By Adam Kramer
But help is on the way.
The district, which covers Queens Village, Springfield Gardens, Rosedale, Laurelton and parts of Jamaica and Fresh Meadows, has tapped three properties as sites for new schools and is expanding two old schools to help alleviate the overcrowding. The new construction will add 2,642 new classroom seats by 2003.
Dan McCormack, a spokesman for the city's School Construction Authority, said the new schools are expected to be built by March 2003. The two expansion projects should be completed by next November, he said.
He said the sites for the new schools are a property on 222-21 Jamaica Ave. in Queens Village, 175-02 Jamaica Ave. in Jamaica, and 234th Street and Merrick Boulevard in Laurelton.
The additions are being built at PS 181 in Springfield Gardens and PS 195 in Rosedale.
Nonetheless, School Board 29 member Leroy Comrie said more needs to be done.
“The School Construction Authority's construction project is supposed to put a dent in the overcrowding,” he said. “The problem is we will probably be at the same utilization rate when the construction is completed with the projected number of students coming in over the next four years.”
“We need at least five more schools – it is not just over-utilization but classroom size,” he said.
The district's 23 elementary schools and five middle schools, which provide classroom seats for 27,000 students, are operating at a utilization rate of 130 percent.
Each of the new schools will accommodate 704 students and the addition at PS 181 will add 230 seats while PS 195 will get another 300 seats.
McCormack said the SCA is working on preliminary architectural plans and is doing environmental testing on the sites.
Comrie said most of the classrooms in the district have more students than the seats allotted by the Board of Education. Comrie said the few schools that have been able to find desks for students this year will be over the limit in the next few years.
The overcrowding is so bad that some schools such as IS 59, the Gifted and Talented School in Springfield Gardens, and PS 131, the Abigail Adams School in Jamaica Estates, do not have enough lunchroom space to accommodate all of their students. The schools start serving lunch at 10:30 a.m. to provide a meal for every student.
McCormack said the SCA is seeking input on the projects from community officials. Public meetings will also be held to get feedback from residents. Final comments are tentatively due back to the SCA on Jan. 4, 2001.
