New Campus To Open Next Sept.
A Department of Education (DOE) proposal for a new school zone to include P.S. 339, scheduled to open for the 2015-16 school year was presented to Community Education Council (CEC) District 30 during a public hearing on Monday, Sept. 22, at Woodside’s P.S. 11.
The school will likely begin with kindergarten students, and add a grade each year until grade five, according to DOE office of District Panning representatives Dean Guzman and Sarah Turchin. The new zone, and elementary school at 39-07 57th St., are needed to alleviate overcrowding in the district, Guzman stated.
“We’re here for the purpose of determining or presenting a new zone for a new school, P.S. 339,” Isaac Carmignani, co-president of CEC District 30 said.
The proposed boundaries of the new district would take a near hexagonal shape within Woodside from 37th Avenue, to 63rd Street, and from Roosevelt Avenue to Woodside Avenue, the DOE officials stated.
Representatives of the DOE met with CEC 30 members and principals to draft the zone’s boundaries, Guzman said.
“Once we came to a resolution on zoning we present it to the community,” Guzman said.
Turchin addressed how the zone boundaries were decided and the proposal for the new zone developed. She said the DOE looks into seat supply and demand when deciding to propose a new zone.
District 30 Superintendent Phil Composto will now collect feedback on the proposal and District 30 anticipates voting on the proposal during its Oct. 16 meeting, the DOE stated.
Composto answered some attendees questions following the proposal and said the new zone was needed because “P.S. 11 and P.S. 152 are already over utilized.”
There will most likely be three kindergarten sessions with 60-70 students beginning at the new school, with enrollment topping out at between 435 and 535 as grades are added.
Some attendees were concerned that their children may be taken out of schools they are happy in if the new zone incudes where they live.
“We will not take any children out,” Composto said. “If they are attending P.S. 11 or 152, they can remain there.”
Jacalyn Lee, senior director at the office of New School and Community Partnerships presented to the council on how new schools are developed and said it is done in partnership with stakeholders to fill community needs.
