120%, also face overcrowding issues.
The new school, to be called PS 339, is scheduled to open September 2015, with the completion of the annex to be ready after that. The new school will be a 5 story building, with a cafeteria and gym on the first floor.
Leas said the School Construction Authority was initially hesitant to build the annex since it was a tough site to build on. However, she said, the SCA went back and reviewed the site and worked out a way for it to be done.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who organized the town hall meeting, said he was “thrilled by the news. I have been pushing for this for some time.”
